Starting new as of last year! (Q Mac)
I have an old Quicken data file (10 years old). Things are getting slow, and I never look at data earlier than 1/1/24. How can I 'archive' off all data prior to then, or, create a new data file that has all my accounts/transactions/categories, attachments, etc., etc. since 1/1/24?
Best Answers
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Go ahead and try what I suggest, then, on a copy of your data file so that you can see if it speeds things up before bothering with balance adjustments etc. If it doesn't, then you've got your current file to continue using.
And… one of the more experienced people might have an entirely different idea to help you.
In terms of slowness - which should be a separate topic in the appropriate area of the Community if you really want to get ideas to track that down - what actions are slow? And while you say it isn't your computer, could you give your computer specs - version of macOS, processor, amount of memory and hopefully that you have an SSD with ample free space and not a spinning disk? Also, that your Quicken data file is on your local drive and not on any cloud storage whatsoever (Dropbox, a folder backed up automatically to iCloud/OneDrive etc).
You could start a fresh discussion about that in the troubleshooting forum:
Quicken user since 1990, MacBook Pro M2 Max on Sequoia 15.3.1 (and Win 11 under Parallels Desktop)
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@JimHuff With the Mac you have you really shouldn't be experiencing slowness. And the advice from Quicken Support to delete transactions is, unfortunately, ridiculous. Quicken uses a modern SQL Database, and the number of transactions doesn't materially affect speed of operations in most places. I have data going back more than 30 years, with more than 80,000 transactions, and Quicken is not slow.
But the alarm bell your last response set off is that you have your data file on iCloud. This is a major no-no. It is known to cause a wide variety of problems, including performance issues, data errors, even getting locked out of a file. I appreciate that you heavily use cloud services and expect them to work well with everything but they don't work well with a relational database like Quicken. I'd strongly encourage you to move your Quicken data file to a location on your hard drive which is not stored on or synced to a cloud service (such as creating a Quicken folder at the top level of your User/home folder. You can absolutely use iCloud or Dropbox or OneDrive as the location for Quicken to store your automatic and manual backups — just not your live data file.
(I should add that the process of downloading transactions from your financial institutions is slow, and this won't change that. 😉)
Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 19935
Answers
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QMac doesn't have a feature to do that (like QWin does) AFIAK. I think (?) the best you can do is to work through account type groups (vs individual account registers) and shift-click the range of old transactions that you want to delete… from a COPY of your data file.
First make a note of the opening balance for every account as of 1/1/24 - as you'll most likely need to add an Adjustment entry to restore that amount after deleting things.
For example, instead of clicking on each credit card, click on the title item "Credit Card" in the left account list which will give a merged view of every credit card transaction from every account. Go to 12/31/23, select, scroll to bottom (or tap the 'end' key if your keyboard has one) and shift click, then tap delete.
Note, you will likely get a lot of warnings/errors (I didn't want to test!) saying that transfers are broken in the case of payments or transfers to an asset account etc.
Do the same for "Checking", etc.
Given the hassle of losing transfers to asset accounts, not having records of home cost basis transactions, balance adjustment issues etc… I would not do this. If your file is getting slow, then something else is probably going on other than the amount of data.
I have over 30 years of data and my file is not slow at all. I actually regret that in 1994 I purged prior year data as it would be fun to look at my transactions back to 1990 since I never see even the slightest delay doing anything in QMac (other than the dumb comparison reports that default to "all dates" rather than "last 5 years" or whatever).
Quicken user since 1990, MacBook Pro M2 Max on Sequoia 15.3.1 (and Win 11 under Parallels Desktop)
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That is very very helpful. I understand what you have said. But since mine is slow (and it isn't my computer). I feel like something in my data file (lots of attachments?) is slowing things down. Am not sure how to optimize without deleting data. when I spoke with quicken support, they asked how many transactions were in my oldest account, I said 12,000. they said, that is a lot, I'd consider deleting some. I felt like community support might give me a better answer. I'm not familiar with the Quicken community, but am so grateful for your timely and thorough reply….
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Go ahead and try what I suggest, then, on a copy of your data file so that you can see if it speeds things up before bothering with balance adjustments etc. If it doesn't, then you've got your current file to continue using.
And… one of the more experienced people might have an entirely different idea to help you.
In terms of slowness - which should be a separate topic in the appropriate area of the Community if you really want to get ideas to track that down - what actions are slow? And while you say it isn't your computer, could you give your computer specs - version of macOS, processor, amount of memory and hopefully that you have an SSD with ample free space and not a spinning disk? Also, that your Quicken data file is on your local drive and not on any cloud storage whatsoever (Dropbox, a folder backed up automatically to iCloud/OneDrive etc).
You could start a fresh discussion about that in the troubleshooting forum:
Quicken user since 1990, MacBook Pro M2 Max on Sequoia 15.3.1 (and Win 11 under Parallels Desktop)
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I love how thorough you are! I have an M1 Mac mini with 16gig ram, and 1TB storage, running sequoia 15.3. and, all of my personal files are stored in folders under iCloud, while business is all on either Microsoft One Drive or Dropbox (the latter having about 800gig). I run my business on Dropbox and have since their beta and have never had a speed issue (on 2gig fiber). from a 'read' from a 1tb ssd, it's instant. whether a 20gig video file, or a 4 gig auto cad file. the idea that quicken loading a 230meg file has a spinning ball, speaks more to their code, than whether a low priority task (dropbox or iCloud). I think that is a rabbit trail that is irrelevant, but I didn't write their code. having data files that aren't in someone's cloud is kinda pre 2010. anyway, my machine is fast with much more complex programs, so am not sure how to locate. What is SLOW on my machine, is syncing with banks. I just turned off quicken backup to cloud, and that dropped the time 70%!
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@JimHuff With the Mac you have you really shouldn't be experiencing slowness. And the advice from Quicken Support to delete transactions is, unfortunately, ridiculous. Quicken uses a modern SQL Database, and the number of transactions doesn't materially affect speed of operations in most places. I have data going back more than 30 years, with more than 80,000 transactions, and Quicken is not slow.
But the alarm bell your last response set off is that you have your data file on iCloud. This is a major no-no. It is known to cause a wide variety of problems, including performance issues, data errors, even getting locked out of a file. I appreciate that you heavily use cloud services and expect them to work well with everything but they don't work well with a relational database like Quicken. I'd strongly encourage you to move your Quicken data file to a location on your hard drive which is not stored on or synced to a cloud service (such as creating a Quicken folder at the top level of your User/home folder. You can absolutely use iCloud or Dropbox or OneDrive as the location for Quicken to store your automatic and manual backups — just not your live data file.
(I should add that the process of downloading transactions from your financial institutions is slow, and this won't change that. 😉)
Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 19935 -
Wow, that is an absolutely perfect response! Woohoo, it is very nice to hear from someone knowledgeable. thank you tons. will be moving my data file right now!!!
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I just moved my datafile outside of a cloud service. WOW! An immediate improvement across the board. Now, lightning fast. Woohoo! Thank you so much for your response!
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