Should I be pruning my Quicken data file?

dlipetz

Looking for feedback on best practices from the Superuser community or other longtime Quicken users. I've been using Quicken since 1997 and have plenty of scar tissue from using the platform over the decades and am seeking feedback/advice before making any significant changes to my data file.

Currently using Quicken for Windows R50.8 Build 27.1.50.8. My data file now has almost 21 years of transactions dating back to 12/31/2002 and is 273MB.

Quicken says that my data file is way too large and I should reduce by archiving off at least 15 years of transactions.

What is the best practice for managing data file size? I am most interested in reliability and know how fragile the data file can be. I once tried Year End Copy to reduce the file size but immediately noticed that the starting balances of many accounts were wrong so quickly restored my backup and didn't try it again.

Thoughts? What are other folks doing? Am I nuts NOT to reduce file size?

Thanks in advance.

Rocket J Squirrel

I am not experiencing any performance issues - just some anxiety over the large file size and the Quicken rep's statement about file size. So, given no symptoms, best practice is to forge forward as is?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

There may be something you can do to clean up your file if it will reduce anxiety. When you delete something in QWin, it is marked deleted but continues to occupy space in the database. If you have ever performed a massive deletion of accounts, transactions, categories, payees, etc., they are still there. The only operation in QWin which removes them is File Copy. This operation rebuilds your database record by record, leaving behind deleted items. You can perform the File Copy including all dates and your file size may shrink, depending on prior deletions. You will need to reconnect your online accounts in the new copy.

Securities/Max ref: 286/298 (Do I need to address this? Looks like an impending limit)

It's a count, not a limit. It means you had 298 securities at some point and now have 286.

Rocket J Squirrel

Quicken says that my data file is way too large and I should reduce by archiving off at least 15 years of transactions.

"Quicken says"? Do you mean the program is complaining about your file size? Or some human Quicken employee told you that?

What symptoms are you observing that lead you to believe your file is too large?

My file is 384 MB including attachments and all, and its internal QDF file is 144 MB. I don't have any performance problems with that size. At one point, I did archive my investment accounts more to reduce clutter than to improve performance.

We never advise pruning for the sake of pruning. If you are having performance issues, often they can be improved by reducing the number of memorized payees, categories, etc., and/or archiving your investment accounts. But it depends what your symptoms are.

q_lurker

Q1 - How are you determining the 273 MB measurement? Windows shows my file as 201 MB; QWin shows 122 MB (Help, Ctrl-click on About Quicken). If you are using attachments within Quicken, that can significantly increase total file size without being meaningful as to performance.

Q2 - Why and what are you asking Quicken about that they are telling you the file is too big?

To more directly answer your headline question, I would not prune my file ever except as a very last resort. I’ve been using the program since early 90s - back to DOS days. There may be some deadwood information I could do away with but not too much scar tissue from misadventures.

dlipetz

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20366179#Comment_20366179

Quicken support representative told me so last time I had to speak with one.

I am not experiencing any performance issues - just some anxiety over the large file size and the Quicken rep's statement about file size.

So, given no symptoms, best practice is to forge forward as is?

dlipetz

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20366180#Comment_20366180

Q1: Windows reports file size as 273MB, QWin says 243MB (61482 transactions).

Securities/Max ref: 286/298 (Do I need to address this? Looks like an impending limit)

Q2: Was months ago when I was having an unrelated issue that I can't specifically recall, rep asked how many years of data I had and she responded that it was way too many.

Rocket J Squirrel

I am not experiencing any performance issues - just some anxiety over the large file size and the Quicken rep's statement about file size. So, given no symptoms, best practice is to forge forward as is?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

There may be something you can do to clean up your file if it will reduce anxiety. When you delete something in QWin, it is marked deleted but continues to occupy space in the database. If you have ever performed a massive deletion of accounts, transactions, categories, payees, etc., they are still there. The only operation in QWin which removes them is File Copy. This operation rebuilds your database record by record, leaving behind deleted items. You can perform the File Copy including all dates and your file size may shrink, depending on prior deletions. You will need to reconnect your online accounts in the new copy.

Securities/Max ref: 286/298 (Do I need to address this? Looks like an impending limit)

It's a count, not a limit. It means you had 298 securities at some point and now have 286.

splasher

My data file goes back to 1996, is 102MB with no attachments, so it is all data. Like already stated by the others, I wouldn't trim my data file down for any but the most dire reasons.

The investment archive that is mentioned does not remove any data, it just creates new account(s) and moves the active positions into them, but all of the older, closed positions are retained in the original account(s) for historical information, so nothing is lost.

Ps56k2

just leave things alone - and keep all your data in that single QDF file -

as mentioned - you can see and compare the size of your QDF file to the rest of us -

… Help —> CTRL+About Quicken

mshiggins

As others stated, I would not prune my file unless there was no other option. I have data going back to 1996.

dlipetz

Thanks to all for the feedback. I will heed everyone's advice and leave my QDF alone.

tbf47

I was advised today:

"we need to make a copy of this file, but it would only have to have transactions not older than 2 years, and we would have to archive the old file with all the transactions"

I have data that goes back to 1994.

I am having slow program performance. Launch is slow, I get stuck waiting for the program doing a variety of things.

I believe Windows has given processing and internet preference to Windows functions even thought Quicken is the only thing I use this PC for. This is the 3rd different thing over the last year I have been told to fix the problem. The first ones made no difference. I am concerned that this is bad advice. I have emailed Microsoft to give them a shot at this. My issue is why isn't everyone with a lot of data having the exact same problem. Clearly they are not.

