Projected Balances - Why can't I see multiple trend lines anymore?

John Adams

I recently upgraded from Quicken 2017 for Windows directly to Quicken 2020 for Mac, and while the new interface is slick, some things are taking getting used to. One of the things I counted on Quicken for more than anything, was the Projected Balances tab under Bills & Income.

In 2017, I could select my primary 4 accounts, and I could see "sparklines" for all 4 accounts, their balances - ahem - projected. Now, there's some god awful consolidation/averaging tool going on that makes absolutely zero sense. I do not want to see an "average across all accounts". I literally want to see a line for Account 1, next 12 mos. A line for Account 2, next 12 mos, and so on... like what used to be available in Quicken 2017.

Is this possible? And if not, what genius decided to destroy the one actual valuable view into accounts that Quicken offered? :'( Pretty sure I know what the answer is going to be, thus my 2nd statement... I've pushed the little [chart] looking tool button too, and nada. It does not show multiple accounts either - just more, averaging. Very frustrating.

And if my solution is to "use Excel" then why did I just pay $100+ for Quicken 2020? It's useless to be without these projected trends by account.

Thank you to anyone who has the miracle cure here... I have searched The Googles(tm) for months trying to figure this out, but no one really seems to talk about Projected Balances... so maybe I'm the only one who uses this.

(btw, don't get me stared on why my "rolling balance" column got removed from this view as well... but I figure the answer to the above will answer this disaster as well)

Thank you in advance.
J

John_in_NC

I think you have already determined that multiple lines representing individual accounts are not possible at this time. I can't answer as to why as I am a fellow user like yourself, and not part of the development team. So, please don't shoot the messenger

Now, you can get individual graphs if you view each account separately via the filters, but whenever you view >1 at the same time, the line will obviously be an average of the selected accounts.

I personally scheduled as many transx as possible. I do personally find the projected graph useful mainly in showing if the graph is flat or trending upwards. It isn't too hard to figure out what the average graph is doing when you look at your scheduled transactions from which it is being drawn from.

I don't use QWin outside of basic testing (for answering questions here), but I will put my file in QWin and look at that graph to see how it compares.

That "little chart graph" was an unsupported/untested feature that was never intended to be shown to the public. The way you reveal/hide it is via right clicking in the blank area of the Y axis and choose to show "Comparison Plot Button". It's still there, but of little worth.

Chris_QPW

Note that Quicken Mac didn't "lose" this feature, the Mac developers decided to do it different from day one.  Interesting enough I remember a few people wanting the "merged" line to be added to the Windows version, and that has never happened, just as of course have said the that Mac should have the line per account many times.

I personally use the projected balances graph all the time, it is how I do cash flow.  If I had to the one I would select would be my checking account since it is the one I have to "keep filled".

On the home tab it gives just the graph and on the Bills & Income tab it gives the graph and a table of the transactions.

BTW I never use this for long term planning.  I have seen some people complain that the default selections only go up to 12 months and they want something like 10 years.  There is no way anyone can do that kind of predicting in my opinion with this kind of detail.  For that long term planning the life time planner is the way to go.  And still it is just a rough estimate.

John_in_NC

I moved a copy of my data over to QWin last night to take a look at that Projected Balances graph as I never focused on that before.

The short answer: I really missed not having that single, total line for all cash amounts in accounts. (If I want to see individual, I still can if needed on both sides.) I also liked the calculations at the top for Current balance, Upcoming Total, and Projected Balance amount. One drawback is that I couldn't tell (in a single view) if a particular account were to drop below zero (say, for paying bills from checking.) But, I usually use the registers for this.

John: I suggest you give the projected balance in QMac a try to adjust to the changes. It certainly is easier to switch categories or apply/remove filters/change date ranges.