Add ability to track/store Prior Reconciled Statements/periods in Quicken for Mac (256 Legacy Votes)

smayer97

ZerMunde said:

Sure, we can vote. But having already dropped existing statements, I doubt Quicken for Mac will ever bring back this feature.

Well the current status is "Under Consideration" and is in the top 5 most requested features out of literally hundreds...so I would not write this off quite yet.

ZerMunde

The initial post on this issue was written in Sept. 2016. The "Under Consideration" status was last updated March 2019. And the "Under Consideration" link leads to a "Page Not Found" error. After over 3 years with no action, it's plausible to assume Quicken will not return this feature to the app.

jacobs

ZerMunde said:

I also think the 2-line design was better than the new single line. The 2-line allowed the user to view the memo field while scrolling through transactions which was handy. It would be easy to offer a choice to the user – show registers in 1-line or 2-lines.

Three quick comments:

(1) You absolutely can view the Memo field in the one-line display. I use the Memo field extensively and would be lost without it being visible in all my registers. It's not visible by default, but simply click on the Columns icon in the bottom toolbar and Click on Memo/Notes to make it visible. Quicken will add it on the right side of your register, but I prefer to have it to the right of the Category column; you can just drag the heading to the left to move it. (Yes, this means you may have to make your overall Quicken window wider, but it beats not seeing this field at all. You can also narrow some other columns so it doesn't take up too much additional horizontal space.)

(2) The product manager has said that creating a 2-line register is, in fact, not easy. The one-line register heavily utilizes functionality built into macOS, where creating a two-line register would require them to completely hand-code the user interface. Its programming, so nothing is impossible; I'm only letting you know that the Quicken folks have said it would not be "easy" to implement. Since the 2-line display is an aesthetic/interface preference (e.g. you can use the 1-line display to accomplish everything, even if you'd prefer an alternative), they have been focused over the past few years on adding functionality that completely didn't exist in the program. Eventually, they're likely to come back to some of the aesthetic/ease-of-use interface requests, but for now they've been more focused on adding core capabilities.

(3) Almost everyone coming from Quicken 2007 to modern Quicken Mac -- including me -- has had the same knee-jerk reaction that they miss the 2-line display. I'm not going to try to convince you you're wrong, but I will say that many, many of us who initially felt that way switched to liking -- and even preferring -- the single-line display after using it for awhile. Not everyone is going to agree on this; I'm only suggesting that to keep an open mind and use it for a couple months, and you might find you don't miss the 2-line display as much as you think you do now.

ZerMunde

I agree and could adjust to the 1-line layout, no problem.

The #1 issue in QM2020 is the complete deletion of existing statements.

smayer97

ZerMunde said:

The initial post on this issue was written in Sept. 2016. The "Under Consideration" status was last updated March 2019. And the "Under Consideration" link leads to a "Page Not Found" error. After over 3 years with no action, it's plausible to assume Quicken will not return this feature to the app.

The initial date is not totally indicative...If you follow the history of the development of the current version you would note that there have been much larger issues for Quicken to tackle, so progress has been slow. Some highly requested features that date back just as far are currently in the works but are complicated to implement, e.g., allowing transfers and or accounts to be selectable/filtered for budgets, as one example.

So no telling what their priorities are nor how much effort is involved nor what they have in the pipeline until they announce it. But since progress is much slower than expected, it is still anyone's guess (except insiders) and cannot be ruled out, yet.

smayer97

ZerMunde said:

...
Another step backwards in Quicken 2019 for the Mac is the missing blank entry field at the bottom of registers. The older UX in 2007 was far better with a blank transaction field ready to be filled in. I also think the 2-line design was better than the new single line. The 2-line allowed the user to view the memo field while scrolling through transactions which was handy. It would be easy to offer a choice to the user – show registers in 1-line or 2-lines.

For these, Meanwhile, you can add your VOTE to Option to Stay in Edit Mode or to Hit Return/Enter To Open New Transaction and Add option for 2-line/row display.

First, click on each 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 THAT 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 VOTES matter!

ZerMunde

Obviously no one knows the future. What we do know is our own current timelines. Users need to keep moving forward as they upgrade hardware and enter a 64-bit-only environment.

Regarding the Prior Statements topic in this thread, if you convert your data to QM2020 right now, that info is gone forever – a non-starter for some.

Some might suggest:
Share your experience running QM2007 in a Virtual Machine (VM)
https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7853691/share-your-experience-running-qm2007-in-a-virtual-machine-vm

Although I applaud the efforts to make that work, it's not a solution I'd adopt. Using the latest application version, in the latest macOS, is the goal.

