Idea: Allow multi-sorting by multiple columns in register (1 Merged Vote) [edited]

myers18111

IDEA

Explanation/My Main Frustration: Deposits (transactions or reminders) do not show up first when I sort by date, which is the way i most often sort my transactions. I plan 90 days in advance. All my reminders are set to remind me in 90 non-business days. I see negative balances because the deposits do not sort first, i.e., before the other transactions for that day.

As it is now, I can only sort on a single column, by clicking on the heading. I would like to see:

• A sort option (maybe on the menu?) that allows the selection of multiple sort fields, asc or desc, in Microsoft Excel (c) style
• E.g., I want to sort by (1) date, asc or desc, then (2) by amount, with an option to put deposits first or last for each day (since my first sort field, in this case, is date), followed by (3) transaction entry date, payee, or dollar amount, or any other column). This is my primary need
• Allow for the setting of a default sort order
• Allow for saving and retieval of sorts. This eliminates the requirement to re-enter a frequently used sort. Maybe include your own Quicken commonly-used sorts. Allow the modification of a saved sort, either my own or quicken-supplied sorts, i.e., allow me to use any sort as a starting point to create another sorts
• Make sure to incude the memo field in the list of fields by which to sort. I, personally, put special sort-specific (creditor and year-month) information in the memo field, because of lack of full sort functinoality, so I can more easily sort associated or repetitive transactions, for each payee, together, in date order
• Allow sorting on fields that are not selected for display
• Allow options to sort by "deposits first," "entry date," "amount," etc. at any sort level
• Include reminders in the sorted list
• Include reminders when FILTERING
• Allow all these sorting options on a FILTERED list

I am frustrated. Allowing for and more flexible sorting and more inclusive filtering, including displaying reminders in the result set, would greatly help me in my planning

mshiggins

Thanks for the suggestions.

triciaroth

totally agree. I am having to spend huge amount of time to work around this sorting limitation while trying to fix the mess made when I upgraded to quicken 2017. I don't understand how quicken has gotten by with such lack of sort ability. It's unbelievable that it allows sorting by only 1 column at a time.

Mark Sheehan

I have noticed that when I have my register sorted by Date, if I change the "show reminders for" setting, some register items appear to switch places. This appears to be because multiple transactions on the same date are effectively treated equal (as there is no transaction "time" component) and therefore, in a database query sorting only by Date, records can be returned in a seemingly random order. This can cause some confusion especially when there are many transactions on a single date.

To correct this behavior, I would suggest adding a default lowest-level sort order by an internal record number or identity column that is unique to each and every row in the database.  Sorting the register by Date would actually sort by "Date, Record Number" in the background for display purposes. This method should probably be applied to sorts other than "Date", as well.

Additionally, I can see cases where I would like to see Income/Deposits to an account appear above Payments/Debits that occur on the same date within the register. This helps with appearances as it can affect whether an account balance appears to go negative and then back to positive within the same date. I can also see cases where, for some account types like credit cards, people may wish for the opposite order for display. So, perhaps an account-specific register option should be provided: "1) Display Deposits above Payments (within specified sort order), 2) Display Payments above Deposits (within specified sort order), 3) No preference".  This should be combined with the lowest-level sort order on record number above:  So ultimately, selecting "Date" sorting on the register could result in the database ORDER BY clause matching something like "Date, Deposit-over-Payment, Record Number".

kate@

I'm using Quicken Deluxe 2019 and I can't seem to sort by Account then Payee. I can't believe such a simple feature isn't available.
This and the difficulty with assigning rules to payees (for example, if payee contains "Walgreens", assign category "Medical"). I swear these two features were available in old versions of Quicken. 
Honestly, these two things are enough for me to not renew.

UKR

kate@ttel.com said:

I'm using Quicken Deluxe 2019 and I can't seem to sort by Account then Payee. I can't believe such a simple feature isn't available.
This and the difficulty with assigning rules to payees (for example, if payee contains "Walgreens", assign category "Medical"). I swear these two features were available in old versions of Quicken. 
Honestly, these two things are enough for me to not renew.

