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Clients appear to be missing from the clients tab in Lacerte

SOLVEDby Intuit7Updated February 28, 2024

This article will help to explain reasons why clients are not visible or might appear to be missing from the overall list of clients in Lacerte.

  • This article references default installation paths and uses YY to reference the tax year in 20YY format. C: will always indicate the local drive and X: will always indicate the network drive.
  • You're on the Clients tab but not on the All Clients view
  • You have a Filter enabled
  • You have a Pre-Filter enabled

Follow these steps:

  1. Select the Clients tab (to view the list of your clients).
  2. Select All Clients from the Views section from the left panel.


  3. Locate the Filter section located directly below the Views section from the left panel.
  4. Make sure all Filter categories are collapsed so none have a green check mark.


  5. Select the Filter menu at the top.
  6. Choose Select Pre-Filter.
  7. Select the Reset button.
  8. Select OK.

Follow these steps:

  1. From the Settings menu, select Options.
  2. Go to the Setup tab.
  3. Make sure the Data Path is correct and edit if necessary.

To search for the client's detail files:

Each client has a detail file that will be the client number followed by a 3-digit extension. For example, 01Sample.ID6 is the 2020 detail for client # 01Sample in the individual module.  

  • Search for the .ID6 file or replace with an actual client number.
  • If the detail file(s) are found in X:\YYtax\Lacerte\Data\Detail, then open Lacerte and change the data path to X:\YYtax\Lacerte\Data (leave off the detail folder) to see if the clients appear in the program.

Follow these steps:

  1. Browse to the directory shown in the Data Path (for example, C:\Lacerte\YYtax\Idata).
  2. Look at the first index/database file DATA1xYY.DBF .
    • For example: DATA1i20.DBF for 2020 Individual.
  3. Note the size of the file. It should be about 1.5KB per client you have for that tax type. If it's significantly less or about 5KB, it's blank or empty.
    • To see how many clients you have, open the Detail folder here. Each client has its own file.
  4. If the DATA1xYY.DBF file and/or Detail folder are blank or empty, the files need to be restored from a backup.

The Windows Sync Center can cause several problems with Lacerte, including not being able to view or modify client files in Lacerte (any year), when others can.

For more information on resolving these issues, refer to Disabling offline files for Windows Sync Center with Lacerte and ProSeries.

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