Archive Quicken Information at Year's End

Before you begin, ensure you the latest release installed.

Choose File menu > File Operations > Year-End Copy. Then choose the operation you want to perform:

Archive a file

1. In the Current Data File area, click Do nothing.
2. In the Archive File area, in the Give this archive file a name and location field, change the Quicken-generated file name and location for the archive file. (Optional) Quicken stores your archive file in the folder containing the current data file (the Quicken folder by default). Click Browse if you want to store it in another location.
3. In the This archive file will contain transactions up to and including field, change the date shown if you want to archive transactions from only part of last year. (Optional)
4. Click OK. Quicken creates the archive file and copies the historic transactions to it. Quicken then displays the File Copied Successfully dialog.
5. In the File to Use area, click Current File. You should never need to make changes to an archive file. To ensure that nobody makes changes inadvertently, add a password. To require a password to change the file but not to view the file, set a transaction password. To require a password to both view and change the file, set a file password.
6. Click OK.

Create a new year file

1. In the Current Data File area, click the I only want transactions in my current data file up to and including this date field.
2. In the date field, change the date from January 1 of this year to have the new file begin on another date. (Optional)

   The current data file will include only transactions that occur after the date you specify as well as all investment and unreconciled transactions.

   The new year file you create retains all investment transactions and any prior uncleared transactions. If your file contains invoice/receivable transactions (only in Quicken Home & Business), Quicken retains all unpaid transactions, such as unpaid invoices, as well as invoices created prior to the date you specified but that are linked to payments that fall within the new date range.

3. In the Archive File area, in the Give this archive file a name and location field, change the Quicken-generated file name and location for the copy of the current data file. (Optional)

   When naming the Quicken file, don't use any of these characters: * ? < > | " : \ / (asterisk, question mark, left and right angle bracket, pipe, straight quotation marks, colon, BACKSLASH, FORWARD SLASH). Also, you don't need to add the .QDF extension; Quicken does that for you.

   Quicken stores the data file in the folder containing the current data file (the Quicken folder by default). Click Browse if you want to store it in another location.

4. Click OK. Quicken creates the new data file with only the specified transactions. Quicken then displays the File Copied Successfully dialog.
5. In the File to Use area, click File for New Year. Click OK.
6. Check your registers to see that the old transactions were removed. If creating a new year file didn't work as you expected, it could be because you haven't reconciled your previous year's transactions. Because Quicken made a complete copy of your data file, open that file, reconcile your accounts, and then create another new year file.

• Archive your data file if you want to continue using an unchanged version of your current data file, and also create and store a separate file with just last year's transactions. The advantage of this method is that you can create reports and graphs that include several years' worth of information. Create a new year file if you want to start using a new, smaller data file with just the current year's transactions (including all uncleared transactions and prior investment transactions), and also create and store a separate copy of the current data file.
• Quicken does not require that you archive or close out your data file at the end of the year. In fact, not archiving your data at the end of the year lets you run comparison reports on income and expenses from previous years. However, if you want to start the new year with a new data file, use Create a new year file.
• When you copy a Quicken data file with attachments, Quicken copies your Quicken data first, and then copies the attachments if there is room. If there is not room for all of your attachments, none of your attachments are copied.