QuickBooks Online's Read-Only Year, Explained

After you cancel a paid QuickBooks Online subscription, your company enters read-only mode for 12 months. This window is your last chance to get data out, so it's worth knowing exactly what works, what doesn't, and where the built-in tools fall short.

What still works in read-only mode

• Logging in. Your credentials keep working, and so do those of other users on the account.
• Running reports. Profit and loss, balance sheet, general ledger, transaction lists. You can view and export them.
• Exporting data. The export tools remain available, including the Export Data page and report downloads to Excel.
• Viewing attachments. Receipts and documents attached to transactions can still be opened and downloaded.
• Resubscribing. If you change your mind, you can reactivate the subscription and the company comes back fully editable.

What doesn't work

• Any edits. You can't add, change, or delete transactions.
• Extending the window. There is no way to pay for more read-only time, and no cheaper archive tier. After 12 months the company is deleted permanently.
• Trial accounts. If you cancelled during a trial, you get 90 days, not a year.

Where the built-in exports fall short

QuickBooks' Export Data tool produces Excel files of your reports and lists. For a complete exit copy, three gaps matter:

Attachments lose their linkage. You can bulk-export your receipts and documents, but Intuit's own documentation says the files export separately from the transactions they belong to, and you'll need to manage the matching manually. For a company with a few hundred receipts, rebuilding that mapping by hand is days of work.

The audit log isn't included. The record of who changed what, and when, only exists inside QuickBooks. If a dispute or an examination ever raises questions about your books' history, you'll want it.

Backups are an Advanced-only feature. The built-in backup and restore tool exists only on the Advanced plan, and it's built for restoring into QuickBooks, not for keeping records readable after the account is gone.

How to use the window well

Treat the read-only year as a deadline, not a comfort. Export the general ledger for the company's full history, the year-end reports for every fiscal year in both cash and accrual basis, every attachment, and the audit log. Verify the export against the live books before the window closes: count the attachments, tie the ledger to the trial balance, and open a sample of receipts.

That verification step is the difference between having files and having proof. It's also the core of what we deliver: a complete, verified archive of your QuickBooks Online company, with every receipt still linked to its transaction, built while your read-only window is still open.