Quicken for Mac 2018 v5.6.x Released

Tom Bonner

I am not certain this happened because of the update to 5.6.0 but I have not had any transactions download from my CapitalOne credit card more recent than 5/07 and I no longer get the summary window indicating how many new transactions were downloaded from the various accounts that would have indicated a connection error. Finally got it fixed  today by reestablishing the connection type but that  didn't work last night when I got asked for a verification code and the only notification option presented was my landline phone number which did not provide a code. Maybe last night's failure was CapitalOne flakiness.

jacobs

Craig in ER said:

Still Sloooooow to Launch.  I had high hopes QM 5.6 would fix the very slow initial launch issue.  But, alas, for me it is still as slow as ever.  In fact I believe QM 5.6 is actually slower than 5.5.7 to launch - can it be possible.  I used to launch Quicken, go and brew a cup of tea in the microwave for 2 minutes 20 seconds and when I returned my file was just opening.  Now I do the same thing but when I return I still have to wait for the file to open.  I also notice that I don't get an indication that Quicken is launching.  By that I mean no bouncing dock icon, no spinning beachball, nothing - just wait and hope.  I am thinking about rolling back to 5.5.7 (because its slowness was faster) but don't know if I can since the data file was updated.  Or, I guess I will have to wait for QM 5.7 and hope the team has figured this problem out.  As a reminded this slowness is only for the initial launch after I start may computer for the day or after a restart.  Any relaunch after the initial is very fast (5-10 seconds).  What gives?

@Craig in ER: I share your frustration. I was incredibly excited to see that the 5.6 release included work to speed up the launch time of Quicken, as this has been a source of frustration for me since Quicken 2015 came out. Unfortunately, Quicken 2018 v5.6 is still incredibly slow to launch -- for the first launch of a day. For me, it's about 45 seconds. (I don't have exact 5.5 versus 5.6 timings.) If I quit and re-launch Quicken, it comes up in 6 seconds. But the initial launch is still painfully slow -- and as always, the program gives absolutely no visual indication (no splash screen, dialog box, etc.) that it is in the process of launching until the window finally pops open.

@Quicken Marcus, if you're reading these comments, I appreciate that you've put effort into improving the painfully slow launch speed of Quicken, but whatever was done in 5.6 made only a minimal change for me -- certainly not the 30-50% improvement your release note suggested. While I do have many years of Quicken data, my number of securities is actually modestly small -- 22 currently held, 54 all-time -- compared to some of the other Quicken users here who are well up in triple digits. Something more needs to be done to either eliminate or move to separately-threaded background tasks some of what Quicken is trying to do before opening.

Tom Bonner

Mike said:

Investments - y-axis starting at zero. I do not like it. Put it back the way it was or include an option for zero or lowest value.

smayer97's security graph chooser from Quicken 2007 reminds me how much I miss a graph of the price history of individual securities especially when marked showing my trades.

Tom Bonner

Mike said:

Investments - y-axis starting at zero. I do not like it. Put it back the way it was or include an option for zero or lowest value.

smayer97's security graph chooser from Quicken 2007 reminds me how much I miss a graph of the price history of individual securities especially when marked showing my trades.

Unknown

RickO said:

And here are the detailed release notes:

Improved application performance

In 5.6, we focused on improving app performance. Customers with years and years of investment transactions were the most impacted so we zeroed our efforts around investments, but everyone should benefit.

• NEW Drastically improved launch times for customers with lots of investment history. A lot of the slowness was downloading and storing quotes which has been significantly optimized.
• NEW As part of this performance improvement, Quicken will now only download quotes for held securities, ignoring securities that are no longer owned. In the Securities list, we added a column, so you can see which securities are held. If you want to manage this yourself, you can turn this feature off and then a new column appears, so you can select which securities to update.
• NEW Switching to the investment view is significantly faster but drawing the chart can still take some time. By the way, you can hide the chart by dragging up on the bar between the chart and the portfolio table which also improves the overall performance of these views.
• NEW Switching from the Portfolio Value view to Performance view is a lot faster now.
• NEW Switching between different Groups in the Portfolio View now immediately update.

