QWIN Reports: Default Column Width (13 Merged Votes)

Chris29

Please change the reporting so that columns are wide enough to read most/all of the data in the report without having to adjust the column widths.  i have to adjust the width of EVERY report EVERY time, and it's hugely annoying.

I use a wide screen monitor, and the report takes about 1/3 of the width of my screen, leaving plenty of room to expand every column to read the all the data.  It makes no sense to me that I have to manually do this every time a report is run.

smayer97

Probably the default is set more suitable to fit print format than screen format...

Maybe an option to easily switch between the two might be useful.

rich

I completely agree with Chris, the OP. 

jacobs

Please remember to post which platform and version of Quicken you are using. In Quicken Mac 2019, for instance, the problem described does not occur with New Reports. That is, columns widths are retained however you leave them set. (The old reports from the Quicken Essentials era don't even have adjustable columns, and these reports will be removed in a future upgrade.)

Another suggestion: use the Report a Problem option on the Quicken Help menu to report this to Quicken. They may not consider it a bug -- although not retaining user-set columns widths seems like it might not be "performing as designed" -- but it's a legitimate problem you face using Quicken. Note that you will not get a reply from Quicken from such a submission... but it has a quicker chance of being passed on to the developers than an idea request here. the more people who report the same thing, the more likely it will catch someone's eye.

smayer97

Please remember to post which platform and version of Quicken you are using. In Quicken Mac 2019, for instance, the problem described does not occur with New Reports. That is, columns widths are retained however you leave them set. (The old reports from the Quicken Essentials era don't even have adjustable columns, and these reports will be removed in a future upgrade.)

Another suggestion: use the Report a Problem option on the Quicken Help menu to report this to Quicken. They may not consider it a bug -- although not retaining user-set columns widths seems like it might not be "performing as designed" -- but it's a legitimate problem you face using Quicken. Note that you will not get a reply from Quicken from such a submission... but it has a quicker chance of being passed on to the developers than an idea request here. the more people who report the same thing, the more likely it will catch someone's eye.

Yes, please do specify what specific version you are using and having trouble with.

Also, taking it one step further, I suggest including a link to this thread when you use the "Report a Problem". This way, they not only look up any additional submissions by other users, but can also reply here if they so choose.

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

Chris29

I'm using Windows version of 2019 Home, Business & Rental Build 27.1.17.6

I just checked, and a new report is still very truncated.

I'll try to "report a problem" in the future.

Thanks

rich

I'm using Quicken Premier 2019 version R17.6 build 27.1.17.6 and Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit version 10.0.17763 {on a Microsoft Surface Pro (2017), display scale and layout 200% (recommended) and resolution 2736 x 1824}.

Please change what appears to be the default column widths for reports.  Even with only 3 columns displayed (see attached screen shot), I must manually adjust one column's width to see all the data for that column.

The ideal would be that all columns are wide enough to read most/all of the data in the report without having to adjust the column widths.  I haven't kept specific track of every report I've ever made (been using quicken since the DOS version) so I'll say I have to adjust the width of almost EVERY report almost EVERY time, and it's hugely annoying.  Such as, if possible, have a button that when clicked would resize all columns to fit; Microsoft Excel for example has this functionality.

I also  submitted this as a problem as
jacobs SuperUser  suggested.  And, as smayer97 SuperUser 
suggested, I entered a link to this thread in that reported problem.

Jim_Harman

To expand on this Idea, if you set the column widths to your liking and save the report, the custom widths are not saved with the report, but revert to the default narrow width when you re-open it.

It would be a big improvement if QWin 2019 were to save the column widths along with the other report settings.

Harry S

My problem is the same. I have tried every setting in Q2019 possible, even combinations of those settings, and reports will not save as full page width. Further, once you manually change to full page width, any change to the same report, even before saving, causes it to revert to narrow column. Just purchased Quicken Deluxe 2019 last week and all updates are current. My OS is Win10.

Barry Neufeld

In previous versions of Quicken the program would remember column widths every time I generated a report from whatever I had set them to the last time I generated that report. I've been using Quicken since approximately 1994 and this aberration that passes for Quicken 2019 has been giving me nothing but grief. [rant redacted]. Other parts of the program save margin settings, why not reports? Especially since earlier versions of Quicken used to do this.  

Ray

I've never had Quicken save the column widths in reports. I bugs me too. 

davidlambert

Why can't you implement a setting that automatically sizes report columns. When I create a report, it is never wide enough and I always have to resize the columns so that I can see the data when printed or saved. This is really quite reidiculous.

Jim_Harman

Are there particular reports or fields that are not wide enough?

[comment was merged into already existing thread - edited post for clarity]

ronzimmerman1

Me too

Quicken SangeethaS

Hi, I have a follow-up question to your request. Are you saving your reports or do you just run them newly every time? Asking since we are working on fixing the column width from being lost in saved reports.

