- The freezing only happens within one company file
- The freezing only happens with one particular QuickBooks user
- The freezing only happens after performing specific actions
- The freezing does not result in any error messages
- There are no data errors detected by Verify or Rebuild Data Utilities
- Restarting QuickBooks, or your computer does not resolve the issue
The freezing occurs since the window actually opens, but it is outside of the viewable screen
QuickBooks isn't actually frozen -- it has just opened up that next window offscreen. That is, the window is open, just outside of the viewable area with your current monitor setup. QuickBooks seems frozen since that window has popped up and is waiting for your input, but since you can't even see the window, you can't click through it or even choose to close it out. As QuickBooks won't let you use any other windows or functions until this offscreen window is clicked through, you won't be able to proceed anywhere else in QuickBooks, thus making it seem like the software is frozen.
How to reset the offscreen window and resolve the "frozen" QuickBooks file
The Intuit article above details a few solutions but none of which help when QuickBooks is currently frozen. The best solution we have found instead is to do the following:
- Perform the task that causes QuickBooks to freeze due to the offscreen window issue
- Hit the ESC key on your keyboard
- Try performing the same task again
And that's it! Hitting ESC in QuickBooks will close the "most open" window (in this case, the recently opened offscreen one) and reset its position to within your current viewable area. The next time you try to perform the same task, you should now see the appropriate window appearing, and QuickBooks no longer freezes up when performing that action.
In short, when you suspect QuickBooks is frozen due to the offscreen window issue, simply hit the ESC key to resolve.