FAQ'S (Mac) — Quicken

Keyboard Shortcuts to Select Accounts in Sidebar using AppleScript

RickO — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 16:18:46 +0000

I've been playing with this and have come up with an AppleScript that will select any account or account group in the sidebar. It also clears any filters (useful when you return to a register and forgot you had a filter set). I'll paste the code below. You can trigger the script from the keyboard using any of a number of Mac keyboard shortcut utilities. I use Keyboard Maestro (https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/).

property accountName : "your account name" -- unique text of sidebar line (e.g., "Banking", "Chase Bank Account")
property windowName : "name of your main Quicken window" -- as shown when clicking red Q in upper right corner of main window, which is the same as your file name
use framework "Foundation"
use scripting additions
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Quicken"
try
set targetWindow to window windowName
set theOutline to outline 1 of scroll area 1 of splitter group 1 of splitter group 1 of targetWindow
set theRows to rows of theOutline
set numRows to count of theRows
repeat with aRow in theRows
try
set theText to value of static text 1 of UI element 1 of aRowif theText contains accountName then
select aRow
exit repeat
end if
end try
end repeat
tell button "Clear Filters" of group 1 of splitter group 1 of window "Quicken JNT" to click -- remove this line if you don't want the green Clear Filters button clicked
end try
end tell
end tell

Setting up loan as Lender

Rick*j — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 15:55:33 +0000

I need help in setting up loan as lender for money lent to family. I set up as Asset as researched but cannot figure out how to accept extra payments that are random both time and dollars paid so that interest and pricnicpal are calculated correctly. Also cannot find where interest is applied in account.

Simple Solution to connect to Edward Jones

eurekapaul53 — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 22:34:27 +0000

After changing my username and password on Edward Jones, Quicken Classic for the Mac would no longer update the accounts. (My credentials were not recognized.) I contacted an agent on Quicken Chat and got nowhere except to call Edward Jones. Specifically:

"Noe from Quicken: Thank you for the information. Upon checking here our information seems that they changed their sign in link, you have https://onlineaccess.edwardjones.com/app/oa-login (https://onlineaccess.edwardjones.com/app/oa-login) and we have edwardjones.com Have you contact them regarding that?"

I called Edward Jones Help and they gave me a simple solution for connecting my Edward Jones account to Quicken:

(1) Change Edward Jones password to be less than 20 characters and only alphanumeric characters—no special characters.

(2) Close Quicken.

(3) Log in to Edward Jones before opening Quicken.

(4) Open Quicken and connect accounts.

A tip. Also while connecting each account, some of the individual account numbers didn't line up between my existing accounts on Quicken and those presented in the Connection dialog box. It took me a few minutes to realize why. The corresponding account numbers were not always the last four:

Local Quicken program: Trad IRA 1369 (Corresponds to what shows on Edward Jones.)

Quicken Connection dialog: 12345136914

The bold illustrates the matching numbers. The dialog box does not show the account name so you need account numbers.

Last point. I think Quicken needs to address the following issues:

(1) Train their agents to recognize the password limitations.

(2) Update the software to recognize more complex passwords. In this day of hacked websites and compromised passwords, Quicken ought to address basic issues like this before developing more features.

Are there any keyboard shortcuts for Mac Quicken 2015?

Sat, 13 Jun 2015 16:18:46 +0000

Financial Institutions Not Supported Via EWC in Quicken Mac Due to 0 balance

Quicken Janean — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 15:45:40 +0000

The following financial institutions are not supported for downloading via EWC in Quicken Mac due to the 0 balance issue. Anyone who has the account connected will keep it with 0 balance being returned. Anyone who tries to add will get error "Quicken couldn't find any accounts to add" error message.

"7327" - Equitable Life Insurance
"7883" - Wealthfront
"17260"- Wealthfront Inc.
"66337" - Jackson National Life
"66503" - Empower Rtd - 401k
"66553" - Financial Decisions
"66627" - Invesco
"66628" - Janus Henderson
"66660" - Mutual of America
"66663" - Dodge and Cox Funds
"66712" - The Education Plan
"66722" - Ohio Deferred Compensation
"67926" - Victory Capital

Importing Transactions from the Apple Card into Quicken

Quicken Janean — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 21:07:17 +0000

We have been receiving questions from users about whether or not Quicken can receive transactions from the Apple Card. We are happy to share that there is a way. You will need to go to the Apple Card website, download a QFX file of your transaction data, and import that into Quicken.

Steps to Take:

Open Quicken on your Mac
Go to the Wallet App on your iPhone and select the Apple Credit Card
Click on the "Card Balance" button below the credit card
A new "Balance Details" window will open on your iPhone.
Scroll down to "Statements"
Select the statement you want to download.
A new window will open with the statement you selected in step #6
Select "Export Transactions" at the bottom of the statement.
1. Do NOT select "Download PDF Statement".
A new "Select a file format" window will pop up.
Select "Quicken Financial Exchange (QFX)"
A new window will pop up on your iPhone giving you options as to where to send your QFX file.
Make sure you have AirDrop enabled on your Mac and your iPhone and make sure that both your Mac and iPhone are on the same WiFi network.
Select "AirDrop"
Select the icon for your Mac on your iPhone's AirDrop screen.
On your Mac, a banner will open near the upper right side of your screen. Click on the "Open" button.
The transactions for the statement you selected will be automatically imported into Quicken.

Note: If you miss the popup screen on your Mac, look in your Mac's "Download" folder where you will find the file that you just received via AirDrop.

You can then go to your Mac's Quicken application and under the "File" menu, select "Import- Bank or Brokerage File (OFX, QFX)... then navigate to the file you want to import from your Downloads folder.

