How do I change the default printer for printing checks? (Q Mac)

cdammk

After entering check(s) one (can) select "print checks", and is walked throught the process where the printer and first check number default. How do I change the default printer?

garysmith87

Its not a flaw.  The macOS controls what printer is the default.  You'll notice there are NO printer settings in Quicken Mac.  They are all controlled at the macOS Preferences level.  

And I haven't put in a request...because I haven't printed a check in over 6 1/2 years.  And I use about 20 checks the entire year, which I handwrite.

Quicken Jared

cdammk@icloud.com said:

After entering check(s) one (can) select "print checks", and is walked throught the process where the printer and first check number default. How do I change the default printer?

Hello cdammk@icloud.com,

Thank you so much for reaching out to us on the Quicken Community to discuss this. Have you tried changing the default printer in the Apple menu? I believe you would go to System Preferences>Printers&Scanners>Default Printer [select your printer here]. 

Thanks,

Quicken Jared 

garysmith87

In Quicken Mac, the PRINT dialogue should come up when selected.  In that dialogue, you should be able to select ANY available printer connected with your Mac.  

In the first line, it lists the default printer as determined by your Mac Preferences Printer settings. 

However, selecting the blue arrows should give you a drop down list for any connected printer.  Therefore, you can change printers if you use a different printer to print checks than you do printing reports.

cdammk

My Apple default printer is correct as is the default printer for printing Quicken reports. It's ony when I go to print checks the default printer is different/wrong. When this wrong printer defaults I can easily change it to the correct printer (when I remember), but I cannot figure out how to make it the default printer (for printing checks).

cdammk

My default printer when I print Quicken reports comes up correct, but when I go to print checks, your program defaults to another (wrong) printer. I can change this printer to print checks, but I cannot figure out how to make it the default check printer. )-:

garysmith87

Quicken Mac does not have this feature.  You're doomed to select the proper printer for printing checks from the dropdown list.

Quicken Windows has this feature...but that won't help you much.

Happy New Year. 

cdammk

Hi Garysmith87. Thank you! I've been on phone with Quicken numerous times with no success. You answered my question. Assume you've put a request to have this flaw fixed.

garysmith87

Its not a flaw.  The macOS controls what printer is the default.  You'll notice there are NO printer settings in Quicken Mac.  They are all controlled at the macOS Preferences level.  

And I haven't put in a request...because I haven't printed a check in over 6 1/2 years.  And I use about 20 checks the entire year, which I handwrite.

cdammk

I question your contention that it's not a Quicken flaw: Seems the default printer should be the same for both reports and checks. I don't think the Mac OS would arbitrarily assign two different printers. I used to be on Quicken Windows too, and realize that Quicken invested years developing that and that Quicken for Mac is relatively new and is still being perfected and corrected. Because of my poor handwriting, I enter checks with Cmd-J (don't know how the come up with "J"), and then print the check(s), which I find faster than entering the check in the register and then manually writing the check. And like you, the number of checks I write has gone from hundreds a year to a few dozen. Again, thank you!

garysmith87

Seems the default printer should be the same for both reports and checks.

Not sure what your point is...the default printer IS the same for both reports and checks.  You can only have ONE default printer in macOS.  

And the "current" iteration of Quicken Mac is now almost 7 years old.  It's no "baby". 

I understand completely what you have to do.  But there is NO separate setting for a printer to print checks like there is in Quicken Windows.  If you need to use a different printer for checks, you'll need to select it in the PRINTER dialogue box.  You need to understand that the PRINTER dialogue box is generated and controlled by your Mac...it is not generated by Quicken.  Once PRINT is selected, Quicken Mac turns over all printing controls to your Mac.  That's why the PRINTER dialogue box is basically the same whether you use Quicken Mac, Word for Mac, Pages or print something from your browser.  

What you were looking for was something similar to this dialogue.  And selecting Printer Setup > For Printing Checks, you could select any printer from the drop down and make it the printer that defaults to print checks.  But this is a Quicken control...not a Windows control.  Quicken Mac doesn't work like that ... and if you notice there are NO printer controls there...no printer setup for reports OR checks aside from alignment setup.  All the setup features are from the "standardized" PRINTER dialogue box or through Preferences.  

jacobs

garysmith87 said:

Seems the default printer should be the same for both reports and checks.

