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Minimizing disk space usage in Digita Virtual Office

There are several ways to reduce the amount of disk space used by CS Professional Suite® applications and Microsoft® Outlook® when run through Virtual Office CS® or Software as a Service (SaaS). You may need to perform these procedures to free up disk space.
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Youcannot reduce the amount of disk space required to store client data in the following applications: Accounting CS,™ Financial Analysis CS,® Planner CS,® and ToolBox CS.®

FileCabinet CS

Adjust the settings in your scanner software
To reduce the amount of space used to store scanned documents, set your scanner software to scan documents in black and white (instead of in grayscale or in color).
If you scan original documents (not copies or facsimiles) in black and white at 300 DPI, the resulting scans will be of high enough quality to send for Source Document Processing.
Archive infrequently accessed documents to an alternate location
FileCabinet CS enables you to free up disk space by moving older, seldom-used documents from the active data location and storing them in an archive location. By moving these documents to a different location (such as CD or an archive storage drive) and then compacting the client data, you can reduce the amount of disk space required in Virtual Office CS or SaaS.
  1. Make sure that no one else is working in, printing files to, or backing up client data to FileCabinet CS.
  2. In FileCabinet CS, choose File > Archive.
  3. Click the Create archive option.
  4. Click the appropriate option.
    • Append the archive to this volume — Click this option to add to an existing volume of archived documents.
    • Begin a new volume with this archive — Click this option to start a new volume of archived documents, and then enter the volume label and any applicable comments in the fields provided.
  5. Click the Continue button.
  6. Click the appropriate option.
    • All contents of selected drawers — Click this option to archive all of the documents in all of the folders in the drawers that you will select later in this process.
    • Specific folders of selected drawers — Click this option to limit the archive to the documents contained in specific folders within the selected drawers.
  7. Click the Continue button to open the Archive dialog.
  8. In the left pane, highlight the drawers that you want to archive and click the Select button to move them to the right pane.
  9. Verify that the path listed in the Archive location group box points to your archive drive. (Use W:\CABINET_ARCHIVE as the path to the archive storage drive location.) To change the archive location, click the Modify button.
    note
    • The Y:\FcabData\$Archive location can be used, but that will not reduce the disk space as much as the W drive. The W drive is specifically for archives and billed at a lower rate than the Y drive. The Y:\FcabData\$Archive location is used for firms that need to reduce data size in FileCabinet CS but are not in danger of a space usage billing. Anything over 100 GB of FileCabinet CS data will start to cause performance issues in the program. For pricing details, log in to NetStaff CS, click the Help menu in the Home Dashboard, and choose Pricing information.
    • Do not use the archive location to store live production data. The archive drive allows you to store archived data at a lower cost and does not perform at the same level as the production file servers. For pricing details, log in to NetStaff CS, click the Help menu in the Home Dashboard, and choose Pricing information.
  10. Click the Archive button to begin the archive process. During the archive process, data is deleted from the FileCabinet CS data location and stored only in the archive data location. After the archive process is complete, you can click a volume icon in the folders window to view archive information or double-click a volume icon to access archived documents.
    note
    After archiving, we recommend that you compact the data for optimal space savings.
Restoring archived data
Follow these steps to restore data that your firm backed up to the archive storage drive.
  1. In FileCabinet CS, choose File > Archive.
  2. Click the Restore archive option and click Continue.
  3. Verify that the restore path is W:\CABINET_ARCHIVE.
  4. Highlight the volumes that you want to restore, and click the Restore button.
Reduce the number of data backups from CS Professional Suite applications into FileCabinet CS
Most CS Professional Suite applications include a feature that enables you to back up the application’s data into FileCabinet CS automatically. Although this feature provides easy access to data backups, you might want to reduce the number of backups retained to minimize the disk space required for the corresponding FileCabinet CS drawer. For details on setting the options for this feature in each CS Professional Suite application, see the help in the respective application.
Compact FileCabinet CS data files
Due to the architecture of the FileCabinet CS drawer data files, it is possible for the data files to contain unused space, which results in larger files than necessary. This issue is most common after you delete or archive data. To reduce the amount of unused space in the data files, you should compact the data files periodically.
  1. Make sure that no one else is working in, printing files to, or backing up client data to FileCabinet CS.
  2. In FileCabinet CS, choose Help > Repair > Compact tab.
  3. In the Drawers available to compact pane on the left, highlight the drawers that contain the data files that you want to compact, and click the Select button.
  4. Click the Compact Drawers button.
  5. When the process is complete, click OK.