How to generate a capital gains report for Mac users

jerryh — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 19:59:41 +0000

I'm answering my own question, to post this idea to the community. Quicken Windows users can run a Capital Gains Report. However, there is no standard report for Mac users. (I'm using Quicken Subscription for Mac.) I've found a way to modify the Tax Schedule report to create a Capital Gains Report.

How to create a Capital Gains report with subscription Quicken for Mac:

1. Open the report, Quicken Reports > Tax > Tax Schedule.

2. Choose the option to “Summarize by: Category”.

3. At the top of the window, click on the “Edit” button.

4. In the “Edit Report” window, ensure the Accounts tab is selected and click on the radio button for “Selected accounts”.

5. De-select every account except for the taxable accounts in which you have capital gains (e.g., brokerage accounts, mutual fund accounts, etc.). Do not select any retirement accounts. Click the “OK” button when done.

6. Click on the “Edit” button again.

7. In the “Edit Report” window, ensure the Categories tab is selected and click on the radio button for “Include only transactions with selected categories”.

8. Select those category associated with Investments and Tax Form Schedule D for buying and selling investments (e.g, buy, buy bonds, reinvest long-term capital gain, reinvest short-term capital gain, sell, sell bonds). Do not select short-term capital gain or long-term capital gain, which are distributions and not sales. Click on the “OK” button when done.

9. Click on the “Edit” button again.

10. In the “Edit Report” window, set the “Date range” as desired. Click on the “OK” button when done.

11. At the top of the window, click on the “Save” button and provide a name for the custom report.

You can then export the report as a CSV or TXF file (e.g., to TurboTax).

Remark: as of 2021-04-02, the number of shares is rounded to 2 decimal places in the report. The correct number of shares should be provided to 3 decimal places. This has been reported as a problem to Quicken.

Question of the Month - How do I combine my Quicken finances with a spouse or partner?

Quicken Sarah — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 15:38:28 +0000

There are some added complexities that come with tracking two or more people’s finances. Most commonly, people associate combining financial tracking with marriage, but there are many circumstances that may require tracking multiple people’s accounts and spending. You may be tracking finances for yourself and a spouse, partner, parent, child, or someone in your care. The key to tracking more than one person is to establish a way to keep tabs on each person separately, as well as to track shared spending. Here are a few tools you can take advantage of.

About combining your finances

Before you sit down to combine your finances in Quicken, there are some things you should consider.

Align on the what, who, and how

Even if only one of you is going to maintain the budget in Quicken, working out the initial details together will prevent confusion and frustration later on. This means choosing categories, determining who is in charge of what bills, and deciding on what your goals for the future are. The more issues you address from the beginning, the fewer surprises you’re going to encounter later on.

Meet the person half-way

One person is often more detailed in their accounting than the other. You may also have different spending goals, different budget needs, and different attitudes about income and debt. As much as you may feel you have the right approach, you are going to have to work together to find an approach that works for everyone. Asking someone else to follow a system they don’t believe in is not going to work in the long run.

Establish a good communication schedule to track and share regular updates

Whether you want to review your finances weekly, monthly, or quarterly, each person should be updated regularly. Quicken has a number of reports that are useful for this, especially Spending reports. It is a good idea to review the reports together.

Tracking your combined finances

Depending on your accounts and budget goals, there are three primary ways to track your spending and budgeting separately, even with combined finances. Keep in mind that tracking everyone separately is optional. If it isn't important to you to know who made each transaction, then you don’t need to track everyone separately. There are good reasons to do this though, especially if you need to track spending related to a business or other individual spending situation.

Tracking by Account

People often have different accounts that they are either solely or primarily responsible for. In cases like this, adding a person’s name to the name of that account is a straightforward way of tracking these accounts separately.

Ted’s Checking Account
Ashley’s Savings Account
Marco’s Credit Card
Alia’s IRA

Separating by account is handy, but works best when an account is solely used by that person. Separating by account is also the easiest way to create separate budgets because you can include or exclude individual accounts from a budget.

Tracking using Tags

When you share an account, one of the best ways to track each person’s spending is with the use of Tags. You can start by assigning each person a tag with their name. That way you can run a report for each tag to track the transactions. You can make this as granular as you want, adding multiple tags per person if you want to analyze their spending more closely. You may also want to tag shared transactions.

Ted’s Spending
Ashley’s Income
Marco’s College Expenses
Family Vacation

Tracking using Categories

If you need to create separate budgets, and you have shared accounts, then another option is to create categories for each person’s spending. Unless you need separate budgets, this is probably not the best approach because there are many spending categories, and you would need to create new entries for the categories each person uses, which can make for a very long category list.

To track by category, the best idea is to use Quicken’s existing categories, but add the person's name consistently at the beginning or end of the category name. That way, you have some standardization.

Ted - Auto & Transport
Ashley - Income
Marco - Education
Alia - Gifts & Donations

Separating Accounts

You might want to prevent an account from being calculated as part of your Net Worth. This is especially true if you are managing a bank account for another person, such as a child or someone else in your care. You might also do this if you are tracking transactions for an organization or club. When you edit an account, you can opt to mark the account as separate. If you do this, the account still appears on your account bar, but it is not counted toward your net worth.

In Summary

Combining your finances works best when you work together. Choose a strategy that is appropriate for your situation. It may take extra effort in Quicken, and it may require other changes outside of Quicken, such as modifying bank accounts, credit cards, or other assets. Expect there to be some stress, and some issues to resolve. Be clear on your goals and your needs, and be patient.

Question of the Month - How do you review your finances at the end of the year?

Quicken Sarah — Tue, 29 Dec 2020 16:19:27 +0000

When the end of the year comes, it is a good time to assess your finances. The best way to do this is to take advantage of Quicken’s extensive number of reports and graphs.

Below are five reports you should review at the end of the year. You can access any report from the Quicken Reports menu. Remember to set your date range to capture the year.

