Need account register report (and export) without split detail

jacobs

There is no way to print a simple account register, just as you see it on the screen. The problem is that printing from a register offers only two options in a "Format As" drop-down menu: "Transaction Detail" or "Category Detail". What is needed is a third option: "Transaction Summary" or "Transaction (without splits)".

The problem with the current Transaction Detail is that it shows each split line as a separate line in the report. If you want a report that looks like the transaction register -- without splits -- there is no way to do that currently. There should be an option to suppress split lines. (There is also no other way to create such report using any available options on the Reports menu.) This option should also apply to exporting an account register.

smayer97

Yes, there needs to be an option to show split lines or not when printing the register, like it is done in QM2007, as shown here:


Meanwhile, similar control is needed on other reports, so you may also want to add your VOTE to 
Create Useful Category/Transaction Detail Report. This includes a report related feature to choose to show/hide split lines, just like QM2007 can, as captured here: Show/Hide Splits in registers and reports.

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

While you are at it, you may want to add your VOTE to related IDEAS found on the 
List of Requests for Downloading Data into Quicken. Click on the underlined link, then follow the instructions to add your vote to more related ideas.

Meanwhile, I highly recommend you to add your VOTES to related IDEAS found on the:

• List of Requests for Report Related Features,
• with the essential ones described and listed here
• List of Requests for Report Types

Click on each underlined link, then follow the instructions to add your vote to more related ideas. Your VOTES matter!

For background, you may want to read this post too. BTW, the columnar-type report is the basis for MANY other reports, as described in detail in this post a little lower; only the selection and formatting criteria are different.

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

jacobs

I think it's important to note that what's being asked for here is not something that would appear in the Reports section, although it's a report of a sort. What we're talking about here is selecting Print in a register. Whether the developers can use the same logic or report format as something in the Reports menu I'll leave up to the developers to figure out; I'm trying not to make assumptions about that. Again, all that's being asked for here is a single idea: the option to suppress split lines in the existing print register report.

You point to the thread about Expanding split transactions as being sufficient. @smayer97, I'd note that what the actual title of the thread you link above as "Show/Hide Splits in registers and reports"  is "Expanding split transactions,"  and I am concerned that from the title, the developers might overlook it as an already-implemented suggestion. (Reading through it, almost all of the requests in that thread have been implemented.) I think it is less likely for the developers to re-visit a thread on a topic they feel they've addressed, read through all the many comments, and parse out that there's one aspect of the multi-idea thread that they didn't yet implement; I think it's far easier for them to see a single-idea thread like this and immediately grasp the missing feature. (The other thread you reference, "Create a useful Category/Transaction Detail Report in Quicken For Mac," is also a compendium of many ideas for reports, some of which now have been implemented and some which have not.)

I also think it's easier for fellow users to find and vote for a single-idea topic like this than pore through all the nuances and cross-links of the other threads. (For what it's worth, this idea was actually brought up by another user, who hadn't found any of the existing threads which touch on this; that reinforced in my mind that this deserved its own idea post.) Finally, users can vote for as many topics as they like, so there's no harm in having this as a stand-alone request; it doesn't take away from any other thread or visa versa.

smayer97

My opening line..."I don't disagree with the need for control over the format..." 

So I agree with this need in concept but not as a separate report. That said, if this idea is restricted to the printing of a register, then yes, I agree it should stand alone (it was rather late so that may not have fully sunk in the first time).

So as I understand it now, this would be like the options in QM2007:


So I would recommend users vote for this and then also consider voting on the other 2 threads so that there is consistency throughout Quicken to control when split lines show up or not.

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

smayer97

And to be clear, I was not disagreeing with the idea...just pointing out that this may be an overlap with an existing idea... I hope you see that is not the same thing.

I will adjust my previous post above to better reflect that.

jacobs

Thanks for editing your original language to reflect that it may be an overlap in idea requests,  but that there's no reason not to implement this idea.

Just to clarify what I think this would look like in Quicken 2019, here is the current pop-up pane when you select to Print a register:



And when you pull down the "Format as" menu, it currently shows two choices of format:



All I am proposing is the addition of a third format choice, depicted in this mock-up: 



I think this would be clear to users and be an easy UI change for the developers to make. The report would remain the same as the current register report, except it would show only the main transaction lines and not the splits, which should again be fairly easy to implement.

smayer97

 ...should again be fairly easy to implement.

famous last words...are you sure?  ;-)

jacobs

Haha, no, one can never be sure what will or won’t be easy to implement! Since the database query to do this already exists for displaying data in a register, and the existing report fields don’t need to be changed at all, it *seems* like printing the main transaction line and omitting the split lines should be pretty straightforward — but I know that’s not always the case.

