Bank transaction downloads - I need to stop my bank from downloading transactions from 10 years ago. HELP!

Welcome back to the QuickBooks Community, ohsaycanuc. I'll be sharing details on how bank transactions work in QuickBooks. Beforehand, May I ask what specific bank you're using so that I can check to see if we received the same issue? I appreciate any further details so I can provide an accurate solution.

When setting up your bank to connect to QBO, you have the option to pick how far back you want to download transactions. Some banks let you download the last 90 days of transactions and others can go back as far as 24 months. Then, the downloaded data in QuickBooks Online depends on what your bank shares with us and how they're posted online.

Since the bank downloaded 10 years of transactions into your online account, you can exclude them in the For Review tab. That way, entries don’t appear in any account registers or financial reports.

Here's how:

1. Go to the Banking menu and choose the Banking section.
2. Select the For Review tab.
3. Choose the checkbox of the transactions to exclude.
4. Click the Exclude button.

You can open this article to see further details on how excluding transactions works in QuickBooks: Exclude a bank transaction you downloaded into QuickBooks Online.

Additionally, when you reconcile an account, you'll have to review the opening balance. It needs to enter the correct date to ensure that you're reconciling the correct statement to completely achieve this matter. You may click this article to view additional details: Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Online.

Lastly, you may refer to this article to see different banking errors and how to fix them: What to do if you get a bank error or can't download transactions in QuickBooks Online.

Don't hesitate to click the Reply button below if you have other questions in handling your bank downloaded transactions. I'm always here to assist you.

Thank you for your prompt response, ChristieAnn:

First of all the bank if Commerce Bank in Kansas City, MO. 

I have done all of the steps you suggested, such as hiding those transactions, etc., but the ones showing still not reconciled from 10 years ago don't go away. They are actually marked cleared and I have to go in and uncheck them in order to get my current statement to balance. After speaking with my accountant, she agrees that I have so much old junk and accounts no longer needed and we have decided to start over. I'm going to open a new company because the current set of books is actually from another insurance agency I owned and sold but then started a new agency and still using the same accounts I just don't need anymore as this agency is much smaller than the other one. I still have the same bank account so I guess I thought I could just as easily transition from one to the other not realizing what a mess it was. Anyway, after dealing with all of this for two years I am going to start a whole new chart of accounts and hope and pray Commerce will download only 90 days transactions. I wish there was a way to go download transactions of my choice when I am ready but I guess that isn't possible. 

Thank you so much for your help!