Partial removal of registers & associated accounts (Q Mac)

gwpotter

For a combination of reasons, we feel it is time to begin a new Quicken file. We want to keep the existing Quicken file for reference purposes. And we really want to begin the new Quicken file with selected data that our current file contains - credit card and checking accounts.

The new Quicken file will not contain any of the current file's brokerage data (several accounts at two different brokerage firms.)

We want existing credit card & checking registers in new Quicken file.

We also want to have the current checking account data in the new Quicken file.

Does it matters, there have been transfers between the brokerage accounts into our bank accounts (some of which are active and others not used for years).

What is the best way to proceed?

jacobs

There's no defined path to do what you want, but you can get there with a little work.

1. Make a record of the current account balances in all your accounts.
2. Quit Quicken, duplicate the data file in the Finder, and rename it.
3. Open the copied data file.
4. Delete all the investment accounts, one at a time (by control-clicking on the account in the left sidebar, and selecting Delete)
5. If you have any investment accounts which are closed and/or hidden, unhide them and delete them as well.

When you delete an account with linked transfers, Quicken will retain the transfer transaction in the other account, but will change it to a category called "Transfer" which simply keeps the transaction invisible in income/expense reports. If you have the Transfer column visible, it will still show the name of the former account, but when you hover over it, the arrow icon for jumping to the other side of the transfer will have a red slash through it, indicating it is a broken transfer to an account which doesn't exist. Here's an example showing a transfer to an account called "Checking" which I deleted:

Check the account balances in your checking and credit card accounts to make sure nothing has changed.