SimonSezSo

I am surprised that no one mentioned this workaround.  When I want a quick register report, I just select the transactions from the account register, and then copy and paste transactions into Excel.  No matter what selection I make, it always brings in headers, and parses very nicely.  It works well for me, but I am using QWIN, so I am not sure how it would work in QMAC.  But I think it's worth a try.

P.S. - This is also how I create reports with Notes/Reminders.  Currently, it is not possible to report on Notes/Reminders using the Reports feature in QWIN.

jacobs

It wasn't mentioned as a workaround because because it doesn't work. The copy function simply doesn't exist for transactions in a register in Quicken Mac.

SimonSezSo

Jacobs - thanks, I wasn't sure.  I don't know how the Mac version works at all.  But I thought I would mention it anyway.  At least, I think it might be  a helpful thing for Qwin users.

Unknown

Can anyone tell me if this is an option to not have a splits included in the transaction report.  I do not want to update if I still cannot do this.

Unknown

As of now I don't believe there is an option to do this. However, I have been able to get all the reports in the format I want by exporting the data to a CSV file and bringing the data into Excel. Although a little more work it does do the job to my total satisfaction.

Unknown

While the copy function does not work in the Mac version, I found I could export the data to a CSV file and import the file into Excel. Works great and I can manipulate the data anyway I wish. If one has a working knowledge of Excel this is the way to go.

josgavin

Printing a simple check register is the most basic report there is is. Not printing splits should be the default.

jacobs

@josgavin and anyone else reading this who wants to see this enhancement made, please be sure to vote for the idea. (Go to the first post in this thread, and under it in the large yellow box, click the little gray arrow under the vote counter and wait to see the count go up by one.) This Idea requires more votes in order for it to be forwarded to the developers, much less actually implemented.

Quicken Jasmine

Hello All,

The Community Support team regularly reviews long-standing posts and Ideas for relevancy and current interest. This Idea seems to have stalled and we would like to gauge the current interest in this request. 

If you would like to see this idea implemented, please add your vote and a comment explaining how this idea would be beneficial for you. More information, including steps to vote and how to submit your own Ideas for future product features/improvements, is also available here.

Thank you,

Quicken Community Support Team

jacobs

I'm frustrated that a feature request like this — for a feature which existed in the legacy Quicken Mac 2007 as well as Quicken Windows, for a feature that isn't for ease-of-use but to do something which simply cannot be done in Quicken Mac — is possibly on the chopping block because people haven't found and voted for it. I understand that's why the moderators have bumped this thread, but it's frustrating nonetheless that a straightforward enhancement like this from five years ago hasn't been put in front of the developers to even make them aware of it because this thread doesn't have enough votes. I don't know how to explain how this would be beneficial beyond what has been explained in the initial post and follow-up comments in this thread. This comes up as a question/source of frustration from fellow users on this forum probably about once a month.

I guess all I can do is hope more users will see this and please add your vote for it, so it isn't discarded as a "stalled" idea. Please scroll to the top of this page, and in the yellow box under the top post, click the little arrow if it is dark gray in order to add your vote.

7domino

did not know about this as I never used Quicken for Windows. I already need this. I painfully do it manually via excel by moving the totals to an extra column and remove the splits. It would save me a lot of time and frustration if this existed. Thanks

Levanah10

Another difference from Q-Win: My Quicken 2001 H&B register report started with a "beginning balance", included transactions with or without splits (it was an option), and ended with the ending balance, plus "total inflows" and "total outflows". (It also had a way to customize how the report printed—column widths, etc.) This year I finally updated to Q-Mac, and while I can create a pdf of the register for a given date range, there's no beginning or ending balance — which my accountant may need. Very frustrating; I'll have to add the balances by hand, no less.

jacobs

@Levanah10 I can't speak for the developers, but I think one of the problems with showing a starting and ending balance is that there are several things which affect the balance but perhaps shouldn't be on an accounting report. One is a scheduled transaction which has not yet been marked as paid/deposited; it is counted in the running balance in Quicken, but unless it is posted (marked paid/deposited), it doesn't correspond to real-world transaction activity. the other can be transactions enter but not yet marked as having cleared the bank.

That said, there are several other ways you might consider getting the data you want in a report for an accountant.

New in this past year is the Reconciliation Report, which does show a beginning balance, cleared payments, cleared deposits, and ending balance. So if the information you need to provide to your accountant coincides with your bank account or credit card account monthly reconciliation, this report provides what you're looking for.