Cash Flow Report

The Cash Flow report is a great starting point for reviewing your finances. It provides an overview of your financial situation. From there you can see both your income for the year and your expenses listed by category. Be sure to check to see if there are uncategorized transactions.

Net Worth Over Time

The Net Worth Over Time report helps you see how your circumstances have changed over the year. You can review a graph of how your assets and liabilities changed from month to month.

Tax Schedule Report

The Tax Schedule Report gives you an overview of your taxable income and expenses listed by the corresponding tax form. You can use this information to review your tax situation.

Transactions by Category

Transactions by Category is the best way to see what areas you have spent your money in. It is useful for setting up a budget and evaluating how you spend.

Transactions by Payee

Transactions by Payee is a useful report that people often overlook. Knowing where you are spending money is an important aspect of knowing how you are spending your money.

FAQ: New Citi Cards Process for Direct Connect

Quicken_Natalie — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 17:30:50 +0000

Currently, if you add an account using “Citi Cards”, it will default to Quicken Connect.

You will need to click "Options" while adding the account to get the option for Direct Connect.

If the account is already set up for Quicken Connect you can go to Accounts>Settings, with the account selected, and you will see the option at the top to "Change Connection Type". Select this and follow the same steps above to see the option for Direct Connect.

What’s more for the first Citi Cards Direct Connect account in a given data file you will have to go to the Citi website and follow the following procedure before you actually log in to the account during the add account process in Quicken.

Log into your Citibank account on their website and select Profile -> More Settings.

Then select Manage Desktop Apps -> Add Access -> Continue

This will give you 10 minutes to log in from the Quicken add account dialogs.

Note that the web page showing the 10 minute counter will not go away automatically when you log in from Quicken, you will have to close it. But you should get an email saying that they have set up the access.

Also, note that this adding of access is linked to a given data file. If you have multiple data files you need to do this for each data file.

How can I disable the "live opening balance"?

Adam — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 18:02:51 +0000

I hate this "feature". It always causes me problems. When I create a new account manually I am given the option of whether or not to use it. When I create a new account with automatic downloads, though, it seems to be enabled automatically.

I'd love to be able to disable this for all my accounts, but failing that I'd like to be able to disable it for an existing account. Is there a way to do that, or must I create new accounts manually, making sure the opening balance is "dead", then later set up downloads?

FAQ: Quicken Bill Manager (Mac)

Quicken Sarah — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 17:59:32 +0000

What’s happening

The Quicken Bill Pay service is owned and managed by a third-party company, FIS Metavante, and they have decided to discontinue the service.

All Users who have the Quicken Bill Pay services will no longer be able to create and send bill payment transactions using the Quicken Bill Pay service as of 08/31/2020.

The discontinuation of the Quicken Bill Pay service meant that we at Quicken had a choice:

No longer offer an in-product bill payment service, leaving Users who do not have bill pay services through their Financial Institution(s) unable to send bill payments.
Create and develop our own bill pay service, allowing Quicken Users to still have the option of using Quicken to pay bills.

We opted to create and develop the brand-new Quicken Bill Manager service.

Who is affected by this change?

How Quicken Bill Manager works

What is the difference between Quick Pay and Check Pay

Existing Quicken Bill Pay Online Payee information

Resources and Troubleshooting

Commonly Asked Questions

FAQ: Why Reconciliation opening balance has changed and no longer agrees

smayer97 — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 17:11:44 +0000

Currently, the Prior Balance is a calculated number, the sum of all Reconciled transactions in your account register. Often times the lack of successful reconciliation because of this can be due any one of the following reasons (which can be due to user error or a bug in Quicken). These reasons include:

changed Reconcile status
changed amount
transaction was deleted
using Validate & Repair (QWin only) could delete a damaged transaction
a transaction was copied/duplicated that was already reconciled and so copied the reconciled status too
in the case of transfer transactions, the matching transfer-to transaction was changed or deleted in the other account register, or the transaction was re-categorized as no longer a transfer but as a categorized Income or Expense
if you Sync to the Quicken Cloud for Quicken Mobile or Quicken Web, the Sync process changed something or you made changes to an existing transaction on the web / phone app

Either way, you need to figure out what changed and fix it as needed. The first one is the easiest to try to tackle. One quick troubleshooting step is to sort the register by the CLR field (if that columns is not visible, change your Column settings in the register) (you want the small triangle to the right of CLR to point down so all of the transactions marked as Reconciled will be grouped at the top) so the running balance of the last Reconciled transaction should be the same as the Prior Balance.

Now either scroll to the bottom of the register to see all the unreconciled transactions (OR click the CLR column again to to show them at the top). Look for any older transactions that may have lost their flag. If you find any, you can easily reset the flag either way:

In QMac, Option-Click on CLR field of a single transaction to cycle through the Blank, Cleared and Reconciled flags
In QWin, click on the Clr Field, and then click on the desired status (Uncleared, Cleared, or Reconciled)
In both QMac and QWin, select one or more transactions, then right-click and select to change the reconcile status

For any of the other reasons, you will have to figure it out by brute force, that is, compare transactions with previous records, such as, statements or online info. You might make note of the difference between your expected prior balance and the reported prior balance to see if that difference matches any particular single transaction amount.

If not successful, read these FAQs to see if it helps: Quicken Mac v3.5+ (QM2016+) Reconcile Troubleshooting or How Reconciling Works in Quicken for Windows.

Meanwhile, there is a feature in QMac 2007 that has not been re-implemented in "modern" QMac that would make this task far easier, reducing it to minutes or even seconds, vs hours or days. You can add your VOTE to Track/store Prior Reconciled Statements/periods.

(With Quicken working towards feature parity between QMac and QWin, if this is implemented in QMac, it would seem logical that they would seek to implement this in QWin too.)

