Mac reporting vs Windows

Cooch366

Good morning

I’ve been using Quicken for over 20 years mostly on Windows. A couple of years ago I converted to a Mac and have been using Parellels to run Quicken 2014.

I have tried a previous Mac version, and found the reporting functionality lacking, and my reason for sticking with the Windows version. I’d much rather spend the money on a Quicken subscription and drop the Parallels subscription.

A couple of questions,
Does the latest version give equal reporting functionality to the Mac version?

If so, when upgrading, do your existing reports get converted?

If not, what are the plans and timeframe on making the report functions the same on both Operating Systems?

I’d really like to eliminate using Parrelles, and use the Mac version but feel I can’t/won’t until I can generate the same Windows reports using the Mac version.

Thanks for any info.... Steve

jacobs

Cooch366 said:

Does the latest version give equal reporting functionality to the Mac version?

I've never used Quicken Windows, so I can't answer feature-by-feature -- but the answer is no. Reporting in Quicken Mac has improved a great deal over the past few years, and they're continuing to build out reporting capabilities. Reporting on things like income and expenses and net worth is now pretty robust. But there are some missing pieces, such as being able to specify multiple levels or sort order and subtotals. On the investing side, you can generate a reasonably good number of reports on your investing holdings and performance, but you currently have to create the with the filters in the portfolio view, so you can't save specific view as reports. We Mac users are hopeful a new set of investment reports will get added to the program in 2021, but for now, this is a weak spot in Quicken Mac reporting.

Some Quicken Mac users would tell you they can get what they need from reports, and others would tell you they miss some functionality -- but whether what's missing is a show-stopper will vary from user to user, because we all use Quicken so differently.

Cooch366 said:

If so, when upgrading, do your existing reports get converted?

Unfortunately not. I think the significant difference in the structure of the underlying databases, plus the differences in the way reports are built on the two platforms, plus the differences in capabilities and settings on each of the platforms, would make this difficult to create. Maybe some day…?

If not, what are the plans and timeframe on making the report functions the same on both Operating Systems?

There's no way to answer that. First, we're just fellow users here on this forum (plus a few Quicken moderators who help with support, but aren't privy to future development plans and schedules). Quicken almost never pre-announces future functionality. And in this case being "the same" between Windows and Mac versions is always going to be a somewhat subjective thing to measure.

From statements by the Quicken CEO, I think they have a goal of making Quicken Mac basically a par with Quicken Windows -- but it's clear they do not plan to exactly match every feature, option, checkbox and widget between the two. From statements by the Quicken Mac product manager, I think they are trying to make iterative progress on delivering the functionality Quicken Mac users most ask for and want/need. They have hundreds of feature requests from users, some of which require less than a day of work and some of which require many months of work, some of which add capabilities currently missing and some of which make current functionality easier to use.

I think the best way to judge where they're going is to look at where they've already traveled. when the modern quicken Mac program first debuted in late 2014, reporting was very rudimentary. The reports code was mostly inherited from the 2010 predecessor program, Quicken Essentials for Mac, and clearly didn't meet expectations users had for robust reporting in Quicken. So the developers undertook to build an entirely new and modern engine under the hood and new user interface for reports. They have been delivering those improvements to reports iteratively for nearly four years now. Reporting in Quicken Mac today is leaps and bounds better than it was in the 2015 product, and there have been many enhancements within just the past year. They're clearly not done (is software ever "done"?), but we don't know what new functionality is under development currently or on the future development roadmap. And Quicken users will have different takes on what is "good enough" to meet their need/expectations.

Sorry that's not the definitive answer you were seeking, but I hope it's of some help.

jacobs

Cooch366 said:

Does the latest version give equal reporting functionality to the Mac version?

I've never used Quicken Windows, so I can't answer feature-by-feature -- but the answer is no. Reporting in Quicken Mac has improved a great deal over the past few years, and they're continuing to build out reporting capabilities. Reporting on things like income and expenses and net worth is now pretty robust. But there are some missing pieces, such as being able to specify multiple levels or sort order and subtotals. On the investing side, you can generate a reasonably good number of reports on your investing holdings and performance, but you currently have to create the with the filters in the portfolio view, so you can't save specific view as reports. We Mac users are hopeful a new set of investment reports will get added to the program in 2021, but for now, this is a weak spot in Quicken Mac reporting.

