Deleting old bank & credit card transactions

Hi, Donalm. Deleting financial transactions will affect account balances, so let me clarify everything first to avoid miscalculations. I'll provide the details below.

Removing transactions can compromise your financial data integrity and lead to discrepancies in your accounts and reports.

Since you are looking to prevent changes to the balance, are you considering deleting these transactions due to performance issues with QBDT? If so, the Condense Data Utility can help by reducing the size of your company file while preserving financial integrity.

Here's how:

1. Select File, then select Utilities.
2. Select Condense Data.
3. Choose Remove the transactions you select from your company file, then select Next.
4. Select the transactions you’d like to remove, then select Next.
5. Choose how transactions will be summarized, then select Next.
6. Decide how inventory should be condensed, then select Next.
7. Select the recommended transactions to remove, then select Next.
8. Choose the list of entries you’d like to remove, then select Next.
9. Select Begin Condense, and wait for the process to complete before selecting Close.

Before proceeding, create a backup of your QuickBooks company file to ensure a secure copy of your data.

Here's how:

1. On the File menu, then select Switch to Single-user Mode.
2. Go back to the File menu and hover over Back up Company. Then select Create Local Backup.
3. Select Local Backup and click Next.
4. In the Local Backup Only section, select Browse and select where you want to save your backup company file.
5. Set the number of backups you want to keep. This is optional.
6. Run a test to ensure the backup file is good, then select OK.
7. Click Save it now and Next.

If you meant to delete transactions entered by mistake or those that do not match your bank statement, please confirm which transactions you are referring to, how they were entered, and the period they belong to. Providing these details will help us offer a targeted solution.

Providing these details will help us offer a targeted solution before you proceed with the deletion of your account.

Refer to these articles for detailed guidance:

• Back up your QuickBooks Desktop company file.
• Use the Condense Data utility.

Furthermore, visit this article to automatically categorize and streamline bank feed transactions, ensuring better organization and accuracy in your financial records.

If you have other reasons for wanting to delete transactions, please let us know so we can provide tailored guidance. Either way, we are here to assist you with any questions or further assistance.

Thanks for the information.  That seemed to work.

My colleague and I are glad to hear that the recommendations for deleting old bank and credit card transactions in QuickBooks Online helped address your concerns, Donalm.

Please remember that the QuickBooks Community is always here to assist you with any QBO-related tasks whenever you need guidance.

You can also refer to this article to learn how to reconcile your accounts in QuickBooks. This process involves matching your QuickBooks entries with your actual bank and credit card statements to ensure accuracy: Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Desktop.

If you have any further questions, feel free to post them here at any time. We hope you have a great day ahead, and please take care and stay safe!