Add "Save a Copy" feature (similar to "Year End Copy") (21 Legacy Votes)

siouxbarrett

On the “why we should do this” topic, I’ll echo all the previous comments and add this: the more transactions you have from different versions of Quicken and different financial phases of your life, the greater the likelihood that all the matching and importing gets bolloxed up. Reconciling accounts becomes an absolute nightmare when a transaction from N years ago suddenly changes (maybe my fault, maybe gremlins, doesn’t matter because it isn’t noticed until the account WILL Not Reconcile).
I noted earlier that I finally Just Gave Up and started a new file. I still don’t have everything settled.
I like the way Quicken for Mac works in general. It would be worlds better if we could archive old transactions.

jacobs

@Blastphemy Out of curiosity, (1) how big is your data file, (2) do you save attachments in Quicken, and (3) how many total transactions do you have. (Click All Transactions, and the count of transactions is under the Search box). I'm just trying to develop some stats where size and/or volume becomes an impediment to the use of the program.

-------

You could do some brute force trimming of transactions if you want. The complication is that when you delete transfer transactions from an account, the transfers disappear from the other account, so you'll have to adjust balances in multiple accounts.

1. Make a copy of your data file, to serve as your historical record (and in case anything goes wrong and you want to revert)
2. Run a Net Worth report to document your current balance of every account (and/or take a screenshot of your left sidebar to capture your account balances)
3. Click on an account where you want to delete old transactions.
4. Pick the date before which you want to delete everything, such as 12/31/19, and click on a transaction. Scroll all the way back to the beginning of time, and Shift click on the first transaction to highlight all the old transactions
5. Press Delete to delete all those transactions

Repeat steps 3-5 for other accounts where you want to purge old transactions.

If you have hidden old, closed banking accounts, such as former credit cards, and you want to purge them, simply delete the accounts. 

Now it's clean-up time. For each account, compare the current balance to the prior balance for the account, and if different, calculate the difference. Enter a transaction dated 12/31/19 for that amount, using Category = Adjustment. When you're done, run a new Net Worth report and it should exactly match the one before you started. 

If you're deleting old transactions from your checking account or savings account where you do transfers to any of your investment accounts, I'd suggest modifying this process to avoid touching the investment accounts and having to enter adjustments to them. 

1. Create a new cash account called 'Temp'.
2. Click on an account where you want to delete old transactions.
3. Pick the date before which you want to delete everything, such as 12/31/19, and click on a transaction. Scroll all the way back to the beginning of time, and Shift click on the first transaction to highlight all the old transactions
4. Click on one of the highlighted transactions and drag to the Temp account. This moves all the old transactions to the Temp account
5. Click on the Temp account in the sidebar
6. Click the Category column to sort the register by Category.
7. Scroll down to find all your transfers to investment accounts, and Shift-click to highlight them.
8. Click and drag the highlighted transactions back to the original checking or savings account.
9. Repeat steps 7-8 if there are transfer to any other investment accounts you want to preserve.
10. Delete the Temp account (in the sidebar, Control-click on Temp and select Delete from the pop-up menu)

What's important to note is that if you delete a transaction which is a transfer, the transfer in the opposite account is also deleted. But if you delete an entire account, the opposite side of all transfer transactions in that account are not deleted. 

Blastphemy

@jacobs – my QMac 6.5.1 file size is 70MB with 49,886 transactions. I do not use attachments.

jacobs

@Blastphemy  Hmmm, I was hoping to see that you were an outlier with a really large file. My Quicken 6.5.1 data file is 75.4 MB, and I have 66,145 transactions. So our files are identical in size, I have about 30% more transactions, and I'm using a slightly older iMac — but I'm not experiencing the "sludge"-like behavior you describe. The only thing I find annoyingly slow is Search the first time I run it after launch. I don't know if we have different perceptions of what is slow, or if something could explain why your Quicken is more sluggish than mine.  

Blastphemy

It's probably the same. I'm comparing Quicken to every other application I have on my MacBook Pro (2020 model, 2.4 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9 w/64GB RAM and 8TB SSD). Usually Microsoft programs are the slowest on my computer (due to the many fonts I use), but Quicken is even slower. I don't have any programs that take more than 1-2 seconds to launch fully, but Quicken can take 5-20 seconds. As you noted, Search can be slow initially. Entering transactions isn't bad, but sometimes running larger reports feels sluggish. I can instantly open an enormous Excel spreadsheet or MS Outlook with decades of emails w/attachments, but not Quicken. And overall, it just doesn't feel snappy like Quicken 2007 always did despite tens of thousands of transactions.

leishirsute

In Quicken for Windows, I used Save Copy As to reorganize the datafile to eliminate deleted accounts and other delete list items. Please bring back that functionality and do not disable online account access such as the current Create a Copy or Template does.