LivingForEternity

@Quicken SangeethaS It doesn't matter. I do run reports that have been saved and getting the column widths adjusted to provide a legible result is extremely frustrating. But more often I'm running a search operation and still have to adjust the columns to get a readable result.

Jim_Harman

@Quicken SangeethaS this request applies to saved reports only.  If you have adjusted the column widths in a report and then saved it,  the adjusted widths should be saved along with the other report settings.

If you adjust the widths in a built-in or saved report then close the report without saving it,  i don't think the changes should be saved. 

Quicken SangeethaS

Thank you. So your concern on saved reports column width will be addressed soon. Can you please give me an example of 'search' operation that you are talking about?

Rocket J Squirrel

To pile on to this idea... some programs (e.g., Excel) provide automatic column sizing. The user puts the pointer on the dividing line between 2 columns and double-clicks. This causes the column to the left of the pointer to adjust its width to display the longest entry in the column in its entirety. Very handy and avoids all that dragging around.

thecreator

Hi @""Quicken SangeethaS" ,

I think the poster is referring to the information that the User searches for and is displayed, does not show completely in the Search Columns. It gets cut off. And is only displayed fully, it the line & column is highlighted by the mouse.

LivingForEternity

@Quicken SangeethaS In a register, do a Ctl-F and search for anything. First of all, the size of the results window is not remembered, so it is always some default size which, for me, limits almost every column width and cuts off the data. I at least have to resize the window EVERY time. I'm using a 15" laptop. Then the columns are not proportional. The Clr column only needs to show three characters, but is displayed as wide as all the others except the Amount column. The columns should be auto sized or remembered.
All this also applies to the Find and Replace window.

In a similar way, if I move Quicken to a larger screen (I have one connected to the laptop) Quicken does not proportionally scale column widths of registers or anything else. A lot of people these days are using multiple monitors so Quicken should consider catching-up on this.

Jim_Harman

So the issue with search results @LivingForEternity has raised is unrelated to resizing columns in saved reports.

Perhaps this should be entered as a separate product idea so it will not be lost.

LivingForEternity

It seems that the entire program has problems with column sizing.

ojann

Back in Quicken 2002 or 2006 you could adjust the columns and save a preference. I dislike that there is no way to fit to page in all reports; only some. Why did the ever remove that capability?

Phil Burton

Still an issue for me and I'm using the latest 2020 Quicken version.

leishirsute

I have previously requested that Quicken have the same user experience for all column-oriented displays and reports.  Currently, some registers or tables have no adjustable columns while others have adjustable columns. Some of the columns can be adjusted down to one character and others can't be shrunken to less than around 30 characters. I would like to see all columnar displays have adjustable columns down to one character.  On smaller laptop and notebooks, it becomes a challenge to fit relevant data on the screen when the column widths cannot be shrunken or adjusted.

TPerk100

The lack of ability to save reports with preferred columns displayed and preferred column widths is very annoying

AFToothDoc

> @TPerk100 said:
> The lack of ability to save reports with preferred columns displayed and preferred column widths is very annoying.

Totally agree with @TPerk100. Adjusting column widths and not being able to save them is a huge time waster. The sad thing is this issue and other large issues have been around for many years.

I just wish some of these larger issues would get addressed. Rebuilding the Investment Section and the buggy Tax Planner comes to mind.

However, to be fair, I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised that they dumped Microsofts .Net Framework last year. That appears to be a good move as Quicken Support had said in a post that they had noticed Quicken was having more problem issues after Quicken started using the .Net Framework. Quicken does seem to be running with more stability lately and I am thankful they are working on bugs. So, maybe eventually they will get to these larger issues.

imdcareys

In addition to the original poster's comments , Report Columns should be able to display both names and descriptions of Accounts and Categories since there is a report setting to display both. I have many that can't even **manually** be made wide enough. Should not have to use hungarian notation to name and describe these things.

Ideally, the width would be set automatically according to the contents of the widest item in a column, and then be adjustable and allowed to be saved to the report by the user.

Since this thread is already designated by product, I'll just say I'm on the latest version.

Jim_Harman

@imdcareys

You might want to consider voting and/or commenting on this product idea
https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7869334/report-legend-footer-option-helpful-with-long-tags-and-categories#latest

To help show extra-long category names and/or include the descriptions, it would certainly be nice if there was an option for text in a report field to wrap so that long items do not take up so much horizontal space.

Chris29

> @Jim_Harman said:
> @Quicken SangeethaS this request applies to saved reports only.  If you have adjusted the column widths in a report and then saved it,  the adjusted widths should be saved along with the other report settings.
>
> If you adjust the widths in a built-in or saved report then close the report without saving it,  i don't think the changes should be saved. 

I couldn't disagree more!

It makes no sense to have a report generate where
Account
Description
Memo and
Tag
are all truncated such that they are unreadable without expanding each column, then leaving 5 inches of blank space on each side of this report.

There is simply no benefit to having such narrow columns. Keeping this as the default view is a terrible design choice.