Data Remover

Overview

Introduction:

The Data Remover can do mass deletions of transactions (invoices, bills, checks etc.) and list names (customers, vendors etc.) based on date ranges, reference number ranges, names, partial names and other criteria. Transactions can be deleted based on transaction date or date added/modified (down to the hour/minute/second). List names can be deleted based on date added/modified, active status, name or partial name and other criteria. Note that in QuickBooks, list names can be deleted only if the name is not used in any transaction or any other list type.

The Data Remover program was written primarily to remove old no longer active customers from the customer list (for those users reaching the maximum number allowed) but in can be used to remove other list names (items, vendors etc.) and also transactions.

Note that this program should not be used to lop off the front end of a file to reduce its size. For our write-up on how to reduce file size, see How to start a new QuickBooks file

In QuickBooks it's difficult to identify (at least programmatically) which customers have had recent activity and which haven't. After you identify the inactive ones, you can only delete them by merging them or starting a new file without them. The Intuit Software Development Kit (SDK) will not allow us to merge customers programmatically, so starting a new file is the only automated option left.

When using the Data Transfer Utility to start a new file, you can limit the transfer of customers to the new file to just those not marked as inactive but most users don't mark these old customers as inactive. You can also limit the customers transferred to the new file to just those created/modified after a certain date but typically this process omits a few customers that you need and you get missing parent rejects on customer imports and missing customer rejects on transactions. So we needed a better method of trimming the customer list.

Since QuickBooks will reject any attempt to remove a customer (or any list name) that is linked to a transaction, we decided to use that feature to in essence identify active customers (i.e. those with transactions). With the Data Remover you can start a new file, transfer all the customers to the new file and enter the beginning balances (and a few weeks or months of transactions if you want to). This leaves a lot of old customers in the new file who are not linked to any transaction and when you run the Data Remover, QuickBooks allows these customers to be removed but rejects the Data Removers attempts to delete customers who are tied to transactions (i.e. active customers).

System Requirements:

1. QuickBooks 2005 and later (Pro version or higher) and Enterprise Solutions 5 and later (See the "How to Buy" page for more information).

2. Microsoft Access 2000-2007 or or the free Microsoft Access 2000 Runtime engine which can be downloaded from our "How to Buy" page.

2. Win 2000, XP, Vista, Win 7

Support:

Free email support for 60 days from date of purchase. Any additional support needed is payable on a per incident basis. We don't bill for identifying and correcting program bugs. Support questions should be emailed to support@q2q.us.

Trademarks:

QuickBooks is a registered trademark and service mark of of Intuit, Inc. in the United States and other countries. The Data Remover is designed for use with QuickBooks 2005 and later and Enterprise Solutions 5 and later software only. (See the "How to Buy" page for more information)