Reducing File Size

[Mike C.]

I have the same problem that several others have mentioned.  Since I
converted over 15 years of Quicken data the Gnucash file is now 1845 KB
after compression and takes a long time to load or to generate reports. 
I would like to eliminate old data that is no longer needed without
affecting the current account totals. 
It seems like I can delete asset accounts that have a zero balance
without causing a problem.  I have lots of accounts that are stock or
bond purchases that have long since been sold.  Is there a problem with
this action to reduce the data file size?
The other accounts I would like to delete are the income accounts
(dividend/interest/capital gains) associated with these stocks and
bonds.  I know I can delete the accounts and move them to Total Income
but that doesn't reduce the data.  Also doing a close books doesn't
reduce the data detail.  I would like to eliminate the detail without
affecting the total assets on the balance sheet.  Does anyone know of a
way of accomplishing this?
Thanks,
Mike