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A
arkvalleyinfo
December 11, 2018
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How do I consolidate and remove several years of transactions?

  • December 11, 2018
  • 5 replies
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I am trying to remove several years of transactions from my files

    Best answer by

    Use the Condense feature to remove older transactions and summarize them.

    5 replies

    A
    Anonymous
    Answer
    December 11, 2018

    Use the Condense feature to remove older transactions and summarize them.

    Rustler
    Rustler
    December 11, 2018

    @ sreich

    before you do condense suggested by Red, print out the P&L and balance sheet, after condense compare the condensed version of the P&L and balance sheet to what you printed, they MUST be identical, if not (and that is a high % of the time) it did not work and you need to restore from back up.

    The accountant version has one other tool, called period copy, but it has the same problems as condense

    IMO the best way to start a new file is to buy the utilities from www.q2q.us click the "More utilities here" button and number 1 &2 is what you need


    qbteachmt
    qbteachmt
    December 11, 2018

    "QB itself does not have such a function - its just keeps all details forever"

    That is true for QB for Canada. However, QB for US has the function Condense. You can condense from Before a specific date; or Remove all transactions before that date. You also get to select if you want Inventory summarized or keep transactions where inventory was involved. It removes transaction details and also can remove unneeded names, items, accounts, etc from lists, once there are no transactions associated to them.

    As long as you do the housekeeping that makes this work, it give good results.

    The Accountant Edition also includes the Period Copy = a subset of the data file, such as Only 2013-2014.


      A
      Anonymous
      December 11, 2018

      QB itself does not have such a function - its just keeps all details forever

      your choices are to go with a QB add-on program (there is more than one but they're not free)

      or start a new data file at the next year-end (you can transfer the chart of accounts and all the 'lists' via export-import)

      B
      beesrvresort
      April 30, 2020

      I have tried to condense my file by choosing to "remove the audit trail info" to date option on a file that is about 484 mb large.  I then get an error message that says there is not enough memory to complete the operation.  I am assuming that there is a backup file done first.  I have already done that through my normal backup operation to a Dropbox file.  Is there a way to bypass that, or change the file location for the backup file step QB wants to perform?

      Rubielyn_J
      Rubielyn_J
      April 30, 2020

      Hi there, @beesrvresort.

       

      Let me sort things out for you. You can save the backup copy to a different location and proceed with condensing your file. Please ensure there's enough memory where you'll save the backup copy. 

       

      Here's how:

      1. Go to the File menu.
      2. Select Utilities and then choose Condense Data.
      3. Choose on how do you want to condense your file. 
      4. Click Next, then a notice Working on your file now will appear. 
      5. Once done, a window will show, advising you of the total reduction in your file size as well as the location of the backup before the file optimization.

      Take note that Condensing is not reversible. 

       

      For additional information, you can refer to this article: Use the Condense Data utility.

       

      You can always visit our help website for articles that can guide you if you have a concern in managing your QuickBooks account: QuickBooks Support.

       

      Don't hesitate to get back to us if you have confusion. We're here to assist you. Have a great day!

      W
      Wencom7
      June 13, 2022

      Hello,  When I condensed my file and set a start date, it did not change my register of P&L.  What do I need to do to completely remove older data? 

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