Dark Mode in macOS (1 Merged Vote)

Quicken Community
Quicken Community Employee mod
edited November 2019 in Display/UI (Mac)
It would be great if support for the new "Dark Mode" in macOS Mojave 10.14 was added to Quicken for Mac. I love how apps that have been updated to support this look, and I find it easier on my eyes, especially at night. Other popular Mac finance apps have been updated to support this (such as [removed]), and it would be great to see Quicken get the same support. Thanks!
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36
36 votes

Implemented · Last Updated

We are excited to announce Dark Mode has been added in the 6.3 release of Quicken Mac. Please note, this is an early release feature, for more information please see the 6.3 release notes (Help > Release Notes or What's New in Quicken)

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Comments

  • Jay Baker
    Jay Baker Member ✭✭
    edited December 2018
    Agree!
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited March 2019
    Also agree.  [removed]
  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    edited December 2018
    It's a function of two factors: how much work will it take to make Quicken Mac compatible with dark mode, and how important is it versus other things on the development roadmap.

    Factor 1: None of us can know how much work is involved in enabling dark mode in Quicken. It's a program with a large number of windows and dialog boxes, so it might entail more work than some other applications, but the amount of work it will take depends how much of Quicken's interface is accomplished by standard calls to the operating system, which can natively handle dark mode now,  versus custom-coded screen drawing which needs to be re-worked.

    Factor 2: Users who have been waiting for features such as expanded reports, enabling transfers in budgeting, QuickMath, batch editing transactions that include splits, complete multi-currency support, and any number of other things might feel these missing features are more important than adding the aesthetic improvement of dark mode support. Obviously, different users have different priorities, and I'm not saying anyone is wrong -- just that the development team must rank which ones should be higher priorities than others.


    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited January 2020
    [removed - violation of community guidelines]
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited January 2020
    If that's the case, please go to the Apple Store and search for Personal Finance.

    See all the PF software that supports Dark Mode?  And every one of these are way newer to the party than Quicken.  

    Quicken, like all other Mac software companies, gets development, alpha and beta pre-production versions of macOS Mojave from Apple.  This isn't something that just came about when the macOS was released.  

    Quicken though, is extremely slow in developing anything.  That's all on the Mac development team.

    No one is asking them to "drop everything" and work on Dark Mode.  But heck, they had plenty of notice and other software companies have seized on this.  I can name you three offhand that support Dark Mode from Day 1.  

    [removed - off-topic/violation of community guidelines] 

  • [Deleted User]
    edited December 2018
    While I do see the point jacobs is making (and I understand that software development takes time and there are lots of things to consider), I have to agree with Wannabe. This is the industry standard for personal finance software, and users are charged a premium price to be able to use it. Quicken should be leading with innovation and staying up-to-date on the latest technologies and features of both Windows and macOS (especially when they are announced months ahead of OS releases), rather than continuously lagging behind while still charging users as if they were the most innovative in the industry. I love Quicken, which is why I still use it and pay for it, but I really would love to see them being more pro-active rather than playing catch up with competitors. Having said that, I do appreciate the hard work of the developers and the improvements that they have been implementing.
  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    edited November 2019

    It's a function of two factors: how much work will it take to make Quicken Mac compatible with dark mode, and how important is it versus other things on the development roadmap.

    Factor 1: None of us can know how much work is involved in enabling dark mode in Quicken. It's a program with a large number of windows and dialog boxes, so it might entail more work than some other applications, but the amount of work it will take depends how much of Quicken's interface is accomplished by standard calls to the operating system, which can natively handle dark mode now,  versus custom-coded screen drawing which needs to be re-worked.

    Factor 2: Users who have been waiting for features such as expanded reports, enabling transfers in budgeting, QuickMath, batch editing transactions that include splits, complete multi-currency support, and any number of other things might feel these missing features are more important than adding the aesthetic improvement of dark mode support. Obviously, different users have different priorities, and I'm not saying anyone is wrong -- just that the development team must rank which ones should be higher priorities than others.


    I'm not here to debate you on this. I agree that dark mode support should come to Quicken Mac. Period.

    I'd just note that it's likely easier for some of the newer apps to get converted to support dark mode precisely because they're newer code bases and don't have all the features of Quicken. Remember that parts of Quicken Mac were developed for Essentials, which was released back in 2010. There's a mix of development environments and code in Quicken that a newer app likely doesn't have to deal with. And then there's the issue of priorities, where reasonable people will most certainly disagree. (While I understand the appeal of dark mode, to me personally, it's not nearly as important as some other functional things I simply can't do in Quicken today -- but I'm not expecting or asking you or anyone to agree with my priorities. In fact, that's where the voting for specific features on this site, which you apparently don't deem useful, can be useful to the developers in gauging which things to prioritize over others.)

