Purging Records In Peachtree

Purging is the process of removing inactive "list" data (i.e., customers, vendors, employees, items, jobs, general ledger accounts, etc.) and closed "transaction" data (i.e., quotes, invoices, purchases, payments, etc.) from the Peachtree database. Since the key words are inactive and closed, prior to purging make all list data (customers, vendors, employees, chart of accounts, inventory items, etc.) inactive, and all transaction data to be purged "closed" prior to running a purge.

Purging reduces the size of the company database and frees up valuable disk space for current data. It can also have a significant positive effect on overall system performance.

When to Purge
Purging can be done at any time, but we recommend purging after closing the fiscal year and/or closing the payroll tax year, using the year-end wizard.

In order to perform the purge process all users, except for the person performing the purge, must be logged out of the company being purged, .

The person performing the purge should close all other applications before beginning the purge process.

Since the purge process may take a long time to complete, we recommend starting the process at the end of the business day, making sure you leave the computer running.

If your company database is very large, you should consider purging the data in increments rather than selecting several purge options at one time. This allows you to purge in incremental sessions that you control, saving time and memory resources. For example, purge only three months of data at a time. Or, purge transactions first, then maintenance (“list”) records.

How to Purge - Step By Step
1. From the Peachtree menu bar, select Tasks | System | Purge Wizard

2. Read the Purge Wizard - Welcome page, chose next. Be aware that you can only purge old transactions from years that have been closed.  The welcome page lists the most recently closed year end.
3. The next window prompts for a backup. We recommend that you include the company name in the backup. Choose backup; when the backup completes choose next.
4. The next window lets you choose which “old” transactions you want to purge. We recommend that you purge transactions in small pieces, choosing only one “subsystem” (e.g., Accounts Receivable) per purge cycle.
5. You will be prompted to identify any accounts used in Account Reconciliation Check off any accounts that for which you maintain an account reconciliation procedure.
6. You will be prompted to select any inactive “Maintenance Accounts” you also want to remove at this time. For instance, if you are purging old Accounts Receivable transactions, you may (but do not have to) choose to remove any customer records that are marked as inactive.
7. You will be presented with a final screen summarizing all of your choices . Review this screen carefully, and select the Purge button when you are ready to proceed with the purge.

Purges cannot be undone, so make your choices carefully, and be sure to have a valid backup of your data.

Recommended Purge Record Order:

• Accounts Receivable
• Accounts Payable
• Payroll
• General Ledger
• Inventory
• Jobs

We recommend that each of these subsystems be purged separately.

Please note that, if your Journal Row file is large (greater than 150,000 records) it will take an extended amount of time to purge all of the information as described above.

Please contact TriStar by phone at 610-941-2116 or by email at support@tristardatasystems.com   if you have any questions about this procedure.