Another option, although not on a single report, is to create a Net Worth report for just the one account you are interested in. Run it as of the beginning date and print it, and then change to the ending date and print it. While this wastes two pieces of paper, it is a way to provide your accountant the beginning and ending balance of an account, professionally printed from Quicken — with no manual math required. 😁

jacobs

@moski @nafinahmot An Idea you had previously voted for and commented on was recently archived by the moderators for not achieving enough votes. 😥 However, there were two other Idea threads requesting similar functionality which are still alive, so you should add your vote for this Idea — scroll up to the top of the page, locate the yellow box under the first post, and if the arrow under the vote counter is dark gray, click it to add your vote — if it's something you would like to see added to Quicken Mac. 

BobWilliamson

I love quicken for mac .. but it is frustrating when I cant print a transaction report without splits .. I use that as a quick reference on my budget so I can just open a pdf and browse the pdf without getting into the program on my mac …. I used this in quicken for windows but that meant I would have to run a virtual windows environment with quicken for windows installed. This is extra processing not necessary on my mac …. since I dont use windows for anything else on my mac …. I have tried to go to the bug report links to add my vote and they give me a 503 error and do not work.

I have also exported the transaction data to excel and found even then it is just a pain in the but to edit out all the splits and would just rather do a quick print to pdf.

in order to make quicken for mac a true replacement for quicken windows, your developers need to make this a priority and get it out to us asap.

Then posts I have seen go back for months with no response other than to vote. this is unacceptable.

Thank you in advance.

Please make this a priority since I am not the only one asking for this feature.

jacobs

@BobWilliamson I just wanted to give you some insight into how these Idea topics are handled by Quicken, so you can re-set your expectations accordingly.

You said "please make this a priority since I am not the only one asking for this feature" — which is absolutely true, but only part of the story. There are hundreds of other features Quicken Mac users have asked the developers for, and with the developers only being able to work on a few enhancements at a time, it means they have to decide how to prioritize them and order their work. For instance someone who uses the budget features of Quicken Mac may feel the absence of a YTD actual-versus-budget report should be a top priority, while users who focus on the investment features in Quicken Mac may feel robust investment reports or the ability to handle merges/spinoffs should be a top priority, while retired users may feel handling of RMDs and other retirement investment should be a top priority, and so forth… We Quicken users collectively have a lot of feature requests, and many of them rightly feel like they are obvious needs and urgently required. But the developers can't do them all at once, or even within a short period of time. So they use the requests on this forum as one of their factors in deciding what order to prioritize feature development, but they also use other factors (for example, feedback/input from their customer support team about reported problems).

Next: the posts on this forum are generally not read by the developers. The exception is these Idea topics, which are passed to the developers for consideration — but only once each Idea thread reaches a threshold of votes. Currently, for Quicken Mac, that threshold is 30 votes. So this Idea, which as of my writing this has 19 votes, is not something the developers are even aware of at this point. Only if/when this thread gets to 30 votes will the site moderators document it and send it on the the developers. So that's why voting is important! (Earlier this year, I made a list of my feature wishes for Quicken, and this feature was in my Top 15.)

You also said: "The posts I have seen go back for months with no response other than to vote; this is unacceptable." You may find it unacceptable, but it's the reality of how Quicken works. Users post their thoughts/wishes/needs here, but Quicken doesn't respond to these posts. If/when the thread reaches the amount needed to forward to the developers, then the development team will review it. They decide if they think it's a good idea and fits their vision of the direction of the product, as well as assessing how much work it would take to implement the request, and when it can fit in their development schedule. If they agree to implement the feature request, and assign it a slot on their schedule, they pass a message back to the moderators of this site to mark the topic as "Planned." There's no other feedback. So while we can feel happy that a feature is officially denoted as "Planned" and know that it is coming in the future, we never know when in the future it will arrive. It sometimes takes years. Sigh.

As someone who has been actively involved in following the development of Quicken Mac over the past decade, I know this process and the sometimes-glacial pace of change can and does feel frustrating. The only solace is that if you look at Quicken Mac now and compare it to 3 or 5 or 7 years ago, it's actually impressive how much the program has improved — and much of that change was influenced by user feedback on this site. Quicken management and the Quicken Mac development team do seem committed to continuing to drive the development of the program, so I find there is reason for optimism for the future, even while I'm frustrated at how many of my top wishes for the program remain undone.

I hope that explanation helps you have a better understanding of how the company works. Anyone else reading this thread who wants to see this feature, please add your vote at the top of the thread!

jacobs

It has been 10 months since the last post in this Idea thread, and the vote total has grown to 27 — only 3 short of what it needs to be forwarded to the developers for consideration. Anyone out there who would like to add a vote for this request to be able to print a register with or without split lines? Please scroll to the top of the page and click in the yellow box to add your vote.