Ohio State University Extension Bulletin

Computerized Farm Record Keeping with Quicken® 2003

Bulletin 908

Year End File Management

With the increased capacity and power of today's computers, two years of data can easily be kept in the data file while adding the third year's transactions. For instance, data from 2001 and 2002 can be kept in the same file while transactions for 2003 are being added. Keeping several years of data in the same file allows you to make comparison reports, graphs, etc. It is also makes it easier to go back to find an earlier income or expense transaction.

Make sure that your current file is backed up before beginning any year-end file management.

Three options can be used to manage Quicken data files at year's end. Click File, Click File Operations, Click Year-End Copy to open the YEAR-END COPY window for two of these options.

Figure 80 Figure 80 Figure 80 Figure 80

  1. Archive

    Copies the earlier years' transactions in the current data file to another file. The current file will still contain all transactions including the transactions archived to the new data file. This year-end procedure will allow the user to create a new data file with transactions for a specific year or time period while accumulating several years of transactions in the current data file.

    Example of Archive

    If the current data file, EXFARM, contains transactions for 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and part of 2003, the archive function is set to automatically include transactions up through 12/31/2002 into an archive file named EXFARM02. The program will put EXFARM02 in the same folder containing EXFARM. If you want to name the archive file differently, e.g., EXFARM99-02, to be more descriptive of its contents, you can do this when the ARCHIVE FILE window is open. Also, while the ARCHIVE FILE window is open you can change the ending date for the transaction to be archived. For example, you want to archive transactions for 1999 and 2000 in a file named EXFARM99-00, you would specify to archive transactions up to and including 12/31/2000. After creating an archived file, EXFARM will still contain the transactions for 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and part of 2003. You can continue to use EXFARM for the remainder of your 2003 transactions.

    Using the data file, EXFARM, Archive cannot be used to create a file that contains 2000 data only. To create EXFARM00 from EXFARM, see Copy later in this section.

    Figure 81
     
    Figure 82

  2. Start New Year

    This copies all the transactions from the current file to a new backup data file (your file name with BKP.QDF added) and then deletes transactions prior to a specified date from the current file. This procedure can be used to delete old transactions from the current data file when the file contains too many years of records. Start New Year should be used to delete transactions from the current data file after those transactions from earlier years have been saved in other data file(s) using Archive.

    Example of Start New Year

    EXFARM now has transactions for 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003. You have already archived the 1999 and 2000 data in EXFARM99-00 using the Archive option. You want to use Start New Year to delete the 1999 and 2000 data from EXFARM so it will contain only 2001 and 2002 transactions as you start recording 2003 transactions. When the START NEW YEAR window opens, it will automatically name the backup file EXFARMBKP.QDF and this is where all the transactions from EXFARM will be copied to. If you want to name the backup file something else, the name of the file can be changed here.

    The START NEW YEAR window also asks about the starting date for transactions to remain in EXFARM. If you want to delete the transactions from 1999 and 2000 so only 2001, 2002 and 2003 transactions remain, you will specify the starting date to be 1/01/01. Click OK and EXFARM now has 2001, 2002 and 2003 transactions and EXFARMBKP has 1999 through 2003 transactions. You can delete EXFARMBKP at this point if you want.

    Figure 83
     
    Figure 84 Figure 84 Figure 84 Figure 84 Figure 84 Figure 84

    The third option to manage Quicken data files at years end is Copy. Click File, Click File Operations, Click Copy to open the COPY FILE window.

  3. Copy

    Copy creates a new file with transactions between specified beginning and ending dates. Uncleared transactions should also be copied to the new file.

    Example of Copy

    If the current data file, EXFARM, contains transactions for 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and part of 2003 you can use Copy to copy the 1999 and 2000 data into a new file EXFARM99-00. When the COPY FILE window opens it will have automatically named the new file EXFARMCpy.QDF so if the file is to be named EXFARM99-00 the name needs to be changed at this point. Be sure to specify the beginning and ending dates of the transactions to be included since Copy will automatically set the beginning and ending dates to correspond with the beginning and ending dates in EXFARM. Copy can also be used to create files with one year's data, e.g., EXFARM99, EXFARM00, etc. After using Copy, the original file EXFARM will still contain the transactions for 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003.

    Figure 85 Figure 85 Figure 85 Figure 85
     
    Figure 86 Figure 86 Figure 86 Figure 86 Figure 86

Back | Forward | Table of Contents

All educational programs conducted by Ohio State University Extension are available to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, gender, age, disability or Vietnam-era veteran status.

Keith L. Smith, Associate Vice President for Ag. Adm. and Director, OSU Extension.

TDD No. 800-589-8292 (Ohio only) or 614-292-1868

| Ohioline | Search | Fact Sheets | Bulletins |