When you attempt to open your invoicing program, it automatically looks for and attempts to open the last invoice file that you were using. This error message happens when that invoice file is corrupt. The program cannot open this file upon launch and will terminate with an error message. You will have to locate the corrupt file on your hard disk and rename the folder containing it. This will force the program to open as if it had not been opened before so that you can create a new blank file with the same root name as the backup file, and then restore your backup file. Please read through the directions below and if it is not clear to you, it is recommended that you contact technical support so that a technician can attempt to help you restore from a backup file.


Directions for Renaming the Data folder, creating a new Data folder, creating a new file with the same root name as the backup file, and restoring the backup file:

  1. Close the program and any other programs running on your computer. In Windows (using either My Computer or Windows Explorer), go to the Data folder containing your invoices files. If you used the default Data folder that the program automatically chooses as the invoices file directory, it is as follows:

    C:\Program Files\MySoftware\MyInvoices\

  2. Rename the "Data" folder to "Data Old" - to do so, right-click the "Data" folder and select "Rename." Type "Data Old" (without quotes) and then press the Enter key on your keyboard one time.
  3. Now that we have renamed the existing Data folder that contains your corrupt file, we need to create a new blank Data folder in the same directory. To do so, go to "File" | "New" | "Folder" and a New Folder (called "New Folder") will appear. Type the word "Data" (without quotes) and press the Enter Key on your keyboard one time.
  4. Close any Windows that might currently be open.

To retrieve information, you will have to restore your invoices using the Restore from Backup feature in the program.


When you restore from a backup file, the program checks to make sure that the name of the invoice file that you are restoring to matches the name of the invoice file that was backed up.


For example, if your original invoice file was named Invoices.inv when you made the backup, you must create a new file called "Invoices " in the new data folder you just created.


To Restore a Backup File after you have renamed your data folder:

  1. Insert the disk that contains your backup file.
  2. Open the program.
  3. Click the option to Create a new file. Name the file with the same root name as your original invoice file (if your file was called invoices.inv, the name you need to type is "invoices " (without quotes). Click Open and then Cancel the Invoices & Estimates Setup Wizard.
  4. Open the File menu and choose Restore from Backup to open the Restore from Backup dialog.
  5. Click the Browse button and locate the backup file on the disk you inserted (but if your backup file is on a floppy disk in drive a, you should not have to browse).
  6. Choose the file and click Open to return to the Restore from Backup dialog.
  7. Click OK.
  8. Click Yes to restore your files from the backup.

If the program detects that the invoice file names do not match you will get an error message like the following:


"The selected file does not contain valid information for Invoices.inv. However, this file does contain valid information for Invoice.inv. If you want to restore Invoice.inv you must first open the file."


In the above example, the problem is the extra "s." Since the filenames do not exactly match, it will not let you restore. In this example, you would need to create another new file, and call it Invoices ("File" | "New File" | and type the correct filename, in this example, type "Invoices " (without quotes). Click Open and then Cancel the Invoices & Estimates Setup Wizard. Continue instructions above from step 4.