Fixed Assets CS

Adjust the settings in your scanner software
To reduce the amount of space used to store scanned documents, set your scanner software to scan documents in black and white (instead of in grayscale or in color).
Limit the number of years of depreciation data retained
You can reduce the amount of disk space used by Fixed Assets CS data by limiting the number of years for which depreciation data is retained. (Note that completing this procedure affects UltraTax CS® returns for years beyond the maximum number of years to be retained.)
  1. In Fixed Assets CS, choose Setup > System Configuration.
    note
    Depending on your security configuration, you may need to enter the master password before you can open this dialog.
  2. Click the Options tab.
  3. Enter a number (2 – 10) to specify the maximum years’ data to be retained for all clients. This range includes the client’s current-year data files plus any prior-year data files.
  4. Click OK.
When you close the client data to the next year, Fixed Assets CS will delete data that is older than the number of years shown in this field (minus one for the current year’s data files).
Archive client data
You can back up old or unused client data to a low-cost storage drive and delete the data from the production server. Please note that the archive drive is for backups only; storage of live data is not permitted. Follow these steps to change the backup / restore location.
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If your firm is paying for additional premium production storage space, you might be able to save money by moving older data to the archive storage drive. For pricing details, log in to NetStaff CS, click the Help menu in the Home Dashboard, and choose Pricing information.
  1. In Fixed Assets CS, choose File > Backup.
  2. Click the Modify Backup Location button and enter W:\DSW_ARCHIVE.
  3. Click OK.
  4. Select the client data you want to back up and click the Backup button.
Once you have backed up old, unused data, you can remove the client data by choosing File > Delete.
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Do not use the archive location to store live production data. The archive drive allows you to store archived data at a lower cost; it does not perform at the same level as the production file servers.
Restoring archived data
Follow these steps to restore data that your firm backed up to the archive storage drive.
  1. In Fixed Assets CS, choose File > Restore.
  2. Verify that the restore path is specified as W:\DSW_ARCHIVE.
  3. Highlight the client data you wish to restore and click the Restore button.

Practice CS

You can reduce the amount of disk space used by Practice CS® databases by deleting unnecessary databases, such as unused training and sample databases.
  1. Start Practice CS.
  2. In the login screen, select the database that you want to delete in the Open Firm field.
  3. Select the administrator staff ID and click OK.
    note
    Staff ID JPH is the administrator for the sample database. Staff ID ADMIN might be the administrator for training databases.
  4. Choose File > Delete Firm.
  5. Practice CS warns you that it will permanently delete the firm database.
  6. Click OK to create the required backup of the database, and then click OK again to create the backup in the default location.
  7. To delete another database, choose File > Open Firm and repeat steps 4 – 6.

UltraTax CS

Remove prior-year data
If you have prior-year data that you rarely need to access, you can back up that information to to an archive storage drive and delete it from Virtual Office CS or SaaS.
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If your firm is paying for additional premium production storage space, you might be able to save money by moving older data to the archive storage drive. For pricing details, log in to NetStaff CS, click the Help menu in the Home Dashboard, and choose Pricing information.
  1. Start the appropriate version of UltraTax CS.
  2. Choose File > Backup.
  3. In the pane on the left, highlight the clients whose data you want to back up and click the Select button.
  4. Verify that the path listed in the Backup location field points to the archive storage drive. (Use W:\UTxx_ARCHIVE as the path to the archive storage drive location.) To change the backup location, click the Modify Backup Location button.
    note
    Do not use the archive location to store live production data. The archive drive allows you to store archived data at a lower cost; it does not perform at the same level as the production file servers.
  5. Click the Backup button.
  6. After you have backed up the clients’ data, delete the clients from UltraTax CS by choosing File > Delete.
Restoring archived data
  1. In UltraTax CS, choose File > Restore.
  2. Verify that the restore path is W:\UTxx_ARCHIVE.
  3. Highlight the clients that you want to restore and click the Restore button.
Delete client data that was proforma’d from the prior year but is not needed
If you proforma’d data to the current year from the prior-year version of UltraTax CS but your firm will not prepare a return for that client in the current year, you can save disk space by deleting the client data from the current-year version of UltraTax CS without deleting prior-year depreciation data.
  1. In the current-year version of UltraTax CS, close all clients.
  2. Choose File > Delete to open the Delete Clients dialog.
  3. In the pane on the left, highlight the clients whose data was proforma’d from the prior year but is not needed, and click the Select button.
  4. Verify that the Delete Fixed Assets CS data checkbox is not marked. Note that this checkbox is available only if you are licensed for Fixed Assets CS.
    note
    If the Delete Fixed Assets CS data checkbox is marked, UltraTax CS will delete the current-year depreciation data.
  5. Click the Delete button.

