What is the blue arrow icon that has suddenly appeared below a highlighted entry point?

William Prendergast

I am suddenly seeing a blue stylized icon-like arrow pointing up right under a character or space that is highlighted for entry! It blocks out some characters (for instance, part of the date when the date is highlighted).

I find this VERY ANNOYING and would like to turn it off!! I see nothing about this in any of the support information or update notes. I has just appeared within the last 2 days. Running Quicken Classic for Windows on a Mac with Parallels Desktop simulation.

Boatnmaniac

Which version are you running? (Quicken > Help > About Quicken)

Did this start right after your Quicken installation was updated?

If so, did you let Quicken automatically update the version or did you manually download the update file and install it?

What type of account?

Can you take a screenshot of the issue and post it here? (FAQ: How do I post a screenshot in the Community from Windows?).

Have you tried any basic troubleshooting like closing and relaunching Quicken and/or rebooting your Mac?

William Prendergast

I think it started after the last Quicken update (done automatically in response to an update notice along with downloaded transactions), but I did that at the end of a session and didn't notice this anomaly until the next time I was entering transactions. It persisted through several restarts of Quicken and at least 1 reboot of my host machine (as I said: running Quicken Classic Windows in a Parallels Desktop virtual machine on a MacBook Air laptop) My current version of Quicken says: 27.1.54.16. I had just recently updated my host machine to Sonoma (OS 14.3.1) and my first thought was that it was something Sonoma was doing to my cursor! But after looking at native Apps running on my Mac, I couldn't find it there.

The appearance of this "arrow" below and pointing up to whatever character or text block you have highlighted (also in blue) is very much like a giant cursor……but it's not the cursor. It seems to be pointing to the highlighted text block where the next keystroke will alter the text. This phenomenon appeared every time I used Quicken (3 sessions) over 2 days. But I'm embarrassed to say that this morning, when I went to try to take a screen shot of the thing, it's NOT THERE!! So now I'm really confused.

This does NOT really look like a "malfunction". It looks like some kind of pointer pointing at where your next keystroke will replace whatever is highlighted (or copy it to the clipboard, etc.) Some kind of "aid" to keeping track of where you're working on the page. But I don't need the help! The highlighted text is sufficient for me and this arrow icon blocks out the text below the highlight and even some of the highlighted text on either side of the point of the arrow.

If it never comes back, great! But I'd be interested to know if anyone recognizes what I'm describing. If I had to guess, I'd guess it's some kind of visual enhancement/aid for perhaps people with poor vision?? I looked as best I could at "accessibility" settings both on my Windows guest OS and my host Mac OS, but I didn't find anything that seemed related to such a "pointer icon".

Opinions freely solicited!! Thanks for that reply! If it reappears, a screenshot will be my first step! And I will re-post with it.

Boatnmaniac

I have not seen any blue cursor arrow or any blue arrow at all in Quicken so I'm not sure how to respond, especially since you no longer see it so you cannot post a picture of it.

Maybe someone else will know what this was about and will post here.

I'm glad the issue seems to have gone away. If it returns, be sure to post back in this forum, again.

William Prendergast

Just to be totally clear: it isn’t a configuration of the cursor. Rather it appears just below (pointing up) something I’ve highlighted. The cursor can move away but as long as the text block remains highlighted, the arrow pointing at it from below remains. The most recent change/update prior to this appearing was the OS upgrade of my host machine (MacBk). I’ve scoured cursor settings, accessibility settings, etc, etc. for both the host Mac OS and for Windows 11 that is running Quicken and I can’t find anything seemingly related to what I was seeing. But right now I can’t reproduce it. But when it occurred, I only observed it in Quicken. You can be sure I’ll get a screenshot if it happens again!

William Prendergast

OK. The arrow is back! Here's 2 screenshots that clearly show what I'm talking about. In the first I am entering a transaction that is a memorized transaction but the arrow is showing up to "help me" by pointing to the highlighted characters. In the second, I have just entered the amount of a split transaction incorrectly and have highlighted it to edit it. In both cases you can see the arrow (actually a white arrow on a blue background) pointing to where I am going to be entering values. That is where it shows up: anyplace where I could enter keystrokes or edit existing ones. I have NO IDEA what this is or where it came from!!

Any insights or information most gratefully accepted! What I mainly want to know is HOW TO GET RID OF IT!!

QuickUserPSP

Could it be an option or setting with Parallels Desktop? Or a system setting on your Mac?

William Prendergast

Well, it turns out that it is a gadget that was deployed by Apple in Sonoma!! Believe me, that was the very first thing I thought of because upgrading my OS on the host Mac was the MOST RECENT thing I had done. And I spent quite awhile looking through Sonoma notes and the Apple User Community with no luck. AND, I use my Mac with native applications all the time and I have NOT noticed this in any other program other than Quicken running in Parallels Desktop. But tonight, right after posting those screenshots above I did another search in the Apple User Community. Possibly I worded my question differently? Not sure. But this time I got a hit from a thread that has an OP of October, 2023 (about the time Sonoma was first deployed). Some very unhappy users who are trying to get rid of it! I haven't read it all yet. But I wanted to thank the Quicken Community for taking an interest and inform any of my fellow users of Parallels Desktop to allow me to continue to run Quicken Windows (could never get to like Quicke for Mac!). Any of you out there running Quicken Windows in Parallels on a Mac: if you have this blue arrow showing up when you're entering data in Quicken, search the Apple User Community with "Turn off blue arrow." That's what turned up the thread for me! Thanks to all.