First, click on the underlined link above to go there, then click the little grey triangle under the VOTE count at the top of page 1 in the blue banner, so your vote will count for THIS feature and increase its visibility to the developers by seeking to have the features you need or desire end up in the latest version (it may take a moment for your vote to register).

(If the triangle is solid black, your vote has been registered.)

Your VOTE matters!

Quicken Mac FAQ: List of Mac FAQs

smayer97 — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 15:31:54 +0000

This is a work in progress (post 1 of several...scroll all the way down to see them all):

Backups

Is Quicken for Mac 2007 Compatible with High Sierra (macOS 10.13)?
Is Quicken for Mac 2007 Compatible with Mojave (macOS 10.14)?
Running Quicken for Mac 2007 in a Virtual Machine (VM) (e.g. with Catalina onward (10.15+)
- also to run on Apple Silicon Mx-based Macs, starting here

Basics

Budgeting

Simulating Savings Goal accounts

Data Files

Downloading/Importing Transactions

Errors/Troubleshooting

Feedback

Categorized List of IDEAS of Feature Requests and Enhancements to Vote On
EXPANDED List of Categorized IDEAS of Feature Requests and Enhancements to Vote On

Installing

How to Move QMac 2007 to a new computer without the original disc?

Investing

What Are Placeholder Transactions in Quicken for Mac?

Loans

How to set up a mortgage/loan?

Mobile

Help Guide and FAQs for Quicken Mobile

Online Service Discontinuation

Quicken.com

Quicken ID

Reconciling

Quicken Mac v3.5+ (QM2016+) Reconcile Troubleshooting

Reminders (aka Scheduled Transactions)

(con'td)

QMac FAQ: Keyboard Shortcuts for Dates

System — Fri, 05 Apr 2019 15:33:58 +0000

This discussion was created from comments split from: Feature Request: Navigation Keyboard Shortcuts for Accounts.

Quicken Mac FAQ: How to VOID a transaction in Quicken for Mac

smayer97 — Sat, 17 Dec 2016 19:14:12 +0000

There is no built-in feature but you can do it manually as follows:

Type 'void' at beginning of Payee name (in lower case only, as apparently it does not currently allow VOID in uppercase). Alternatively, you can add the word VOID in the ACTION column, or memo field.
record the amount of the transaction in the memo field
zero out the amount of the transaction
press and hold the OPTION key and click on the CLR field until the RECONCILED check mark shows up

(you will need to have the CLR field visible...if not, click on the register Settings gear and select to make it visible. Note that this setting has to be set for each register separately.)

(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)

FAQ Quicken Mac (2015 including subscription 2018+) savings goal accounts (work-around)

Thu, 21 Aug 2014 18:12:33 +0000

does Quicken 2015 for Mac have a function like the Windows version savings goal accounts? I use those as a quasi-envelope system and if the new Mac version can't mirror that functionality in some way I'll have to hold off and continue to use my 2012 Windows version

FAQ: How to Delete the Quicken Keychain entry in macOS

RickO — Mon, 09 Apr 2018 14:55:06 +0000

Quicken stores your Quicken account login credentials in a macOS Keychain entry and accesses this entry when you launch Quicken. This keeps you from having to enter your Quicken account info every time you launch Quicken. However, on rare occasions, the keychain entry can become corrupted. The most common symptom of this is the spinning breach ball when you launch Quicken. It can be caused by, among other things, macOS upgrades. This FAQ will show you how to delete the keychain entry so that it can be recreated by Quicken.

A) Quit Quicken

Launch the Keychain Access utility from Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities. You can also launch it by typing "keychain access" in Spotlight (Command-Space).

C) When Keychain Access opens (see screenshot below):

Select the "login" keychain at the top of the left panel.
Select "All Items" under Category.
In the search box, top right, type "quicken"
If the keychain is locked, unlock it using the lock/unlock button top left using your macOS login password.
Find and select the entry "Quicken" in the list. If you are using a version earlier than QM2018, find the entry "Quicken 201x".
Delete this entry using the menu Edit > Delete (or the Delete key on the keyboard).
It should not be necessary to delete any of the other Quicken related entries.

D) Quit Keychain Access and launch Quicken. You will be required to re-enter your Quicken account login credentials and complete 2-step verification.

FAQ: How do I post a screenshot in the Community from a Mac?

RickO — Sun, 07 Jan 2018 18:08:24 +0000

When posting here in the Community, it is very helpful to include screenshots of what you are seeing to help others help you. Here's how to do that if using a Mac computer...

How to Take the Screenshot

This link will fully explain how to create a screenshot in macOS:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201361

You can take a screenshot of the entire screen, a portion of the screen or a single window. The screenshot will be saved to your Mac's Desktop in .png format.

Editing a Screenshot Before Posting

Sometimes you will want to crop or annotate an image before posting it to the Community. Mac's built in Preview application makes this easy. Simply double click the screenshot on the Desktop and it will open in Preview. Here is Preview's help info on annotating an image:

https://support.apple.com/guide/preview/annotate-an-image-prvw1501/mac

Here are some common annotations that you may want to do:

Crop your screenshot: You may have taken a screenshot of the whole screen or included more than you wanted in a partial-screen image. Choose the rectangular selection tool and draw a selection around the area you want to keep. Then click the Crop button on the markup tool bar, or menu Tools > Crop.
Hide personal information (redacting): Use one of the selection tools to enclose the personal or sensitive information you want to hide. Then hit the Delete key on the keyboard (or menu Edit > Delete). The area will be replaced by gray. Alternatively, you can use one of the drawing tools to draw a shape or brushstrokes over the personal info.
Highlight important info: You can use the drawing tools to draw attention to important parts of your screenshots. For example, you can use the arrow tool to point a red arrow at a screenshot object. Use the rectangle or oval drawing tools to circle something you want to highlight. (Hint: change the fill color to transparent.)
Annotate with text: You can use the Text tool to add text to your screenshots. Use the Border Color, Fill Color, and Text Style tools to adjust how the text looks.

