Please develop a feature in Mac Deluxe to make a SAVE A COPY with custom dates as well as year end copy. So one can choose what years to keep and what years to archive Thank you.
For what it is worth, it is not that hard to manually do a year-end archive (but I still would prefer it to be a feature). I had a file spanning 2017-2018. I archived 2017 transactions into its own file and removed them from my active file (only 2018 transactions).
I was surprised by the size of the resulting files: - Original (2017 & 2018): 10.8 MB - 2017 archive: 10.5 MB - 2018 active: 10.2 MB
I would be interested in an explanation for this seemingly odd increase in space. I don't see in Quicken an option to optimize the data file.
The procedure for archiving a year (assuming it is the oldest year in the file), is simply to (1) create a copy of the current file; (2) delete all transaction newer than the archived year from that file.
The procedure for purging the archived year is not too hard but you need to be careful: (1) make a copy of the original file for safety; (2) for each account, record the current balance and the balance at the end of the year to be archived; (3) for each account, delete every transaction from the archived year except the opening balance transaction; (4) for each account, change the date of the opening balance transaction to the last day of the archived year and the amount to value at the same time; (5) for each account, verify that the current balance is what you recorded.
From this experience, I do not feel as strongly about adding this feature to the Mac version as I once did. I would like to see it but not to the expense of a more useful feature.
@SethSea I did find your tip helpful, but every version of Quicken for Mac has made this so much simpler.
I don't care about how much data the program can handle before choking, I prefer to keep my data separated by year to keep my own process simple. Deleting an entire year's worth of transactions for multiple accounts is not simple. I couldn't see a way to "vote" since this seems like a simple community thread now, but I hope it's not lost. At the very least, the SAVE A COPY where you can choose the dates would be helpful.
It is not intuitive but click the little grey triangle under the VOTE count at the top of page 1in the blue banner, so your vote will count for THIS feature.
@Albert Krauss I would respectfully amend your statement: The files don't need to be cleaned out every few years, but some users may prefer to do so.
My Quicken data file contains more than 20 years of data, and I'm happy having all that history with me in my live data file -- but I understand that others may prefer to organize their financial data differently.
QMac 2007 & QMac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
I can't believe that Quicken for Mac still doesn't provide archiving and/or year end copy. I have data going back more than 10 years in my Quicken file. Am changing my approach to categorizing and I'd like to close out the old years so as not to confuse things more than they are. I will try doing a backup and rename and hope for the best as Customer Support was unable to provide a better approach. Very disappointing. :/
Thank you for providing this feedback to the Community!
I went ahead and merged your post with an ongoing Idea for this same feature request. Our developer's review Idea threads to get an idea of what people would like Quicken to offer.
Be sure to add your vote by clicking on the gray triangle right above the current vote count, located in the blue box at the beginning of this thread:
I am a long time user of Quicken for Mac and have a data file that is very difficult to work with because it is so large. Having the capability to create a year-end copy would be a terrific Improvement to Quicken for Mac.
Note that the archiving feature that Quicken also has available in QWin is slightly different than a Save a Copy feature (QWin has both options). It actually takes the period of choice out of the live data file and ADDS it to a single ARCHIVE file which contains any other periods added to it. In other words, it manages a single ongoing file that allows continuously adding historical records, rather than having multiple individual files of different years or periods. Each type of archiving has its place.
First, click on the underlined link above to go there, then click the little grey triangle under the VOTE count at the top of page 1 in the blue banner, so your vote will count for THIS feature and increase its visibility to the developers by seeking to have the features you need or desire end up in the latest version (it may take a moment for your vote to register).
My quicken file is more than 3Gigs. I've been using it consistently since 1996. Despite Mac improvements, it is always sluggish -- plenty of color wheels. It would be a huge improvement to able able to segment the file (archiving the old) and dealing with a subset of years -- for example the last 2, 5 or 7. Think about how long you are expected to keep tax returns. The data would be dramatically reduced and I suspect large files create many of the headaches for quicken support. SO I strongly vote for having a year end function like Quicken for windows that could make the file much smaller.
At some point Quicken needs to come up with a way for us users to do an end of year so that we can make our data file smaller. I really dont need 8 - 10 years years of data being opened every time I need to balance my Checkbook. I really only need 3 and maybe 5 years worth of data. Please support this feature and lets get on top of this. Thanks.
If you agree with me please comment so we can show the support of this feature coming back.
Thank you for bringing this to the attention of the Community!
I went ahead and merged your post with an ongoing Idea for this same feature request. Our developer's review Idea threads to get an idea of what people would like Quicken to offer.
Be sure to add your vote by clicking on the gray triangle right above the current vote count, located in the blue box at the beginning of this thread:
I absolutely agree that Quicken for Mac needs a Year End File control. I have been a Quicken user from the beginning and have been a Quicken for Mac user since 2013. This is too long to wait.
@Michael Manna@TeeQue Welcome to the ongoing discussion of this issue. You should definitely vote for it if you find that the way Quicken Mac currently works is problematic for your needs. I'd just encourage you to think about (and express in follow up posts if you want) why you feel you need this functionality.
Some users ask for it because "that's the way it's always been" -- but the developers don't consider that a compelling reason to build a feature. There are lots of reasons why both legacy Quicken Mac and Quicken Windows had year-end purge functionality, largely related to problems with databases that became too large and sometimes corrupted over time. But those old database cores are very different from the modern SQL database that Quicken uses, a database that's resistant to corruption and is mostly unaffected by the amount of data it contains.
