How do I start a new year file?

Gordon S

I try to start a new file and can only add on to my current year file. I want a file that is for 2022

jacobs

@Gordon S Yes, now I understand, and that makes sense.

Except it's not the way Quicken Mac is designed to work. There is no feature for separating out individual years. That feature existed in the legacy Quicken Mac and Quicken Windows because (a) files could become too large, and (b) the databases were known to have sporadic corruption problems, and keeping a lean file could help prevent problems. Neither of those is the case with the modern Quicken Mac, which uses a much more robust SQL database. So the developers simply didn't create a way to split up data by year. Instead, they made it easy to filter any register or any report to just show the current year, if you want to hide prior year data.

Most people who have asked for a year-end copy do so because they're used to it and they've been doing it that way for a long time. But the underlying reasons for it don't exist, and you're likely to find you have no reason to want to split your data like that any more. Why would you want to go back to open a prior year's data file to look something up, when you can have all your data available in one file? I have nearly 30 years of data in my Quicken file, and I love that I can search for a transaction in the past without needing to know exactly when it happened. To me, that's one of the great joys of using Quicken; whether I want to know when we last replace our hot water heater, or when the first time we went to a certain restaurant was, or how many times in past decade I've purchased theater tickets, all my data is at my fingertips.

The developers have said in the past that they don't plan to implement a year-end copy feature. I do think there are some valid reasons for it if one has has a "life change" event (divorced, retired, children grown) which makes it desirable to jettison a lot of old accounts, categories, tags, or payees. There is an Idea post here where you can add your vote for if you want such a feature; you should also add a post in that thread explaining to the developers why you want the feature and how it would benefit you. (Hint: saying "because I've always done it this way" does not convince the developers! )

Quicken September

Hello, @Gordon S

Thank you for reaching out to the Community with your question, though I am sorry for any confusion. If I am understanding you correctly, you would like to start a whole new data file, is that correct? 

If this is the case, please navigate to the menu bar at the top of your screen and select File, then New, then Start from Scratch. This will create an entirely new data file that you can use specifically for 2022. If I am misunderstanding your question or if you have any further questions, please reach out to clarify and/or ask. Thank you and have a wonderful day! 

-Quicken September 

jacobs

@Gordon S Note that by starting from scratch, you will be starting completely from scratch: no carry-over of your accounts, no investment history, no list of payees or categories or securities. If that's what you want, then follow as stated above to create a new file.

But if what you want is to retain all your lists and accounts and just have new data for the new year, there's no easy way to do that. And before going further down that road, I'd ask why you want to discard all the data from last year. There may not be a valid reason, or there may be a better approach — so it would help to understand what you're wanting to do and why. 

Gordon S

I certainly don't want to delete all the data from 2021. In days past one could simply click on "start a new Year" and Quicken automatically did so. it carried over the last amounts of the past year as the start for the new year. I want my files to be year specific so I can always go back to that year. I do not want the new year to just tag onto the prior year. I hope this makes sense

jacobs

@Gordon S Yes, now I understand, and that makes sense.

Except it's not the way Quicken Mac is designed to work. There is no feature for separating out individual years. That feature existed in the legacy Quicken Mac and Quicken Windows because (a) files could become too large, and (b) the databases were known to have sporadic corruption problems, and keeping a lean file could help prevent problems. Neither of those is the case with the modern Quicken Mac, which uses a much more robust SQL database. So the developers simply didn't create a way to split up data by year. Instead, they made it easy to filter any register or any report to just show the current year, if you want to hide prior year data.

Most people who have asked for a year-end copy do so because they're used to it and they've been doing it that way for a long time. But the underlying reasons for it don't exist, and you're likely to find you have no reason to want to split your data like that any more. Why would you want to go back to open a prior year's data file to look something up, when you can have all your data available in one file? I have nearly 30 years of data in my Quicken file, and I love that I can search for a transaction in the past without needing to know exactly when it happened. To me, that's one of the great joys of using Quicken; whether I want to know when we last replace our hot water heater, or when the first time we went to a certain restaurant was, or how many times in past decade I've purchased theater tickets, all my data is at my fingertips.

The developers have said in the past that they don't plan to implement a year-end copy feature. I do think there are some valid reasons for it if one has has a "life change" event (divorced, retired, children grown) which makes it desirable to jettison a lot of old accounts, categories, tags, or payees. There is an Idea post here where you can add your vote for if you want such a feature; you should also add a post in that thread explaining to the developers why you want the feature and how it would benefit you. (Hint: saying "because I've always done it this way" does not convince the developers! )

abcdmath

I want to do a "Save As" for 2022. My husband passed away in 2021 and there are many categories and accounts that I will no longer need. I don't want to start from scratch though since more than half of info I want to keep. Any ideas?

I also am a Quicken for Mac user since 1990 smiley:

jacobs

@abcdmath First, my condolences on the loss of your husband.

In terms of separating out older data, as you've read above in this thread, there is no way to do that. But you can clean up some of the data you no longer need.

Accounts are easy. Open the Accounts > Hide & Show Accounts screen. Here, you can mark any old accounts as Close and Hide in Lists. This means all the old data is still there should you need to search for something, but it's no longer visible in your Quicken.

Categories are not as easy; the developers have not (yet) created a way to hide categories used in old transactions but no longer needed. You probably don't want to delete categories which have been used in any transactions, because those transactions end up as simple "Uncategorized". A suggestion is to edit the category names you don't want with a "z" prefix (such as "zPhotography" or "z-Photography"). The prefix pushes these categories to the bottom of any list of categories, so you don't see them as you're selecting transactions going forward.

You might want to visit this link, which is for users requesting the developers to add a feature to separate out old data; scroll down a little and add your vote for it by clicking the little black arrow in the yellow box.