Remove Audit Trail

No, there isn't.

Good afternoon, @Bbrick9999. 

It's great to see you back in the Community. Allow me to provide you with some insight into your question about the Audit Trail in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT). 

All you need to do is a few easy steps in your account to erase an Audit Trail. Don't worry. I'll walk you through the steps. Here's how: 

1. Go to the File menu. 
2. Hover over Utilities and then pick Condense Data. 

       3. From the "Condense your company file" window, press the open circle next to Remove the transactions you select from your company file Choose the transactions you want to remove. 

       4. Hit Next. 

       5. Tap the circle next to Transactions outside of a date range (to prepare a period copy of company file). 

       6. Select a date range. 

       7. Click Next. 

       8. Choose this option on the next window: Create on summary journal entry (recommended) Replaces all transactions before {Date range selected} with a single journal entry. 

       9. Press Next. 

      10. Follow the rest of the windows that pop up and select the information best for your business. 

      11. Tap Begin Condense. 

That's all there is to it. In addition, here's a guide that can be helpful to you and your business: Understand reports. 

This should do the trick. Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns. I'll always be around to help. Wishing you and your business continued success! 

@Bbrick9999 

You may need a 3rd party service to do so.

Candice,

Is there a way to remove the audit trail prior to a certain date?  I only want to remove the audit trail from 2020 and prior, not 2021.

Barry

Hey there, @Bbrick9999. 

Thanks for reaching back out to me. I've got you covered. 

I can see how beneficial removing part of your Audit Trail would be for your business. However, the steps above (condense the data) are the only way to eliminate this information from your account. 

If this didn't work, then I recommend using a third-party tool that will help you out. I'll send feedback to our Product Developers so that they can consider this in one of the upcoming releases. They take the time to review every request and try to collaborate them into the next available update. 

In the meantime, you can review our QuickBooks Blog to keep up with what's new in the product. 

This information should give you an answer. Should you need any further assistance, don't hesitate to ask. The Community and I are always here to have your back. Have a great weekend ahead! 

We have done removing audit trail but it condenses into a journal entry that we can't access, is there a way you can still see checks, etc?

When we used this to remove our audit trail, it condensed into journal entries that we can't access. Is there a way around this so we can see individual checks etc?  And is there a way to remove the audit trail all together?

I can help you with that, AFF719.

You'll want to use the updated Condense Data feature to remove the audit trail while still being able to see all the detailed transactions. This one is different from the traditional option which removes transactions and creates a consolidated journal entry.

Since condensing cannot be undone, you may need to restore the backup of your company file first. Then, follow these steps to condense your data using the new option:

1. Go to the File menu. 
2. Hover over Utilities and then pick Condense Data.  
3. From the Condense your company file window, select the Keep all transactions, but remove audit trail info to date radio button.
4. Click Next, then follow the on-screen instructions.

Once completed, the About your company file window will pop up showing the total reduction in your file size as well as the location of the backup prior to the condensation.

To learn more about this process, you can visit this page: Use the Condense Data utility.

I'm also adding this article to help resolve common data issues in QuickBooks Desktop: Fix data damage on your company file.

Drop me a comment below if you have any other concerns or further questions about this topic. I'll be more than happy to assist you again.

Our Keep all transactions option is not an option for us.  it is not bolded

Hello there, AFF719.

I appreciate you reading and following the steps provided by one of my peers above.

It's okay if it is not bolded on your end, as long as you can see t and you can click on it, then that's fine. We only show it as bold when giving steps to emphasize the buttons you need to click.

You can try to click on it and get back to us if you encountered any problems. 

You can also check on how to understand reports for more information.

Feel free to reach back out to me if I can be of more help about removing the audit trail. I'll make sure to get back to you as soon as I can.

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@AFF719 wrote:

We have done removing audit trail but it condenses into a journal entry that we can't access, is there a way you can still see checks, etc?

 

---

@AFF719 

Consider purchasing a 3rd party service only to remove the audit trail data.

Thank you I did that before and all they did was condense it into journal entries...honestly hate that

Thanks for this reply, it however did not work.  I can NOT click the keep all transactions but remove audit trail info to date.  THAT is what I want

@AFF719 

We can remove the audit trail from a file. It will reduce the files size of the data file by as much as 30-50% and considerably speed up the data file. Our service will also delete entries in the Voiced/Deleted Transactions Summary and Detail reports. It is also often required to remove the audit trail when handing over data files to government or other agencies such as the CRA and IRS in cases of data audits.

Contact us in private for details.

At this time I am not interested in removing it all together and have it condensed into a journal entry.  I have done that and now can't look at transactions.  But thank you for trying to help me with that.  

What you fail to tell people is once they do this, they can not do it again.  It can only happen once.  This is a serious flaw with the program.  I have now been in day two of technical support to "help": with this.  They were supposed to call me and have not.  And that is after they convince us to buy the Plus.....I mean really?  the issue is still not resolved???

You will have the option again ---- in time. I've done some experimenting to confirm this - but once your audit trail is cleared - the option to clear it again WILL go away. But it's not permanent. For some crazy reason Intuit decided that the audit trail has to reach a certain "big" size to make it worthwhile to give you the option to delete it. Why is that their choice? Shouldn't it be the end users choice to decide how big it should be before clearing it? I guess not. I have not found out anything online that says what the size is - but I have confirmed after a thousand or two transactions - the option will probably appear again depending on what you do within Quickbooks (the more you change things, etc the larger the audit log will get). I hope that helps!

Any recommendations on a 3rd party service to remove the audit trail?

Let me help with your question about using a different app, Calihome1.

QuickBooks has partnered with hundreds of apps that offer a variety of services. 

To know which app offers deleting of specific types of data, you can visit the Intuit MarketPlace. it's a site where you can see all the accredited and approved apps that can be integrated with QuickBooks. Here's the link: https://desktop.apps.com/home.           

Feel free to check out these articles for additional guidance and reference:             

• Use the Condense Data Utility
• Allowing Third Party Access to Your Company File       

Please know that you can always reply or reach out to us again if you have other questions. We'll make sure that everything is sorted out. 

@MonteCristo 

Check our profile name and send your business email address in a private message to us.

To be honest, you will waste money if you go to a third party.  You can do it yourself, just by condensing file.  

Which version allows you to do a date range?  I don't have that in Premier Plus 2022

What version is this that allows a date range.  I have Premier Plus 2022 and I don't have that option.  I can only condense before a certain date.

Hello there, @ian_land. I'd be happy to answer your query.

A period copy is a Condensed version of your company file that only contains data for a specific period and is available only in Premier Accountant and QuickBooks Enterprise editions. Thus, if you're using the Premier Plus 2022, that's the reason why the options aren't available for you.

To know more about condensing data, see this resource: Use the Condense Data utility.

In case you need tips and related articles in the future, feel free to visit our QuickBooks Community help website.

Let me know if you have other questions. I’m always here to help. Have a great day.