What happened to the tabs?

Steve Sweitzer

In the view menu the Tab options are greyed out. I want to see tabs with my bank account in one tab and my budget in another tab. I used to be able to do this. When I right click on an account I only see an option to open in a new window. Is this a new "feature" of Quicken Deluxe 6.0.1"

jacobs

@Steve Sweitzer I'll respectfully disagree with @Quicken Hugh here. While some cosmetic changes were made in the Quicken 6.x release, the functionality mostly didn't change. And you can do what you want.

One of the changes in 6.0 is that the main Quicken window  no longer supports being in a tab. So in 5.18, you could have one window with the main Quicken window in one tab and an account or a report in another tab, and you can't do this in 6.0. I don't know whether this is intentional or an accidental byproduct of the cosmetic changes. 

But Quicken 6.0 still supports tabs -- just not for the main window. So you can have a window with two or more tabs containing account registers and reports. The Tab options in the View menu are grayed out until you have more than one window open. so double click on your checking account in the left sidebar to open it in a new window. At this point, you can View > Show Tab Bar. You can open additional windows and combine them into one window by dragging the tab bar of one window into the tab bar of another window. Then you can switch screens by clicking on the appropriate tab.

But the main Quicken window doesn't support tabs, and Budgets exists in the main window, which doesn't support tabs. Dead end? No. Open your budget in the main window, and select View > Open in New Window to open the budget in its own window. Now, drag the tab of the budget window to the tab of the checking account window, and they'll be combined in one window with two tabs. Voila! Budget and checking account register in two tabs of one window. (You can also hide or close the main Quicken window if you want; if you close it, it can be re-opened with Command-1).

Quicken's support of tabbed windows definitely seems a little clunky -- but at least you can do what you want. 

jacobs

Steve Sweitzer said:

I still can't figure out how to get the Budget and an account into tabs.

@Steve Sweitzer It's not easy or intuitive, but if you do this a few times, I imagine it'll become something you can do in a couple seconds.

• Open your budget.
• From the menu select View > Open in New Window; it will open a separate window.
• Back in the main window, double-click on the account you want in the left sidebar; it will open a separate window.
• With either the budget or account window in the foreground, in the menu select View > Show Tab Bar; tab bars will appear in both the account window and the budget window.
• Click and drag the tab bar of one of those windows over the tab bar in the other window.
• The two windows will be merged into one window with two tabs.
• You can optionally add other accounts in separate tabs the same way: double click the account in the left sidebar to open it in a new window, then drag the tab bar to the window with multiple tabs. The same goes for reports, too; open them in a separate window, and they can be merged into a tabbed window.

Note that you may close or hide the main window after you've opened the two or more other windows if you don't need to access the main window for awhile.

Also note that if you leave this secondary window with multiple tabs open when you Quit Quicken, upon relaunching, the secondary windows will all re-open, but in separate windows; you'll have to drag the tabs together to unite them in a single window again. Quicken doesn't save the tabbed state of the windows.

I don't work with tabs much, so this is just what I found. Others may chime in if there's an easier way to get the same results.

Quicken Hugh

Hello @Steve Sweitzer,
Yes, the user interface of Quicken for Mac has been updated. The release notes are here.

jacobs

@Steve Sweitzer I'll respectfully disagree with @Quicken Hugh here. While some cosmetic changes were made in the Quicken 6.x release, the functionality mostly didn't change. And you can do what you want.

One of the changes in 6.0 is that the main Quicken window  no longer supports being in a tab. So in 5.18, you could have one window with the main Quicken window in one tab and an account or a report in another tab, and you can't do this in 6.0. I don't know whether this is intentional or an accidental byproduct of the cosmetic changes. 

But Quicken 6.0 still supports tabs -- just not for the main window. So you can have a window with two or more tabs containing account registers and reports. The Tab options in the View menu are grayed out until you have more than one window open. so double click on your checking account in the left sidebar to open it in a new window. At this point, you can View > Show Tab Bar. You can open additional windows and combine them into one window by dragging the tab bar of one window into the tab bar of another window. Then you can switch screens by clicking on the appropriate tab.

But the main Quicken window doesn't support tabs, and Budgets exists in the main window, which doesn't support tabs. Dead end? No. Open your budget in the main window, and select View > Open in New Window to open the budget in its own window. Now, drag the tab of the budget window to the tab of the checking account window, and they'll be combined in one window with two tabs. Voila! Budget and checking account register in two tabs of one window. (You can also hide or close the main Quicken window if you want; if you close it, it can be re-opened with Command-1).

Quicken's support of tabbed windows definitely seems a little clunky -- but at least you can do what you want. 

Quicken Hugh

@Steve Sweitzer - I'll respectfully refer you to @jacobs more complete answer, as well as the release notes. Thanks @jacobs 

markie

This is definitely a step backwards. Having to open two windows in order to keep everything in one window is.. well one window too many.

Steve Sweitzer

Thanks Jacob. I gave it a try and see what you're talking about. What a HUGE step backwards. I don't usually notice much difference in the user interface with the updates but this one is a real pain. I still can't figure out how to get the Budget and an account into tabs. I'll be complaining to Quicken.

jacobs

Steve Sweitzer said:

I still can't figure out how to get the Budget and an account into tabs.

@Steve Sweitzer It's not easy or intuitive, but if you do this a few times, I imagine it'll become something you can do in a couple seconds.

• Open your budget.
• From the menu select View > Open in New Window; it will open a separate window.
• Back in the main window, double-click on the account you want in the left sidebar; it will open a separate window.
• With either the budget or account window in the foreground, in the menu select View > Show Tab Bar; tab bars will appear in both the account window and the budget window.
• Click and drag the tab bar of one of those windows over the tab bar in the other window.
• The two windows will be merged into one window with two tabs.
• You can optionally add other accounts in separate tabs the same way: double click the account in the left sidebar to open it in a new window, then drag the tab bar to the window with multiple tabs. The same goes for reports, too; open them in a separate window, and they can be merged into a tabbed window.

Note that you may close or hide the main window after you've opened the two or more other windows if you don't need to access the main window for awhile.

Also note that if you leave this secondary window with multiple tabs open when you Quit Quicken, upon relaunching, the secondary windows will all re-open, but in separate windows; you'll have to drag the tabs together to unite them in a single window again. Quicken doesn't save the tabbed state of the windows.

I don't work with tabs much, so this is just what I found. Others may chime in if there's an easier way to get the same results.

Steve Sweitzer

Jacobs, you're the best. When I gave your suggestion a try, I discovered it worked with even fewer steps.
* Open your budget.
* From the menu select View > Open in New Window; it will open a separate window.
* Back in the main window, double-click on the account you want in the left sidebar.
* WHEN I DOUBLE CLICKED THE CHECKING ACCOUNT IT OPENED AS A TAB IN THE BUDGET WINDOW.
* You can optionally add other accounts in separate tabs the same way: double click the account in the left sidebar to open it in NEW TAB.

Thanks so much for this work around. Shame on Quicken for making it this difficult.