start new with Quicken but wan to keep old transactions

Posted by fldb22 on July 20, 2009, 10:48 am

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I have been using Quicken for about 12 years so I have A LOT of
transactions in it. When I start quicken, because of the amount of
data it needs to load, it takes a long time. I would like to keep all
my old transactions in a backup file and start new without any
transactions in a new file. I realize I can do that easily, but here
is the problem. How can I transfer all my financial institutions,
security list, memorized transactions etc to the new file?
I don't want to have to start all over re-building all my accounts,
preferences etc.
Anyone have an idea?
Thanks
Floyd

Posted by John Pollard on July 20, 2009, 12:35 pm

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fldb22 wrote:

> I have been using Quicken for about 12 years so I have A LOT of

> transactions in it. When I start quicken, because of the amount of

> data it needs to load, it takes a long time. I would like to keep all

> my old transactions in a backup file and start new without any

> transactions in a new file. I realize I can do that easily, but here

> is the problem. How can I transfer all my financial institutions,

> security list, memorized transactions etc to the new file?

> I don't want to have to start all over re-building all my accounts,

> preferences etc.

Make your backup.

Then do a Quicken Copy (File > File Operations Copy). Tell Quicken you
want data from 7/21/2009 thru 7/21/2009 (any future date would do), and
uncheck the boxes to "Include all prior Uncleared Transactions" and
"Include all Prior Investment Transactions".

Following the Copy, you should have only "opening balance" records in your
account registers. You could delete all those using the Banking
Transaction report, if you didn't want them. Or change their dates and
amounts as desired.

--

John Pollard

Posted by fldb22 on July 20, 2009, 1:43 pm

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> fldb22 wrote:

> > I have been using Quicken for about 12 years so I have A LOT of

> > transactions in it. =A0When I start quicken, because of the amount of

> > data it needs to load, it takes a long time. =A0I would like to keep al=

> > my old transactions in a backup file and start new without any

> > transactions in a new file. =A0I realize I can do that easily, but here

> > is the problem. =A0How can I transfer all my financial institutions,

> > security list, memorized transactions etc to the new file?

> > I don't want to have to start all over re-building all my accounts,

> > preferences etc.

> Make your backup.

> Then do a Quicken Copy (File > File Operations Copy). =A0Tell Quicken you

> want data from 7/21/2009 thru 7/21/2009 (any future date would do), and

> uncheck the boxes to "Include all prior Uncleared Transactions" and

> "Include all Prior Investment Transactions".

> Following the Copy, you should have only "opening balance" records in you=

> account registers. =A0You could delete all those using the Banking

> Transaction report, if you didn't want them. =A0Or change their dates and

> amounts as desired.

> --

> John Pollard

John, I think that will do it. Thank you.
By the way, what do you think about keeping the uncleared transactions
tic so when I get my statements I'll still be able to reconcile my
brokerage and bank accounts.
Your opinion?
Thanks again. It's much appreciated.
Floyd

Posted by John Pollard on July 20, 2009, 1:59 pm

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fldb22 wrote:

>> fldb22 wrote:

>>> I have been using Quicken for about 12 years so I have A LOT of

>>> transactions in it. When I start quicken, because of the amount of

>>> data it needs to load, it takes a long time. I would like to keep

>>> all my old transactions in a backup file and start new without any

>>> transactions in a new file. I realize I can do that easily, but here

>>> is the problem. How can I transfer all my financial institutions,

>>> security list, memorized transactions etc to the new file?

>>> I don't want to have to start all over re-building all my accounts,

>>> preferences etc.

>> Make your backup.

>> Then do a Quicken Copy (File > File Operations Copy). Tell Quicken

>> you want data from 7/21/2009 thru 7/21/2009 (any future date would

>> do), and uncheck the boxes to "Include all prior Uncleared

>> Transactions" and "Include all Prior Investment Transactions".

>> Following the Copy, you should have only "opening balance" records

>> in your account registers. You could delete all those using the

>> Banking Transaction report, if you didn't want them. Or change their

>> dates and amounts as desired.

> John, I think that will do it. Thank you.

> By the way, what do you think about keeping the uncleared transactions

> tic so when I get my statements I'll still be able to reconcile my

> brokerage and bank accounts.

> Your opinion?

Sure, keep the unreconciled transactions. If it was me, I wouldn't delete
anything; I just tried to suggest how to get what I thought you wanted.

You may also want to consider what it will mean to delete all the
investment account transactions. Quicken won't create any "balance"
records for your holdings, so you'll have to figure out how to approach
that. You could use "Adjust Share Balance" ("placeholder") transactions
for your holdings as of the start date of the new file ... one per
security. But if you do nothing else but that, you still won't be able to
select specific lots of securities to sell; and you'll need to tell
Quicken at least what you think the average cost per share is if you want
ongoing info like gains/losses (which will be an estimate if you plug the
average cost per share).

You can try various scenerios until you come up with what you want. Just
make backups before you try something new.

--

John Pollard

Posted by CMJ on July 20, 2009, 3:48 pm

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<snip>

> You may also want to consider what it will mean to delete all the

> investment account transactions. =A0Quicken won't create any "balance"

> records for your holdings, so you'll have to figure out how to approach

> that.

<snip>

To the OP - as Johm P notes, the Copy operation will raise havoc with
investment accounts. All history of current holdings is lost, as well
as any cash balance info for each account.

There is a work-around for this. I had posted it in the now-defunct
Quicken Users Forum and will try and reconstruct from memory.

Pick your cut-off date - say 01/01/09 for this example.
Make a note of your ending cash balance for each investment account as
of the day before cut-off; e.g., 12/31/08.
For each security held as of the cut-off date, enter a Corporate
Acqusition transaction where each security acquires itself; e.g., MSFT
acquires MSFT @ 1:1 sh/sh, INTU acquires INTU @ 1:1 sh/sh, etc.
Date the transaction your cut-off date; e.g., 01/01/09.
Repeat for each security held as of the cut-off date.
This step inserts a Shares Removed for each security and Shares Added
for each lot of each security.
The Shares Added transactions carry the original acquisition dates and
cost basis.

Now do the Copy operation as John P describes earlier.

Open the new file copy.
Insert Opening Balance transactions for each investment account - from
your notes above and dated 01/01/09 for this example.
Delete each of the Shares Removed transactions dated at cut-off -
again, 01/01/09 for this example.

You should now have investment accounts showing the correct holdings
and cash balance(s).
You also have preserved the original acquistion dates and cost basis.