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Subject Author Date
Trimming down my Quicken data files Jeff 06-04-2007
Posted by MiR on June 5, 2007, 7:15 pm
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>1. "How" does one archive only from a certain date (say 5 years) in the
>past?

You use the "year-end copy" function from within Quicken. It can be used any
time (not just at year end) and allows you to create a new data file
containing only transactions after a given date.

>2. How easily are these archives accessed, if ever necessary?

They're just plain Quicken data files, so if you name them logically (i.e.
using the years of data that are in them as the file name) it's pretty easy to
open them. You just open the data file, and the information from that file is
there. To open a different data file, just use the "file" menu.

>3. Do they have to be re-imported into the current file?

No.

>4. Any specific problems (other than loss of access to data on that TV
>you purchased 12 years ago) caused by eliminating transactions prior to
>a certain date.

None that I've encountered. I do a "year-end copy" every 3-4 years or so.

Posted by Jeff on June 6, 2007, 5:33 am
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 Thank you. That is very helpful.

I would have thought that "archive" was the way to go, but I will look
more closely at the "year-end copy" function.

Just scanning some of the recent messages on this newslist I read
something about needing to
" 'reconcile' each a/c first, the 'CLR' column should have an 'R' in
it." or else the files will remain in your "trimmed down" file.

I hope that does not apply to investment or credit card accounts, unless
it happens automatically when I "accept" the downloads. Perhaps John
Pollard will clarifiy that point.

Jeff


MiR wrote:
> says...
>> 1. "How" does one archive only from a certain date (say 5 years) in
>> the past?
>
> You use the "year-end copy" function from within Quicken. It can be
> used any time (not just at year end) and allows you to create a new
> data file containing only transactions after a given date.
>
>> 2. How easily are these archives accessed, if ever necessary?
>
> They're just plain Quicken data files, so if you name them logically
> (i.e. using the years of data that are in them as the file name) it's
> pretty easy to open them. You just open the data file, and the
> information from that file is there. To open a different data file,
> just use the "file" menu.
>
>> 3. Do they have to be re-imported into the current file?
>
> No.
>
>> 4. Any specific problems (other than loss of access to data on that
>> TV you purchased 12 years ago) caused by eliminating transactions
>> prior to a certain date.
>
> None that I've encountered. I do a "year-end copy" every 3-4 years
> or so.



Posted by John Pollard on June 6, 2007, 8:50 am
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Jeff wrote:
> Thank you. That is very helpful.
>
> I would have thought that "archive" was the way to go, but I
> will look
> more closely at the "year-end copy" function.
>
> Just scanning some of the recent messages on this newslist I
> read
> something about needing to
> " 'reconcile' each a/c first, the 'CLR' column should have an
> 'R' in
> it." or else the files will remain in your "trimmed down"
> file.
>
> I hope that does not apply to investment or credit card
> accounts,
> unless it happens automatically when I "accept" the downloads.
> Perhaps John Pollard will clarifiy that point.

The "Year End Copy" procedure retains all unreconciled
transactions and all investment transactions in the "New Year
File". [That's per Q2007 (I recently uninstalled Q2006 during
some testing and have not reinstalled it yet. Q2005 does not
state that specifically, but it is my recollection that all New
Year Files had that restriction, but my memory has been known to
be wrong.]

You can accomplish essentially the same result (a backup and a
new file with transactions removed), with more control of the
"reconciled transactions" and the "investment transactions", by
using Quicken's "Copy" feature. The "backup" is the file you
have been using, your "New" file is the "Copy" Quicken makes.

--
John Pollard
First initial underscore Last name at mchsi dot com
Please reply to newsgroup



Posted by Jeff on June 6, 2007, 4:30 pm
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John Pollard wrote:
> Jeff wrote:
>> Thank you. That is very helpful.
>>
>> I would have thought that "archive" was the way to go, but I
>> will look
>> more closely at the "year-end copy" function.
>>
>> Just scanning some of the recent messages on this newslist I
>> read
>> something about needing to
>> " 'reconcile' each a/c first, the 'CLR' column should have an
>> 'R' in
>> it." or else the files will remain in your "trimmed down"
>> file.
>>
>> I hope that does not apply to investment or credit card
>> accounts,
>> unless it happens automatically when I "accept" the downloads.
>> Perhaps John Pollard will clarifiy that point.
>
> The "Year End Copy" procedure retains all unreconciled
> transactions and all investment transactions in the "New Year
> File". [That's per Q2007 (I recently uninstalled Q2006 during
> some testing and have not reinstalled it yet. Q2005 does not
> state that specifically, but it is my recollection that all New
> Year Files had that restriction, but my memory has been known to
> be wrong.]
>
> You can accomplish essentially the same result (a backup and a
> new file with transactions removed), with more control of the
> "reconciled transactions" and the "investment transactions", by
> using Quicken's "Copy" feature. The "backup" is the file you
> have been using, your "New" file is the "Copy" Quicken makes.

Thank you. Will explore.

Jeff



Posted by John Pollard on June 6, 2007, 2:44 am
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Jeff wrote:
> Running Quicken Deluxe 2006 in Windows XP.
>
> My Quicken data files are getting large enough that they are
> causing a
> significant slowdown in Quicken's operations whenever it need
> to
> accept a downloaded transaction on my poor PC. It does not
> help that
> I keep my Quicken data files in an encrypted folder on my PC
> which
> probably adds time to the processing.
>
> So I would like to reduce the size of my Q files to speed up
> operations. I have data that goes back many years and I would
> like to
> archive some of these years with the ability to access them
> again -
> on the rare chance I would need them again. How do I go about
> doing
> that?
> BTW, what are the QEL and QPH files which alone measure over
> 10 and 7
> MB respectively in addition to the main data file of 35 MB?

My first choice would be to make sure my hardware was not
involved in the slowdown; once you archive, it will be
increasingly difficult to maintain access to the archived data.
Before I archive to increase response time, I'll buy some better
hardware.

I think R.C. already mentioned that the QEL file contains data
relating to online features; in and of itself, I don't think it
is a cause of slowness.

And I think R.C.pointed out that the QPH file is your price
history; it definitely can be involved in slow response time.
Someone in the Quicken Forums just posted that they wrote a
program that would clean out the price history of unwanted
prices ... you might try asking that poster if they would share
the program.

Baring getting help from some other program, you could do some
manual pruning of the price history your own, though it could be
a bit cumbersome.

Before doing anything, if you'd like to test to see what effect
the price history is having on processing your downloads, try
backing up your current data to a new folder (to create a test
file), using Windows to delete the QPH file from that new
folder, have Quicken open the file in the new folder - then do a
download to that new file (which will have an empty price
history when you start the download). Since the only change
you'll be making to the data (before the download) is to have an
empty price history, you should get a feel for what the effect
of your price history is on your download processing speed.

My guess is, as you have already noted (or implied) that the
majority of your slowness is on account of investment data of
one sort or another.

If that's true, your ability to improve your response time by
archiving may be quite limited. Just using Quicken's archiving
capabilities only works in chunks of data that can be defined by
a range of dates; that works fine for non-investment data, but
not so well for investment data.

Still assuming the major problem is in investment data; other
than just pruning your price history, I think your best bet
would be to work out some system where you decide which old
investments you no longer need - such as you sold the last share
5 years ago - and manually delete all the transactions for those
(and their price history which is not deleted automatically by
Quicken).

[Actually, if you get to the point of wanting to delete
investment transactions, I think Q2006 has a way that you can
delete multiple investment transactions at once. You can post
back if you get to that point.]

--
John Pollard
First initial underscore Last name at mchsi dot com
Please reply to newsgroup




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