When to quit using an existing FILE and start a new FILE

sosuzguy

I have been using Quicken since 1994 in the same file which current file size is 62.8 MB.
I have new bank accounts I need to add to Quicken. Would it be okay to continue to use the existing file? I'd like to still be able to use the same categories as before but I don't see a way to export categories to import into another file. Suggestions?

Ps56k2

My QDF file is about 122MB -

you can see the internal stats....  -- Help --> Ctrl + About Quicken

sosuzguy

Thank you for your comment. This is what mine is showing:

markus1957

Your existing file should be fine.  One thing noticed from your screen shot is that you have a running application that is hogging a significant amount of system memory.  If you are noticing a performance issue, the memory deficiency may be the cause.

sosuzguy

> @markus1957 said:
> Your existing file should be fine.  One thing noticed from your screen shot is that you have a running application that is hogging a significant amount of system memory.  If you are noticing a performance issue, the memory deficiency may be the cause.

Thank you, how can I find out what is hotting that amount of system memory?

UKR

Is your current Quicken data file clean and up-to-date or has it deteriorated and become a total mess?

IMHO, if your current file is good and clean, you can easily add new bank accounts to your 19 existing ones. You're not anywhere near any limitations.

OTOH, if you do want to start over with a new file and carry forward all your 400 categories, you can do this:
Using the File Menu in Quicken select File Operations / Copy

Check the name of the new file that will be created. By default, "Cpy" is appended to the file name, so if the current file is named "UKR" the new file will be "UKRCpy"
Set both From and To dates to a date in the future, well beyond what shows up as your To date
Uncheck the 3 options below.
This will result in a file with all accounts, all categories, but no transactions.
From here you can delete old, unused account registers and add your new ones.

Do be sure to set up backup options for the new file to create as many backups as possible, e.g., every time you close Quicken. You'll be putting a lot of work into the new file. If something were to go wrong and you don't have backups to fall back to you may lose many hours of work.

NotACPA

@sosuzguy Here's the link to the Minimum System Requirements for QW2017.  https://www.quicken.com/support/quicken-system-requirements

Your graphic shows that you have 3/4 of the required memory available.

markus1957

What version of Windows are you running? How much physical RAM is installed?

Windows Task Manager is your best bet or System Resources.

Rocket J Squirrel

@sosuzguy , what you have perhaps too many of is memorized payees. Having a lot of them is known to cause Quicken to run slower. If you have a couple hundred you are no longer using, backup your data file and delete them from your working file. And if you are automatically memorizing payees, you may want to quit doing that.

We rarely recommend starting a new file because once split, reassembly is virtually impossible and file size doesn't matter much. My file is twice the size of yours. The only thing a big file really slows down is Backup, especially if you have lots of attachments.

But to answer your original question, you can export your category list into a QIF file and import it into a new data file if you think you really want to do that.