Select a register by typing characters in the account name (Q Mac)
I’m using Quicken for Mac 2017. In the past, I was able to select any ‘account register’ displayed on the sidebar (left side of the Quicken window) by typing the name. Usually, 2 strokes of the keyboard were enough to select any register. For the past 10 years this is not possible. I have 110 registers and the only way to select a register is with the cursor, a much slower and annoying feature. I have suggested Quicken to re-instate this feature a couple of times in the past. Has been done or not yet? I could not find any information about this either on help or Quicken Mac Community.
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No, unfortunately, current subscription QMac does not provide a fast way to select a register. There is an Idea post related to this that you should vote and comment on. It is currently listed as "under consideration":
As mentioned by one user in that topic, it is possible to use Keyboard Maestro to assign keyboard shortcuts to click various registers. That's what I have implemented on my Mac. But it requires purchase of a third party product and a bit of a learning curve to implement.
Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s1 -
Rick, thank you for taking the time to answer my question. I have voted already on the link you provided.
I have read other post/comments about shortcuts and commands, but the one I mentioned in my first post is by far the best: typing the name of the account register to select it.
You can type the name from memory or by visually seeing the names displayed on the sidebar. It is super quick. As each register is named different, usually just by typing the first 1~3 letters of the name would be enough to select it. Better than this solution, nothing: just pressing 1 single key (or 2) on the keyboard to select a register. Quicken for Mac was like that before, but from 2016 or 2017 versions this functionality of Quicken got lost. It should not be difficult to implement. In any website with pull down menus like when selecting "countries", by just pressing the letter "i" on the keyboard you can jump to all country names starting with "i" like Italy and Indonesia.
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@DanieleM The complexity of your request is all the different areas of the Quicken screen. If you start typing letters, how is it to know you intend it to apply to the sidebar account list as opposed to the register or display on the right side of the screen? I'm sure it's do-able, but it doesn't seem to be trivial; there would need to be a way for the user to click on and define the left sidebar for the "focus" of your keyboard actions.
Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 19930 -
Hi Jacobs, thank you for your concern. Please do the following:
Open your Quicken file. The screen I see when opening the file is the sidebar, the top menu bar, the down menu bar and then between these 3 I see the details of a register (probably the last that was opened before closing). See the file I have attached.
Now, type any key on your keyboard. When I do this now on my Mac, it produces a sound/bip telling me that what I am doing is wrong or not allowed. Before, when I typed any key it would automatically select an account register where the first letter of its name corresponded with the key I pressed. Super quick and easy.
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Yes, I understand the issue. When you start Quicken, none of those sections of the screen has "focus", so typing a letter results in a beep because typing is not allowed until you click on part of the screen so it becomes the focus for keyboard input. And the left sidebar is never enabled for keyboard input.
When you talk about using Quicken "before", what version of software are you referring to? I don't remember being able to type letters to select an account in any version of modern Quicken Mac since it came out in 2014. Are you referring to the legacy Quicken 2007? In that program, you could select an account by typing letters — but only if you opened the Accounts window and made it the active (Focus) window; if a register was the active window and you typed a character, the typing would show up in the current transaction.
In modern Quicken Mac, since there is not a separate Accounts window, there would need to be a way to switch focus to the sidebar, and then enable typing to navigate in the sidebar. The problem is that you can't first click int he sidebar to make it active, because wherever you click will open the account you clicked on. If they made ti that you clicked at the top of the sidebar to make it active so you could then type to select an account, they'd need to change the sidebar in some way to show visually that it was the active portion of the screen — and I suspect that doesn't fit the the user interface guidelines they are using.
I have under 50 active accounts, so selecting an account by clicking in the sidebar doesn't pose a problem for me, but I do understand your challenge with 110 accounts. Perhaps the best solution for you would be if they added an Accounts window (like the Payees and Securities an Categories windows), similar to Quicken 2007, which you could leave open on the side of your screen. I think it's unlikely they'd add such an Account window unless it had some other function, though.
If you want to suggest being able to select accounts from the keyboard, we can ask a moderator to turn this into an "Idea" thread in the Product Ideas section of this site. then other users could vote if they wanted this functionality, and if the idea gains enough votes, it gets submitted to the developers for consideration. Post back if you'd like this to be changed to an Idea request.
Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 19930 -
Thank you! It's amazing how people try to help each other. I would like the developers to be as engaged as you are.
First, I was referring to Quicken 2011 for Mac and all versions before that, as I am an user since the early 1990s. I first bought the modern Quicken Mac in 2017. By the way, it was a big, big change, and at the time, I thought that the older Quicken was way better. But let's leave this topic here. It is an old story.
Going directly to your point, the sidebar could be active by default, always, in any situation. It won't affect the functionality of Quicken in any way. This is how I see it. There is no need to click anywhere to make it active. To me, when you say "because wherever you click will open the account you clicked on" it means that the sidebar is already active by default, as it allows to select an account by clicking on it. Why not then allowing also to select an account by typing its name? It is only an added functionality, isn't it? By adding this great feature, we would eliminate the need to roll up and down on the sidebar to select an account.
If you could, I would ask you to pass this suggestion to a moderator.
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There is no need to click anywhere to make it active. To me, when you say "because wherever you click will open the account you clicked on" it means that the sidebar is already active by default, as it allows to select an account by clicking on it.
You can click on something in the sidebar, but that;'s different from typing being interpreted as being for the sidebar. IF that was the case, how would on begin typing a new transaction, if typing any character switched you to a different account? It doesn't work. The "focus" of the app needs to be on one area, so that keystrokes are interpreted correctly. There would need to be a way to click on the sidebar to switch focus from the register to the sidebar before typing.
If you could, I would ask you to pass this suggestion to a moderator.
Moderators can't to anything to act on feature suggestions. But they can change this to an Idea post which fellow Quicken users can vote on if they want to see the functionality you've been describing. I've requested that they do so. And I've edited the subject line to make it clearer what functionality you're asking for.
Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 19930 -
Thank you for requesting this topic to a moderator and editing the subject line!
For the sake of understanding (at least mine), I would add only one thing:
You can click on something in the sidebar, but that;'s different from typing being interpreted as being for the sidebar. IF that was the case, how would on begin typing a new transaction, if typing any character switched you to a different account? It doesn't work.
On Quicken 2017 (which I am using now), to begin typing a new transaction I have to click "+" or "⌘N". What I am requesting is to be able to use the keyboard to select accounts at the root level, before clicking "+" or "⌘N". In other words, to assign to the keyboard – at the root level – the same hierarchy the cursor has to select accounts on the sidebar.
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Hello @DanieleM,
Thank you for taking the time to reach out to the Community with your request.
I went ahead and changed your post to an Idea so other users who have the same or a similar request can vote on your idea by clicking the up arrow.Ideas are also reviewed by our Development and Product teams in order to improve Quicken and implement new features requested by customers.
Thank you!
-Quicken Anja0
