QuickBooks uses the SAP SQL Anywhere database, which is robust, mature, secure - and can handle huge data sets. There is no QuickBooks file on the planet that even comes close to its limits.
But.... raw data storage is not the whole issue, especially since Intuit does not allow direct access to the QuickBooks database.
The problem with carrying data year after year:
The Quickbooks condense feature can remove 35% of the file size - IF it works at all (just ask the Pro Advisors in the Intuit Community).
Intuit added a new feature in 2019 that allows you remove audit trail data - and while it helped, it wasn't enough to tilt the results totally in your favor.
Lastly, we extract more detail data than any 3rd party application, and as a result, we might see data corruption where other applications wouldn't.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THIS ONE CONCEPT ABOUT QUICKBOOKS What happens above the hood is not always what happens underneath the hood.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THIS ONE CONCEPT ABOUT QUICKBOOKS
What happens above the hood is not always what happens underneath the hood.
The Intuit Software Development Kit (SDK) is antiquated, slow, and kludgy, but there is one thing it does that beyond reproach: it finds data corruption - and it never lies.
You may run a verify or rebuild using the data utilities inside of QuickBooks, and not find any errors - yet the SDK may find some during the process of extraction.
During the past two decades in which we have been involved in data extraction for QuickBooks desktop, we have arrived at some "rules of thumb" with regard to file size.
We also find that most people do not need to have more than a few years of accounting data at their fingertip, and that they query older information on an as needed basis.
Intuit product managers have a different concept about what a "large file size" is, because they see Enterprise files of up to even 5 or 6 Gig. However, in our experience, we have never seen a file size over 2 Gig that didn't have some form of corruption.
Corruption can occur even in file sizes much smaller, depending upon the number of merges, changes, and the number of times a file has been open and closed abnormally.
The most common transactions we see corruption are (in the following order):
If your file is in the 50% to 80% of the recommended file size range, you should rebuild the file before loading into QQube, and then check the synch logs for any potential errors. Your probability of success if very high in these instances.
However if your file size is greater than our recommendations there are three options:
With regard to option number four we highly recommend someone like Matt Clark at www.qbornotqb.com to split your file into two files: (1) with old data, that you can open - or store in QQube, and (2) a current file for every day use. DISCLAIMER: We do not receive kickbacks from this company - we recommend him because he has successfully taken care of hundreds of customers over the last decade.
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