Restoring a deleted client in Lacerte using automatic backups

If a client is missing from Lacerte, but you don't think they were deleted, see Client(s) Missing from Clients list in Lacerte to resolve the underlying issue and find the client.

If the client was truly deleted, there's no way to undo that action in the program. You must restore the client from a backup file.

Starting in tax year 2021:

If you didn't make a backup, but the missing client is an Individual or Partnership return, you may be able to restore from an automated backup that Lacerte made.

To locate and restore from automatic backups:

1. Open Lacerte and press F10 on your keyboard. Or select the Help menu, and click Troubleshoot.
2. Make a note of the Data path listed under System Information.
3. Browse to the data path in Windows file explorer.
4. Open the Backup folder.
5. Here you'll see one zip file for the past 5 days that you opened Lacerte to this data path:
   
   • The zip file names correspond to the date and time they were created. For example, IDATA_01212022103009 is an individual backup created on 01/21/2022 at 10:30:09 AM.
   • The program only keeps the 5 most recent backups.
6. Click once to highlight the backup you want to restore from.
7. Press Extract at the top of the window, then Extract all.
8. In the window that appears, press Extract.
9. Highlight the location of the extracted folder, then press Ctrl+C to copy it:
   
10. In Lacerte, press Ctrl + R on your keyboard. Or select the Client menu at the top left of the program, and click Restore.
11. Paste the folder location into the Restore From field by pressing Ctrl+V.
12. Select the client(s) you want to restore from this backup.
13. Press OK.