While you're waiting for enhancements to the report generator, would a Transaction Detail report, subtotaled by Payee do the trick for you?

Assigning categories to certain Payees is a matter of properly categorizing a transaction, then memorizing it. That allows future new transactions to pick the correct category. Cleanup of the Memorized Payee List might be needed to get rid of incorrectly memorized entries. "Lock" the correct ones to prevent unintentional changes.

Of course, that works if you only buy meds at Walgreens, not food or household items.

Clive Walden

Yes. Desperately needed.
So very many reports I want to sort by
Category
Payee
Date

fbeach

Absolutely required for any relatively sophisticated data base system. This type of sorting should be added to Find and Find/Replace as well.

DouglasLWarren

As a Quicken user for years, I have been waiting for this "feature" to be added. This should have been available from the beginning.

tlassanske

I totally expected shift+click or ctrl+click to do a secondary sort when clicking on column headers, as it does with other types of software I've used. This is really useful when reviewing a register or search results for non-standard entries, for example. 

LHollinger

I agree. It should be easy as other SQL database programs allow a 2nd, or even more, sorts. Please do this ASAP.

marktobin

I completely agree. Seems like a simple request; horrible that it's been out there for 5 years without a real response from Quicken.

Phil Burton

@marktobin and @everyone else

There are a LOT of requests that Quicken hasn't responded too.

Since Quicken has no real direct competitors, I don't think that they have much motivation to fix "user friendliness" or "ease of use" issues. Sadly.

Is there any way to apply pressure on Quicken?

Jim_Harman

@Phil Burton et al.,

You may have noticed over the past few days the the Moderators are reviewing the existing Idea posts and have moved many of them from New to Reviewed or Under Consideration status. You can see the current status in the big yellow voting box at the bottom of the first post.

One indication of the level of demand for an improvement is the number of votes it has accumulated.

Rocket J Squirrel

@Mark Sheehan

I would suggest adding a default lowest-level sort order by an internal record number or identity column that is unique to each and every row in the database.  Sorting the register by Date would actually sort by "Date, Record Number" in the background for display purposes.

This capability has existed for many years. It is called Sort by Date / Order Entered.

arockwood

Why is this so hard??? It drives me insane. I just want to see my deposit first on a day and then withdrawals. Why can't this be an option?? Also, if I do sort by "Date / Order Entered" there is no way for me to see the Order Entered as a column so I know what I'm sorting!!! As a developer myself this is so incredibly frustrating….it's just a sort for crying out loud.

Jim_Harman

@arockwood clicking on column headers is a simple, intuitive one-level sort. Can you think of a simple UI for a 2-level sort? I can't.

Rocket J Squirrel

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20422025#Comment_20422025

How about CTRL-Click on a header? That's analogous to adding an item to a selection in Windows.

jayrignani

I agree with @arockwood, this shouldn't be this hard to add in more multiple-level sort options. As @Rocket J Squirrel showed above, there is already this capability, there just isn't a sort that is as complete as many are looking for as an option. Having additional options shouldn't be that hard to add. What would be ideal, but more difficult (?), would be to have a sorting capability like you have in Excel where you can provide multiple levels of sorting using any columns you want - even limiting it to 3 or so should be enough. As @arockwood said, I'm just looking to see a sort that is Cleared / Date / Amount so that I can see uncleared/open transactions with my deposits at the top within a Date. Quicken is almost there with the "by Cleared" sort option shown in @Rocket J Squirrel's message above (which also sorts on Date second after Cleared without having to specify that). You just need one more level to make most people happy I'd wager.

mshiggins

I also like the way Excel handles this.

Here's what the user sees in Excel when creating a sort:

Such a sort selection could be given a name and saved; then appear in the register Sorting Options dropdown list.

-JP

JohnA

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20422025#Comment_20422025

Simple, click the first sort column, shift-click additional sort columns.

JohnA

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7642377/idea-allow-multi-sorting-by-multiple-columns-in-register-1-merged-vote-edited

Great idea, I hope it is implemented soon.

rismanma

I like this idea, but really I'd rather that multi-level sort be added to Reports, not the registers