How to Purge data

CAUTION: Use caution when working with the below product functionality. Always create a backup of your data before proceeding with advanced solutions. If necessary, seek the assistance of a qualified Sage business partner, network administrator, or Sage customer support analyst.

 NOTE: We recommend purging data one year at a time if you have a lot of data you will be purging. Begin with the "oldest" year you think data may exist in, ex. End Date: 12/31/2018. Once the purge is done, run it again for the next one year period, ex. End Date: 12/31/2018. Do this process until you reach the last year you wish to purge. 

Section 1: Information about Purging

• Purging is the process of removing inactive customers, vendors, employees, jobs, quotes, invoices, purchases, and so forth, from the records of a company.  You can purge any date in closed years
• Purging reduces the size of the files of a company and frees valuable disk space for current and active data
• In Sage 50—U.S. Edition, purging can be performed at any time, including after you close the fiscal year and/or close the payroll tax year using the Year-End wizard
• The Purge Wizard will guide you through the purge process, letting you decide what type of records and how old of records should be purged
• During the Purge wizard, you will be required to make a backup before you begin purging, Sage recommends you make two backups, one for current reference and one to be stored in a secure location for emergency needs

Note: The purge process is not intended to remove or fix corrupt data. If you are experiencing problems with your data or suspect it is corrupt, you should restore a backup of your company data.

Section 2: To begin the Purge process

1. Select Tasks, System, and then select Purge Wizard.
2. The Purge Wizard Welcome Screen opens, click Next.
3. The wizard requires a backup before continuing.
4. Once the backup is complete, click Next.
5. The Old Transactions window lets you choose which unneeded transactions you want to purge.
6. Enter the date on or before which such transactions can be purged.
7. In the Transactions group box, select the transactions you want to purge.
   • Select Receivables to delete transactions such as quotes, invoices, and receipts
   • Select Payables to delete transactions such as purchase orders, purchases, and payments
   • Select Payroll to delete payroll transactions
   • Select Inventory to delete adjustment and assemblies transactions
   • Select General Journals to delete journals and their entries
   • Select Audit Trails to delete company audit trail data (available only in Sage Complete Accounting and higher)
   • Select Used Tickets to delete time and expense tickets used in payroll and sales (available only in Sage Complete Accounting and higher)
   • Select Unused Tickets to delete time and expense tickets not yet used (available only in Sage \Complete Accounting and higher)
   • Then enter or select a date on or before which such tickets can be purged
8. When finished, click Next.
9. The Account Reconciliation window lets you specify whether or not you use account reconciliation and if you do, which accounts need reconciling before the purge.
   • If you select Yes, and then select the cash accounts that must be reconciled before purging
   • Select the check box for each individual account that must be reconciled
   • If an account is selected here, any transactions that use the account but are not reconciled, regardless of date, will not be purged
10. When finished, click Next.
11. The Inactive Maintenance Records window lets you select the types of inactive maintenance records you want to purge, you can purge inactive records only if they are not used by any transactions and if they have a zero balance
12. Select the check boxes for each type of inactive maintenance record you want to purge:
    • Customers/Prospects
    • Vendors
    • Employees/Sales Reps
    • General Ledger Accounts
    • Inventory Items/Attribute Sets (attribute sets are available only in Sage Complete Accounting and higher)
    • Jobs/Phases/Cost Codes
13. When finished, click Next.
14. A summary of options screen will open, this will give you the ability to begin the purge or to go back and make necessary changes before starting the purge process.
15. When ready to purge, click Begin Purge.

 NOTE: The purge process gives you the ability to stop the purge at any time and to resume at the same point when time permits. However, if the process is stopped, some remaining transactions or maintenance records may not have been purged, and you may have to restore the backup before purging. 

Section 3: Verifying what was purged

When the purge process is complete, click Log button to review what data was purged.

Chat with support

Why do certain transactions or items not purge?
Using the purge log to determine why data is not purged
When should I purge my data?
How do I access purged data?
Error: "Fatal file system error 146"