How to properly start a clean 2026 file with no previous history

LisaDee

Hi,

Forgive me if this is the thousandth time that this question has been asked but I would actually like to set my Quicken file up correctly this time. I am running Quicken Classic Deluxe Version 8.3.3 (Build 803.58927.100) on a Mac laptop. I would like to set up a new file starting 01/01/2026 with no previous history from my old Quicken file.

What is the best way to do this? Should I manually enter my bank statement amount from 12/31/25 and then proceed to connect to downloads? Will I then have to manually remove all transactions dated prior to 01/01/26 using this method?

What about investment accounts? Best to manually enter them?

Sorry to appear so clueless, I just want things to be correct.

Many thanks for any advice you can provide.

Jon

If you're starting over with a new file, when you connect your accounts for downloading you're going to get a bunch of stuff from 2025 the first time you download which you will then have to delete. (Exactly how far back each account goes will depend on the financial institution, but in my experience it can be anywhere from a few months to a couple years.) What I would do is go ahead and connect the accounts first, get all the historical data they want to send you, and then delete anything from 2025 or earlier. Once that's done you shouldn't see those transactions download again - Quicken will remember you downloaded those transactions before.

Once you've deleted all the old stuff you don't want anymore, you can go through the accounts and add Balance Adjustment transactions for each one to establish the account balance as of the end of December 2025.

You can do a similar thing with Investing accounts, except you would use Add Shares transactions to set up the account holdings as of the end of last year.

The only downside to doing things this way is you lose any custom reports, categories, or tags you had set up in the old file. You will have to recreate all of those by hand.