Workpapers CS

To reduce the amount of space used to store scanned documents in Workpapers CS,™ set your scanner software to scan documents in black and white (instead of in grayscale or in color).

Microsoft Outlook

Compact the Outlook data file (or PST)
Outlook stores data in PST files. If you delete items (such as email messages or appointments) from a PST file, the size of the file does not change until you compact the file.
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Depending on the size of the PST file, it might take several minutes to compact the file. We recommend that you compact PST files every 1 – 2 months.
  1. In Outlook, click the File tab in the ribbon and then click the Info link on the left.
  2. Click the Account Settings button, and choose Account Settings.
  3. Click the Data Files tab, highlight the data file that you want to compact, and click the Settings button.
  4. Click the Advanced tab and then click the Outlook Data File Settings button.
  5. Click the Compact Now button.
  6. When the process is complete, click OK.
Empty the Deleted Items folder
When you delete items in Outlook, they go into a Deleted Items folder by default. You can set up Outlook to delete these items automatically or you can manually delete them.
Automatically empty the Deleted Items folder
  1. In Outlook, click the File tab in the ribbon and then click the Options link on the left.
  2. In the Outlook Options dialog, click the Advanced link on the left.
  3. In the Outlook start and exit section, mark the Empty Deleted Items folders when exiting Outlook checkbox.
  4. Click OK.
Manually empty the Deleted Items folder
  1. In Outlook, click the Mail button in the folder list.
  2. Right-click the Deleted Items folder, and choose Empty Folder from the context menu.
Move inactive Outlook items to an archival data folder
You can create an additional, archival Microsoft Outlook data file (called a PST file) to limit the size of your active PST file. You can then back up old items such as email messages, appointments, contacts, tasks, journal entries, notes, posted items, and documents in the archival PST file.
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If your firm is paying for additional premium production storage space, you might be able to save money by moving older items to archival PST files and storing the files on the archive storage drive. For pricing details, log in to NetStaff CS, click the Help menu in the Home Dashboard, and choose Pricing information.
Follow these steps to create an archival PST file.
  1. In Outlook, click the File tab in the ribbon and then click the Info link on the left.
  2. Click the Account Settings button, and choose Account Settings.
  3. Click the Data Files tab, and then click the Add button.
  4. In the Create or Open Outlook Data File dialog, enter or navigate to W:\MSOFFICE_ARCHIVE as the path for the PST file.
  5. Enter a name in the File name field to indicate that the PST will be used for old items (for example, add “archive” to the file name). If multiple users will create archive PST files in this location, further customize the file name to indicate the user to whom the PST file belongs (for example, Jsmith_archive.pst).
  6. Click OK to create the PST file.
  7. In the Create Microsoft Personal Folders dialog, you can specify a unique name for the PST file and set a password. It’s helpful to give the PST file a recognizable name (such as Jsmith_archive) because the name will appear in various lists within Outlook. When you’ve finished making changes in this dialog, click OK.
  8. In the Account Settings dialog, click the Close button.
The new PST file appears in the Outlook folder list. You can select messages or folders and drag them into the archive PST file.

This article applies to:

  • Product: Digita Virtual Office