Not sure what your point is...the default printer IS the same for both reports and checks.  You can only have ONE default printer in macOS.  

@garysmith87 What I believe you've missed in what @cdammk has said is that the printer that comes up when selecting to print checks is different than the macOS default printer and the printer which comes up when printing a report from Quicken:

cdammk said:

My default printer when I print Quicken reports comes up correct, but when I go to print checks, [the] program defaults to another (wrong) printer.

I'm not sure how that could be since, as you've written, all the printer functionality is passing through from macOS. But… the code for printing checks is quite old — it dates to the 2010 era Quicken Essentials which was the predecessor to today's Quicken Mac — so maybe that piece of Quicken code is doing something different? @cdammk out of curiosity, is the printer it selects the first of your printers alphabetically? Or did you have this printer and use it with Quicken before you got the printer which is now your default printer? (That is, I'm wondering if Quicken memorized the name of the printer which was used for printing checks previously.)

The only thing I can think to try is to delete the printer which comes up for check printing in your Mac System Preferences, and then see if Quicken selects the correct printer when you try to print checks. Then add the other printer back, and see if it stays with the default print or goes back to this printer. And perhaps you name the printer something different, like zOtherPrinter, when you add it back. I'm just grasping at straws and throwing out ideas here because, as Gary has said, it should only be selecting the default printer. (Note: please only delete the printer if you know it's one macOS can re-add automatically, or for which you have the printer driver installer.)

cdammk

Perhaps I'm not communicating clearly. I have 4 Mac OS printers. The one I use the most and correctly defaults when using all apps is the 4th one. When on the Quicken app, this same 4th printer defaults when printing Quicken reports. But when, after entering a check via Cmd-J, I go to print that check, the default printer that shows up just before clicking the final PRINT command is the third Mac OS printer (which is idle). To compensate for this I have to manually select the fourth printer, and then the check will print. If I don't make this manually selection, the Quicken app will attempt to print to the third printer, and nothing prints. Over the past two years, even since I switched from Quicken Windows to Quicken Mac, I have been on the phone a dozen times hoping to be connected to someone at Quicken who could walk me throught fixing this, no no success.

jacobs

@cdammk Yes, I understood what you were describing; I think Gary misunderstood.

As Gary and I have said, and I think any Quicken support people you've talked with would have thought, Quicken should only be getting printer information from macOS. And yet you're stating that's not true in this area of the program. I'm happy (?) to report that I have tested and verified this on my own system: printing checks does not select the Mac default printer.

On my Mac, it selects a printer which I'd guess is the one I used the first time I printed Quicken checks. I'm not sure if that's a useful clue or not. So I gave a few thoughts on shaking up the printer drivers you have installed to see if this could get Quicken check printing to pick a different printer, and perhaps stick with it. You may or may not want to mess with deleting and re-adding drivers for those other printers; it was just a thought. Otherwise, I have no answers other than saying you'll need to pick the printer each time you print checks. 

garysmith87

Thanks for clarifying EXACTLY what your issue is.

As I mentioned before, I don't normally print checks in Quicken Mac.  And I have multiple printers connected.

So...I tried a test and created a dummy check transaction that I was to print.  And in my case, the default printer that is shown IS the same as the default printer for my Quicken reports and is designated the default printer in macOS.

So...I'm NOT seeing what you and @jacobs are seeing.  Mine shows correctly.  

cdammk

to @garysmith87 and @jacobs: Appreciate both your times! Thought I was going nuts. I actually did delete the printer driver I want to use to print checks and then added it back in earlier, but that didn't fix the problem. But with your input I understand the issue better and when I have more time I'll experiment with it some more. In the meantime I'll try to keep remembering to switch printers when printing checks. THANK YOU BOTH!

Quicken September

Hello, @all. 

Thank you for all of your information and assistance, though we apologize for any hassle this issue has caused. We are investigating this issue currently and will report back on what we find as soon once we have more information available. Thank you for your patience and understanding and I hope you have a wonderful day!

-Quicken September