Scott8

The reason I believe a "start a new year" function has nothing to do about file sizes or file operations or files or anything. It's about customer service and simplifying and supporting a person's financial needs and allowing a customer to use a paid for product that fits the most people as possible. Why pay for a financial program that cannot fulfill your accounting needs and operate in such a way that makes it easier for the customer. This is especially true when that same product can do functions in the Windows version, yet for the Mac version the company requires you to "justify" why you need it in your version. This is the opposite of customer service and trying to enhance the product to meet all needs. We all started with the Windows version (if you have been using Quicken for a long time) and got used to a certain way of doing things that you felt comfortable with.

Again, I am not a programmer, but if you have the code that makes it function in the windows operating system, I can't imagine you cannot use the same concepts, and covert it into the MAC version. Quicken should not be requiring customers to justify the use of it- they should just do it if people want it. Yes, it will take time and yes it will take some resources- but I think people have wanted it for several years. I thought we were all one happy Quicken family- both Window users and Mac users?

jacobs

@Scott8 Your post above boils down to saying Quicken should do it "because". Because… it's in Quicken Windows. Or because… customers say so. What I think helps persuade the development team is if you can say why having this capability would be helpful to you. If your answer is that they should "just do it if people want it" they will likely deem it a lower priority than other requested features where they understand the use case and need. 

04vici

I have looked everywhere trying to find this feature. At least now I know it doesn’t exist. Just as you say I’ve been using quicken for a long time. My life is different now. I have way too many categories since I ran 2 small businesses and our personal accounts. I would love to save data with a beginning date. I am trying to think of a work around.

chfont411

I've had a lot of changes in my working life from freelance to staff and so I have a lot of unresolved transactions from 10 years ago. It's also a product of the earlier versions o Quicken that didn't work so well. I've been using Quicken since 1990 and I have made a practice of breaking up my data in 10-year increments, but now I find I can't do this in this latest version. I sure wish I knew that before I switched to the new version. Really you should let your users do this.
Every now and then you need to start fresh to eliminate old junk in your data. The workaround, I can tell is going to be really annoying.

lava

I've always saved past years as separate files –– until now suddenly the function is not there. And you want me to re-subscribe?

jacobs

@lava This functionality hasn't existed in the modern Quicken Mac since its debut in fall 2014 — so after 8 years, nothing is "suddenly " not there.

As for "I've always saved past years as separate files", the question is why this is important functionality for you. "I've always done it this way" isn't a compelling argument for the developers. Older versions of Quicken for Mac and Windows had limitations with their databases which aren't present in the modern Quicken Mac database. There are compelling arguments for keeping all you historical data run one file and not separating it year by year; there are also arguments in favor of being able to separate from old data. You should post explaining why such a feature would be useful to you, in the hope that the developers will eventually read this thread as they consider how/when to implement such a feature. 

tagleader

I have data from 2015, backup file size is 32MB. Slow to open. Slow to close. I backup all my significant data to the cloud - which saved my bacon last month when I needed to wipe my Mac and reinstall everything due to an OS corruption that didn't go away by just reinstalling the OS. Every time I close Quicken, I get a 32MB old backup file delete on the cloud and a 30MB backup file copy to the cloud. Cloud backup SW takes several mins to complete that operation, and cloud software also keeps a record of old files, so I have GB of old backup files. I want to close Quicken and be able to close my Mac after a short number of seconds for the backup to run. I certainly don't need or want to carry 32MB of data forward including disk and cloud operations every time I want to do a quick download and categorization of transactions.

Sometimes I am working and traveling overseas with LTE service that charges per MB. Digital Nomads are getting quick common.

