A suggestion

d.gerety.

I would like to see a place in Preferences where you can choose which Quicken file to open when logging in. I know it's supposed to open the last file used, but it doesn't; at least mine doesn't, so I have to click File, then Recent, then the Quicken file I want to use. A preferences option would be most helpful for those with multiple files.

d.gerety.

Thank you, RickO. I contacted support via Chat and, as you wrote, Quicken is supposed to open the last file closed. For some reason, mine does not. My Mac is now preventing me from adding the newest Quicken icon to the the Dock. I'm sure I have made a fine mess of my file structure, just as I have with Lightroom and other apps. At least I back it up after every use. Thus, a field in Preferences would be helpful. It's a mystery how I ever managed to sell software for a living.

jacobs

d.gerety. said:

Thank you, RickO. I contacted support via Chat and, as you wrote, Quicken is supposed to open the last file closed. For some reason, mine does not. My Mac is now preventing me from adding the newest Quicken icon to the the Dock. I'm sure I have made a fine mess of my file structure, just as I have with Lightroom and other apps. At least I back it up after every use. Thus, a field in Preferences would be helpful. It's a mystery how I ever managed to sell software for a living.

@d.gerety. for the Dock, try removing the existing icon first, then add the one you want. So: Control-click on the Quicken icon in your Dock, select Options > Remove from Dock. Now open your Applications folder, find Quicken.app, and drag the icon into your Dock.

Note that when you Control-click on the Quicken icon in the Dock, it will show you recently-opened files. The is often a good shortcut if you need to toggle back and forth between two different files frequently.

As for Quicken not remembering your last used file, you could try removing the Quicken preferences file on your Mac and seeing if the replacement that's generated will work correctly. To do this, first quit Quicken. Then, in the Finder hold down the Option key and select Library from the Go menu. Open the Preferences folder. Scroll down to find "com.quicken.Quicken.plist" and drag this file to your Desktop. (That way you can put it back if this messes up anything.) Now launch Quicken again and open your most recent file (or start by double-clicking on your most recent file). Quit Quicken. Relaunch and see if it opens the same file again.

d.gerety.

Thank you, Jacobs. I followed your instructions, but no cigar. Quicken still opens to the older file and the Dock still doesn't accept the Quicken icon.
I have a new question for you though. Both the old and new Quicken files continue to show new activities in my accounts. Is there a way to close, but not delete, the old file, which I want to end on 12/31/2020?
The new file begins on 1/1/2021.
Thanks again,
David

jacobs

Wow, there's a lot to unpack here.

First, I definitely don't understand not being able to place the Quicken icon in the Dock. This is a macOS thing, not having anything to do with Quicken per se. So let's take a step back: did you first remove the old Quicken icon from your Dock? And then you tried dragging the icon from the Application folder into the Dock and it just doesn't go? Are you sure you're dragging into the lefthand portion of the Dock for Applications? (The far right is used for documents or folders, and depending with macOS you're running, there can be an optional section for recently-used applications.)

Next: you launch Quicken and it opens your old file. How are you then opening the new file? You should be doing this by File > Open Recent and selecting the new file. If you quit Quicken now and relaunch, it should open the new file.

Alternatively, as RickO suggested previously, have you can drag the icon of your new file to the Dock -- on the right side where documents can be stored. Selecting that from the Dock should open Quicken in that file.

Regarding new transactions in your old file: I assume you're describing transaction which are downloading? Have you gone in the the settings for each account and disabled them from downloading transactions? That should prevent downloads. Also, do you use Quicken Cloud (mobile app or web interface)? If so, make sure in the old file that you have turned off Sync in Quicken Preferences > Mobile, Web & Alerts. 

d.gerety.

Thanks, Jacobs.

Actually, I had removed the icon from the dock but the new one refused to stay there, no matter where in the doc I tried to place it. I will look for the settings you describe to disable future downloads for each account.

I got a surprise phone call late yesterday afternoon from a very nice young lady in Boise, with Quicken support. She was following up on my conversation of days ago. She showed me how to get the icon to stay in the doc. When Quicken is open, the icon shows in the doc. A right click offers the option to keep in the Doc. By putting the icon in the doc while the version of Quicken I wanted to use, it now opens to the correct version from the doc.

So it would seem that things are back to normal. Now if I can get Lightroom fixed, I'll be a happy camper.

Many thanks again, Jacobs.

My best,
David