Money file too big

This group doesn't look too promising, but hopefully someone can help. I
have been using MS Money since 2002. Needless to say, my money file has
gotten huge and Money runs sluggish. Is there anyway to make the file
smaller without losing data or starting over? If I could even pare it down
to the last five years that would help a lot. However, since all files are
inter-connected I can't simply go in and delete the first five years. I am
totally dependent on MS Money for keeping track of my finances, so I really
don't know what to do. I have upgraded the program several times, so it
isn't like I am using the old Money 2002. I downloaded the latest Money
Deluxe from the Microsoft site, but that simply uses your backup file and
goes from there and there isn't any technical support for this software.
Anyone?

 

If you are certain it is the file size that is causing the problem, the Archive feature would make it smaller. But my file size is about 170 MB with many years of data. There are some sluggish features (initial start, creating reports that include "ALL" data) but it doesn't seem to be a major issue for me.

If you do decide to Archive, you might want to make a copy and try it on the copy first. Personally I find it very convenient to have all my data in the one file.

 

Note that the more active forum is at
http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/money/threads?ppud=4

That requires a log-in to post.

As Ron said, Archive will remove non-investment transactions older
than a date you specify. It will not remove quotes, which is what
often take up a lot of space.

People looking for making the file smaller via archive are usually
disappointed.

 

Thanks for the input guys. It looks like I just need quit worrying about
the slowness.

 

How slow, and what version of Money are you using now? If it's
really slow, then the problem is probably due to some corrupted
Bills entry/entries. A new feature was added in Money 2007 and is
also in Plus including Sunset:

File->Repair->RemoveAllBillsData

This Remove All Bills Data feature would be for people who have
experienced their Money file to run excessively slow.

To get some information within the program,
File->Repair->RemoveAllBillsData
Read the information. Then click cancel.

Before proceeding, make an extra copy or backup of your file
in case you want to undo something.

The problem will be that if you remove all bills, you will probably
want to add at least some of your bills back. This can be done
manually with the aid of the reports that you print out before
removing the bills.

A technique that could help simplify re-entering your bills
afterward would be to go your register and selecting a
representative instance of your past bill and selecting "Make
Recurring" (Ctrl+E). This would be especially helpful if the bill
is complex, such as involving a split.