I cannot find subcategories when I open the categories window (Q Mac)

quadquagmire

I am trying to find a full list of Categories with their associated subcategories for edit, but I only get a list of main categories (with the exception of the Investment category, which I don't use in Quicken). The list allows me only to add categories or subcategories, but not show the full list of existing subcategories. Please see screen shot. I would be grateful for any insight into how to expand categories to show subcategories for editing.

jacobs

@quadquagmire Not only does your screenshot show no subcategories, but all the main categories are grayed out. It looks to me like you have encountered a rare bug which has popped up for a few users from time to time. At one time, the Quicken developers said they were aware of the issue, but there has never been a fix released, and I don't know if this is on their radar or not.

I encountered this problem once in a test file, and I found a cure. It has worked for a few other people, but I can't guarantee it solves all instances of the category list problem. (There are actually two category list problems — grayed out categories and missing categories — and I'm not sure this solves both issues.) But it's easy to try this solution and see if it works for you. Quite surprisingly, the cure is a preferences file.

For safety, I'd advise you make a backup of your Quicken data file as well as the preferences file described below before proceeding. 

• Quit Quicken if it is running.
• Open the User > Library > Preferences folder. (To access the User > Library folder, which Apple hides by default, in the Finder hold down the Option key while pulling down the Go menu; with the Option key held down, Library will be one of the choices.)
• Scroll down to find "com.quicken.Quicken.plist". 
• Drag this file to your Desktop.
• Relaunch Quicken.
• You will likely have to point Quicken to your existing data file when it launches — don't let it create a new one

Now 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 a preference setting to note the database had been updated, which was in the old preferences file, was not in the new one it created.)

Some settings and preferences you've configured are lost by replacing the prefs file, so you may find you need to reset some 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 up starting with a new preferences file, and your categories are now okay, then carry on. But if you find something is seriously amiss, quit Quicken, and drag the original preferences file from your desktop back to the Preferences folder; relaunching Quicken should now put you back to where you were previously.

Hope this helps! 

quadquagmire

Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I will try this and let you know.

quadquagmire

Hello again,

Unfortunately, my Library file does not contain a "com.quicken.Quicken.plist" file. Any thoughts about that?

Thanks again for your help.

jacobs

There are two Library folders on a Mac. One is at the top level of Macintosh HD, the other is in your User folder, in your home folder. Are you sure you navigated to the latter, and then to Preferences within it, as I described above?

quadquagmire

Yes, I am in my user folder.

jacobs

Okay, great. And were you able to get inside the Library folder here by holding the Option key and selecting Library from the Finder's Go menu? And then in the Library folder, were you able to open the Preferences folder?

And inside Preferences, when you scroll down through all the "com." files to "q", you're not seeing this file?

To the best of my knowledge it should be present for every user of Quicken Mac.

quadquagmire

Thank you. I missed the step about opening Preferences folder first. When I move the file to my desktop and relaunch Quicken, I get the following screen and I'm not sure which option to choose for the file. I have included my About Quicken info in the screenshot, in case that has any bearing on which I should choose.

Thanks again for all of your help.

jacobs

@quadquagmire You want none of the options you showed on that screen — you want the unobtrusive "Open Quicken File" at the very bottom of that screen:

Click that button and you'll get a standard macOS Open File dialog box. Now, you need to be able to navigate to your current Quicken data file. If you haven't moved it from Quicken's default location, it's in:

Macintosh HD > Users > [your home folder] > Library > Application Support > Quicken > Documents

(If there are more than one files here, make sure you select the current one, which will have a date modified the last time you opened this file.)

RickO

Or… while on the Let's Get Started screen, rather than clicking the Open Quicken File button, you should be able to click menu File > Open Recent… and choose your Quicken file there without having to navigate to it in the file dialog.

jacobs

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20396616#Comment_20396616

Thanks, @RickO. I wasn't sure if the recent files list was maintained by macOS or in each application's own preferences file — which in this case we're trying to re-create. But if macOS stores the recently-opened files list for Quicken, then I agree that's the fastest way to find and open the most recent file.

RickO

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20396620#Comment_20396620

I wasn't sure either, so I tested it by temporarily removing the com.quicken prefs file. Yup, the recent files list is maintained by macOS somewhere.

quadquagmire

THANK YOU BOTH. IT WORKED!