Need help determining best course of action re:datafile after divorce

Morley

Hello,
I apologize in advance if this is a simple question, but after several hours of reading on the forum I am still not clear on what I should do.

I am getting divorced after 10 years of marriage. My wife was an accountant and maintained a very complex set of categories and accounts in Quicken, which I no longer require. She stopped updating Quicken at the end of 3rd qtr last year, so now the file is quite mixed up, well beyond my ability to fix it.

My question is basically-- what is the best way forward considering the following?
+ I do not need to do comparisons with old data for any reason, like budgets or spending
+ the bulk of the existing accounts and categories will be going away

In the very old days I would have started a new year, but it seems that is not an option anymore.

It seems that it might be best if I just started a new datafile, but as I am new at this I am afraid I may be missing something important.
And If the best course of action is to keep the original datafile, how can I sort out the messed up and missing entries? (I did read on how to adjust unused categories so they appear at the bottom of the list, and how to hide accounts.)

All input is graciously appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help!

splasher

If you don't care about history, I'd start a new file, File->New Quicken File.  It is close enough to the beginning of the year, that most financial institutions (FI) will download back at least to 1/1 when you set them up for One Step Update.

If you don't get enough data, see this FAQ, FAQ - Download old transactions , to fill in the holes.

The main thing is that with all of the transactions you want (maybe you deleted some older ones), the Opening Balance (first transaction in each account register) may need to be adjusted to make the current balance agree with the real balance at the FI.

If you have any outstanding checks, you will want to have them included. 

splasher

Just give the new file a different name and both should be listed in the recent file list on the File menu.

splasher

If you don't care about history, I'd start a new file, File->New Quicken File.  It is close enough to the beginning of the year, that most financial institutions (FI) will download back at least to 1/1 when you set them up for One Step Update.

If you don't get enough data, see this FAQ, FAQ - Download old transactions , to fill in the holes.

The main thing is that with all of the transactions you want (maybe you deleted some older ones), the Opening Balance (first transaction in each account register) may need to be adjusted to make the current balance agree with the real balance at the FI.

If you have any outstanding checks, you will want to have them included. 

Morley

Thank you so much! It sounds like a new file is the way to go.

Just to confirm, if I save the old datafile I can still load it in case someone needs something from it in future years, is that correct?

Thank you again for your help, it is greatly appreciated :-)

splasher

Just give the new file a different name and both should be listed in the recent file list on the File menu.

Morley

You ROCK! Thank you so much!