Love to hear what any of you have to say. Thank you in advance.

Rocket J Squirrel

@tbf47

I was advised today: "we need to make a copy of this file, but it would only have to have transactions not older than 2 years, and we would have to archive the old file with all the transactions"

Advised by whom and in what context? If someone needs a copy of recent transactions, what prevents you from continuing to use the original data with all the history?

tbf47

A Quicken person, a that I happened to get on the chat. I sent this to him: "about a year ago many Quicken users began experiencing very slow.  1. Program launch, 2. Changing functions from within the program 3 One step update .    I have used Quicken for many years and have never experienced this.  My band width is fine.  My machine is fine.  I thought at first it was windows giving ONE DRIVE command of all the data.  I have (I believe) since deleted, disabled ONE Drive.  It did not help.  This is a single use PC(I use it for Quicken only) I have a SSD. The machine itself is 2 or 3 years old.  I highly doubt it is hardware.    Quicken Support seems predisposed in their belief it is not a Quicken issue.  I believe it is.  I believe there was probably a setting in the windows 10 program that changed that they did not account for.    Any Help, advise or direction to resolve this will be greatly appreciated"  

I have reinstalled Windows. I have reinstalled Quicken. I have validated my data file. I have even reached out to Microsoft to see if they could help.

I do not believe the solution is reduce my data file to 2 years of transactional data.

tbf47

Quickens apparent apathy mixed with incompetence makes this very difficult.

Rocket J Squirrel

A couple of posts you can read may help.

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7915476/faq-are-there-any-windows-settings-that-can-improve-quicken-s-performance

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20366793#Comment_20366793

tbf47

RJS

Thank you for the suggestions.

I got it done except for the

set the shortcut to start in Quicken’s
application data folder by setting that to
%APPDATA%\Quicken

I do not know where to put that.

I made the other changes. No change in program speed.

tbf47

@Rocket J Squirrel

I received a cordial reply from Microsoft. While this person was not familiar with Quicken, his opinion based on a synopsis of the problem is that it is probably a Window setting Quicken's folk are not aware of.

This afternoon I started my PC in SafeMode. Then launched Quicken. The program launched in like 3 seconds. I am not a Window analyst at all. What does that mean to you? From what I have read it proves that there is something in Windows cause the program performance problems. Do you agree. Where do I go with this information? i appreciate your feedback. I would love to help figure this out. I mean this should not take Elon Musk to figure this out. I am actually an Apple guy. I have 2 computers on my desk. I only use the Windows box for Quicken. Thanks in advance.

tbf47

@Ps56k2

Thanks for the feed back here are the stats on my file. Question. If Quicken launches in Safe Mode in 3 seconds and in normal mode in 60-90 seconds what does that mean to you? Because the Quicken folks are in denial, What can I do if to figure out what is causing Quicken to have these delays. Thanks

Rocket J Squirrel

Here is a surprising Windows setting recently discovered by a user. Make sure your PC's network profile is Private.

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20366793#Comment_20366793

markus1957

Another user in the thread above found that firewall settings for printer services were causing a delay in startup.

tbf47

Been trying to get some help from Quicken. The Microsoft peeps have said. Eventually it will be Quicken who will need to be involved. I have been on with them for a while again today. "painful"

I just got this from them after a full history. i am sure they were message carrying to someone. But here it is:

"I do apologize for this inconvenience, but we do not have a direct way to run faster the program on your computer,  each computer runs the software differently, I really apologize but I do not have a way to change that directly with your computer"

tbf47

@markus1957 Thanks for the suggestion. I will check and see what I can find out.

tbf47

So, I just turned off my firewall. The program launches faster. If any of you could weigh in on this I would love to hear it. Starting in Safe Mode improved the launch time. Then I went back to regular mode and turned off the Firewall and that helped.

markus1957

Have you confirmed in Network Settings that your network is classified as Private? As for your firewall, you can reset it to its default state.

tbf47

The Quicken performance improves when I turn off the PC fire wall. My thought is if there is a firewall in the internet gateway is the pc firewall redundant and is it safe to not use the PC firewall? This is a windows box only used for Quicken.

tbf47

Question, What Quicken related files do you allow through the Windows Defender Firewall?

So far i have: 

Quicken CEF Subprocess

Quicken Windows

and my Data file 

Thanks 

tbf47

Yes my network settings are set to private

markus1957

The easiest way is to reset the firewall to default and then allow when prompted while running Quicken.

tbf47

My experiences over the last couple of days with the Quicken response to my problem is extremely disappointing. This is the very reason I don't contact them more often. The response over the years has been exclude transactional data from my working file. For me at least have a trove of transactional data is part of the benefit of using a program like Quicken. I am afraid Quicken's time may be past. Too much apathy. They seemingly like to fix the report generator. Management maybe disconnected from what is really happening. If I could get the contact info of some big dogs at Quicken I would let them know from a faithful 30+ year user how the response have changed and to accept a lower standard from them. Like much of the culture. There are quite a number of us long time regulars out here. It just seams that program full analyzation would be in order. As noted elseware, some of this is code is old and doesn't work well these days. I say fix it.

tbf47

We had a A/R software company years ago that had an attitude like Quicken has evolved to. They had little regard for the work and value of users needs. We fired them and with the same money hired an in-house analyst who could do much of what we needed. We could bring in a consultant analyst for a couple of days and work on our big stuff with our analyst thus improving his skills and improving our platform.

splasher

You might go to the bottom of the Quicken website and click on "About Us", it might have something you are interested in.