And Quicken is built on the idea of having your financial history in one place, rather than scattered across multiple old files which may or may not even be able to be read by the current software. (We periodically see stories on this site of users who split off their data many years ago, and now that they need to access something, discover their data files can no longer be read by the current software.) If you're getting more data on your reports or register screens than you want to see, it's easy to set filters to limit the data to the past year or two or three.
The developers have previously market this feature request as "not planned", but if enough people vote for it, it might eventually help change their minds. But providing a use case for it -- a reason you want/need it beyond "it always used to be there" -- will go even farther in lobbying the developers to consider building such functionality.
QMac 2007 & QMac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
Comments
Thank you.
I was surprised by the size of the resulting files:
- Original (2017 & 2018): 10.8 MB
- 2017 archive: 10.5 MB
- 2018 active: 10.2 MB
I would be interested in an explanation for this seemingly odd increase in space. I don't see in Quicken an option to optimize the data file.
The procedure for archiving a year (assuming it is the oldest year in the file), is simply to (1) create a copy of the current file; (2) delete all transaction newer than the archived year from that file.
The procedure for purging the archived year is not too hard but you need to be careful: (1) make a copy of the original file for safety; (2) for each account, record the current balance and the balance at the end of the year to be archived; (3) for each account, delete every transaction from the archived year except the opening balance transaction; (4) for each account, change the date of the opening balance transaction to the last day of the archived year and the amount to value at the same time; (5) for each account, verify that the current balance is what you recorded.
From this experience, I do not feel as strongly about adding this feature to the Mac version as I once did. I would like to see it but not to the expense of a more useful feature.
Hope this was helpful.
I don't care about how much data the program can handle before choking, I prefer to keep my data separated by year to keep my own process simple. Deleting an entire year's worth of transactions for multiple accounts is not simple. I couldn't see a way to "vote" since this seems like a simple community thread now, but I hope it's not lost. At the very least, the SAVE A COPY where you can choose the dates would be helpful.
- Where to find a Help Guide for Quicken for Mac?
- Quicken Mac FAQ list
- Quicken Windows FAQ list
- Help Guide and FAQs for Quicken Mobile
COMPLETE list of Product Ideas - Quicken for Mac to VOTE onObject to Quicken's business model, using up 25% of your screen? Add your vote here:
Quicken should eliminate the LARGE Ad space when a subscription expires
(Canadian Q user since '92, STILL using QM2007)
My Quicken data file contains more than 20 years of data, and I'm happy having all that history with me in my live data file -- but I understand that others may prefer to organize their financial data differently.
Thank you for providing this feedback to the Community!
I went ahead and merged your post with an ongoing Idea for this same feature request. Our developer's review Idea threads to get an idea of what people would like Quicken to offer.
Be sure to add your vote by clicking on the gray triangle right above the current vote count, located in the blue box at the beginning of this thread:
Thank you,
Quicken Natalie
If you are interested in that feature also, you can add your VOTE to Suggestion for Archive Function.
First, click on the underlined link above to go there, then click the little grey triangle under the VOTE count at the top of page 1 in the blue banner, so your vote will count for THIS feature and increase its visibility to the developers by seeking to have the features you need or desire end up in the latest version (it may take a moment for your vote to register).
Your VOTES matter!
- Where to find a Help Guide for Quicken for Mac?
- Quicken Mac FAQ list
- Quicken Windows FAQ list
- Help Guide and FAQs for Quicken Mobile
COMPLETE list of Product Ideas - Quicken for Mac to VOTE onObject to Quicken's business model, using up 25% of your screen? Add your vote here:
Quicken should eliminate the LARGE Ad space when a subscription expires
(Canadian Q user since '92, STILL using QM2007)
At some point Quicken needs to come up with a way for us users to do an end of year so that we can make our data file smaller. I really dont need 8 - 10 years years of data being opened every time I need to balance my Checkbook. I really only need 3 and maybe 5 years worth of data. Please support this feature and lets get on top of this. Thanks.
If you agree with me please comment so we can show the support of this feature coming back.
Thank you for bringing this to the attention of the Community!
I went ahead and merged your post with an ongoing Idea for this same feature request. Our developer's review Idea threads to get an idea of what people would like Quicken to offer.
Be sure to add your vote by clicking on the gray triangle right above the current vote count, located in the blue box at the beginning of this thread:
Quicken Natalie
Some users ask for it because "that's the way it's always been" -- but the developers don't consider that a compelling reason to build a feature. There are lots of reasons why both legacy Quicken Mac and Quicken Windows had year-end purge functionality, largely related to problems with databases that became too large and sometimes corrupted over time. But those old database cores are very different from the modern SQL database that Quicken uses, a database that's resistant to corruption and is mostly unaffected by the amount of data it contains.
And Quicken is built on the idea of having your financial history in one place, rather than scattered across multiple old files which may or may not even be able to be read by the current software. (We periodically see stories on this site of users who split off their data many years ago, and now that they need to access something, discover their data files can no longer be read by the current software.) If you're getting more data on your reports or register screens than you want to see, it's easy to set filters to limit the data to the past year or two or three.
The developers have previously market this feature request as "not planned", but if enough people vote for it, it might eventually help change their minds. But providing a use case for it -- a reason you want/need it beyond "it always used to be there" -- will go even farther in lobbying the developers to consider building such functionality.