We have too many items in our item list!

Thank you for visiting the QuickBooks Community, Upstairson7th. I appreciate you for taking some actions to achieve your goal. Since the exporting process didn't work to organize your last two years of data, I've got an alternative option to accomplish this task.

To start with, I recommend utilizing the Condense Data utility in QuickBooks Desktop which helps reduce your file’s overall size and minimizes the risk of data damage. Also, use the Period Copy feature that only contains data for a specific period. You can read this article to learn how to do the process: Use the Condense Data utility.

Moreover, you can check any 3rd party that you can use so you're able to export all of your data from POS. This way, it'll help you take the last two years of your transactions from the program. Before doing the process, you have to create a backup of your company file that includes data for 16 years. This is a good way to get back to work quickly if you run into a problem. 

Here's how:

1. Choose Back Up Data from the File menu.
2. Specify the backup location:
1. Select Default Location to backup to the default folder on your local drive.
2. Select Specify Alternate Location to backup to a network or removable drive.
3. Click Backup and Finish.

Lastly, if you wish to migrate your data to Shopify to manage your products, customers, and vendor data with no limit, you can open this article on how to perform the process: QuickBooks Desktop Point of Sale discontinuation.

Keep posted if you have other concerns about managing your data in QuickBooks POS. I'm always here to help, Upstairson7th. Have a great day ahead!

We don't really want to use anything other than quickbooks so can I make a copy of the entire file as a backup in case of a problem and then erase the first five years of business so that the item list will get some space added.  I know that you cannot delete items used in a transaction so the only way to do it is to delete earlier transactions that we don't need anymore. 

Thanks, 

Upstairs on 7th

Hello Upstairson7th,

Thanks for returning to the Community! For this situation, it would be best to connect with our Point of Sale Support Team to assist further with your item list, creating backups, and so forth. You can use our chat service: Chat with us or call us at 800-446-8848.

Please let me know how the conversation goes! I will be around if you have further questions. See you later.