I want to get in, do my work, and get out Quick and move on to other tasks. The Quicken/Mac DB is Quick, but the file operations to open and close and run the cloud backups are not.

jacobs

@tagleader I'd just note that Quicken doesn't do cloud backups, per se; it only generates backups, to whatever location you designate. I have a data file that's about 2.5 times larger than yours, and when I quit Quicken, it create a backup file in about 2 seconds. So the long times you're experiencing have something to do with whatever cloud service you're using, not specifically with Quicken. You might want to consider having Quicken create its backups in a folder on your Mac's local hard drive, and manually copying backups to your cloud location periodically.

s7037279054

Agree with above - lack thereof offends my sense or order and minimalism although I have yet to see a noticeable slow down in machine performance.

Unknown

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dtruncer

Seriously need an End of Year archive function. How about it Quicken? Im sure you can outsource the code! Get it done. MAC users are treated like second class customers.. Parity with WINDOWS!

jacobs

@dtruncer I could make a snarky comment that by asking for parity with Windows, you're asking for a less robust database with repair functions which must be run periodically. 🤣

As has been written in other posts in this Idea thread, the reason Quicken Mac doesn't have a Save a Copy or Year-End copy feature is that the developers initially thought Quicken Mac didn't need such a feature because the industrial database powering Quicken Mac isn't prone to the data corruption and size/performance limits of the Quicken Windows database. And generally speaking, I think that's true. However, as other posts in this thread illustrate, there are other legitimate reasons users may want to separate out their older data from heir ongoing data.

So I'd only say that Quicken Mac users should be requesting this feature because it serves their data needs, not for parity with an old Quicken Windows feature which was developed out of necessity due to weaknesses in the database.  

hbanks

Good point! Should be done because it is something we want. And it's why we have Mac's in the first place, not Windows.

jacobs

@hbanks  The issue is that the developers have to discern when users say they want something whether it's just because "that's the way it's always worked" or because there's a bona fide need.

The developers originally rejected user requests for a year-end copy feature because they felt users were asking to maintain what they were used to, when the modern database in the new Quicken Mac really had no need to keep files smaller and protect against file corruption as was necessary in the old Quicken Mac 2007 and Quicken Windows. They wanted users to keep all their data in the same data file, rather than separating by year as some users were in the habit of doing. I thought that seemed like the right decision; there's really no reason to separate out each year with the modern database, and doing so actually robs users of one of Quicken's key benefits: having all their financial history in one place. 

But as the discussions have continued in this thread and elsewhere, I changed my opinion because users presented valid reasons for purging old data unrelated to database stability. I characterize many of these as "life change events" which make it desirable to separate/archive old transactions in order to clean up categories, payees, tags which are no longer relevant to the user's current/future life. For example:

• Kids are grown up now, and lots of old categories or tags and payees created for dependent kids create clutter which is no longer needed.
• Used to run a business and track it in Quicken, but no longer have that business; Quicken is cluttered with old accounts, categories, tags, payees.
• Got divorced/widowed/remarried, and having to see old transactions, payees, categories, tags, etc. are at best irrelevant and at worst painful memories of a prior stage of life.

In my opinion these are good arguments for being able to separate out old data and clean up Quicken for the present and future.

If the developers occasionally review these Idea threads to consider them, as we hope they do, they can gain insight into why users are asking for a feature and change their opinion about whether it is needed or how high a priority it should be. Requests to "make it work like Quicken 2007!" or "make it work like Quicken Windows" will not get the Mac development team to bring about change, but compelling use cases and reasons why we Mac users want a particular feature from legacy Quicken Mac or Quicken Windows can and do get through.

siouxbarrett

@jacobs - Thank you for the cogent and thoughtful reply. I’ll restate my reasons for requesting this feature.

I was introduced to Year End Archive while on Quicken Windows where it was a necessity to keep the database stable. It was also a _useful_ feature. Archiving old transactions helps users keep their categories, tags, etc clean. It helps us move no longer needed accounts out of our way. @jacobs compiled many good reasons the Mac users would love this feature added to the product.

The Mac product managers have done a stellar job adding many improvements to their product. Please consider adding this feature - because doing it manually is bloody awful. I’m still not done with the new one I started 2 years ago.

hbanks

@jacobs Do you think developers really read these comments? Given that the Mac version seems to be stable, it would be good to be able to adapt to live changes as you say.

jacobs

hbanks said:

@jacobs Do you think developers really read these comments? 

On occasion… maybe. I think Idea topics get passed to the development teams, and if they are decding whether to go ahead, or want to see what people expect implementation to look like, someone might come here to read the thread. Or not. 

hbanks said:

Given that the Mac version seems to be stable, it would be good to be able to adapt to live changes as you say.

