topic TT shuts down with no opportunity to save in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

TT shuts down with no opportunity to save

davehu123 — Sun, 28 Mar 2021 18:05:53 GMT

First, I'm not a novice. I have been using TT for 20 years. I was an hour into doing my return and had multiple windows open. At one point I started closing some and accidently clicked on the upper right corner X of the TT window. The program immediately shut down losing an hours worth of data. There is no opportunity to save anything . The net: if you hit the X you lose everything since your last save. THIS IS A HUGE BUG that needs to be fixed.

Re: TT shuts down with no opportunity to save

SteamTrain — Sun, 28 Mar 2021 18:27:34 GMT

Did you look to see if you have a temp file for that tax return? It has the same name as the file you were working on, but starts with a squiggle "~" . It may contain all of your work. IF you find it....open it...and look at it, if it contains most or all of your work, do a Save-As to the desired filename (without the "~" ).

_____________________

There were some Windows updates done in the past two weeks, if you are using Windows, make sure you install them and reboot.....a partially-installed Windows update has been known to cause TTX operation problems.

Re: TT shuts down with no opportunity to save

VolvoGirl — Sun, 28 Mar 2021 18:38:06 GMT

I assume you are on Windows? On the Windows Desktop program you have to manually save. It doesn't automatically save although it should ask if you want to save when you start a new return or exit the program.

If you closed without saving see if it will find your return. Go up to File-Open.

You need the file ending in .tax2020 on your computer. If you don't have the main .tax file you might have one that starts with a Tilde sign ~ like "~your name.tax2020". That file is if your computer crashes or your real file gets lost or deleted or corrupt so you can restore it. The .tax and pdf files should be in your Documents in a Turbo Tax folder. Or search your whole computer and Recycle Bin for all files ending in .tax or .tax2020.

Be sure to save frequently, go up to File-Save or Save As. Save each return with a name you can tell apart from another one. Especially if another return has the same name or initial. Like a father and son. Or if you have the same name the second return might overwrite the first one.

Re: TT shuts down with no opportunity to save

SuperAcct — Sat, 09 Jul 2022 15:50:49 GMT

Hard to believe but this is still happening!! I am in 2021 Turbotax Home and Business and I always save before closing because of this issue that started last year. But today after working for over an hour, I accidentally hit the x in the upper right when I was trying to close another program.

No there is no temp file with a squiggle. It shows last time this file was modified was 2 days ago.

Now I have to go back in and re-enter everything I just did!! Can't believe this bug has not been fixed.

I also have used Turbotax for probably 25 years+. This was not an issue until recently.

Turbotax, please fix!!

Re: TT shuts down with no opportunity to save

user17715171159 — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 16:09:57 GMT

Using TT Premier on new Windows 11 PC. Trying to use desktop version. Program immediately shuts down when I try to start a new return.

Re: TT shuts down with no opportunity to save

SteamTrain — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 18:48:24 GMT

@user17715171159

On a windows system, that "might" tied to a Microsoft Visual C++ problem...might need repairing.

(If on a MAC...I got nothing).

For windows, it could also be a partially-installed Windows update and you just need to re-boot.

For Windows systems with possible Visual C++ problem...Some instructions in the two pictures provided:

Re: Unable to start TurboTax 2025 Desktop after installation

and here:

Re: Unable to start TurboTax 2025 Desktop after installation