How do I re-format a Report for printing?

lgonick

When I try to print a Transaction Report (by category), the report "wants" to be in very large type spread across the page in landscape mode. This is a huge waste of paper. In the past, there have been various ways to change the layout of the page. Last year's version had something called View Options or Table Options in the View menu, but that seems to be gone now. How do I change the format so everything appears in normal {"portrait") page orientation? Using Quicken 6.5 for Mac.

RickO

This may depend on which version of macOS you are using (I'm on Big Sur), but you should see a Portrait/Landscape Orientation option in the middle of the print dialog along with the option to scale the printout to X pages wide.



Also, try adjusting the column widths before printing by dragging the dividers between column headings.

If that's not sufficient, one thing I've done in the past is to export the report to to CSV, then open it in Excel. There you can use the more extensive formatting options (such as printing X wide by Y tall) to make it fit more closely to what you want.

RickO

This may depend on which version of macOS you are using (I'm on Big Sur), but you should see a Portrait/Landscape Orientation option in the middle of the print dialog along with the option to scale the printout to X pages wide.



Also, try adjusting the column widths before printing by dragging the dividers between column headings.

If that's not sufficient, one thing I've done in the past is to export the report to to CSV, then open it in Excel. There you can use the more extensive formatting options (such as printing X wide by Y tall) to make it fit more closely to what you want.

lgonick

Thanks. I'm glad this capability is still available. I'd still like to see formatting options within the program, though, not just in the Print dialog. By the way, adjusting column widths affects screen display only; the printed page isn't affected. It would also be nice if the Print dialog contained all the usual Mac options, especially the ability to print a customized range of pages.

RickO

I'm not seeing the same re column widths. If I change the widths, I see changes on the report.

jacobs

lgonick said:

By the way, adjusting column widths affects screen display only; the printed page isn't affected.

That's incorrect. What can be confusing is that the onscreen column width won't exactly match the printed report — but expanding or contracting a column will cause the printed report to have a proportional change in column with. I suggest tweaking the onscreen report, then choosing Print and selecting to Open in Preview (on the PDF dropdown menu) so you can see the effect without wasting paper and ink; make iterative changes until you have it tweaked just the way you want it. 

lgonick said:

It would also be nice if the Print dialog contained all the usual Mac options, especially the ability to print a customized range of pages.

It does contain those options, because the Print dialog box is controlled by macOS, not Quicken. If you're not seeing the range of pages, click on the Show Options button in the Print dialog box. 

urbananchorite

I want to print a report so that multiple payees appear on the same page. Whether I choose landscape or portrait page set-up, there is only one payee per page. The print dialog only allows fitting by width. How can I fix this within Quicken?

RickO

@urbananchorite Which standard report are you starting with? How are you customizing it?