Archiving Part of a File

Summary

Is there any way for me to archive part of my QuickBooks file. For example, I’d like to archive the last 2 years into a separate file and then have only my current year in my new file. How can I do this with QuickBooks?

Question

Is there any way for me to archive part of my QuickBooks file. For example, I’d like to archive the last 2 years into a separate file and then have only my current year in my new file. How can I do this with QuickBooks?

Answer

There is no simple solution to archiving only a part of your QuickBooks data file. This is a big problem with QuickBooks. The best thing to do is start a new company file at the beginning of the next year. You can export your lists (Chart of Accounts, Customers, etc) and then import them into a new file.

You can also condense the data file. To condense, you must close all windows. Choose File: Utilties: Condense Data. Enter a date before which you want transactions to be summarized. Condensing will delete the transactions that are dated on or before the cutoff date and summarize all the transactions for each month with a single journal entry. The ending monthly balance for each account will remain unchanged and will allow you to do monthly year-to-year comparisons. Condensing simply removes the detail that created those balances. You will no longer be able to go back to a period before the cutoff date and run a detail report on an account. Please read the online help on this topic. It is very detailed and provides valuable information you need to know. After condensing is done, verify the data to make sure that there are no problems with the data file.

QuickBooks will force you to make a backup copy before condensing. I suggest that you also make a regular copy of the file on your hard drive and rename it to include the year in the file name. For example, if your company file is ABC.QBW, make a copy of it in Windows Explorer and rename the copy to ABC99.QBW. If you are using version 5 or earlier, make sure that the name is eight characters or less. I also recommend that you create a new directory called Past Years and move the file you just made into it. QuickBooks will see this new file as another company.

If you need to see some detail information for a condensed period, you simply select File: Open Company and choose the file for the previous year. Enter a closing date for this company dated several years into the future. This will help remind you that this is not your main working company and should keep you from accidentally entering new transactions in it. You could also change the name of the company in the Company Information screen to something very short (maybe just the year). This should stand out at the top of the screen and remind you that you are in the archive copy. When you are ready to enter new transactions again, simply select File: Open Company. Go back to your main directory and choose your main file again.

You are using more disk space by doing this. However, hard drives are so huge today, that disk space is usually not as big an issue as easy access to your data. The reason to condense the data file is simply to make the file smaller so that your computer can run faster when using it. While condensing, you can also have QuickBooks delete unused items on several lists.

Allow plenty of time for this process. Condensing could take several hours, depending on the size of your data file and the speed of your computer. Be aware that condensing may mess up some of your reports. Also, condensing won’t have much affect on the data file size in some situations. Click the Help button on the Condensing screen to see what situations will prevent a transaction from being removed and which reports will be affected.