Using QuickBooks get Crash: Com Error

Question

While Using a part of Quickbooks, I receive a "Crash: Com Error" Message. After I click OK on the window, all of Quickbooks shuts down. After about 4 hours on Intuit Tech Support they told me that this is a windows issues.  Does anyone have any suggestions? I heard something abour fixing the registery for Vista, but could not find it on this site. Thanks.

Answer 1

I can identify with your frustration, Elisa-0727.  I had my IT upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and that appears to have solved the problem.  However, the installation had its own problems.  Now my NComputing (the software/hardware that connects the server to dumb terminals) don’t work with Windows 10 requiring a very costly hardware change - $500 to connect 3 terminals.  These upgrades do cause problems.

Answer 2

I have been having the same problem for the last few months. I was using QB Pro 2015 and after a 2 hour call to QB, it was briefly fixed and then started happening again. This week we upgraded to QB Pro 2018 and I am still getting the error. Can barely even start creating an invoice and it crashes!

Answer 3

Just jumping in here, folks.

Although I don't have QuickBooks, perhaps the following will help.

This thread, which started over 7 years ago, plainly points to an incompatibility between some (most?) versions of QuickBooks and some versions of Microsoft Office.  Whenever tech support for an application program works a customer's problem for hours and ends up saying "this is a Windows issue," that should be a red flag indicating that they really don't know what they're talking about.

From what I can gather from reading the posts here, the problem appears to arise when you have completed an invoice and attempt to email it directly from QuickBooks.  See, e.g., Louis Holder's 12/31/17 post ("The problem returned the next time I tried e-mailing an invoice.") and WarningU2's 1/9/18 post ("What version of Outlook do you have?").

If my understanding of the problem is correct (i.e., the "com error" occurs when attempting to send an email from QB via Outlook), I can suggest two potential work-arounds until Intuit gets around to definitively fixing this problem.  The first is probably more palatable than the second.

1.  As suggested by owcm1514 on 1/9/18, save the invoice as a pdf file and then create an email separately and attach the file.  This obviously creates more work when sending invoices, but if it works, it's better than the alternative.  If you have a number of invoices to send, you might consider creating a folder (e.g., InvoicesToSend), saving all the pdf files there using file names that will let you know the correct email address quickly, then after all the invoices have been created, open your email program and send them out one by one.

Although most Intuit/Quicken programs incorporate some sort of "pdf printer," I wouldn't rely on that in this case.  Instead, download and install (or ask your IT department to do it) CutePDF Writer.  This is a free program.  You select it just as if you were going to print an invoice on paper.  http://cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp  After you click "Print," a "Save to" window opens where you can name the file and choose the folder where it will be saved.  This is an example of printing from Quicken:

2.  Although, as I wrote initially, I don't have QB, most application programs that have a "send to email" function operate by using the Windows "Default Email Client" and I assume that this is what QB does (or tries to do but somehow gets things wrong resulting in the "com error"). 

You can set or change the "Default Email Client" as described, for example, here:  http://www.ubergizmo.com/how-to/set-default-email-client-windows/ 

Unfortunately, the "Default Email Client" must be an actual program installed on your computer.  There are a few of these, including Outlook, Thunderbird, Mailbird, emClient, Postbox, and others.  The "Default Email Client" can't be a web-based email provider such as Gmail or Outlook.com (which is very different than Outlook).

Although you can generally export your contacts from Outlook to one of the other desktop email clients, if you're already heavily invested in Outlook, you might be uncomfortable in giving it up.  That's why I meant above that this second work-around is likely to be unpalatable.

Answer 4

Not necessarily.  I NEVER email any invoices, nor anything for that matter, from Quickbooks. As soon as I even click on an existing invoice, I get the error code.  I  upgraded to Windows 10 yesterday and am finishing up download Quickbooks 2018 Pro.  Interested to see if this fixes my problem or not.  

Either way, this error began out of the blue on Monday, out of the blue, without anything changing on my computer from the previous week.

Answer 5

I am having the same problem everytime I open an Invoice I already have sent.  I have not switched or updated anything.  Monday out of the blue it just keeps happening!