Improved report usability and functionality

• NEW The Comparison, Summary and Transaction reports created from New Report now display date range and customization settings in the upper right corner. This information also appears in printed and exported reports.
• NEW The report customization dialog has been simplified to have 2 basic settings: 1) Include any account, category, tag, or payee or 2) Include only selected accounts, categories, tags or payees. Previously it was not obvious what would happen if all accounts, categories, tags, or payees were selected.
• NEW As part of refining this experience, column selection for transaction reports has been moved to the report toolbar.
• NEW The drill down report will now remember the columns chosen so that all future drill down reports will include the same columns.
• FIXED The Comparison, Summary and Transaction reports created from New Report will now export foreign and other special characters to the CSV file.

Continued refinement of investment portfolio view

• NEW The portfolio view can now be printed, exported to a CSV file, or copied and pasted into a spreadsheet.
• NEW The portfolio view now remembers which securities have been expanded and collapsed.
• NEW Added a way to expand all or collapse all securities. CTRL-click, or right-click, the portfolio view header to get to see these options.
• NEW Securities without a cost basis will now display an Add Cost Basis button that will bring up the dialog to cost basis information.
• NEW The number of shares column will now display more than 3 decimal places.
• NEW The Y-Axis now always starts at zero.

Better eBill support in Bills & Income

• NEW Changed the way track flow works. First, Quicken asks whether you want to add an eBill or manual bill. Second, if creating an eBill, Quicken will allow you to enter any name to search for an eBiller vs forcing you to pick an existing payee. You'll link the eBill to the payee later in the process.
• NEW Added an Add Payee option to the Payee screen.
• NEW Added a column to the Payees list window to more easily select which payees should appear in the Bills & Income screen.

General improvements across the product

• NEW Improved transaction downloads. Previously, downloading from Direct Connect accounts would block you from doing anything else. Now Direct Connect works like Quicken Connect accounts in that you can continue to use Quicken while downloading is happening in the background.
• NEW In the register, the name of the column being sorted will display more boldly in order to make it more obvious which column is being used to sort the register.
• NEW Also in the register, we now always display the balance regardless of the column being sorted. When not sorted by Date or CLR, the balance column will have an italicized, dark gray color to let you know the balance won't match your statement.
• NEW Updated the Column menu in the register to allow you to more easily hide and show columns. We also added a Reset to Default menu item to get back to the default for the current account.
• FIXED Fixed a number of bugs and stability issues.

Hello RickO just a question, I try this but I receive a window saying You can't save the file"Quicken(56.22351.100) because the volume "#####" is read only

Unknown

After the 5.6 update, it broke my ability to download transactions from my bank. I waited a few days to see if it was just a momentary glitch. When the problem continued, it was the weekend, so I used the chat support. They acknowledged that the problem was the update, and told me that I'd receive an email when a fix was found. I waited an additional day, then had another chat. Same thing.

Today, having waited for a fix and not having received anything from Quicken, I called, since it was Monday. The very helpful woman said that the fix had been found yesterday, and that it involved exporting the data file, deleting that install, and then downloading the software again, and re-importing --- all basically to "rollback" to the previous update. So, she walked me through that process.

But, she acknowledged, she did not know of any attempt to send out emails to people, like myself, who'd called in or had chat sessions.

Along the way, we discovered that although the export / import process did save much of the data, certain things were lost:

All my transaction download settings had to be re-setup from scratch (about a 20 min process, since I had multiple accounts.)

In the process, we discovered that the auto loan account was essentially starting from scratch, and all transaction history for my auto loan account was lost.

Also, certain transactions in my checking account, like the original balance, were lost. I had to cheat by creating an adjustment transaction to get it to balance.

Also, my entire budget history was lost. Gone. All my previous months and years of budgets --- poof!

HUGE bonehead move on the part of Quicken. I can't imagine the hell you guys must be going through if millions of customers have suffered similar data loss.

i'd join a class action lawsuit, if one got going.

jacobs

Franklin Seal said:

After the 5.6 update, it broke my ability to download transactions from my bank. I waited a few days to see if it was just a momentary glitch. When the problem continued, it was the weekend, so I used the chat support. They acknowledged that the problem was the update, and told me that I'd receive an email when a fix was found. I waited an additional day, then had another chat. Same thing.