    Some users on this site have said they've found my posts with background on the development of Quicken Mac helpful; I don't consider myself a shill or apologist for Quicken, but I'm sorry you see it otherwise. In my reply to your post in another thread, I've explained why I don't think offering information about why some things are (or aren't) the way they are is the same as making excuses for Quicken, so I won't repeat any of that here. 
    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • Lysander Spooner
    Lysander Spooner Member ✭✭✭✭
    edited November 2019

    It's a function of two factors: how much work will it take to make Quicken Mac compatible with dark mode, and how important is it versus other things on the development roadmap.

    Factor 1: None of us can know how much work is involved in enabling dark mode in Quicken. It's a program with a large number of windows and dialog boxes, so it might entail more work than some other applications, but the amount of work it will take depends how much of Quicken's interface is accomplished by standard calls to the operating system, which can natively handle dark mode now,  versus custom-coded screen drawing which needs to be re-worked.

    Factor 2: Users who have been waiting for features such as expanded reports, enabling transfers in budgeting, QuickMath, batch editing transactions that include splits, complete multi-currency support, and any number of other things might feel these missing features are more important than adding the aesthetic improvement of dark mode support. Obviously, different users have different priorities, and I'm not saying anyone is wrong -- just that the development team must rank which ones should be higher priorities than others.


    Wait, what? I thought that Quicken 2019 is based on a "newer" code base as opposed  to the 2007 code inherited from Intuit. Is this not so?
  • Unknown
    Unknown Member
    edited November 2019

    It's a function of two factors: how much work will it take to make Quicken Mac compatible with dark mode, and how important is it versus other things on the development roadmap.

    Factor 1: None of us can know how much work is involved in enabling dark mode in Quicken. It's a program with a large number of windows and dialog boxes, so it might entail more work than some other applications, but the amount of work it will take depends how much of Quicken's interface is accomplished by standard calls to the operating system, which can natively handle dark mode now,  versus custom-coded screen drawing which needs to be re-worked.

    Factor 2: Users who have been waiting for features such as expanded reports, enabling transfers in budgeting, QuickMath, batch editing transactions that include splits, complete multi-currency support, and any number of other things might feel these missing features are more important than adding the aesthetic improvement of dark mode support. Obviously, different users have different priorities, and I'm not saying anyone is wrong -- just that the development team must rank which ones should be higher priorities than others.


    I'm curious.  Dark Mode for a Mac running mac OS Mojave seems to be determined by the macOS Preferences setting.

    As a matter of fact, software or apps that utilize Dark Mode have NO setting available within their software...it's all controlled at the OS level.

    So, if that's the case, please tell us why Quicken Mac doesn't easily have this with their software?  

    It really can NOT be that difficult to enable... and as mentioned previously, almost all other Mac apps are utilizing this from the get go.  
  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    edited November 2019

    It's a function of two factors: how much work will it take to make Quicken Mac compatible with dark mode, and how important is it versus other things on the development roadmap.

    Factor 1: None of us can know how much work is involved in enabling dark mode in Quicken. It's a program with a large number of windows and dialog boxes, so it might entail more work than some other applications, but the amount of work it will take depends how much of Quicken's interface is accomplished by standard calls to the operating system, which can natively handle dark mode now,  versus custom-coded screen drawing which needs to be re-worked.

    Factor 2: Users who have been waiting for features such as expanded reports, enabling transfers in budgeting, QuickMath, batch editing transactions that include splits, complete multi-currency support, and any number of other things might feel these missing features are more important than adding the aesthetic improvement of dark mode support. Obviously, different users have different priorities, and I'm not saying anyone is wrong -- just that the development team must rank which ones should be higher priorities than others.


    Yes, Quicken 2019 is a complete rewrite from Quicken 2007. Quicken 2019 is built on some of the code written for Quicken Essentials in 2010, and then modernized and extended for the release of Quicken 2015 and beyond.

    Dark Mode is a brand new feature in macOS, and applications need to be modified to enable it. Different applications have different degrees of difficulty to achieve this. In general, the more an application uses calls to the operating system to draw to screens, the easier it is to enable Dark Mode. Quicken has a lot of screens, panels and dialog boxes, so it's likely not a simple task. And we know that the developers have a long list of functionality feature requests from users, so it's likely a matter of how important the developers perceive this aesthetic feature to be versus many of the others on the feature wishlist.
    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • ll_lluis
    ll_lluis Member
    edited January 2020
    In my point of view, dark mode is more important than all these features
  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    @ll_lluis Well, if this is the most important feature for you in Quicken Mac, make sure you vote for it in the blue box at the top of this thread.

