Quicken for Windows Print Scaling Not Working

Jim_Harman · January 10

You have posted about at least a dozen issues and suggested improvements in the past month or so. For bugs, unless you have a ticket number for each one and/or it has been acknowledged here by a Moderator with a CTP number, it is unlikely that it will be resolved.

Likewise for improvements, there needs to be an Idea post for each one, and to a large extent the number of votes determines its priority.

JoelC · January 10

@Jim_Harman agreed and thank you.

In hindsight I should have doen a better job of tracking the bugs that I discovered and more formally reported them

It is on my To Do list when I get a chance.

That said, anyone who wants to report them before I get around to it is invited and more that welcome to do so.

With that said, I am not sure that Quicken will address any of them that quickly.

PS. Apologies to all for jumping into the Community to the extent that I have one the past month. I hope I did not often anyone. In addition, huge thanks to all who jumped in and willingly shared their knowledge, I am FAR BETTER OFF for it and am EXTREMEL GRATEFUL!

Jim_Harman · January 11

@JoelC

I don't think anyone is offended. It is (almost) always helpful when someone presents a fresh look on how Quicken should work.

I have often found that it is useful to try to figure out the original design intent and trying to do things the "Quicken way" rather than trying to force it to work differently.

For example, I think the Home tab is designed to present a simplified overview of your finances for those who find the reports too complicated. The data it presents should be accurate, but trying to get Quicken to add additional settings when there is a way to see what you want in a report will probably be a low priority for them.

JoelC · January 11

@Jim_Harman appreciated as I plan to keep digging!

Chris_QPW · January 11

For example, I think the Home tab is designed to present a simplified overview of your finances for those who find the reports too complicated. The data it presents should be accurate, but trying to get Quicken to add additional settings when there is a way to see what you want in a report will probably be a low priority for them.

One of the things I see a lot in statements/requests is something like "Why did they add this 'useless' XX (like Dashboards that are simplified versions of what already exists), instead working YYY that I want?"

This shows that people don't really understand that Quicken Inc is still trying to attract new users that might want a much simpler view of their finances. Personally, I don't think this is really going to be good for Quicken because it just makes things more and more complicated, not simpler, but their marketing isn't going to be denied. And one has to recognize that when looking at these features.

Another bad habit the Quicken Windows developers/marketing has is "Here is great idea, add it!" It ends up being partially implemented and then they almost completely forget about it.

JoelC · January 11

This shows that people don't really understand that Quicken Inc is still trying to attract new users that might want a much simpler view of their finances.

Agreed that a simpler can be / is beneficial but it must also be accurate and clear as to why it is / is not presntenting which it fails at doing as noted in the other threads I recently started.

Personally, I don't think this is really going to be good for Quicken because it just makes things more and more complicated, not simpler, but their marketing isn't going to be denied. And one has to recognize that when looking at these features.

I am in complete agreement.

Another bad habit the Quicken Windows developers/marketing has is "Here is great idea, add it!" It ends up being partially implemented and then they almost completely forget about it.

Preaching to the choir!

raustin316 · January 16

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20409393#Comment_20409393

Thanks Jim

I found a solution before I read your message. I would like to have tried your suggestion before changing the settings that support suggested. My solution was found at this link for Quicken support:

https://www.quicken.com/support/troubleshooting-printing-problems

Under the section "If the Report is printing too small". I followed the instructions and it solved the problem. It did make the font smaller in Quicken but that's a small price to pay to be able to print reports.

JoelC · January 16

@raustin316 appreciate the response but it was a no go for me in that i) it made the print on my 5k monitor unreadable (too small) and teh scaling still did not work.

I will need to wait until Quicken comes out with a new driver.

JoelC · January 16

I should add that for now my only solution is to export to Excel and modify accordingly, not my favourite thing!

Arctic Hare · January 17

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20410565#Comment_20410565

FWIW… these issues are one of the key reasons why I chose a UHD display in lieu 4K or 5K. In most cases, UHD is the sweet spot with current technology for office work. And, my favourite feature of my new display is that has a built in KVM switch that accommodates my personal PC and my employer supplied notebook with rapid switching.

JoelC · January 17

@Arctic Hare , interesting decision making. I am running a MacBook Pro so wanted Apple's best possible resolution and screen real estate as I do a lot of modelling / spreadsheet work so the more area I can see the better. It is a tradeoff depending on individual needs and in my case, I need the higher resolution (and power passthrough via Thunderbolt 4) more than I need the printer scaling. That said, I ideally want both.

Arctic Hare · January 17

For pure text readability, UHD is best option at present. I'm running a high end gaming card (even though I don't game) on my home PCs - so I could run a higher resolution monitor, but I selected a monitor with optimum text readability, relatively large format, USB C connectivity and built in KVM switch. I'm extremely happy with this choice. The only "complaint" I could list is that the USB C doesn't have enough juice to boot my employer supplied notebook, so I do need to connect a higher amp power supply to the notebook in addition to the USB-C from the display that carries the KVM signals.

mshiggins · January 21

Earlier in this discussion, in response to my suggestion to try CutePDF, you
said:

" ... note that I have both the Adobe PDF print driver and the Microsoft
print driver as options and neither works.

I checked out the Microsoft print driver and it doesn't work for me either.

