There are times when you may need to send someone a copy of your QuickBooks company file but you do not want to give them access to all transactions. This could be in response to the Internal Revenue Service, a subpoena, lawsuit, etc. Once the decision has been made to supply specific information, you can use a utility available in the Accountant version of QuickBooks or QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions Accountant to create a “Period Copy” of your data file.
I recommend that you make a backup of your file, Restore the backup to your computer using a different file name, and then make a period copy from this backup. Therefore you will not be affecting the company file. Keep in mind that creating the period copy can take several minutes to several hours depending on the size of the company file, I generally run this overnight. Below are the instructions for how to make the period copy using the newly created data file
File Menu – Utilities – Condense Data
In the Condense Data screen select the third option “Transactions outside a date range (to prepare a period copy of the company file), Enter your Date Range , Select Next
Select create one summary journal entry (recommended), Select Next
Select Summarize Inventory Transactions (recommended), Select Next
Select all the listed in the next two screens, Select Next
Select Begin Condense
After the utility runs verify that the balances are correct !