Today, having waited for a fix and not having received anything from Quicken, I called, since it was Monday. The very helpful woman said that the fix had been found yesterday, and that it involved exporting the data file, deleting that install, and then downloading the software again, and re-importing --- all basically to "rollback" to the previous update. So, she walked me through that process.

But, she acknowledged, she did not know of any attempt to send out emails to people, like myself, who'd called in or had chat sessions.

Along the way, we discovered that although the export / import process did save much of the data, certain things were lost:

All my transaction download settings had to be re-setup from scratch (about a 20 min process, since I had multiple accounts.)

In the process, we discovered that the auto loan account was essentially starting from scratch, and all transaction history for my auto loan account was lost.

Also, certain transactions in my checking account, like the original balance, were lost. I had to cheat by creating an adjustment transaction to get it to balance.

Also, my entire budget history was lost. Gone. All my previous months and years of budgets --- poof!

HUGE bonehead move on the part of Quicken. I can't imagine the hell you guys must be going through if millions of customers have suffered similar data loss.

i'd join a class action lawsuit, if one got going.

Franklin, I understand your pain and frustration. I've seen on this forum that some Quicken reps seem to recommend doing the export/import approach, which -- as you've discovered -- is not a panacea. It may resolve the issue with downloads, but it entails lots of time and work for the user to get their settings and details back in order.

I think this process should only be recommended as an absolute last resort; I think Quicken reps go down this route far too quickly because they know it will solve the downloading issue, which gets them to say "problem solved" -- but they don't have to live with the consequences and side effects. It's like going to a doctor for a pain, and getting immediately wheeled into surgery, without exploring other options and treatments. Further, because agents "resolve" the download problems this way, I don't know if it is a top priority of the development team to figure out and fix whatever is the root cause of this problem. It seems crazy that users are directed to harm their data in order to fix their data, and that there is no other remedy or cure to stopped downloads.

Najmi

Franklin Seal said:

After the 5.6 update, it broke my ability to download transactions from my bank. I waited a few days to see if it was just a momentary glitch. When the problem continued, it was the weekend, so I used the chat support. They acknowledged that the problem was the update, and told me that I'd receive an email when a fix was found. I waited an additional day, then had another chat. Same thing.

Today, having waited for a fix and not having received anything from Quicken, I called, since it was Monday. The very helpful woman said that the fix had been found yesterday, and that it involved exporting the data file, deleting that install, and then downloading the software again, and re-importing --- all basically to "rollback" to the previous update. So, she walked me through that process.

But, she acknowledged, she did not know of any attempt to send out emails to people, like myself, who'd called in or had chat sessions.

Along the way, we discovered that although the export / import process did save much of the data, certain things were lost:

All my transaction download settings had to be re-setup from scratch (about a 20 min process, since I had multiple accounts.)

In the process, we discovered that the auto loan account was essentially starting from scratch, and all transaction history for my auto loan account was lost.

Also, certain transactions in my checking account, like the original balance, were lost. I had to cheat by creating an adjustment transaction to get it to balance.

Also, my entire budget history was lost. Gone. All my previous months and years of budgets --- poof!

HUGE bonehead move on the part of Quicken. I can't imagine the hell you guys must be going through if millions of customers have suffered similar data loss.

i'd join a class action lawsuit, if one got going.

Is not your pre 5.6 update data file in your Automatic Backup directory? After downloading the prior version (5.5.7) it should be possible to Restore from Backup - essentially taking you to a point prior to the 5.6 update - both for the Quicken app - which you downloaded - and the data file.

Eagle22

Mike said:

Investments - y-axis starting at zero. I do not like it. Put it back the way it was or include an option for zero or lowest value.

Does anybody like the new graph? Also, I would like to know why this was changed in first place? Were there some issues for some users they way the investment graphs were?

Unknown

Mike said:

Investments - y-axis starting at zero. I do not like it. Put it back the way it was or include an option for zero or lowest value.

Quicken CEO Eric Dunn requested it.

Obviously, he doesn't use Quicken enough to even understand what users need and how awful having the Y axis start at zero really is.  

