subcategories not showing on master list (Q Mac)

shrinkrap

I have a few category/subcategory clusters that do not show the subcategories on the master list, although they are available when entering transactions. I was told by Quicken Support that this may be due to a file corruption. How can I restore the subcategories to the master list?

jacobs

There is a bug that a (very) few users have run into which causes main categories in the Categories window to now show sub-categories and/or to have them show up grayed out. I had this happen to me in a test file, and I found a way to fix it, which has worked for some other users as well. I found that if I removed the Quicken preferences file, my grayed out categories returned to normal on my next launch of Quicken.

For safety, make a backup of your Quicken data file below before proceeding. Then quit Quicken.

To do this, go to the User > [your home user name] > Library > Preferences folder. (To get inside the Library folder, which Apple hides by default, in the Finder hold down the Option key while pulling down the Go menu, and select Library.) Scroll down inside the Preferences folder to find com.quicken.Quicken.plist. Drag this file to your desktop. (This way, you can put it back if it doesn't resolve the issue.) Now relaunch Quicken. It will create a new Preferences file from scratch.

You will likely have to point Quicken to your existing data file when it launches — don't let it create a new one — and then open your Categories window to see if everything is back to normal. (In one of my tests, it also ran some database update process because the preference setting to note the database had been updated to the current version which was in the old preferences file but not initially in the new one it created.)

I'm not sure all the settings and preferences are lost by replacing the prefs file, so you may find you need to reset some other things. (For instance, my Register Text & Row Settings was reset to the default row height instead of the Compact setting I normally use, and some of my Sidebar preferences were reverted to default settings.) I also had to answer a security question for one of my accounts; I'm not sure if that's related, but since this never happens otherwise, I assume it was.

If you don't get too messed by losing your preferences, and your categories are now okay, then carry on. If you find something is seriously amiss, quit Quicken, and drag the preferences file in the Preference folder to the Trash, and drag the original preferences file from your desktop back to the Preferences folder. Relaunching Quicken should now be back to where you were previously.