Does File Size Matter?

Paula Miceli

My qdf file is now approximately 132MB. Since the October 2021 update, my Quicken operates very slowly. This is apparent when clicking from one account to another, when entering or approving transactions for entry, when downloading transactions, and just about all actions. The hourglass appears for several seconds after each entry.

At Quicken Support's recommendation, I did a Validate and Repair, with no improvement. I also installed the latest Mondo patch at that time (a few more have now been installed). The Quicken rep indicated that slow-downs could be related to file size, but it's strange that mine did not slow down at all until after the update was installed. I've used Quicken for almost 20 years without this type of ongoing problem. I do not have attachments in my Quicken file.

I'd like to know what others' experience is with file size. I'd prefer not to create archived files for past years, as I want to be able to access complete investing history. Any input or advice appreciated.

Windows 10, Quicken Subscription Version R37.37

Sherlock

A 132 MB Quicken file should not cause Quicken to operate slowly.  Ours is over 322MB and performs fine on an old dual processor, but we're still using R36.38.  

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Texas Ed

Mine has slowed down on my large Schwab account, file size about the same as yours. Other Schwab accounts still reasonably quick. Don't want to archive large file for same reason as you. OF course, nothing is downloading anymore (or if it does I end up with several thousand transactions to work through since you can't delete all) so I've given up trying until we get through end-of-year...can't afford to have screwed up files as I approach end of tax year. I'm on version 37.25.

HiTrevor

My file is over 200 MB and I feel that it definitely causes slow, sluggish behavior. More importantly, the account(s) within Quicken that are especially large (like investment accounts with 20+ years of data) will move very, very slowly. Every time I accept a transaction it takes almost 30 seconds to be accepted, which is ludicrous. The software code that this is built on is over 25 years old, according to Quicken executives. It needs a complete rewrite, which should be happening already

NYSEG

My file is also over 200MB and loading has started to take longer especially sine October using 37.37

CocoaPuff

My Quicken Windows data file is 210+MB and in general the performance is very good. A few years ago my Quicken had got extremely sluggish in opening larger files, accepting transactions, scrolling in registers or lots in portfolios with many transactions. However, these performance and quality issues were addressed in updates after Intuit sold Quicken to private equity in 2016. (Quicken was sold again to another private equity firm in Oct 2021.) Except for the recent Schwab EWC+ transition, I have been very satisfied with improvements made to Quicken after it was sold to private equity.

For reference purposes, my primary computer is a one-year old laptop running Windows 10 Enterprise and has a medium performance i7 4-core processor, 16GB RAM, and 1TB solid state drive. I keep my computer updated with the latest drivers, Windows patches, and Quicken updates (R37.52) when they are available.

However, I am seeing significant increases in download times for Schwab accounts after the transition to EWC+. What used to be relatively instantaneous downloads with Direct Connect, now takes about 15-20 seconds to download transactions from Schwab accounts using One Step Update. All my non-Schwab accounts download very fast (these accounts all use Direct Connect).

UKR

If you're an active trader and/or your current investment account has many transactions pertaining to sold securities you may want to consider this:

Archive Investment Transactions

For about a year now, a new function has been available in Quicken, Archive Transactions. It will split your investment account register into two parts, leaving only those securities' transactions where you currently hold >0 shares in the active register. The rest is moved to a new Archive register within the current data file.

Having less transactions in your active register might improve performance.

Please read and carefully follow instructions here: https://www.quicken.com/support/how-archive-investment-transactions
Eventually, after a couple of years, you might consider splitting your data file in two, with all the archived investment transactions in the old file and none remaining in the active file.

Chris_QPW

The main problem with the original question is that it way to general.
If I was to answer the original question “Does the data file size matter?” The answer would be no.

The details of the original give more details but leave out which account types are involved.
Other questions are talking about the performance of downloading transactions, and for that details of what the connection method is, the financial institution is and such are needed.

In general.