Posting Your Screenshot in the Community

Now that your screenshot is prepared, you can post it to the Community by clicking the image icon in the row of editing tools in the bottom left corner of the text entry box of your post as shown here:

After clicking the image icon, click the Choose Files button to choose an image from your computer, or enter an image URL. As noted in the popup, you can also simply drag and drop an image onto your post. The image will be inserted wherever your text entry cursor is located, or it may be added as an attachment below the text, depending on Community points.

If posting multiple screenshots in one reply/comment, be sure to separate them by a couple of blank lines so that they do not run together.

FAQ: What Are Placeholder Transactions in Quicken for Mac?

RickO — Tue, 02 Jan 2018 00:42:41 +0000

Placeholder transactions are pseudo transactions that are created by Quicken in order to make the share balance of a security in an investment account match that being reported by the Financial Institution (FI) during online update. They appear at the start of the investment account register (when sorted by date), are gray colored and have the word "Placeholder" in the Memo/Notes column. Here's an example of what they look like:

The Description column lists the share adjustment being made, the target share balance and the target date for that share balance. If you click the "(add cost)" link, or double click the transaction, you will be taken to a screen that allows you to either (1) enter one or more detailed transactions to bring the share balance up to date, or (2) enter an estimated cost basis for the missing shares. This screen looks like this:

Do I need to do anything with placeholder transactions?

There may be one placeholder transaction for each security for which the Quicken share balance does not match the FI share balance. If today's share balance shown in Quicken is correct, there is generally no need to do anything with the placeholder transaction(s). However, if you do not at least enter an estimated cost basis, then any cost related calculations will not be possible for that security.

You may notice that manually entered Buy, Sell or Add/Remove Share transactions seem to have no affect on the Quicken share balance. This can be because the placeholder transactions are automatically updating themselves to maintain the overall share balance that Quicken believes will match that being reported by the FI.

Placeholder transactions are generally a reliable way for Quicken to make the local share balance match that being reported by the FI. However, they can occasionally become corrupted or incorrect due to erroneous reporting by the FI. In that case, there are some strategies you can use to eliminate any discrepancies.

How do I investigate placeholder discrepancies?

Before making any changes to the investment account, it is recommended that you make a backup of your Quicken file (menu File > Save a Backup...) then make no other changes to your file until you have resolved the investment account issue. If anything goes wrong, you can revert to the backup (menu File > Restore from Backup...).

The first step you should take is to compare the shares reported in Quicken for today's date to those being reported on the FI's website. First, make sure the account is up do date by doing an account update (menu Accounts > Update Selected Online Account). It can sometimes be helpful to do this on a weekend to make sure the FI's servers are up to date after the markets have closed and pending transactions have been settled.

If the shares on today's date in Quicken match that reported on the FI website, then the placeholder transaction is doing its job and there is no need for any correction (other than possibly adding cost basis information).

If the shares in Quicken differ from the FI's website by the exact amount listed in the placeholder transaction as unaccounted for, then you can often just delete the placeholder and it will not return.

If there is still a discrepancy, then you must do the hard work to examine all the transactions for the security and find out where your Quicken file's history diverges from that held by the FI. To make this easier, it is helpful to:

1) sort the investment account register by Date (click the Date column header)

2) enable the Shares (or Share In & Shares Out) and Share Balance columns (menu View > Columns).

3) in the search box upper right, click once, then click the magnifying glass icon and select "Security/Payee", then enter the name of the security in the search box.

This will let you see a condensed view of the history of changes of the share balance of that security. Compare this to the transaction history on your FI's website to see where the discrepancy may have occurred.

Are There Other Considerations?

Placeholder transactions can sometimes result when a file is created by importing from another version of Quicken, particularly from a Windows version. You should be able to follow the steps above to resolve any discrepancies created by these.

For more information on placeholders in Quicken for Windows, see this excellent article by SuperUser K.O.:

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7190594/faq-placeholders-deciphered-if-you-are-frustrated-with-placeholders-read-this

FAQ: How do I modify an Online Bill Pay payee's account number?

RickO — Mon, 13 Nov 2017 14:08:41 +0000

Once an Online Bill Pay (OLB) payee has been used, Quicken Mac will not allow you to modify the payee name or the account number. You must create a new payee with the corrected information. But if you try to consolidate the old and new payees by merging them, you end up right back where you started. Furthermore, if the old payee has a pending transaction, Quicken will not let you merge it with the new one.

This situation comes up occasionally, for example, when your credit card number was compromised and the credit card company issues you a new account number. You could create a new OLB payee with the new card number, but the payee name would have to be different and therefore not exactly correct. And both old and new would continue to exist in the database, making searching and reporting on that payee cumbersome.

Here is a workaround to let you modify the name or account number of an existing OLB payee.

1) Open the Payees window (menu Window > Payees)

2) Click the plus (+) sign to create a new payee with a slightly different name. For example, if the old payee is "ACME", call this new one "ACME new".

3) Enter all the required information in the Bill Pay > Payment Details area, including the new account number, and close the Payees window.

4) Select the All Transactions > Transactions view in the sidebar. Make sure there are no filters active (click the Clear Filters button if present).

5) Click in the search box, then click the magnifying glass and choose Payee/Security.

6) Type the name of the old payee ("ACME") in the search box.

7) You will now be displaying all the transactions that use the old payee name. Select them all (menu Edit > Select All). Note: If the old payee name has some overlap with another payee, you may need to use the Mac shift-click or command-click method to select only the old payee's transactions.

