Clearing/backing up the check register.

Question

My register goes back to Jan 2015.  I want to erase and save all entries up until Jan 1, 2020.  How do I do that and have the register start Jan 1, 2020 with the correct Dec. 31,2019 balance?

Chris_QPW · Answer

I don't think there is really any problem with moving transactions to another register if one just doesn't want to see them in the same register or if they are approaching more than 30,000 transactions in a register, which has been called out for causing problems.

But one has to understand why removing transactions tends to cause problems.
If you had an account that had no transfers to any other account then deleting transactions and updating the online balance would be simple.   But who has a checking account without any transfers?

You start deleting those transfers and now you are affecting other accounts.

By moving the unwanted transactions to another account that one might hide, you preserve all those transfers that will cause problems in other accounts.

Note like @volvogirl said there is a Year End Copy, but it has several restrictions of what it will remove that confuses people into believing it isn't working.  Like the fact that the both sides of a transfer transaction have to be reconciled before it will remove those transactions even if they are older than the date set to be removed.

What's more is "never get back" operation.  If for any reason you want to recombine the split data files it is next to impossible to do.  And if you want to run reports or such on the old data you have to open that data file.  And note that if you open an old data file and it has reminders set to automatically enter, Quicken will enter them all to get "caught up to date".

volvogirl · Answer

I would add a new account with the 12/31/19 balance.   Then move all the current transactions you want to it.  Then you can hide the old account.   But most of us here recommend not to break up or archive your transactions.   Just keep going in the same register.  You can do a year-end copy but most of us here don't recommend it. It's better to leave all your data and history together in one file and it should not affect performance.  Sometime in the future we guarantee you will want to see something and you won't be able to merge them back together. You can run reports for any time period.

MarvG · Answer

All I'm trying to do is remove data from 1/1/15 through 12/31/19  so that my current register is more current.  I've understood that you can do this at the end of any given year by saving/erasing the prior years transactions.  I've never done that and I find it hard to believe that I can't just erase (with or without saving) the unwanted years.  I think I tried it once and it messed up the opening balance and every transaction there after.