1. Performance problems in one investment account -> try archiving transactions.
2. Performance problems in non investment account, possible causes are too many categories, memorized payees, more than about 32,000 transactions.
3. General performance problems (all parts of Quicken) Validate and Repair, uninstall Quicken using the QCleanUI procedure and reinstall.
4. Downloading transactions problems, have to worked out for a given problem, there isn’t a general solution, and there is a large possibility depending on the connection method that only Quicken Inc/Intuit/Financial institution can fix the problem.

If none of this helps then there is little anyone can tell you on how to fix it with the exception of trying to recreate the data file.  Also note that Quicken isn’t good for some use cases like active traders.  Arching may or may not actually improve the situation depending on what investment activity you are doing.

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Chris_QPW

In general I have not seen where people have been able to prove that a given patch has caused a slow down.  They claim that is the case, but when I tell them how to check if it is really the patch that does it, they never come back verifying that rolling back before that patch fixes anything.  I say directly because every patch is basically an install of Quicken and for a small percentage of people any given install causes problem.  That is why just telling people to run the Mondo install sometimes fixes the problem, which overwrites the program files, but not the configuration files.  When it doesn’t the next step is the QCleanUI procedure because the installing of a Mondo patch doesn’t remove configuration files, which can sometimes cause problems because they have been corrupted.

For sudden changes like you describe those two processes are generally the best shot at them.
For proving that a given patch created the problem the procedure would be to install while you aren’t connected to the Internet, so that it can’t automatically update, and then install the Mondo patch.  You can find old Mondo patches on my website:  http://www.quicknperlwiz.com.

It is also possible to go back to an old version just by just installing the old Mondo patch over the newer version, but it not guaranteed to always work, applying a newer patch on an older version is really how they were meant to be applied.

Another complication you have is the fact that you are using Schwab.  Because of the change over you can’t go to far back or you will break that connection.  I believe the oldest you can use is R35.38.  Every R35 patch after that has been to address one or another Schwab problem.

Sherlock

Chris_QPW said:

Another complication you have is the fact that you are using Schwab.  Because of the change over you can’t go to far back or you will break that connection.  I believe the oldest you can use is R35.38.  Every R35 patch after that has been to address one or another Schwab problem.

@Chris_QPW I suspect you meant R36: Windows R36.xx Release (US)

Chris_QPW

@Sherlock, thanks, yes that is correct.

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Chris_QPW

Paula Miceli said:

@Chris_QPW I agree about not going back to previous versions due to the Schwab corrections in the subsequent Mondo patches. That's why I'm now at v37.52 (and Schwab download is still not working 100% correctly -- but that's another story). At this point, if I do the QCleanUI procedure and reinstall do I need to contact Support to walk me through it? Especially considering that I'm using version R37.52 instead of one of the R36.XX's?

Whether you need Quicken Support to help with the QCleanUI procedure just depends on if you are comfortable with the process or not.  Let me say two things though about it.  You can skip the first part an jump to “if that didn’t work” section, because the most important part is to delete the config files (they say rename, but you can delete).  And the other is even though they have a step where you are to run the regular Windows uninstall, I would just skip to using QCleanUI and run it because it will do the uninstall and do a better job if the regular uninstall isn’t run first.

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leishirsute

Would a transactional copy of the datafile help?  Isn't that essentially a reorg of the datafile and eliminates all deleted list entries?

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leishirsute

It is under File ==> Copy or Backup File  (see image)

I use a very old start date,like 1/1/1940 and very future end date, like 12/31/2070

to make sure all transactions are copied.

If there are deleted list items to free up, the new datafile will be smaller than the prior.

But, be aware, that the new version of copy deactivates all account online connections and they have to be reactivated.

So if you are going to try this, copy your good datafile to another name like test.qdf and try it on the test.  You can then check if the test.qdf has any better performance than the "production" datafile.

If it performs better and you can make it your production datafile, but you will need to reactivate all account connections.

With the cloud synchronization, copying and backup/restore have become a bit more complex.

Check https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20207195#Comment_20207195