How do I operate in only the current year?

Keukavly

"During this process you can select the option for your current data file to then start with a specific date.  You might want to go to 

Help > Quicken Help > search for "How do I archive Quicken information at year's end?"

  That gives the step-by-step instructions for how to do that."

I found this answer in 2022, but when I perform this function, my working file still contains all transactions from the previous years. Am I doing something wrong? I have monthly backups, so I'm not concerned about running reports across years. This is only my personal quicken account.

Quicken Version 63.21, Build 27.1.63.21, Windows 11

CaliQkn

@Keukavly make sure to select the second option - "I only want transactions in my data file starting with this date" and specify the date.

Also, these transactions will not be removed from prior years.

• Unreconciled transactions
• Investment transactions
• Transfer transactions

UKR

You don't really have to split your data file in two every year.
Having more than one year's worth of data in your current data file makes it much easier to look up historical data or, for example, retrieve information from prior annual payments for this year's payment.
And then there are reports which compare this year's data to last year's … which won't be available if your data file has been split and the transactions have been moved out of the current data file.

IMHO, you should keep at least 5 years' worth of data in your current data file and only split off what's older than that.

For working with reports, you can set a default Date Range in Edit / Preferences / Reports and Graphs: "This year", "Prior year" for comparison reports.
For working with banking transaction registers, you can also set a Date Range Filter for each register individually: "This year".

Chris_QPW

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20497845#Comment_20497845

Transfer transactions will be removed provide that both sides of the transfer is reconciled.

One thing I just realized, I have never confirmed if a transfer to an investment account will be removed. Given they don’t remove investment transactions that one is up in the air for me.

CaliQkn

@Chris_QPW Quicken Support document states this -

• Quicken will only remove reconciled transactions that are not investments or transfers. Unreconciled transactions prior to the date specified will remain in the data file.

But we know that the documentation is not always correct. I have never created a Year-End archive myself, so I can't confirm.

CaliQkn

@Keukavly if you haven't seen this already, here is the Quicken Support documentation on Year-End Archives -

https://www.quicken.com/support/creating-year-end-copy-end-calendar-year/

Chris_QPW

Yes, I have seen it. Let's just say I take Quicken's documentation with a grain of salt.

Before archive (starting at the beginning of the year):

After:

Transfers between non-investment accounts are removed.

And to answer my question, the transfer into the brokerage account wasn't removed, which lines up with the "no investment transactions will be removed".

Ducksoup_SD

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7963925/how-do-i-operate-in-only-the-current-year

I only keep two years in my file, and I've noticed that the last two years, Quicken has not correctly determined the correct new opening balance for my checking account when I do the archive/split. Fortunately, it's less than the correct amount, so I always have more money in the account than Quicken says and I don't bounce payments. None of my other accounts have this problem (and nowhere near as many transactions). Yes, I've done a Validate to see if it can find the error, and, no, it doesn't. When I search for a single entry that matches the amount, there isn't one, so it's apparently a combination of entries that cause the problem. Since it's at the beginning of the data, it affects all of the previously reconciled balances, so there is no clue as to which month(s) the problems occur. I just add an entry back in at the beginning that gives me the correct totals again - but it's a surprise that's easy to forget, year-to-year. Worth a double-check of your previously reconciled totals, after you create your year-end archive and trimmed down files.