But then again, he's only the CEO.  

SMH!

Najmi

Is it possible to sandbox 5.6 (with its own data file) and run it in parallel with 5.5.7?  It would be good to continue to test it while some of the areas being discussed are fixed. I tried, but every time I open 5.6, it reaches out to the last opened data file - and if that happens to be the 5.5.7 file, it converts it.  

smayer97

Franklin Seal said:

After the 5.6 update, it broke my ability to download transactions from my bank. I waited a few days to see if it was just a momentary glitch. When the problem continued, it was the weekend, so I used the chat support. They acknowledged that the problem was the update, and told me that I'd receive an email when a fix was found. I waited an additional day, then had another chat. Same thing.

Today, having waited for a fix and not having received anything from Quicken, I called, since it was Monday. The very helpful woman said that the fix had been found yesterday, and that it involved exporting the data file, deleting that install, and then downloading the software again, and re-importing --- all basically to "rollback" to the previous update. So, she walked me through that process.

But, she acknowledged, she did not know of any attempt to send out emails to people, like myself, who'd called in or had chat sessions.

Along the way, we discovered that although the export / import process did save much of the data, certain things were lost:

All my transaction download settings had to be re-setup from scratch (about a 20 min process, since I had multiple accounts.)

In the process, we discovered that the auto loan account was essentially starting from scratch, and all transaction history for my auto loan account was lost.

Also, certain transactions in my checking account, like the original balance, were lost. I had to cheat by creating an adjustment transaction to get it to balance.

Also, my entire budget history was lost. Gone. All my previous months and years of budgets --- poof!

HUGE bonehead move on the part of Quicken. I can't imagine the hell you guys must be going through if millions of customers have suffered similar data loss.

i'd join a class action lawsuit, if one got going.

Currently, it is not possible to run 2 copies of the same MAIN version of QMac (e.g. 2 x QM2018, or 2 x QM2017, etc) without using a work-around, such as running a VM or using a separate user. (That said, you can run QM2017 and QM2018 side by side).

You can add your VOTE to Maintain ability to run 2 copies of Quicken for Mac simultaneously.

First, click on the underlined link above to go there, then click VOTE at the top of THAT page, so your will vote 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.

While you are at it, you may want to add your VOTE to related IDEAS found on the List of Requests for Data and File Management Features. Click on the underlined link, then follow the instructions to add your vote to more related ideas. Your VOTES matter!

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

smayer97

Mike said:

Investments - y-axis starting at zero. I do not like it. Put it back the way it was or include an option for zero or lowest value.

In case you missed it, as noted just above, Marcus has indicated that this is being changed back in the next release:
https://getsatisfaction.com/quickencommunity/topics/quicken-for-mac-2018-v5-6-x-released?topic-reply...

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

Najmi

Franklin Seal said:

After the 5.6 update, it broke my ability to download transactions from my bank. I waited a few days to see if it was just a momentary glitch. When the problem continued, it was the weekend, so I used the chat support. They acknowledged that the problem was the update, and told me that I'd receive an email when a fix was found. I waited an additional day, then had another chat. Same thing.

Today, having waited for a fix and not having received anything from Quicken, I called, since it was Monday. The very helpful woman said that the fix had been found yesterday, and that it involved exporting the data file, deleting that install, and then downloading the software again, and re-importing --- all basically to "rollback" to the previous update. So, she walked me through that process.

But, she acknowledged, she did not know of any attempt to send out emails to people, like myself, who'd called in or had chat sessions.

Along the way, we discovered that although the export / import process did save much of the data, certain things were lost:

All my transaction download settings had to be re-setup from scratch (about a 20 min process, since I had multiple accounts.)

In the process, we discovered that the auto loan account was essentially starting from scratch, and all transaction history for my auto loan account was lost.

Also, certain transactions in my checking account, like the original balance, were lost. I had to cheat by creating an adjustment transaction to get it to balance.

Also, my entire budget history was lost. Gone. All my previous months and years of budgets --- poof!

HUGE bonehead move on the part of Quicken. I can't imagine the hell you guys must be going through if millions of customers have suffered similar data loss.

i'd join a class action lawsuit, if one got going.

