Isn't Quickens app self-contained?

TJennings

So, it looks like Quicken's app is not self-contained, and is going to generate windows all over my desktop. I don't use ANY of my apps in full screen because I have other apps open on my desktop. Is there a solution?

NotACPA

Neither Q Web, nor the Q Mobile App, are "self contained".

Both operate as adjuncts to a Q desktop product, and can't be used without such.

If you're referring to Q on your desktop, you'll need to explain further what's happening and what those referenced windows display.

TJennings

I wasn't clear. I have Quicken open. For example, when I use Quickbooks, all the windows generated for QB stay within the QB frame. When I do something like reconcile an account in Q, however, it generates a reconcile window that is just "loose" on my desktop, rather than staying within the Q frame. Yes, I could use Q in full-screen, but I have 2 24" monitors, and I have a lot of other apps open behind Q (multi-tasking, y'know), so no.

I vaguely remember this being an issue a few years ago when I used Q before.

TJennings

Q's desktop app.

NotACPA

OK, at this point you've gone beyond my meager knowledge of QMac.  A QMac user should be along at some point to further assist you

TJennings

Thank you for trying! <3

TJennings

Super annoying. Not a very efficient use of my real estate. I'm looking for a Quickbooks- or Adobe-style treatment of the app. It defaults to a self-enclosed ecosystem unless I choose something different. I guess I'll cope.

TJennings

Technically, there's a way to program the software so it does that (I code). Quicken has chosen not to (I don't code well enough to bend Quicken to my will).

TJennings

Right?

jacobs

@TJennings I understand you'd prefer a single window, but I'm not sure why you find it super annoying. You can just position the second window over the main window and take up no more screen real estate than if it were in one window. And each window you open remembers its previous location, so it will open in the same location the next time you open it. You can use the Window menu to switch among open windows, if you open several at a time, use Bring All to Front if you've been using other apps which have covered up Quicken, or use Hide Quicken if you want all the windows out of your way for awhile. Working on an iMac with a single 21.5" screen — I'm jealous of your dual 24" set-up — I haven't found managing Quicken's window(s) as I work to be a problem.

For what it's worth… until relatively recently, Quicken opened reports in the main window -- and users complained about wanting to see them alongside a register or their main sidebar, so they changed it so reports open in their own windows. Ancillary windows, like Categories or Securities or  Payees & Rules have always opened in their own windows, but they're typically small and not left open all the time; you either want to open one, make a change, and close it, or you want to open it alongside a register to make multiple changes. 

TJennings

Choices would be good. I would prefer to stay in a main Quicken window, so if I need to access one of the many other open apps on my computer, I only have to move one window. And I don't need to mouse all over the monitor moving things. I move the window, and there you go. I was more than able to accomplish what you describe within Quickbooks. Just make the app window bigger. I also accomplish something similar in the Adobe apps I use. And if I WANT it to be a separate window, I can drag it out of the app window. No biggie.

Like I said, I'll cope. But I have a workflow I like. This isn't it.

jacobs

I get it. I'll just say that one of the big complaints about the UI changes in Quicken is that people feel the main window is too large, so your suggestion to just make it larger so it can contain everything probably doesn't match many other Quicken users' desires. Anything that would make it bigger would make it harder to use for users who have 21" or even 13" screens.

I realize reading your explanation that most of the time I switch apps -- and I typically have 8-10, sometimes more, open at once -- I use Command-Tab to switch and bring other apps to the foreground, which greatly reduces the number of times I need to rearrange windows on my screen to get to what I want.

You might want to create a new Idea post for revamping the UI to have a single Quicken screen with panels/panes opening within it, a la Adobe apps. Go to the category Quicken Mac > Product Ideas > Display/UI, click the blue New Idea button, and state your case. After you post it, click the little arrow in the blue box under your post to vote for your idea. If the idea is popular with other Quicken users and garners a lot of votes, it gets sent to the development team for consideration. 

TJennings

Like QB, like Adobe, the window can be resizable and remember how big it was the last time I opened it. It's really not an issue. Oh well. BTW, I can just click the icon of the app I need in the dock to bring it to the front. Still, for me, workflow-wise, efficiency-wise, I like a self-contained app. My personal preference. Choices. User Experience. We're not all the same.

Back when I used Quicken years ago, I made some suggestions. I think this is one of the things. I can see that that was fruitless. ;-) I feel the same about Apple feedback, and I've been using Apple products for 38 years. There are too many suggestion-givers, and a limited number of people sorting through them at companies. LOL.

jacobs

Just because you made one suggestion many years ago and it didn't get adopted, that's not to say the developers don't listen. In fact, most of the enhancements to Quicken Mac over the past five years have been driven by customer requests. The problem isn't that they don't listen, but that there are far more requests for features, large and small, than their small development team can implement.

I would guess that this idea would require a lot of work to implement, simply because there are so many windows, panes, panels and UI elements in Quicken Mac, and many would need to be tweaked or revamped to move to such a UI design. (They're currently working their way through these hundreds of elements just to make everything in the UI able to support macOS Dark Mode, and apparently it's a big project.) But in some cases, developers can utilize tools provided by the operating system to make seemingly-complex changes easy. There's just no way to know. So it's worth throwing the idea out there to see if other Quicken users agree this would be a desirable change. I will say I don't recall seeing requests for this before, but I might not be remembering. If you post it, it will either gain traction or not, but at least the idea is out there for consideration.

TJennings

I would guess that, too.