Get 50% OFF QuickBooks for 3 months*

Buy now
cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
Announcements
Work smarter and get more done with advanced tools that save you time. Discover QuickBooks Online Advanced.
girlington
Level 2

Poor performance

Hello,

Three weeks ago my QB desktop pro plus 2024 started moving very slowly. It takes about 6 minutes to start up before I can do anything at all in it. Certain actions (like hitting F2 for product information, or sending paystubs by email, etc.) will take many minutes to happen. Or they take so long that I have to force quit to start over.

I've called support three times, each time after I was unable to end paystubs. The first time I was told I didn't have enough storage or enough ram. Without making any changes, I tried sending the emails again and they sent. 

I cleaned up my computer and created 25G of storage, then I bought and installed 48G of RAM.

This didn't fix the performance issues. 

I called again when my emailed pay stubs wouldn't send the next week. I told him about my previous call and the fixes I had made. I let him know I was also still having performance issues. I was told there was an incorrect setting in my network settings and that he had fixed the problem and I would be good to go. On my second attempt, my emails sent.

I called again today when my paystubs wouldn't send. She had me delete and reinstall something. I was able to send the emails. But my performance was still very slow. I told her this and told her about my previous calls and the fixes that had been done, and she transferred me to sales. Sales asked me a million questions about my business and had me pull up my product information. I was then told that I was at the list limit and this was the reason behind my performance issues. I was told that I exceeded the limit of accounts I was allowed to have with desktop pro plus. I was told that I would have to switch to Enterprise.

However, from what I have found online, I don't think that's true. I'm nowhere near my limit.

I have one company file, 7 employees, run direct deposit payroll, pay a few payroll taxes through QB and record the rest manually, import sales from my POS through Accounting Link, manually enter credit card and bank records, and run various financial reports (most often Profit and Loss, though every now and then I need something else), and that's it.

I don't do inventory, invoicing, taking payments, making payments, AR, AP or anything else through QuickBooks. 

I have 250 accounts. 

I have 1727 names. 

My file size is 123k and my free memory is 837k.

An answer I found here from 2019 said that there is no account limit and that the only limit is on the number of names. That limit is 14,500 names. Which should mean I still have 12,773 name slots available.

Is this still true? Or have I actually hit the limit. Do these numbers explain my performance problems?

If they don't, what can I do next to try to get to the bottom of this?

Thank you

Solved
Best answer August 11, 2025

Best Answers
SIAB
Level 7

Poor performance

Next troubleshoot, run the Condense Data utility in any scenario to reduce file size.

View solution in original post

15 Comments 15
KayePe
QuickBooks Team

Poor performance

Based on the information in the data file you shared with us, we can see that you haven't reached the limits yet, Lington.

 

Please know that I appreciate you taking the necessary steps to address your QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) performance concerns and for providing us with complete details of your data.

 

Since you've cleared some storage, I recommend updating your QBDT to the latest version to resolve performance issues, fix bugs, improve stability, and optimize system operations. If the issue persists, consider reducing the number of Database file fragments to help prevent your computer from slowing down.

 

Here's how:

 

  1. Open your company file, press F2, and note the number of database file fragments.
  2. Follow the steps provided on the Microsoft Support Center.
  3. Repeat step 2 and compare the updated number of database file fragments to the original.

 

You can also re-sort your customers, jobs, vendors, employees, and other name lists in QBDT to improve system performance, keep your data updated and organized, and ensure it doesn't cause any issues while using QBDT.

 

This thread will stay open for any questions or clarifications about navigating QBO. We're always here to help.

girlington
Level 2

Poor performance

Thank you for your response. I appreciate you taking the time to help me.

When you say update QBDT to the lates version, do you mean pro plus 2025 rather than 2024, or do you mean that I should download and install the latest updates? I have done the latter. 

I ran a defrag and it made no change in the database file fragments. 

And I resorted my names list. 

Unfortunately, there was no change. 

Do you have any other suggestions?

Thank you!

SIAB
Level 7

Poor performance

@girlington 

Try opening the sample file. Did you encounter the same problem?

girlington
Level 2

Poor performance

@SIAB @KayePe 

The sample files move much more quickly than the actual company file. 

Another thing I noticed is that the free memory is dropping. During my call with QB support yesterday it was at 1895k, then when I wrote the posting here it had dropped to 837k. I thought I must have read it wrong when I was on the phone with QB support and just added the 1 at the beginning. 

But then when @KayePe replied and I checked the database file fragments it had dropped again to 553k.

Today it's at 345k. It has fluctuated around that number throughout the day, but hasn't moved significantly in any direction.

Is this normal? Or another part of the problem?

SIAB
Level 7

Poor performance

Run the Verify/Rebuild Data utility. Any error messages?

 

cody_a
Moderator

Poor performance

Hi there @girlington! Thanks for sharing your experience and the steps you've taken. We want to get to the bottom of this for you.

 

To ensure we can provide the best possible solution, I've asked our Next Level Help team to take a closer look at your situation. They will review your Community comments and support history to get the full picture of what's been happening. You can expect to be contacted by one of our experts soon with an update on the next steps. 

If anything else comes up in the meantime, please let me know. Take care! 

girlington
Level 2

Poor performance

@SIAB 

I’m away from the office till Monday, and my computer is refusing to connect remotely. I will try this on Monday and get back to you. Thank you!

girlington
Level 2

Poor performance

@SIAB 

I’m away from the office until Monday and my computer is refusing to connect remotely.
Thank you for this next step. I’ll try it on Monday and get back to you.

girlington
Level 2

Poor performance

@SIAB @cody_a 

No error messages. No issues found.

SIAB
Level 7

Poor performance

Next troubleshoot, run the Condense Data utility in any scenario to reduce file size.

girlington
Level 2

Poor performance

@SIAB 

This seems to have worked! Thank you!

bballard1216
Returning Member

Poor performance

Will this effect any old data unfortunately our company file is 1.2 gig in size

bballard1216
Returning Member

Poor performance

Will this effect any data in the Company file? Our file is 1.2 Gig and has years of data in it

SashaMC
Moderator

Poor performance

Hello bballard1216,

 

Thank you for connecting with the QuickBooks Community!  Here are some key notes to observe when condensing your files. 

 

  1. It is not reversible.
  2. It will reduce the size because it will remove transaction details and list entries
  3. It doesn't remove certain transactions, like sales tax not paid in Pay Sales Tax, transactions linked to a non-condensable transaction and so forth.

 

You can find more information in this article to get a full picture. If you have any other questions or concerns, we are here to assist you! See you around. 

SIAB
Level 7

Poor performance

@bballard1216 

It's worth a try. If you're not satisfied with your condensed file, you can restore the original file. 

Need QuickBooks guidance?
Log in to access expert advice and community support instantly.

Need to get in touch?

Contact us