The problem is that there are hundreds of feature requests, so the developers have to pick the ones they think will have the largest impact, or benefit the largest number of people. Or, sometimes, they make changes because they are changing code in a particular area of the program, and they gather up multiple related requests to implement them. But at any given time, they're working on only a handful of the hundreds of requests. 

Spun69

Just chiming in. I am a digital nomad, using cellular data connection for my Internet service. I like to use cloud backup to ensure I have important data saved where I can access it from anywhere. I am finding my Quicken data file is quite large (~100MB), so transferring this regularly (daily) adds up against data caps. Would really like to have an archive capability to prune out transaction data for a given timeframe, allowing for a much smaller data file.

mosaicmaker

I would like to have the "Save a Copy" feature so I could create a file of say, the last 10 years, so I could delete a bunch of old, unused categories and accounts. I have data going back to 1990. I don't have performance problems, and I occasionally refer to older data, but I have something like 100 categories that I've abandoned over the years and it would be nice not to have to scroll through all of those every time I want to create a report.

Mthead2

I would like to have the "Archive" option in backups like is available to Windows users. That way Mac users could clean up their files as well without having to manually go through each Account, Category, Registers, etc. as well as having to add new starting balances.

judicaler

Here's why I need a year-end copy to archive and to start over each year with all the transaction categories in place:

Unfortunately, I'm not perfect. And I type the wrong date for a transaction at least several times per year. The transaction then will disappear and place itself in chronological order. So I have to look for it, so it will be in order. (Because if it's out of order, it will change the balances for every transaction after it.) And I'll lose my place when entering transactions if they aren't in order, because I enter the transaction from a physical checkbook register, and all the balances from the mistake down will be affected.

Thus, with no year-end copy, I believe I would have to go back years or decades to find my error instead of months, if I'm not able to start over. When I enter a transaction with the wrong date, I won't know which date I'm looking for. Because, if I noticed the mistake before it was too late, I wouldn't have entered it!

I'm using Quicken 2017 for Mac. I used it for the first time last year, because I hated to give up my old version when I got my Mac. But I finally started using the "new" version for Mac in 2021, instead of using my ancient PC. And a year later, I'm surprised the year-end feature is missing. Is Jacobs going to tell me to be more careful when I'm making entries? Or to get rid of my physical checkbook and pay through Quicken? I certainly wouldn't pay to update Quicken without a year-end feature.

jacobs

judicaler said:

Is Jacobs going to tell me to be more careful when I'm making entries? 

@judicaler Nope. Not sure why you'd ascribe such a negative comment to me.

But I can offer a suggestion for the issue you describe with misdated transactions! We can all make data entry mistakes. But assuming you reconcile your accounts in Quicken, all your older transactions should have green checkmarks in the Clr column. If your running balance suddenly appears to be off, you can click to the Clr column heading to sort the register by reconcile status, with unreconciled transactions at the top. A quick skim of those transactions should reveal if any are not from the most recent month or two. 

sphanneman

I have data going back to 1992; my backup file is 2.67 GB. Yes, GB. I attach receipts and statements to all my transactions. The windows version support site recommends starting a new data set every two years. Using Quicken for Mac is quick, but backing up the file when I close out takes a long time because of the size. It would help if I could archive everything older than, say, five years. I also have hundreds of categories to search through that have evolved since 1992. Since it doesn't look like Quicken is interested in addressing this challenge, does anyone have a workaround?

terrig

I would like to add my vote to bring "year-end copy" (or similar) to Q Mac. I've been using Q Windows for 20+ years and have always used this feature to archive my old transactions and accounts and start each new year with a smaller file. This not only helps with performance (some people have said that this is no longer necessary with the modern DB of the Mac version), but it also removes old/obsolete accounts and makes for much easier navigation in my accounts lists. Yes I know I can use the hide function for this, too, but it seems wasteful to have all of this data in my file when I won't use it. Things like loans that have been paid off, old accounts at different banks, RESP accounts that have been closed out -- I just don't want them in my file anymore. I also like that previous years' transactions in my active accounts are also taken away, so that the account's register isn't so annoyingly long. I rarely have to refer to such old transactions and if I do, I can just open up the archived file and take a look!

I don't see why this this would be such a difficult feature to bring to Mac and it seems like a lot of us long-time users have found it very useful. Please bring it back!