Thanks, smayer97. I am currently running QM17 and QM18 simultaneously (for investment data copy/paste capability, which I hope to stop once the dust settles on 5.6.X). You are right - it would be helpful to have the capability, even if it is in a limited test environment, to enable essentially a larger user base involved in testing a release before it is released fully. 

smayer97

Najmi said:

Is it possible to sandbox 5.6 (with its own data file) and run it in parallel with 5.5.7?  It would be good to continue to test it while some of the areas being discussed are fixed. I tried, but every time I open 5.6, it reaches out to the last opened data file - and if that happens to be the 5.5.7 file, it converts it.  

RickO...good point about not running at same time. 

Of course you could NEVER run 2 versions at the same time with the SAME data file, even with old versions of Quicken. You always have to have 2 separate copies.

BUT taking this one step further, you can run 2 copies of the same version at the same time IF each one uses its own copy of the data file AND each copy of QMac runs in under SEPARATE user. Then you can use Quick User Switch to flip between the two. Of course, you have to make sure that each data file opens a different copy of the data, or vice versa, each copy of the data file opens a different copy of Quicken.

Short of using third party solutions, I think that is the closest you can get to running 2 copies of QMac simultaneously. 

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

Najmi

Najmi said:

Is it possible to sandbox 5.6 (with its own data file) and run it in parallel with 5.5.7?  It would be good to continue to test it while some of the areas being discussed are fixed. I tried, but every time I open 5.6, it reaches out to the last opened data file - and if that happens to be the 5.5.7 file, it converts it.  

Thanks, RickO. I will give that a shot! 

A question though, on your last comment - that a different user login would not work. I was about to try that. I usually maintain my data file within my user directory rather than the Quicken default location. As such, if I have two different logins and maintain the two data files within the directory of the two users, and neither of the two logins have admin privileges, would it not be possible to install the two versions of Quicken so that they do not have access to the data file in the other login?  (I realize I am overdriving my headlights in terms of what I know of macOS...!)

Najmi

Najmi said:

Is it possible to sandbox 5.6 (with its own data file) and run it in parallel with 5.5.7?  It would be good to continue to test it while some of the areas being discussed are fixed. I tried, but every time I open 5.6, it reaches out to the last opened data file - and if that happens to be the 5.5.7 file, it converts it.  

Smayer97 ... our responses crossed - I was kind of exploring what you discussed!

smayer97

Najmi said:

Is it possible to sandbox 5.6 (with its own data file) and run it in parallel with 5.5.7?  It would be good to continue to test it while some of the areas being discussed are fixed. I tried, but every time I open 5.6, it reaches out to the last opened data file - and if that happens to be the 5.5.7 file, it converts it.  

Yes exactly...that should work.  ;-)

Najmi

Najmi said:

Is it possible to sandbox 5.6 (with its own data file) and run it in parallel with 5.5.7?  It would be good to continue to test it while some of the areas being discussed are fixed. I tried, but every time I open 5.6, it reaches out to the last opened data file - and if that happens to be the 5.5.7 file, it converts it.  

Got it! Thanks again!

smayer97

Najmi said:

Is it possible to sandbox 5.6 (with its own data file) and run it in parallel with 5.5.7?  It would be good to continue to test it while some of the areas being discussed are fixed. I tried, but every time I open 5.6, it reaches out to the last opened data file - and if that happens to be the 5.5.7 file, it converts it.  

BTW, only some versions cause an update that is not backwards compatible. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to know which one, as there is rarely any warning. BUT some are backward compatible. Just FYI.

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

Najmi

Najmi said:

Is it possible to sandbox 5.6 (with its own data file) and run it in parallel with 5.5.7?  It would be good to continue to test it while some of the areas being discussed are fixed. I tried, but every time I open 5.6, it reaches out to the last opened data file - and if that happens to be the 5.5.7 file, it converts it.  

Confirmed that it works.

But, as RickO pointed out, there is still the risk of accidentally opening the wrong version. This is because the applications folder is visible across both user accounts which makes it possible, even with app renaming, to open the wrong version of the quicken app! And, again because of the way the applications folder spans users, deleting it in one user accounts deletes it for all. What I ended up doing is to move each of the app version, in their respective user accounts to the desktop. The first time you open it, it will ask if you want it installed in the app folder. Check do not ask again, and decline. Now each app version is no longer visible from the other user. 

