Step 2 - Check the volume of data

There's no numerical limit to the number of transactions or records you can enter into Sage 50 Accounts. The capacity is only limited by the amount of disk space and memory available on your computer. The following numbers are for guidance only. We cannot give a specific limit as it depends on several factors including data size, network speed, number of concurrent users etc.

As a rough guide we recommend that to optimise performance you have:

• Fewer than 250,000 splits (transactions)

  This assumes that transactions are reasonably spread across all records within a certain module. For example, it wouldn't be recommended to have 1,000,000 transactions posted to only one nominal code or customer record.

• Fewer than 50,000 invoices
• Fewer than 50,000 sales orders
• Fewer than 50,000 purchase orders
• Fewer than 5,000 customer records
• Fewer than 5,000 supplier records
• Fewer than 20,000 product records
• Fewer than 2,000 project records

To check these, click Help then click About. The number of records appear in the Data Information section.

If you have more than the recommended number of transactions or records, we recommend that you reduce the numbers to fewer than those specified above. You can delete old invoices and use the Clear Audit Trail option to remove old transactions.

If the amount of data is not excessive or the problem persists, click Next.

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Step 3 - Check each computer meets the recommended system requirements and has the latest build of the software installed

• Further information about the system requirements.
• Make sure you are using the latest build for your software version.

If every computer that uses Sage 50 Accounts meets the system requirements, is running the latest build of the software and the issue is still present, click Next.

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Step 4 - Where is the issue?

Is the software slow when running one specific process or does it run slowly in all areas?

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Step 5 - Software slow in one area

If a particular module of the software is affected, performance can be improved by reindexing that module.

1. To take a backup of your data, in Sage Accounts, click File then click  Backup. Read more >
2. Click File then click Maintenance.

   If prompted to close any other windows, click Yes.

3. Click Reindex, select the affected module and click OK then Yes.
4. Click Compress Now and click Compress.
5. Click OK, Click Close and click Close again.

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Step 5 - Software slow in all areas

Reindex and compress the data

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Step 6 - If Sage accounts is installed on a network, ensure that Sage Accounts uses a UNC path to access the data

You must do this on every client PC that accesses Sage Accounts.

If the Sage Accounts data on the server is accessed through a mapped network drive, we advise changing this to a UNC path. The current path to the data can be found in Sage Accounts by clicking Help then About and noting the data directory.

1. Browse to the Company file:
   

   Version	Company file location
   v29	C:\ProgramData\Sage\Accounts\2023
   v28	C:\ProgramData\Sage\Accounts\2022
   v27	C:\ProgramData\Sage\Accounts\2021
   v26	C:\ProgramData\Sage\Accounts\2020
   v25	C:\ProgramData\Sage\Accounts\2019

2. Double-click the Company file and choose Open with Notepad.
3. Change the paths in the Company file to point to the new data location on the server. You must enter the relevant UNC path for this. For example, if your server is called Server and your shared folder is called Sagedata, the UNC path is \\Server\Sagedata
4. Click File, click Save then click File and click Exit.

If the problem persists, click Next.

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Step 7 - Check your data

To check your software isn't running slowly due to data corruption, run the Check Data option.

1. Open Sage Accounts and log into the company experiencing the performance issues.
2. Click File, click Maintenance and then click Check Data.

If there are errors in your data these must be fixed before you do any more processing.

For further information about how to fix any errors, warnings or comments in the data, please refer to our index of errors, warning and comments guide.

If you've more than one company on Sage Accounts, you must check each company separately.

If there are no errors in your data, click Next.

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Step 8 - Check for .s50 files in Accdata

An excessive volume of .s50 files in the Accdata folder may cause performance issues. These are temporary files and can be safely deleted.

1. Open your company data and click Help then click About and click the Data Directory.
2. Delete any files with the extension .s50.

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Step 9 - File locking

Do you have a dedicated server computer on your network, that is a computer that holds your data centrally?

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Step 9 (continued) - Check for file locking

If files are held open on your server computer for longer than necessary this can cause performance issues with Sage Accounts. To check if this is an issue:

1. Click Start, then click Administrative Tools, click Share and Storage Management and click Manage Open Files.
   
   
   
   This lists all the files open on your server including sage Accounts Data files.
   
   
2. Close Sage 50 Accounts on all client computers.

The Sage data files displayed within Manage Open Files should disappear in 2 seconds. In some cases, depending on other tasks your server is running, this can take up to 5 seconds. Any extra delay in these files closing could indicate that SMB 2.0 or SMB 3.0 is the cause of your performance issues.

For further advice about SMB and Sage Accounts, please refer to this guide >

If the files close within 5 seconds, click Next.

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Step 10 - Antivirus software and scheduled tasks

If your computer is running antivirus software, you must configure this so it doesn't conflict with Sage Accounts.

NOTE: Before making any changes to your antivirus software or scheduled tasks, you should speak to your local IT.

