Difference between closing and deleting accounts

If you do not want to use an account in Money any more, then you have a couple of options on how you wish to handle this. These are 'closing' and 'deleting' the account.

Closing the account (which is done through the account properties or by right clicking on the account in the account list - see image below), marks the account so that it no longer appears in the account list, and doesn't appear in the dropdown account selectors when transferring between accounts. In addition, reports which show 'open' accounts no longer contain this account. Think of it as 'hiding' the account from view. All of the transactions are still in the file.



Deleting the account removes the account and all transaction details from the file. This will free up storage space, but you lose data. Transfers into the deleted account are changed to expenses with category 'Xfer to Deleted Account', and transfers out of the deleted account have their destination account transaction changed to a deposit with category 'Xfer from Deleted Account'. Reports containing the deleted account are changed and no longer include it as a selectable account, nor is it listed anywhere. This really is deletion, and if you want to get this data back, you'd need to go to a backup from before the time you deleted the account.

If you use online services from an associated financial institution, it may not be possible to delete an account. In these circumstances you should mark the account as closed until such a time as you no longer use that financial institution.