Late last Friday evening I was trying to fix an inventory issue in a client file – QuickBooks for Mac 2012. I wanted to have two versions of the file open, so opened a previously saved copy on my PC as well. To be safe, I ran both P&L and Balance Sheet reports for 12/31/12 and while the P&L was the same, the balance sheet was not. Red flags went up and I verified the data in my version of the QB file on my MacBook. It didn’t pass and the “Rebuild Data” function got stuck and wouldn’t complete. I restored the file and tried again with the same result. I went to look at the log file, and the error message read:
Verify Link 38111: Date error
!Link Error Code:00800(HEX), DEP-PMT, linkRecNum = 38111, sibling = 38112, key (m1) = 38085, tOne = 38086, mTwo = 38092, tTwo = 38094
Verify Link 38112: Date error
!Link Error Code:00800(HEX), DEP-PMT, linkRecNum = 38112, sibling = 38111, key (m1) = 38092, tOne = 38094, mTwo = 38085, tTwo = 38086
Verify Completed
I searched online for a way to find the linkRecNum in the actual QuickBooks file, but the only response seemed to be that this was a real problem and that the QuickBooks file would have to sent in to Intuit for repair. Since this can be time-consuming and expensive, I didn’t like this answer.
In an effort to figure out when this happened, I restored from previous dated backups and found that the error was not present in one of the previous backups. My only other clue was that the item in question was a date error and had to do with payment and deposit. It suddenly dawned on me that it might be a payment and deposit that I found had been entered incorrectly as 12/29/13 and I had corrected. I went back and removed the payment from the deposit, adding a deposit unknown item for the same amount (so as not to change the reconciled bank balance), and deleted the payment. I then re-entered the payment, added it back into the deposit (replacing the deposit unknown) and saved. I then verified the data and held my breath. It passed! No need to send the file to Intuit!
The moral of the story is, although the Windows versions of QuickBooks and QuickBooks for Mac 2013 automatically date backups, previous Mac versions do not. Always date and keep multiple backups for the last few months in case something similar happens to you!