    I read lots of user requests on this forum, and I personally think there are a lot of other more pressing issues for Quicken Mac -- things it actually cannot do currently, versus an aesthetic improvement. But we all use Quicken differently and have different views on what we'd like to see the developers work on next. As I wrote previously, it's not that I don't think they should do the work to enable Dark Mode, it's only a matter of how high a priority it should be. So for those who think this should be addressed more urgently, vote! Votes on this forum do have some influence on the developers' priority list.
    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • Tim Whitfield
    Tim Whitfield Member ✭✭
    Would love to see dark mode added for Quicken to Mac. Personally I would really use/enjoy the feature!
  • DaddyDew
    DaddyDew Member
    It would be great if Quicken for Mac would support Dark mode
  • Gerry114
    Gerry114 Member ✭✭
    It would show Quicken is serious about Mac. I've been a quicken user since 1988. Sad to see they are still more focused on Windows. Certainly big enough to do two things at once. I believe we will see them force us go to subscription and OS independent. Then I will leave. It went from a love relationship to love hate since 2000. Come on Quicken you can do better.
  • LB522
    LB522 Member, Mac Beta Beta
    So much excuse making for Quicken developers. Most days I'm in that camp too. Bu this one should have already been done.
  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    @LB522 I somewhat agree with you that it's been a long time since Dark Mode existed on the Mac and it's a bit surprising Quicken hasn't tackled this yet.

    On the other hand, I'm happy to see they've been tackling things like more functionality in reports, payee renaming rules, Quickfill rules for categorization -- things Quicken couldn't do before -- as a higher priority than an aesthetic issue of Dark Mode. (And before anyone flames me, I do understand that for some users, Dark Mode would be your top priority.)

    The reality is that the program code is complex, the Mac development team isn't that big, and their forward progress is often frustratingly slow. I suspect that converting Quicken to Dark Mode is a pretty involved job because of the large number of windows, panels, panes, and icons that need to be updated. What we can probably all agree on is that it would be nice if they would just tell users what their intentions are, such as "we're going to do this, but it's a roughly 6-month project and probably won't be done until xxx", or "we have someone working on this" or whatever.
    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • brucebj1
    brucebj1 Member
    Just as Jacobs stated above. Would someone please advise the status of this update? Is a "DARK MODE" being worked on or in the list of to-do items? Is there a timeframe???

    Please advise something. I'm begging you as a faithful LONG time user please put this on the to-do and advise of a timeframe. Please...
  • bgalakazam
    bgalakazam Member
    New customer here, this will be a very big addition to the product and is very useful to many MacOS users.
  • Noel
    Noel Member
    As someone with light sensitivity issues, this is not just a nicety, it's an accessibility issue.
  • stook4sail
    stook4sail Member
    This is my first time writing in Community. For background, I've been a Quicken Windows (QWin) early user (circa 1995), and as I converted to using an iMac desktop 15 years ago, I continued utilizing later versions of QWin in a partition on my hard-drive. By 2017, I converted to using the latest Q/Mac version.

    When Apple first introduced Dark Mode, I was elated. For years, I had converted my most frequent Go-To Excel Spreadsheets to a black background and color type, eliminating the persistent eye fatigue.

    Now working from home, I'd applaud Quicken for developing a Q/Mac Dark Mode version and would consider paying a reasonable premium for making it.
    Also, I'd be willing to participate as part of a Beta Group if asked. What's everyone's thoughts?
    Stu
  • brucebj1
    brucebj1 Member
    We will soon be at the release date of the third iteration of macOS highlighting DARK MODE with the soon to be released macOS Big Sur. Can we please get with the times? Add DARK MODE please.
  • codyt01
    codyt01 Member
    Hoping for Dark mode with the new release that just pushed out for Big Sur and the Apple Silicon Macs, but it doesn't seem to be there.
  • Jay Baker
    Jay Baker Member ✭✭
    I know... it seems even more white than before... can't believe we're still waiting on this after what seems like forever!
  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    edited November 2020
    Nope, not in 6.0. But if you scroll to the very top of this thread, you'll see that this is not being ignored, either:

    So the good news is that they're working on it. The bad news is that we don't know how much longer it will take.

    The problem is that Quicken Mac has a lot -- lot! -- of windows, panes and panels. These have been developed over time, some dating back a decade to the development of the predecessor Quicken Essentials program (the 1.x version of the code). Over time, Apple changes tools to make it easy for developers to incorporate such new features as dark mode, but many pieces of the program which were developed more than two years ago, before the 2018 debut of Dark Mode, and some developed using different coding environments that date back a decade or more, have to be re-coded, screen by screen, to be Dark Mode capable.

    And so it's a big job to retrofit Quicken Mac for Dark Mode. Until recently, there was no word from Quicken about whether or when Dark Mode capability would be added, so I take it as a very good sign for those who have been wanting this functionality that they are working on it and have committed to releasing it. Of course, users who want it want it yesterday, but at least you know it's a work in progress. 
    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • Shing
    Shing Mac Beta Beta
    Thanks for letting us see that. It lets us know it’s not as simple as flipping a switch. 
  • hmeloab
    hmeloab Member ✭✭
    I would like to add my vote for Dark Mode as well. As a night user, the bright background is staggering and uncomfortable as I switch between apps. The sidebar background is already gray in the current release. Even that would be helpful.
  • 4cats
    4cats Member
    Just adding my vote to the mix. I would very much like to see dark mode implemented in the Mac version.
  • Another vote for dark mode
This discussion has been closed.