Error: "Sage 50 data has been updated to new file format and is now incompatible with this version of the software." when opening in EFT by Alain Blaise

2 minute read time.

Many clients who use EFT are familiar with this message, whenever they install a new update for Sage 50 CA and or EFT.

In reality, this message happens because Sage 50 has been updated to a new version for example from 2013 to 2014 or 2014 to 2015, or 2013 to 2015.

When you open EFT, it checks the following information under Company Profile, Company Maintenance:

If the company in Sage 50 has been updated to a newer version, EFT will pop up that message. It can do that for one of these three reasons:

  1. Sage 50 company file has been update to a new format (more recent year) but EFT has not been updated yet. In this case, if you come to this window, and try to select version 2014 or version 2015 (whichever corresponds to the version of sage 50), it will not be available. You must install the new EFT version in order to have the new version of Sage 50 available under Company maintenance.
  2. Both Sage 50 CA and EFT have been updated to the same version level (example 2015), but that version is not selected. If this is the case, you just have to select Version 2015 under Company maintenance and click Save.
  3. The last possibility is if neither Sage 50, nor EFT has been updated to the proper version but the company file has been updated to that version.  This usually happens if the company file you are trying to open was updated in a different computer by a Sage 50 version which was up to date. If this is the case, you also need to update the versions of Sage 50 and EFT on your computer. And then select the correct version in the Sage 50 Version box under Company maintenance window.

I hope this helps any user of EFT who may encounter this issue especially in these times when many updates are being installed.

 

Thanks