Some Quicken Mac users would tell you they can get what they need from reports, and others would tell you they miss some functionality -- but whether what's missing is a show-stopper will vary from user to user, because we all use Quicken so differently.

Cooch366 said:

If so, when upgrading, do your existing reports get converted?

Unfortunately not. I think the significant difference in the structure of the underlying databases, plus the differences in the way reports are built on the two platforms, plus the differences in capabilities and settings on each of the platforms, would make this difficult to create. Maybe some day…?

If not, what are the plans and timeframe on making the report functions the same on both Operating Systems?

There's no way to answer that. First, we're just fellow users here on this forum (plus a few Quicken moderators who help with support, but aren't privy to future development plans and schedules). Quicken almost never pre-announces future functionality. And in this case being "the same" between Windows and Mac versions is always going to be a somewhat subjective thing to measure.

From statements by the Quicken CEO, I think they have a goal of making Quicken Mac basically a par with Quicken Windows -- but it's clear they do not plan to exactly match every feature, option, checkbox and widget between the two. From statements by the Quicken Mac product manager, I think they are trying to make iterative progress on delivering the functionality Quicken Mac users most ask for and want/need. They have hundreds of feature requests from users, some of which require less than a day of work and some of which require many months of work, some of which add capabilities currently missing and some of which make current functionality easier to use.

I think the best way to judge where they're going is to look at where they've already traveled. when the modern quicken Mac program first debuted in late 2014, reporting was very rudimentary. The reports code was mostly inherited from the 2010 predecessor program, Quicken Essentials for Mac, and clearly didn't meet expectations users had for robust reporting in Quicken. So the developers undertook to build an entirely new and modern engine under the hood and new user interface for reports. They have been delivering those improvements to reports iteratively for nearly four years now. Reporting in Quicken Mac today is leaps and bounds better than it was in the 2015 product, and there have been many enhancements within just the past year. They're clearly not done (is software ever "done"?), but we don't know what new functionality is under development currently or on the future development roadmap. And Quicken users will have different takes on what is "good enough" to meet their need/expectations.

Sorry that's not the definitive answer you were seeking, but I hope it's of some help.

Cooch366

It does help Jacobs, THANKS for your detailed response and insight. It’s great to see that they are progressing with each revision and I hope to continue using the product for many many more years.

Thanks again. Steve

RalphS

I use Quicken mainly for investments... I use a Mac.. so obviously I tried the Mac version. Years past when it was owned by Intuit the Mac version was not up to the standard of the Windows version, but I could manage with that. The current comparison leaves the Mac version of Quicken sorely lacking for investment reports. Therefore, I switched to the Windows version using Parallels. When you buy the software you can download both versions. For what I want the Windows versions is an absolute must.

jacobs

@RalphS  I mentioned this in response to your post on another thread… Quicken Mac users (or would-be users) who want better investment reporting capabilities should visit this Idea post, add your vote at the top, and add a comment with the specifics about the features you need in investment reporting which don't currently exist in Quicken Mac. (Comments to "make it like Quicken Windows" fall flat with the developers; comments that lay out what reports you can do in Quicken Windows or Quicken 2007 that you can't do in Quicken Mac currently are really helpful.)

jzimbelman

I made the jump from Quicken for Windows (the 2010 lasted me a long time) to the new Quicken for Mac. Mostly I have adapted and it works fine. But I am struggling to get basic reports that I need. The biggest issue is to get a report that compares actual income and expenses in categories to budgeted income and expenses in categories. how do I do that? I suspect that getting one that allows comparisons across a future time frame (end of month or quarter) is asking for more than quicken will give me. I have written and complained about this lack for ages, but they don't seem to see how this could be a good thing to have. But if I could just get this sort of report to generate at the end of the month/last day of month, I could live with that. But what report to I use to do this? None have the word "Budget" in them. Odd........

jacobs

@jzimbelman. It’s not in Reports; go to your Budget and print (or export) it. This shows budget versus actual, monthly by month and for the year to date. As you noted, there’s no way to specify a date range, so if you can do this on the last day of a month, the year-to-date values will be accurate. Otherwise, you may want to export to a spreadsheet, so you can ditch any columns you don’t want and total what you do.

jzimbelman

very helpful. Thanks. jz