What Is the QuickBooks Auto Data Recovery (ADR) File Extension?

The Auto Data Recovery (ADR) feature relies on backup files with the .ADR extension to restore lost or corrupted data. These files are saved in the Auto Data Recovery folder and act as backup copies of your company file, typically named with the .QBW.ADR extension. It is important not to delete ADR files, as they play a vital role in data recovery when unexpected issues occur.

In some cases, you may not see the ADR file extensions in File Explorer. To view them, you need to enable the “Show file extensions” option on your computer.

ADR works automatically when a company file is open in QuickBooks Desktop. The tool runs internal diagnostics on the file, and if it passes the checks, QuickBooks creates a backup in the ADR folder. This process occurs every 12 hours, creating a new backup while renaming the previous one as “old” and deleting outdated copies. However, this backup process only runs when QuickBooks is open. If the application is closed, the ADR process resumes the next time you launch it.

These ADR files can be used to recover damaged company files (.QBW) and transaction log files (.QBW.TLG) in the following ways:

• Restore recent transactions using the current Transaction Log file and a backup copy of the Company file

• Restore most of the data, excluding the last few transactions, using backup copies of both the Company file and the Transaction Log file

Now that you have a clear understanding of how the QuickBooks Auto Data Recovery tool works, it’s important to review certain factors before using this built-in recovery feature to ensure a successful data restoration.