How do I consolidate and remove several years of transactions?

@ 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

"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.

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?

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!

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? 

Please help me!  I condensed my company file, but there are still transactions and reports that show dates earlier than what I set it to start at.  I don't know what's wrong.  How do I completely remove earlier dates?

Thanks!

@Wencom7 

Which QB Desktop edition and year version do you run?

Hello, Wencom7.

I'd like to share some details on how the Condense Data affects those old data, and why those transactions weren't removed during the process. 

To clarify, the Condense Data may or may not remove the old data from your company file. This entirely depends on how the entries were entered and linked to other transactions. 

For more details about how the Condense Data utility affects your data, we can scroll down to the What you need to know about Condense Data utility section in this article: Use the Condense Data utility. 

If the condense restrictions apply to the data you want to remove, then we have two options here. 

Aside from the built-in Condense Data utility in QuickBooks, there might be a third-party that offers their services on removing old QuickBooks Data.

We can look at the QuickBooks Desktop app store. Alternatively, searching around Google might show some offers. 

Another option is to simply create a new company file and transfer the existing balances to the new one. We'll want to consider using the old file as an archive or future reference. 

We can import the lists (customers, vendors, and other lists) to the new company file and enter the existing balances. These articles will guide you on what data we can export and import, and how to enter the opening balances: 

• Import and export data in QuickBooks Desktop
• Enter opening balances for accounts in QuickBooks Desktop

When you're done dealing with the old data, do you need help closing the current accounting period and reconcile your books? Take a look at this article for a guide: Reconcile an account in QuickBooks Desktop. 

If you want to learn more about managing your data or if there's anything else you'd like me to address regarding your entries, let me know. I'm always here to help. 

@Wencom7 Did you find a solution?  I am having the same issue.  I'm trying to remove all transactions prior to 4/1/22 but retain everything thereafter through current.  I went through the condense process using prior to 4/1/22 as my date but I check transaction detail from the trial balance and many old transactions are still in there.  I guess it retained a lot more transaction detail than it indicated in the article about what it would and would not purge.

Has anyone had good luck with Transaction Pro or another data transfer utility?

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@jimweber wrote:

Has anyone had good luck with Transaction Pro or another data transfer utility?

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@jimweber 

You can utilize TP Deleter but you need to adjust the beginning balances.

https://transactionpro.grsm.io/qbd

Another option, purchase a 3rd party condense service to remove older transactions. Contact us in private for details.

I am having the same error message 8007000e "not enough memory resources are available to complete this operation" 

My backup file is not on my desktop, it is saved in the network, so I am not sure if it is a quickbooks memory problem or a computer memory problem. Either way, I really want to condense my company file as it is performing poorly and I don't want to risk losing data. 

I use quickbooks desktop 2023 and I am having the same issue, error code 8007000e "not enough memory resources are available to complete this operation"

My company file is too large and the performance is not great... I saved my backup to the network rather than the computer, thinking this would solve that issue. Perhaps it is a quickbooks issue and not a computer issue, I don't know. I would just like to be able to condense this file rather than risking losing everything. 

@carltoncope 

Restore the backup file on your local machine and run the condense utility. Did you encounter the same error message?