How to improve the performance of your Reckon Accounts company file

Legacy KB ID: 3793

Question

My company file seems to take longer to open, process transactions and generate reports.  What can I do to improve the performance of my company file?

Answer

The speed and efficiency of your company file will depend on several issues relating to:

·         The condition of your company file

·         The condition of your PC

·         The condition of your network (for multi-user mode)

 

Condition of your company file

  1. Check the size of the yourcompanyfile.qbw.tlg file

This file logs the changes to your company file since the last full Reckon Accounts backup was carried out.  If you have not used the backup function for a long time (for instance because your computer is independently backup up by a 3rd party program) then this file may be too large.  A size greater than 25% of your yourcompanyfile.qbw is too large.  To reduce the size yourcompanyfile.qbw.tlg:

                                          i.    Make a backup of your company file using the backup function with the option of a full verification; or

                                         ii.    It is safe to delete the yourcompanyfile.qbw.tlg

 

  1. Too many File Fragments

The Reckon Accounts database (yourcompanyfile.qbw) is sensitive to the number of fragments it is stored as on your PC.  If there are more than 50 fragments then you will experience a reduction in performance.  To check and reduce file fragments.

i.    Open your company file and Press Cntrl 1 to open the Product Information Screen

ii.    Half-way down the screen on the left file DB File Fragments.  If it is greater than 50 then continue.....

iii.    Create a Portable Company File and then restore it (see Additional Note below).  Check the number of file fragments; if still greater than 50 then continue.....

iv.    Ask your IT professional to defrag your Hard Disk.

 

  1. Too many sub-accounts or sub-items

a.    The account list may have too many sub-accounts and levels of sub-accounts

b.    The Item List may have too many sub-items and levels of sub-items

c.    The Customer List may have too many Jobs

Where possible, reduce the levels of, and the total number of, sub-accounts and sub-items.

 

  1. Centers (Customers, Suppliers, Employees) have custom sorted lists. Return these lists to their default order.  

Click here for steps on resorting.

     

  1. Print Forms have long queues of unprinted transactions that are never to be printed. 

Clear the queues – print to a PDF printer until all queues eliminated

 

  1. Eliminate file corruption

a.    Create a Portable Company File and restore it

b.    Resort all Lists, Rebuild the file and Verify

c.    Follow-up on any errors and repeat Rebuild and Verify until the Verify returns the message ‘No Errors Found’ and the qbwin.log file contains no irregularities. 

 

  1. Creating and restoring a Portable Company File

Important: It is a requirement to process all of your online banking outstanding transactions and have no ABA files to be created before following the procedure.

1.      With the file open, press the F2 button. Locate the File Size and make note of the size.

2.      Click File > Save Copy or Backup.

3.      Click the Portable company file radio button > click Next.

4.      Select the save location. Saving to the Desktop is convenient for this procedure.

5.      Click Save and/or OK.

6.      When completed, restore the portable company file (PCF):

Click File > Open or Restore Company > click Restore a portable file radio button > Next.

7.      Select the file previously saved to the Desktop, click Open. Note: The file will have a .QBM   file extension.

8.      The window "Where do you want to restore the file?" will open, Click Next.

a.    If you are saving the file to the same location where the source file is then you will be presented with Confirm Save As message asking if you are willing to replace the current file with the file you are trying to restore.   

b.    It is recommended to save it with a different name, i.e "file name PCF.qbw " otherwise click Yes to confirm the replacement of your current data file.

c.    Click Save.

9.      After the file opens click OK.

10.   Open the file, and log in. Press the F2 button. Locate the File Size. Has the file size decreased?

11.   Check the performance of the newly restored portable Reckon Accounts data file.

 

  1. Network issues

1.Ensure that multi-user hosting is setup correctly: 

Only the Server or Host PC is hosting multi-user access

Workstations to show the option ‘Host Multi-User Access...’ in File > Utilities

2.Your network is not overloaded:

Check with your Network Administrator that there is plenty of capacity on your network.

3. Check that there are no malfunctioning physical items on your Network:

Network Interface Cards (NIC) on individual PCs will slow the operation of Reckon Accounts if they are not performing at 100%

4.    Users have correct permissions to the folders they need to access:

a.    Users have at least Power User privileges to the Reckon Accounts application folders and to the data folders.

5. QBDataServiceUser30 has full control to data folders

 

  1. Computer Issues
  • Your PC is a supported windows OS running Windows 8 or 10 with all the latest windows update installed
  • Your PC has sufficient RAM Windows 10 & 8 – 4GB minimum and 8GB suggested
  • Hard Disk is not highly fragmented and has at least 1GB free space
  • Your computer and network do not have any malfunctioning components or processes.
  • Users on stand-alone PC must have local administrator rights on the system.
  • Users have Full Control permissions to the Intuit Registry Keys in a Domain network environment.
  • Internet Explorer security levels are not high

  1. If after all these steps the company file is still operating too slowly, then you may need to start a new company file.  Some issues that may force you to create a new company file earlier than you would normally want to are:
  • A large number of daily transactions.
  • Complex invoices, bills, sales and purchase orders; that is, many line items to each form.
  • Large lists of inactive items
  • Inability to repair corruption

 

 





Need more help?

Ask the Reckon Community at: https://community.reckon.com/reckon.

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