But I don't understand what difference it makes whether the Microsoft PDF printer works or not: my suggestion was to try CutePDF.

Later in this discussion, Arctic Hare also suggested CutePDF.

Then one of your subsequent posts said:

" I should add that for now my only solution is to export to Excel and
modify accordingly ...."

I may have missed it, but I don't see where you have ever tried CutePDF.

-JP

JoelC · January 21

@mshiggins appreciated and excellent point.

I will try to add the CutePDF driver.

Quick question, which of these products do I need

https://www.cutepdf.com/index.htm

I think it is the CutePDF Writter but I want to make sure.

Thank you.

JoelC · January 21

@mshiggins

If it is CutePDF writer than I did try it but I cannot get it to install.

I suspect the problem is that I am running an ARM version of Windows 11 in Parallel 19 on a MBP.

JoelC · January 21

@mshiggins, I do have one idea, I can try installing the mac version and see whether that works, what do you think?

JoelC · January 22

@mshiggins I tried installing CutePDF a second time installing both CutePDF Writer and its companion converter.

I rebooted Windows 11 and note the following:

i) CutePDF is loaded within Windows 11 per the below.

ii) CutePDF is not working because it is not appearing ad an available renter when I try t print noting that it is my understanding that it need not be added as a printer to work (based on a read for their webpage).

Would appreciate any ideas / suggestions.

Thank you.

mshiggins · January 31

"CutePDF is not working because it is not appearing ad an available renter when I try t print noting that it is my understanding that it need not be added as a printer to work (based on a read for their webpage)."

CutePDF is an installed printer on my Windows 10 PC. It is available in Windows Control Panel > Devices and Printers. It appears in Quicken's File > Printer Setup for .... "Printer" dropdowns.

I found this: "CutePDF is a proprietary Portable Document Format converter and editor for Microsoft Windows developed by Acro Software."

You can try asking CutePDF:

[FWIW: I also have the Bullzip free PDF printer installed which also works with Quicken and has Page Scaling available. https://www.bullzip.com/ ] http://tinyurl.com/sx2u6akz

-JP

JoelC · January 31

@mshiggins appreciated and will give it a try. I suspect the problem I am having installing these print drivers is due to the fact that I am running an ARM version of Windows 11 (i.e., I have an Apple MacBook Pro with Apple Silicon + Parallels + ARM Version of Windows 11). That said, I will most certainly try Bullzip, likely tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Worth noting, when I install CutePD it i) does appear in Control Panel > Programs and Features but ii) does not appear in Windows Control Panel > Devices and Printers.

Thank you, GREATLY appreciated.

JoelC · January 31

@mshiggins well, curiosity got the better of me. I just tried to install it and it failed, I got a message that it needs a machine with an X64 or X86 architecture which I clearly do not have. That said, I am surprised that it does not work as Apple's Rosetta is supposed to handle this. Will have to wait until Parallels or someone else fixes this.

Thank you, hopefully others can / will benefit.

Kevin Strong · January 31

@JoelC I was just trying to export a pdf of a report and was having the exact same problems you are having (running Quicken on Win11 on Parallels on an M1 MacBook) and came across this discussion.

Found a solution that worked for the immediate problem I was having - trying to print a report in landscape mode that was too wide when using the Microsoft Print to PDF and couldn't reduce scaling to fit (grayed out).

I installed "Print to PDF" as a Mac printer - free from the App Store. Selected it as the printer when printing from Quicken. Although the scaling was still grayed out, for some reason the report was automatically scaled to fit the width. Hit Print and the pdf opened in Preview in Mac OS, properly scaled to fit the width. Just needed to rotate the pages and save.

No idea why it scaled it to fit automatically, I don't see any settings in the "Print to PDF" printer driver settings in the Mac Settings, but I'm not going to worry about, it got the job done!

One minor issue: seems it is gray scale only, no color.

JoelC · February 1

@Kevin Strong awesome and thank you. I will give it a try and report back, hopefully I will have the same experience as you! While beggars cannot be choosers, it would be great to have colour too!

JoelC · February 1

@Kevin Strong I have now played around a bit and note the following:

i) Print to PDF: I think you got lucky here as I tried this for a P/L statement and it printed over multiple pages. It did appear as a printer within Quicken, the scaling was greyed out but did not print over one page. Worth noting, colour printing is available by upgrading to the pro (i.e., paid) version.

ii) PDF Printer: This is another application made by the same company called PDF Printer. That worked "better" in that the report was spread over fewer pages but still spread over multiple pages.

iii) The hunt continues. Perhaps the solution is to find a PDF Printer on the macOS side that allows the user to scale the printing before t is printed. This may be very difficult as it "appears" (i.e., I have not dug into it) that Parallels changes this in V19.

Thanks.

JoelC · February 7

I have a great workaroud, especially for people on macOS as follows:

i) run the desired report.

ii) take a screen shot of the report (very easily done using SHIFT + COMMAND + 5 on a mac)

iii) display the resulting screen in preview / picture / etc.

iv) print as a single page.

While as flexible / functional as having the scaling working, it does work and is MUCH FASTER that exporting and formatting Excel.

I hope this assists others.

Quicken for Windows Print Scaling Not Working

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