If Quicken for Mac doesn't address any of the issues within a reasonable time frame (1 year?), many users will migrate to alternatives.

smayer97

I hear you loud and clear on all points.

etoile

I've been frustrated with Quicken since they eliminated this feature after Q2007. Why?!!! Please bring it back. The current method of "adding an adjustment" is ludicrous, lazy, and just complicates my books. It is a bad band-aid fix. I want to fix things properly, like I used to be able to.

My situation: I bulk moved some linked transactions to another account and that effectively "unreconciled" them from the linked account. Quicken's solution, add a $136,000 adjustment. Seriously?! No. Absolutely, not. And I cannot 'undo' either. I have 45 years of data in this app. This feature is critical.

P.S. I do not see a "vote" option for this feature, although it is mentioned.

ZerMunde

I doubt Quicken for Mac will bring back the ability to access and “reconcile again” prior statements. It’s been years but no action unfortunately. Alternatives seem to be stepping up in regards to this feature. Can’t mention them here or the post will get deleted.

tmwatson1932

Yes, please! Put this back. I used it all the time on QfM2007

B00P3R

I can see the "accepted answer." Having just migrated from Q for Windows to Q for Mac, I REALLY miss being able to print a Reconciliation Report. Is this a feature that Quicken will work to enable? I certainly hope so.

John_M

@etoile I do not use Live Balance for any of my registers. When I add a new account, I use the second option (see screenshot below). This forces my opening balance to stay the same and does not add adjustments.

ZerMunde

After years of being listed as "Under Consideration", a response was received from the Quicken Mac Team on where they stand regarding the "Prior Statements" feature that was dropped in version Q2019 and all subsequent versions.

"Prior Statements" information will not be imported from previous versions of Quicken, not now, and not in the future. If users have been waiting to see if importing this info would ever be possible, it will not.

They did mention that in the 5.16 release, the ability to record reconcile sessions was added. It would be helpful if someone using the latest version could confirm this.

Here is what The Mac Team said on the matter, Aug 6, 2020:

"We're working on the Prior Statement reconcile feature but it has only recorded reconcile sessions starting from May of this year. We added the ability to record reconcile sessions in our 5.16 release. Unfortunately, there is no way we can resurrect previous reconcile history prior to that date because the information just doesn't exist. Also, we aren't currently planning on adding new Quicken 2007 import functionality because the number of people importing 2007 files is low."

smayer97

@ZerMunde where do you see this information? It is not in the 5.16 Release Notes.

see https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7875772/quicken-for-mac-v5-16-released/p1

or here: https://www.quicken.com/support/subscription-release-quicken-mac-release-notes

ZerMunde

The quoted response is from an email with the Quicken Mac Team. It should be shared with the community because some users are waiting for this feature to be added back in before they upgrade.

The Mac Team does state "We added the ability to record reconcile sessions in our 5.16 release." I don't have 5.16 to verify this. If this feature is absent in 5.16, I cannot answer why they would state otherwise. Even having access to only post-upgrade migration "Prior Statements" would make upgrading more palatable to those who value the feature.

The ability to import years of "Prior Statements" during an upgrade migration will not happen, ever, according to them.

jacobs

Reading what you’ve shared here, it sounds like users can’t yet see or act on past reconciliations; they’re just capturing the information while they work on building a user interface to be able to see/revisit/revise past reconciliations.

MWKingSD

Hey - I used this feature regularly in a year. There is no excuse for going backward on features - PUT IT BACK!

MWKingSD

Some of the comments above imply this feature was added back in version 5.16. I have 5.17 and can't find it, nor is there any mention unDer HELP. If it's in there somewhere, can someone tell me where? Honestly, I don't care that I can't go back to the beginning of time, the last couple of months is all I need.

M_yan

> I've been frustrated with Quicken since they eliminated this feature after Q2007. Why?!!! Please bring it back. The current method of "adding an adjustment" is ludicrous, lazy, and just complicates my books. It is a bad band-aid fix. I want to fix things properly, like I used to be able to.
>
> My situation: I bulk moved some linked transactions to another account and that effectively "unreconciled" them from the linked account. Quicken's solution, add a $136,000 adjustment. Seriously?! No. Absolutely, not. And I cannot 'undo' either. I have 45 years of data in this app. This feature is critical.
>
> P.S. I do not see a "vote" option for this feature, although it is mentioned.

M_yan

Etoile, thanks for your work around. I'll give it a shot.

Call me picky, but I expect Quicken to give me a transaction by transaction picture of my financial positions, both past and present. How can that be done if precise reconciliations can't be accomplished? If previous reconciliation statements can't be resurrected, how about giving us the ability to "unreconcile" transactions? Preferably in batch ability? We can then re-reconcile and save the new reconciled statements.

smayer97

[email protected] said:

Etoile, thanks for your work around. I'll give it a shot.

