Tag colours (Q Mac)

AMoff_99

The 7.2 release notes say in Other Changes "Added ability change tag colors in Tags list using multi-select." So apparently, I read elswhere on the quicken site (but of course cannot find it now), I should be able to multi-select transactions using the command key, then edit drop down will offer the ability to change tag colours. I am not seeing this, nor does the tag set up offer colour option. Operator error or missing functionality? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Jon

You need to go into Settings and on the General tab select both "Try out new Quicken features before they're released" and "Use custom tag colors". Once you do that you'll be able to change tag colors in the Tags window, and the new feature will work.

I don't think you can change the color of tags from a transaction register, AFAIK you have to change them in the Tags window.

jacobs

@AMoff_99 The minor change they made in 7.2 doesn't work the way you were thinking it does. The change is actually for the Window > Tags window to change the color associated with particular Tags, not for acting on specific transactions.

If you Command click on two or more Tags in that window, then do a Control-click, a small menu comes up for making changes to the multiple selected Tags. The bottom option is Color, and if you select a color from the pop-out list, the color of all the selected Tags will be changed to the color you selected.

So this is something only useful for someone who uses Tags extensively, with lots and lots of defined Tags. If you've never assigned colors to Tags before, or you want to change the color scheme you're previously applied, this lets you select three and make them red, then select four others and make them blue, etc. instead of having to set the color for each Tag one at a time.

Please note that in order to assign colors to Tags at all, you must have this option enabled in Quicken Preferences > General because the developers consider Tag colors an "Early Access" feature which is still being developed.

I believe the developers intend to make it possible to eventually offer Tag color choices as an option when tagging transactions, but that is apparently planned for some future release.

jacobs

Now a quick opinion rant here… 😀

I know we all use Quicken differently, and I imagine some users who use Tags extensively will find that being able to assign one of 7 colors to each Tags might be useful. For example if you create a Tag for each vacation (like "2023 Caribbean", "2022 Ski Trip", etc.) and can color all your different vacation tags red, that might be useful in spotting them among a sea of other Tags. But I imagine that only a very small percentage of Quicken Mac users utilize tags in this way, so I have to say I find it a bit frustrating that the development team is expending time and effort to build this functionality over a series of releases when I feel there are many and much more pressing priorities that large numbers of Quicken Mac users are waiting and hoping for.

Now, I admit upfront that I don't use Tags extensively, so perhaps someone who does would disagree with me and say having a choice of 7 colors for Tags is something they find incredibly useful. I also acknowledge that development of a program like Quicken Mac involves developers with different skills, and that a user interface designer who works on a feature like this doesn't build new reports or implement changes to the database structure — so adding Tag colors isn't necessarily competing for development time with developing, say, investment reports.

Nonetheless, with so many users frustrated with various missing features and functionality, I could list dozens of needs which I think are more pressing and would impact more people, so I just find it frustrating when we get release after release with small tweaks like this but no progress checking off big issues on the feature wishlist.

Perhaps if Quicken shared some insight about future development plans, we'd see that some of those bigger issues are multi-month projects, and that some are currently underway, and we could feel better about the progress being made. But, of course, they don't share anything about future plans and schedules. (Well, they do mark some Ideas on this site as "Planned", but there are Ideas which were marked "Planned" a year or two or longer ago and still haven't appeared, so it's hard to get excited about a "Planned" idea until it actually shows up.)

Okay, end of rant. 😀

AMoff_99

Thanks to Jon for pointing me in the right direction, you are a wizard. I didn't find the instructions in the release notes very illuminating and going to the transaction register to change tag colours also didn't make sense. But now I see. Although I wouldn't have thought to look at early access since this tag colour thing was apparently part of the release. And thanks to Jacobs for clarification. I do not use tags very extensively, more as a visual reminder there is something I need to do for transactions I have entered ahead of time. And I fully agree with Jacobs about needing other features. Like a decent budget to actual report. Unbelievable that it is not available. Thanks to you both!

PaulVonasek

QMac Function: Color Tags with subcategories
Feature or Bug: Feature

Issue Description: Need ability to view color tags at the base transaction and/or subcategory levels.

Use Case: A color tag needs to support drag-n-dropped (moved) to any subcategory or to the base transaction w/o duplication. I plan to use this feature based on an event (date) and when no longer needed, either delete or drag-n-drop (w/o duplication) a tag to other subcategory, within the same transaction.

Transaction Examples:
1st: Has the tag "TestTag" (red) only
2nd: Has no split but both tags, i.e. TestTag" (red) and AnotherTag" (green)
3rd: Has the tag "AnotherTag" (green)
4th Is a split transaction where one of the tags is applied to each of the splits
- Subcategory 1: TestTag" (red)
- Subcategory X: AnotherTag" (green)
5th Is a split transaction where tags are applied to each level as follows:
- Base transaction: TestTag" (red)
- Subcategory 1: AnotherTag1” (green)
- Subcategory X: AnotherTag2” (yellow)

Additional Syntax:
Note 1: With the TAGS column enabled (viewable) and when using subcategories, the default display is "Split + split icon” However, this is already used in the CATEGORY column and maybe/seems redundant. See Pic.
Note 2: For the displayed tag “color”, that is determined in the Tag when defined/created. See pic...
Note 3: If multiple tags are used per transaction or per subcategory (or both), each tag must be able to be drag-n-drop/moved to the desired or priority ranked by the user, i.e. user choice
Note 4: If the Tag column is narrow, you may see the first tag where others are only out of view. As the Tag column is widened other tags would then be viewable (if present)

jacobs

@PaulVonasek You should post this as an Idea thread for a future feature enhancement. The developers won't see it here.

Also, I don't understand your description of moving tags to a subcategory. Tags and categories are separate fields in the database. and onscreen. Do you mean moving a tag to a different spit line?

PaulVonasek

Jacob, here;s how I documented the feature enhancement… call it a split or subcategory?

Transaction Examples:
1st: Has the tag "TestTag" (red) only
2nd: Has no split but both tags, i.e. TestTag" (red) and AnotherTag" (green)
3rd: Has the tag "AnotherTag" (green)
4th Is a split transaction where one of the tags is applied to each of the splits
- Subcategory 1: TestTag" (red)
- Subcategory X: AnotherTag" (green)
5th Is a split transaction where tags are applied to each level as follows:
- Base transaction: TestTag" (red)
- Subcategory 1: AnotherTag1” (green)
- Subcategory X: AnotherTag2” (yellow