But there should be room for the _S#1 in the examples you gave. Navigator can have up to 26 characters in an account name and only truncates if the existing name is longer than 22 characters. So APERIO /WBMLN904CS has 19 characters and Navigator will add 4 characters to the sold account to make APERIO /WBMLN904CS_S#1 with 23 characters. If the account name were longer with 26 characters like APERIO /WBMLN904CSABCDEF23 Navigator would indeed truncate it to APERIO /WBMLN904CSABCD_S#1. Please verify how many characters were in your account name before the partial sale and let me know.

The solution is to allow for the partial sale characters when you design your qualifiers. When you are in that design phase, there are many things to keep in mind:

• Keep account names short. Looks like you are already doing that.
• Design a system of qualifiers that uses an minimum number of characters. The system you design is going to be pretty rigid—it won’t be easy to change later. So put some thought into it. Many users get a consultant to advise them on this and the related task of setting up their Chart of Accounts.
• Once your qualifier system is defined, you know how many positions (characters) qualifiers use. Partial sale accounts can use up to 5 positions (“_S#01”). Navigator 8.2 allows up to 26 characters in an account name. So you now know how long your basic account names can be: 26 – (# of characters in qualifiers) – 5. You only need to reserve these last five characters for accounts that might have a partial sale: asset accounts for marketable investments.
• Try to use only one position in the qualifier for each critical piece of information. Sometimes you may choose to use 2 or 3 to make it easier for humans to read. For instance, if you are using qualifiers so you can report by broker, you might use S or SB for Smith Barney.
• Use the same number of characters in the same position in all cases in all entities. If you use SB for Smith Barney in the first two positions, you can’t use FID for Fidelity—use FD or FI instead.
• Each position always means the same thing. If the first two positions identify the broker, you can’t use the first two positions somewhere else to identify the type of income, for instance.
• Make a reference chart that shows what each position means, what characters are used, and what the characters mean. Everyone that uses Navigator in your office needs to follow the same format for qualifiers. For instance:
  Qualifier positions: /12345
  Position 1 & 2: Broker
  SB Smith Barney
  FD Fidelity
  MS Morgan Stanley
  Position 3: Owner
  D Dewey Goode
  V Vera Goode
  Position 4 & 5: Property
  EL Elm Apartments
  MP Maple Apartments
  VA Vacation home

I’d suggest that you shorten your qualifiers. Is each of the characters in WBMLN904CS really needed? Reexamine how you do qualifiers using the suggestions above. Once you have a good system, go back and change your existing account names (and qualifiers) to match.