When Qxtender is started, it will prompt to select a Data Mode. Select "QB Direct File Mode" and click "OK."

Or choose "Set Data Mode..." from the File menu, click the "Set Data Mode" button on Qxtender's toolbar.

Note: QB Direct File Mode only works with data files from QB version 2005 and earlier, and Enterprise version 5 and earlier.

1. Qxtender will prompt for a QB Company file. If Qxtender is already running in QB Direct File Mode and you want to open a different file, select "Open Company..." from the File menu.

Select a file from the current location, or browse to a different folder.

The QB file must not be currently open in QuickBooks.

Click "Open", and Qxtender will load the QB file into a temporary snapshot file from which Plugins can process data.

This normally only takes a few seconds, but on older computers large QB files (over 90MB) may take longer.

2. When the QB file is loaded, a message box will open noting the following:

• Company name, file name, and size.
• Length of time to load the file.
• Number of transactions retrieved and any filter settings.
• Direct Mode license information.

3. The name of the company will appear on the Title Bar of Qxtender (above the menus). The current Data Mode is also indicated.

All Plugins now have access to the data of the currently loaded company.

In addition, you can open up the company file again in QB if necessary. Qxtender does not maintain a connection to the QBdata file. If you make changes to QB data you will need to reload the data file in Qxtender.

If you are satisfied with the speed of QB Direct File Mode, and will be connecting to the same QB Company file most of the time, you may want to change the Startup Option to "Load last QB file used."

I"Preferences" is found on the File menu of Qxtender.