Call me picky, but I expect Quicken to give me a transaction by transaction picture of my financial positions, both past and present. How can that be done if precise reconciliations can't be accomplished? If previous reconciliation statements can't be resurrected, how about giving us the ability to "unreconcile" transactions? Preferably in batch ability? We can then re-reconcile and save the new reconciled statements.

That is what this feature is ALL ABOUT!

smayer97

MWKingSD said:

Hey - I used this feature regularly in a year. There is no excuse for going backward on features - PUT IT BACK!

This was not taken out... though it was in the older QM2007 version (and earlier), remember that this version of QMac was recreated from scratch and so this feature has yet to be added back in.

And yes, this is a VERY USEFUL and PRACTICAL feature that was there and should be brought back. It is an essential troubleshooting and correction tool.

jacobs

I think people are misinterpreting what was added in version 5.16. Apparently they added the ability to record reconcile sessions. But there is not yet a user interface for interacting with the past reconciliations. I'd guess they're still working on this feature set, but they wanted to begin capturing the data so that when it's complete, users will have some data to go back to. But, as the communication noted, they won't be able to go back in time to capture reconciliations prior to version 5.16 because the data doesn't exist in Quicken Mac. And while it does exist in Quicken 2007, they aren't going to work on trying to convert that data for the relatively small number of users still using that old version. 

So here's the good news: the developers agree on the need to be able to go back to old reconciliations, and they're working on developing the functionality to do that. But the bad news is that you won't be able to go back to the beginning of time; this will be a feature that will help users with future reconciliations (well, starting as of May 2020).

@[email protected]  If you want, you can un-reconcile all your transactions and re-reconcile them today. I assume the re-reconciliations will be captured in whatever way Quicken Mac is now storing them, and in the future, you'll have some way to go back to past reconciliations if you wish to. Since we don't know how this future feature will actually work, I'd suggest no one take time to do a lot of re-reconciling yet; wait until the complete feature is released. 

Scott Rose

Because of this missing feature that used to be in Quicken 2007, this is the nightmare that i have been going through: 

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20132986

Just Lurking

There was some discussion of reconciliation limitations in the Quicken 6.0 release announcement thread and this thread was linked, so I thought I'd pop over and cross-post my comment:

Just in case anyone from the QM team is monitoring this thread and thinking about how to improve reconciliation, I wanted to call out the free online accounting app "Wave." I am very impressed at how intuitive, functional, and just pleasing to the eye is their reconciliation process. 

I am aware that designing how a feature will work can be as much if not more work than actually programming it, so I'm sharing this in the hopes the QM team might come across it and be inspired to crib from it.

Here is a support article that explains in detail how it works (the software is also free so anyone can sign up to play with it first-hand), but one of the key highlights from my perspective is a graphical view of current and past reconciliation periods, with a red warning when a prior reconciled period is no longer reconciled:




Clicking "Fix" will re-reconcile that period, and will highlight (with a red triangle) new or modified transactions which cause the period to no longer reconcile which makes it very easy to track down why a balance no longer matches:




It may not hit every bell and whistle that QM2007 reconciliation offered, but this would be an excellent improvement over the current situation that exists in Quicken for Mac 6.0.

gnvdaniels

Please add a reconciliationreport to Quicken for Mac

Scott Rose

This is now a part of Quicken Mac 6.1.

ZerMunde

Unfortunately, Quicken appears to have zero tangible plans to add Prior Statements back in. It's been years with no movement. At this point, it would be nice if Apple built a better-than-Quicken accounting app and included it in the iWork suite (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote). Cheaper (or no) subscription, large user base, regular advances & updates, rock solid software engineering, integrated iCloud backup, cross device access & syncing, biometric security options, true QIF format support for guaranteed get in/get out options if a user decides to switch apps or move to/from a PC. A competitor ending in "tivity" seems to be on a better track than Quicken for Mac.

jacobs

@ZerMunde  I'm not sure what you're talking about. The latest new feature for Quicken Mac is the ability to store and re-reconcile prior statements. It was added last month.

No, it can't go back and create a history of past reconciliations which the program has no information about in its database, so this functionality only works on reconciliation from late 2020 forward. That's sad, but they can't manufacture data out of thin air which simply didn't exist in the database. And they've now added this much requested feature to help moving forward. so I don't know what you mean that "Quicken appears to have zero tangible plans to add Prior Statements back in" -- they just did! 

As for Apple, I think it's highly unlikely that they'd wade into the personal finance market suddenly to try to kill off Quicken and various other software products that already exist in this space. Apple created iWork because there was a real danger years ago that there wouldn't be apps for the Mac to do basic word processing, spreadsheets and presentations if Microsoft ditched Office for the Mac. But building a new personal finance app from scratch that requires ongoing constant updating and tweaking -- nope, just ain't gonna happen.