8) Click menu File > Get Info. In the Transaction Info window that appears, enter the new payee name ("ACME New") in the Payee field and click OK. All existing transactions for "ACME" will be changed to "ACME New".

9) Re-open the Payees window. You should see that payee "ACME" now displays "Unused" in the Uses column.

10) Select payee "ACME" and delete by clicking the minus sign (-) at the bottom of the window.

11) Double click the payee "ACME New" and change the name back to "ACME".

Your payee ACME now has the new account number and all transactions previously assigned to that payee remain so.

FAQ: How do I choose Direct Connect in Quicken for Mac?

RickO — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 14:13:52 +0000

When setting up an account for online access in Quicken for Mac, the program defaults to Quicken Connect when both Quicken Connect and Direct Connect are available. Unfortunately, it's not exactly obvious how to bypass this default and choose Direct Connect instead. Here's how...

When the Add Account dialog comes up, you must click the Options button before clicking Continue:

You may now choose Direct Connect in the dialog that follows:

If Direct Connect is grayed out, it means that it is not available for this Financial Institution(FI). After making your selection, click Continue.

Some FIs may charge a fee for use of Direct Connect. Also, some FIs may require that you authorize Direct Connect with them on their website or via their phone support before it will be able to connect. Finally, some FIs use different login credentials for Direct Connect than those used to log into their website. If you encounter any difficulties with Direct Connect, contact your Financial Institution directly.

Direct Connect is almost always the preferred connection method when available. For more information on Quicken's connection methods, see this FAQ:

Connection Methods

(In Quicken Mac, Quicken Connect is the same as what is called Express Web Connect in Quicken Windows.)

If you already have an account set up as Quicken Connect or Web Connect and you want to change it to Direct Connect, select the account in the sidebar and click the menu Accounts > Settings > Downloads... click Change Connect Type, and then follow the procedure above to set up Direct Connect.

[Edited- Add Images]

Quicken Mac FAQ: How to Import Historical Security Data Into QM2007

smayer97 — Sun, 24 Sep 2017 03:02:51 +0000

Overview

Quicken allows you to import certain types of data, such as data from financial institutions,often referred to as "Web Connect" data.

Instructions

Import security prices from an ASCII file

If you have an Internet connection, the easiest way to update security prices is to download them. Otherwise, you can import security prices from a standard, comma-delimited ASCII file.

Choose Investing menu > Portfolio.
Choose File menu > File Import > Import Prices.
In the Import Price Data window > File field, enter the name of the ASCII file that contains the price data. The data must be in standard ASCII format with one symbol/price/date per line, separated by either commas or double spaces (using only one type of separator per line). The following import formats are acceptable:

ABC, 123.456
ABC, 123.456, 12/31/02
ABC 123.456 12/31/02
ABC, "ABC", 123.456, "12/31/02"
"ABC", "123.456", "12/31"

4. In the Date field, change the date information if necessary. If the file doesn't contain specified dates, import the prices to the date entered here. The currently selected date in Portfolio is the preset display in this field. Quicken matches prices with your securities if they have the same symbol. If your securities don't have symbols, you'll need to edit them first so they do.
5. Click OK.

If some price history is still missing, you must enter them manually.

NOTE: if you get an error "Your data is too large" you will need to make sure you have v16.2.4, which contains a fix.

P.S. Always make a backup BEFORE starting to play around with your data file.

Additional Related Solutions

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7598813/quicken-mac-faq-removing-and-rebuilding-security-price-history-in-qm2007

(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like" at the top of the page, so others will know, thanks.)

[Links updated, Feb. 2019, UKR]

Quicken Mac FAQ: Removing and Rebuilding Security Price History in QM2007

smayer97 — Sun, 24 Sep 2017 03:02:44 +0000

Quotes files occasionally become damaged, preventing Quicken for Mac from opening ("Unable to open file") or causing Quicken for Mac to crash ("...has unexpectedly Quit").

If you can open your data file, try this first to check the condition of your Portfolio:

Open the Portfolio window. Next, you can choose to do a repair on either one brokerage register or on all investment registers.
To repair only ONE investment/brokerage register, open the suspect brokerage register. Then press Command + Option + L (it may appear to do nothing; this is normal). Note that this will warn you that it will reset lot assignment back to FIFO method.
To repair ALL investment registers, while in the Portfolio window, press Command + Option + L (it may appear to do nothing; this is normal). Note that this will warn you that it will reset lot assignment back to FIFO method.

If the above does not work OR you cannot open your data file, try this approach:

Quit Quicken.
Spotlight search (Command + Spacebar) for QDFM.
Hold the Command key and click on your data file to open it in Finder.
Hold the Control key and click on the data file.
Choose Show Package Contents.
Click on the Contents folder.
Drag the Quotes document with the gold dollar sign to the Trash (or the Desktop).
Empty the Trash (optional).
Launch Quicken.
Open your QDFM (File > Open File) if it doesn't open with the program.
Go to Activities > Security Detail to confirm that no prices exist for the tickers.
Click on the Investing tab.
Click on Portfolio.
Hold Command + Option + U to rebuild the Security History (NOTE: you may not see any obvious activity, depending on the number and age of Securities in your file).
Go to Online > Get Historical Prices.
Choose 5 Years in the drop-down list for Get historical prices for:
Click the All button to mark all tickers.
Click the Download button.

TIP: You may be able to preserve your Quotes (price) data by exporting then re-importing your data.

First export the Security Prices using QM2007: Select File > Export > Selected Items to QIF...
Click Security Prices. Then click the Export... button.
Give the file a name and save it somewhere easy to access like your Desktop (DO NOT use more than 27 characters in the file name - QM2007 limitation).
Then follow instructions to remove the Quotes file (1-11 above).
Instead of continuing with step 12 onward in the above instructions, re-import the Security Prices back into your data file using QM2007. See https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7598814/quicken-mac-faq-how-to-import-historical-security-data-into-qm2007 If some price history is still missing, you must enter it manually.

