Color Control?

Jerry_qtz

I just installed Quicken Premier 2019. Everything OK... except.... the report colors! What's up with that? On several graphics I have adjacent colors on a column plot that can barely be distinguished. At the top of a report page there's an icon that (allegedly) allows formatting. You can pick colors, but I have no idea what for. I tried custom colors several times but always got the same two results:
1) nothing changed
2) Quicken froze
Can you please fix this and allow users to control graphics colors (or at least introduce a more practical default set). It might take a junior programmer about 30 to 45 minutes?

jacobs

@Jerry_qtz  What report are you trying to use. Most of the reports in Quicken Mac don't even include charts, so we need to know what you're using to suggest a course of action. there are some reports in Quicken Mac which date back to 2010-era Quicken Essentials, the predecessor to the modern Quicken Mac, and some which use a new reports engine that's been developed over the past few years. None of that is apparent to users, unfortunately, but if you explain what you're trying to do, people here might be able to offer some suggestions.

I'd also take a minute to note that programming issues are sometimes -- but rarely -- as simple as users who say "any junior programer could fix a problem in under an hour" think they are. Sometimes there is a simple fix, but often, screen drawing issues can be incredibly complex if they involve migrating code from one of Apple's frameworks to another. Some parts of Quicken Mac were developed as far back as 2008 and use coding environments and core tools which have been supplemented by newer ones. If you're not familiar with Quartz, OpenGL, OpenCL, Metal, etc. don't worry about it because you shouldn't need to -- but the programmers who have to re-write thousands of lines of code as Apple continually revises the operating system do.  I long ago learned that something that seems simple may not be, and something that seems like a substantial change might have a quick and easy implementation. I suggest simply reporting problems, and leaving the assessment of what's wrong and how complex (or not) it is to fix to the developers.

Jerry_qtz

Thanks for your quick response. However, I'm running Quicken on Windows 10, not on a Mac, so I don't know if that would alter your response at all. I don't know how I got directed into the Mac side, maybe because I was on the Mac exclusively up until a few years ago.

What I'm referring to here is the report graphics, not the body of the reports. I'll attach a few examples for you, file prefix numbers corresponding to the numbered lines following.

1. Portfolio Value plot in Home screen. Not easy for me to see the distinction between domestic bonds and large cap stocks on this plot.

2. A Net Worth plot. The two purple categories forming the bulk of my net worth are not the best color choices for a summary graphic display like this.

3. Then there are aesthetics. This default color pattern is fine but kind of ... weird. I'd like to change it so that I can keep my dinner down .

4. I'm trying to use the format button at the top of the graphics window (second from left below).

5. which takes me to this display, after selecting the Colors option.

but this window as far as I can tell has no function. Selecting some colors and pressing OK generates no change to the appearance of a chart (but it does cause Quicken to freeze randomly).

It appears to me that the code is choosing a set of originally randomly selected (but now fixed) colors to generate the graphics displays. In the above panel, I assumed I could override the default colors, but that's apparently not the case. This is not a huge deal, but it's annoying. Is there a way I can change the colors? What is the function of this "Graph and Chart Colors" window?

Thanks for your time.

UKR

In Quicken for Windows you can control Graph and Chart Colors, but only to some degree. Go into Edit / Preferences / Colors to do so.

If Quicken "freezes" (loops, hangs up) while trying to do this ...

If you haven't rebooted Windows since you installed the latest software update, please do so now and then try Quicken again.

Still not working?

Let's try some "Troubleshooting 101" to ensure the Quicken software is installed and updated properly and that your data file is in good working order.
Please perform all the steps in this document:
Troubleshooting 101 - Fixing Software Installation and Data File Problems

Jerry_qtz

See my responses to your suggestions below:

"In Quicken for Windows you can control Graph and Chart Colors, but only to some degree. Go into Edit / Preferences / Colors to do so."
No, this doesn't work. This is why I posted in the first place. That post included a screen grab of what I saw when selecting this option.

"If Quicken "freezes" (loops, hangs up) while trying to do this ..."
It didn't freeze this time, it just regenerated the graphic, but without any change. Yesterday it froze several times.

"If you haven't rebooted Windows since you installed the latest software update, please do so now and then try Quicken again."
I rebooted - no difference.

""Troubleshooting 101" to ensure the Quicken software is installed and
updated properly and that your data file is in good working order."
I found only one related post. Sherlock replied with the same suggestion as your first above, which was the first thing I tried yesterday. It worked for this person, but it doesn't work for me. In fact there is no difference in color schemes I see between Default and Custom.

"Reply to this email directly or ......."
The email is sent from a "no reply" address. I can't reply.

Jerry_qtz

Correction. The palettes for Default and Custom colors are different. But the graphics are unchanged regardless of which scheme I choose.