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Clients appear to be missing from the clients tab in Lacerte

by Intuit• Updated 4 days ago

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.

Clearing the AND AND AND Pre-Filters using CLGRID

  • If you are a Lacerte Hosting user, you will need to contact support to have a custom shortcut added before you can perform the following steps.
  • Close Lacerte.
  • Set up CLGRID:
    • For non-Intuit Hosting users:
      1. Right-click on the Lacerte shortcut for the impacted year and select Properties.
        • If you right-clicked on a Lacerte shortcut pinned to the Windows Taskbar you'll also need to right-click on 20YY Lacerte Tax to get to the option for Properties.
      2. In the Target field, at the end after the exe, add a space and type CLGRID.
      3. Click OK to Save.
  • Open Lacerte using the modified shortcut.
  • From the Reset Client Grid for which program pop-up you'll be prompted to select the Tax Program (aka tax type or module).
    1. Select the Tax Program and click OK.
      CLGRID_INTHost_US_Ext_032022.png
    2. Click OK in the Information Reset Client Display Grid pop-up.
      CLGRID Reset_INTHost_US_Ext_032022.png
    3. Click OK when you get an error advising DoBeforeInitialize: Exception = Operation aborted.
      CLGRID Error_INTHost_US_Ext_032022.png
    4. Open Lacerte using the modified shortcut again and repeat these steps for all Tax Program choices.
      • You don't have to run this for all tax types if it is only effecting one.
  • Once the CLGRID has been reset for each tax type:
    • For non-Intuit Hosting users:
      1. Right-click on the Lacerte shortcut for the impacted year and select Properties.
      2. Remove the CLGRID.
      3. Click OK to Save.
  • Open Lacerte and confirm the AND AND AND Pre-Filter is gone. If the issue remains their opt file will need to be renamed.
  • For non-Intuit Hosting users, if CLGRID and renaming the opt didn't resolve, press the F10 key while in Lacerte and check the Program path. There have been instances of this issue happening when the program was installed somewhere other than the C:\ drive.

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.

Tip: You can check the data path for your other tax types or years. Generally, only the tax type letter and year change in the datapath. If you are on a network installation, you can also have other workstations check their data path to see if they can see the clients and you can't.

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.ID3 is the 2023 detail for client # 01Sample in the individual module.  

  • Search for the .ID3 file or replace with an actual client number.
  • If the detail file(s) are found in X:\Lacerte\YYtax\IData\Detail:
    1. Open Lacerte
    2. Select the Settings menu
    3. Select Options
    4. Select the Setup tab
    5. Change the data path to X:\Lacerte\YYtax\IData\ (leave off the detail folder)

Note: Due to the use of a single-digit year, not all .ID3 files will be for 2023. They could also be for 2013 or 2003. Typically you can use the file location to determine the year. If it is at X:\Lacerte\13Tax\IDATA\Detail\, then it is likely a 2013 client.

Follow these steps:

  1. Follow these steps:
    Browse to the directory shown in the Data Path (for example, C:\Lacerte\YYtax\Idata).
    Look at the first index/database file, DATA1xYY.DBF.
    For example: DATA1i20.DBF for 2020 Individual.
    Note the size of the file. It should be about 1.5 kb per client you have for that tax type. If it's significantly less or about 5 kb, it's blank or empty.
    To see how many clients you have, open the Detail folder here. Each client has its own file.
    If the DATA1xYY.DBF file and/or Detail folder are blank or empty, the files need to be restored from a backup.
    If DATA1xYY.DBF is the proper size and the detail folder has client files in it, perform the steps in the CLPACK - Lacerte Client Database Repair Utility Knowledge Base article.
    If the Lacerte CLPACK repair utility isn't able to correct the issue then try performing a Detail File Swap.

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.

Lacerte Tax

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