P.S. Always make a backup BEFORE starting to play around with your data file.

Additional Possible Solutions

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7598662/quicken-mac-faq-troubleshooting-data-file-problems-corruption-mac-in-qm2007-and-earlier

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7598811/quicken-mac-faq-message-when-opening-file-unable-to-open-file-qm2007

(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like" at the bottom of the page, so others will know, thanks.)

[Links updated, Feb. 2019, UKR]

Quicken Mac FAQ: Message When Opening file - Unable to open file - QM2007

smayer97 — Sun, 24 Sep 2017 03:02:37 +0000

When opening Quicken for Mac, you see the message Unable to open file. This error can occur if the file was opened incorrectly in a previous session.

Solution

1. Locate the Quicken data file. The default location is in the Documents folder and the default file name is Quicken Data.qdfm.

2. Press and hold the Control key while selecting the data file.

3. Select Show Package Contents.

4. In the new window, open the Contents folder.

5. Press and hold the Control key while selecting the Data File icon.

If Show Package Contents appears:

a. Select Show Package Contents.

b. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until Show Package Contents option no longer appears.

c. Go to the last Data File that displayed Show Package Contents.

d. Drag that Data File icon to the desktop, and then double-click to open it.

If Show Package Contents does not appear the first time you do step 5, there is not much else you can do but replace the data file with a backup.

In the future, use the data file you moved to the desktop. You can rename the file by selecting the Data File icon and clicking on the file name. We recommend that you use a name that is familiar and easy to recognize.

Note: When using these steps, historical security prices will be lost. To rebuild the historical price information, see https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7598813/quicken-mac-faq-removing-and-rebuilding-security-price-history-in-qm2007. If some price history is still missing, you must enter it manually.

P.S. Always make a backup BEFORE starting to play around with your data file.

Additional Possible Solutions

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7598662/quicken-mac-faq-troubleshooting-data-file-problems-corruption-mac-in-qm2007-and-earlier

(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like" at the top of the page, so others will know, thanks.)

[Links updated, Feb. 2019, UKR]

Quicken Mac FAQ: Troubleshooting Data File Problems/Corruption (Mac) in QM2007 (and earlier)

smayer97 — Sat, 23 Sep 2017 18:52:16 +0000

General file maintenance might be necessary if you experience system errors or if your computer locks up while using Quicken for Mac 2007 or earlier. Not properly shutting your computer down when Quicken is running can also cause data file problems.

If you are experiencing any of the following symptoms:

Categories and numbers are not associated with the correct transactions or accounts in reports.
Categories/classes are missing from your Categories & Transfers list.
You are unable to assign a Category to an item in a split transaction.
You are unable to open a backup of your data file.
Your reconciliation is off in a previously reconciled statement and you have not made changes to previously reconciled transactions.
Duplication or "Unknown" items are listed in the Payee column of the QuickFill Transactions list.
You receive errors when performing a Save a Copy.

then follow the file maintenance steps below.

File maintenance

First, reindex your Quicken data file, then create a new copy of it using the Save a Copy feature:

Open the data file in Quicken.
Open the Accounts window, and then press the COMMAND, OPTION, and B keys on the keyboard simultaneously to reindex your file.
Once the file has reindexed, select the File menu select Save a Copy.

Note: This may remove transactions from the Download Transactions window. If you have transactions in Download Transactions window, you should accept any new or non-matching transactions prior to performing a Save a Copy.

When saving the copy, you may want to give the copy a new name and save it to the desktop.

After the Save a Copy is complete, select the Quicken File menu and select Open File.
In the Open window, select the data file that you just created with the Save a Copy feature.
Verify that any problems you were experiencing are resolved in this new file, and then continue using this new copy as your data file.

Should Quicken unexpectedly quit when saving a copy, reindex the file, close Quicken, then reopen it again.

If you are still experiencing problems with your data file in the new copy, you should create a new file by exporting your information to a QIF file and then importing the QIF file into a new file.

Exporting your data to a QIF file:

Open the data file from which you want to export the data.
Select the Quicken File menu and select Export.
Select the Full Export option.
Click Export to create the QIF file.
Name the file export.qif.

Importing the QIF file into a new data file:

Select the Quicken File menu and select New file.
Enter a name for the new file, and then click Save.
When prompted to create a new account, click Cancel.
Select the File menu and select Import QIF.
In the Open File window, select the export.qif file.
Check the new file to ensure the problems you were experiencing are resolved.
If the problems are resolved, continue using this new file as your data file.

Note: Some information may be missing from the export/import process. In the new data file, you may have to recreate scheduled transactions, QuickFill transactions, loan setups, online account setups, online payee lists (Quicken 98 only), memorized reports, security price histories, etc.

P.S. Always make a backup BEFORE starting to play around with your data file.

Additional Possible Solutions

Error Message When Opening file - Unable to open file - QM2007

Removing and Rebuilding Security Price History in QM2007

(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like" at the top of the page, so others will know, thanks.)

Quicken Mac FAQ: How to try to resolve a "persistent store"-related error

smayer97 — Fri, 18 Nov 2016 05:56:04 +0000

Error Messages

Are you receiving an error message similar to one of these when trying to open your data file, maybe right after performing an update to your Quicken software or after an upgrade to a new version of Quicken?

"The managed object model version used to open the persistent store is incompatible with the one that was used to create the persistent store."

OR "An error occurred during persistent store migration"

What about an error like this by just trying to open your data file without having performed any update or upgrade to Quicken?

"A timeout error occurred while connecting to the persistent store."