I'm not sure if having an app outside of the app folder has any other unintended consequences but it at least resolves the problem of accidental opening the wrong version and getting the data file upgraded without warning. 

jacobs

Najmi said:

Is it possible to sandbox 5.6 (with its own data file) and run it in parallel with 5.5.7?  It would be good to continue to test it while some of the areas being discussed are fixed. I tried, but every time I open 5.6, it reaches out to the last opened data file - and if that happens to be the 5.5.7 file, it converts it.  

Quicken runs fine installed outside the Applications folder You should be good.

Eagle22

What has happened to the roll out? Is it still suspended due to problems still not fixed? I have not see the update yet. I am not in a big hurry I would rather have a clean as possible release. 

However a status update would be helpful.

Randall Godfrey

Surprisingly, after reading this thread, I’m having zero issues with 5.6, but then I never moved any of the data files, program files, backup files, etc. nor do I have a complex investment portfolio. Everything including transaction downloading is working for me.

jacobs

Eagle22 said:

What has happened to the roll out? Is it still suspended due to problems still not fixed? I have not see the update yet. I am not in a big hurry I would rather have a clean as possible release. 

However a status update would be helpful.

Yes, if the 5.6 release has not resumed, it’s because of a problem(s) they identified and decided to fix before a wide roll-out. Sometimes this is due to a major bug, but more typically it’s something smaller that they found can quickly be fixed before wide release. Typically, the x.x.1 release follows within a few days. Also typically, they don’t post about it until the x.x.1 release is available or unless there’s going to be a major delay.

Mike Lane

Randall Godfrey said:

Surprisingly, after reading this thread, I’m having zero issues with 5.6, but then I never moved any of the data files, program files, backup files, etc. nor do I have a complex investment portfolio. Everything including transaction downloading is working for me.

Likewise I have no new issues with 5.6 other than I do not like the graph.  Occasionally I was unable to download with 5.5 and fixed that by disconnecting and setting up connection again. I wouldn't be surprised to have similar issue with 5.6. Slow sometimes, yes, but so was 5.5. I do not like the new performance graph and they are changing that.  

My 5.5 data file was over 200mb - 5.6 now 171mb .  I have approx 2500 investment transactions over several years. The total transaction count is 27,700.  I converted QWin to QMac in 2015. 5.6 doesn't handle traded options completely, which is a problem for me, but neither did 5.5. Marcus has responded to that issue. Export of portfolio in CSV detail is not perfect but very workable for me.

  Although there is lots of chatter it doesn't appear the issues are universal. Some of of chatter is recommendation.  Glad to see update because we at least are moving forward.

Unknown

I have Qmac 2018 premier, and vers 5.6
This am the app is shutting down when I try to 'mark as paid' a recurring note payment. I also discovered the loan term was also changed on 2 of my loans.
Other Bills do not seem to be affected.
I was unable to fix the issue, and had to covert the loan to a liability so I could post the payment.

Concordman

What is the status of the 5.6 download,is it complete to all users  or is the download still in progress?

I  now observe from above thread that they had an issue & the download has been halted.

smayer97

Najmi said:

Is it possible to sandbox 5.6 (with its own data file) and run it in parallel with 5.5.7?  It would be good to continue to test it while some of the areas being discussed are fixed. I tried, but every time I open 5.6, it reaches out to the last opened data file - and if that happens to be the 5.5.7 file, it converts it.  

Though not foolproof, keep in mind that QMac remembers the last data file it opened, so once you have opened the data file the first time, clicking on the respective Quicken icon will open up the respective data file.

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

Unknown

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled Starting the Y axis on the investment view at zero is a bad idea - It turns all m....


I'm running Quicken Deluxe 2018 - version 5.6.0 - the latest update changed the investment graph view so that the Y axis starts at zero.  This caused all my graphs to become basically a straight line - they have become virtually useless as a visual clue regarding recent performance.  I suggest you either return to the original default or allow users to set the starting point.