If the issue happens at specific times of the day or on specific days of the week, check your scheduled tasks and amend any that are scheduled when the issue occurs:

1. Click Start then click All Programs and click Accessories.
2. Click System Tools then click Task Scheduler and change the time on all relevant scheduled tasks.

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Step 11 - Sage user-specific issues

Try to recreate the performance issues using a different Sage user.

1. Click File then click Log Off.
2. Enter a different logon.
3. Recreate the process that caused the performance issue.

If you're using the Manager logon, try to create the performance issues as a standard user.

Does the problem happen when using a different Sage logon?

If you only have one Sage logon, to create a new logon, click Settings then click Access Rights and click New.

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Step 12 - Fixing Sage user-specific issues

If the issue affects specific Sage users, delete any files held in the Criteria folder and any user files listed in the Accdata folder.

1. Browse to the Data Directory and open the Accdata folder, then delete any files from the list below. 
   
   To find the Data Directory, from within Sage Accounts, click Help then click About and click Program Details :
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   • USERNAME.BKC
   • USERNAME.BKI
   • USERNAME.CPI
   • USERNAME.CPC
   • USERNAME.CSI
   • USERNAME.CSC
   • USERNAME.DPC
   • USERNAME.DPI
   • USERNAME.FIC
   • USERNAME.FII
   • USERNAME.IVC
   • USERNAME.IVI
   • USERNAME.NMC
   • USERNAME.NMI
   • USERNAME.PCC
   • USERNAME.PCI
   • USERNAME.PDC
   • USERNAME.PDI
   • USERNAME.PPC
   • USERNAME.PPI
   • USERNAME.PPQ
   • USERNAME.PRC
   • USERNAME.PRI
   • USERNAME.PRQ
   • USERNAME.SKC
   • USERNAME.SKI
   • USERNAME.SLC
   • USERNAME.SLI
   • USERNAME.SPC
   • USERNAME.SPI
2. Browse to the Criteria folder. The criteria folder is in the same location as your data folder. For example, if your data folder is, s:\sagedata\company.000\accdata, your criteria folder is, s:\sagedata\company.000\criteria
3. Delete any files held within the Criteria folder.
4. Close and reopen Sage Accounts.
5. Test to see if the issue persists.
6. If the performance issues are still present, create a new Sage logon for the affected user.
7. Log into the software with the username Manager and click Settings then click Access Rights, click New and click create a new user then click Save.
8. Click File then click Log Off. Enter the newly created username and try to recreate the performance issues.

If the performance issues are still present, click Next.

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Step 12 - Windows user-specific issues

Try to recreate the performance issues using a different Windows user.

Does the problem happen when using a different Windows logon?

NOTE: If you only have one Windows logon, click Yes.

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Step 13 - Fixing Windows user-specific issues

If the problem is happening for specific Windows users, you must speak to your IT administrator for further support. The following guide from our help centre will help them to troubleshoot the issue.

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Step 13 - Test the network transfer speed outside of Sage Accounts

To do this, you must copy the Reports folder from the client PC to the root of the shared folder on the server PC and time how long it takes to complete.

The standard location for the Reports folder is:

Version	Company file location
v27	C:\ProgramData\Sage\Accounts\2021\Company.000
v26	C:\ProgramData\Sage\Accounts\2020\Company.000
v25	C:\ProgramData\Sage\Accounts\2019\Company.000
v24	C:\ProgramData\Sage\Accounts\2018\Company.000

1. On the client PC, open Sage Accounts.
2. Click Help, then click About. In the Program Details area, make a note of the Data Directory.
3. Open Windows Explorer and browse to the Reports folder.
4. Right-click the folder, then click Copy.
5. Browse to the route of the local disk on the server, then click Edit, then click Paste.
6. Time how long it takes to complete the process.
7. Repeat steps 4 and 5 two more times and calculate the average time taken.

   Because the first transfer should take longer, you must only use the average of the second and third file transfers.

On a network which runs at 100 Mbps, the folder should transfer in 30 - 40 seconds. On a network which runs at 1 Gbps, the folder should transfer in 15 - 20 seconds.

You should now repeat the process to time how long it takes to copy the file from the server back to the client PC.

If copying the file in either direction takes longer than 80 seconds on a 100 Mbps network or 40 seconds on a 1 Gbps network, this is slower that you would expect and is impacting the performance of Sage Accounts. Until the network transfer speed improves, Sage Accounts will continue to run slowly. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide any further advice about what may be causing this and how to resolve it. We recommend that you refer to your network administrator for further advice.

If the network transfer speed is OK, click Next.

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Step 14 - Move the data to a new location

To relocate the data

To connect to the data in the new location

If the problem persists, undo the changes made to the Company file then click Next.

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Step 15 - Further investigation

If you require further help with this, to find the best way to contact us please visit our Help Centre.

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