You may also get an error message like:
"The document '[data file].quicken201x' could not be opened because it isn't in the correct format."

These error messages occur because something has gone wrong with the original data file. This can range from being a minor issue to major data corruption.

NOTE: Before you try any of the following solutions, first make a backup copy of your data file and even the Quicken Application.

If you do not know where your data file is stored, read this:
Quicken Mac FAQ: Default location of Data File created/stored

Check the condition of the data file
Before you start, you may want to check the condition of the data file using the Terminal application that comes with macOS (this is a bit technical).

Open the Terminal application (Applications>Utilities>Terminal)
Run this command: sqlite3 /data 'pragma 'integrity_check'

For example, if the name of your Quicken file is "qmac.quickendata" located in your Documents folder, the command would look like:

sqlite3 ~/Documents/qmac.quickendata/data 'pragma integrity_check'

Note that the command line won't accept spaces. If you have any spaces in your filename, you'll have to change the filename to substitute the spaces with "_" in the filename before you run the command.

If the result is "ok" then your database is still fine. If not, then the database somehow got into a bad state.

Here are a few solutions you can try to recover from this:

1. Rather than clicking on Quicken to open your data file, or double-clicking on your data file to launch Quicken, find your data file first, then drag it onto the Quicken icon.

(This will attempt to fix a record to the path of the original data file).

2. Make sure you have the latest update to Quicken...

If you are unable to open Quicken, hold the OPTION key while double-clicking on the Quicken icon...this should allow you to launch Quicken and create a NEW empty file.
Select Quicken menu>Check for Updates.
Now try opening your data file...either select the file from the File>Recent menu or double-click the data file directly.

3. If your error message occurred right after updating or upgrading Quicken, try exporting your data file data from one version and importing it into another, as follows:

Either find or try to recover the previous version of Quicken. Check your trash or Time Machine backups or re-install a previous version.
If you are able to open your data file with a previous version, select File>Export to Quicken Windows Transfer File (QXF)
Using the new version of Quicken, select File>New, then select Start from a Quicken Windows File and select the QXF file you just created.

The new file should contain all your data. You will have to reset all your preferences, recover the columns, etc. as you had in the original file, and to reset connections to download your account data from banks, etc.

4. If you have access to another computer and if your error message occurred right after updating or upgrading Quicken, copy the data file and application to there and run the conversion there. This worked for some reason for one user.

5. Try contacting support for more assistance:https://www.quicken.com/support#contact-support

Otherwise, you may need to restore a backup data file and continue from there.

(If you find this FAQ helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)

Quicken for Mac FAQ: How do I see the running balance?

smayer97 — Sat, 22 Oct 2016 16:21:00 +0000

The balance column contains a running balance for an account only if the following five conditions are met:

there are no filters selected and the Search field is blank. Otherwise, clear or reset the filters and search fields.
there is only an individual account selected, and not a combined account view (the labels will vary based on the version of QMac, e.g. All Transactions, All Accounts, Banking, Credit Card, Cash & Credit, etc.)
the Transactions view of the register must be selected, not the Spending, Income or Portfolio views.
the account register must be sorted by date (ascending or descending). Be sure to click on the date column header.
of course, the balance column must be visible (there by default, if not, click the Columns button in the register toolbar or menu View > Columns to make it visible)

When these conditions are not met:

In Quicken 2017 and earlier, the balance column is empty.
In Quicken Subscription (2018 and later), the Balance column displays a running total of the displayed transactions and the text is only greyed out instead of empty.

Note: when the columns are not sorted by date, the balance column will not match any other running balance from another source, e.g. statement, online running balance, for hopefully obvious reasons.

See this video tutorial - it was made for QM2015 - but still mostly applies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK-SQgN4vyU

(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)

Quicken Mac FAQ: How to set up a mortgage/loan (in QM2015/2016)?

smayer97 — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 14:33:28 +0000

Be aware that QM2015 and QM2016 do not have automatic loan amortization like in QM2007. That feature has not been added back in yet. You will need to calculate the interest and principle for each payment manually or use an online loan calculator.

Essentially these are the steps:

create your loan (liability) account
create (or find) a category to track the interest portion of the loan
create a repeating payment (Bill Reminder aka scheduled transaction) in your payment account which includes a transfer from your payment account to your loan account and breaks down on separate lines the principle and interest portions
when each payment is applied, adjust the principle and interest portions

You will need a source to calculate the interest and principle portions of the payment.

Also, I suggest you add your vote for this feature here: https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7287182/loan-amortization-in-quicken-for-mac-333-legacy-vote to help guide the priorities of the developers.

(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)

Quicken Mac FAQ: Is there or where can I find a version of Quicken for Mac for Canada?

smayer97 — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 19:05:42 +0000

There is no Canadian specific version of Quicken for Mac. That said, the US version supports many Canadian FI/banks for downloading data. The only features missing specific to Canada would be links to Canadian Tax Forms for use with products like TurboTax. Otherwise, there are many Canadian users that are able to use this product.

In a worst case, you can always try it and exercise the 60-day money-back guarantee if you are not satisfied.

One caveat is that if you want to purchase it directly from Quicken (http://quicken.com/mac), you may need to call Quicken Support to register a Canadian address (the website does not accept Canadian postal codes). But you can purchase QM2016 from other sources too, like Amazon.com (NOT Amazon.ca).

Also, though officially, the Quicken Mobile companion app does not support Canadian users, there is a work-around. The caveat is that this first requires using a US address. Read about it here:

https://getsatisfaction.com/quickencommunity/topics/quicken-2015-mac-international-accounts?topic-re... [Unavailable]

You can also see some more info showing Canadian users' results downloading from Canadian FI/banks:
https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7259700/informal-survey-of-connectivity-results-with-financial-institutions-fis-banks-in-canada-using-quic
(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)