Drake Accounting - Decreasing Storage & the Overwrite Forms Option

Overview

Here are some tips for saving disk space while using Drake Accounting. The following will also help to decrease the size of backups which will allow you to make regular backups without keeping unnecessary information.

• Go to Tools > Review Reports.

• Delete any old or unneeded reports, such as Federal and State reports.

  • Ensure that you are not saving PDFs created in the program to the client folder (e.g., saving PDFs of checks or reports when they are displayed in Print Preview mode).

  • When these PDFs are being saved to the client folder, Drake Accounting will include these PDFs when it backs up the client file which results in the client folder becoming large quickly.

  • If you also use Drake Tax, Drake Documents is a great way to store these reports instead.

• Go to Client > Edit > Federal Form Setup tab.

  • Or Firm > Firm Information Setup - this global option applies to all clients. The Client setup entry overwrites the Firm setup.

• Under Automatically Overwrite Forms, enter a value for Max Number of Forms Per Period.

  • This feature is available starting in DAS19 and works similarly to the backup process (first taken, first replaced).

  • This setting applies to State Tax & Wage Forms and Federal Forms (separate limits applied per form).

    • For example, if you enter 2 for the Max. Number of Forms Per Period, Drake Accounting will keep the newest two forms for each Month, Quarter, and Year (i.e. 2 forms for Quarter 1, 2 forms for Quarter 2, etc.).

  • If no entry is made for Max Number of Forms Per Period for the client (or on the global Firm setup), all forms will be saved when generated. This can increase the storage used on your computer.

  • Individual forms can be marked as exempt from this overwriting process by going to Tools > Review Reports > Display Federal (or State) Reports. Select a form (or multiple forms) and choose the Exempt from Overwrite button.