Send Tally Backup Securely Encrypted File Sharing for Accounting Data
A Tally backup holds the entire business - every balance, every party, every voucher. Sending it as a naked email attachment is the most common accounting data leak there is. The safe route takes two extra minutes.
Technical AnshuTallyPrime and Tally.ERP 96 minute read
Watch the full video - exporting Tally company data to a client PC, step by step
This page exists because of a habit almost everyone has: taking the backup and dropping it straight into an email or chat, because that is how it has always been done. The file itself makes that habit dangerous - one small file contains the complete financial history of a business. Encrypting it and handling the password properly is not paranoia; it is the minimum respect the data deserves.
What is inside one .tbk file
Every ledger and party balance
Every voucher ever entered
Customer and supplier names, addresses, GSTINs
Bank details recorded in the books
Anyone who gets this file gets the whole business.
A Tally backup is not "some accounts file". It is the complete financial record of the business, in one portable package.
1
Understand What You Are Actually Sending
People email Tally backups casually because the file looks small and technical. Open it through a restore and it is anything but: complete books, every party's balances, contact details stored in ledgers, and years of transaction history. If that file reaches the wrong inbox - a forwarded email, a shared drive link set to public, a lost pen drive - it cannot be unsent. The transfer method deserves the same care as the data deserves.
2
Encrypt First, Then Send
Take the backup through Tally so you have the single .tbk file
Add it to an archive with strong encryption and a real password (7-Zip with AES-256 is a common free choice) - an unprotected zip adds no security at all
Use a password the client does not use anywhere else, long enough to matter
Send the archive by email, drive link, or pen drive - and send the password separately, by phone call or a different messaging app
File and password must never travel in the same message. An encrypted file with its password in the same email is just a file.
3
Confirm Arrival, Then Clean Up
Ask the client to confirm the received file size matches what you sent, before they restore
After they verify the restored company, delete the transit copies - the email attachment, the chat copy, the shared-link file
If a sharing link was used, remove the file from the shared folder or expire the link
Keep exactly one labelled archive copy on each side, stored deliberately - not five forgotten ones in Downloads folders
4
Habits That Keep Client Data Safe Every Time
Name backup files with the company and date, so the right file is sent - sending last month's company to the wrong client is a confidentiality failure, not a typo
Never send a live data folder by email - apart from the corruption risk, dozens of loose files invite partial, unnoticed leaks
Agree with each client, once, how data will be exchanged - same encrypted route every time beats improvising under deadline pressure
The uncomfortable fact: most accounting data leaks are not hacks. They are ordinary backups sent as ordinary attachments to ordinary inboxes that were forwarded, shared, or left synced forever. Encryption and a separate password close that hole in two minutes.
Watch the Complete Process in the Video
Backup, transfer and restore shown live on screen, with the full knowledge and installation details.
Not unprotected. The .tbk contains the complete books. Put it in an encrypted archive (for example 7-Zip with AES-256), email the archive, and share the password through a different channel such as a phone call.
Does zipping the backup file protect it?
Only if you set a password with strong encryption. A plain zip is just compression - anyone can open it. In 7-Zip, choose AES-256 encryption and tick the option to encrypt file names as well.
The client has restored and verified the data. What should happen to the copies sent?
Delete the transit copies - email attachments, chat copies and shared-link files - and keep one labelled archive copy on each side. Loose extra copies in inboxes and Downloads folders are where leaks actually come from.
This guide is based on the Technical Anshu video on exporting Tally data to a client PC. Stuck on a step? Ask in the video comments.