Sidebar gets rearranged in Version 7.6.0 (Build 706.52603.100) update

Masterbluestar

I just updated to Version 7.6.0 (Build 706.52603.100) and my sidebar got rearranged NOT TO MY LIKING and I didn't ask for it to be rearranged by some order that Quicken deems better! Why does Q do this? I had my accounts arranged the way I use them most often. Also, there is no way to arrange the order in which accounts can be custom-arranged, i.e., Checking on top, Savings next, and so on… The way people want it! Please stop rearranging the UI without consulting users first! I hate this and I would bet most people would not like this either!

RickO

You may want to consider joining Quicken Beta so that you can get your input in while change are still in development:

https://www.quicken.com/beta#:~:text=Before%20you%20can%20participate%2C%20it's,Community%20using%20your%20Quicken%20ID.&text=Lastly%2C%20complete%20the%20sign%2Dup,and%20notify%20you%20via%20email.

jacobs

The 6.0 release makes one small change to the sidebar: checking accounts are no longer listed under the "Cash" subheading, they have their own "Checking" subheading now. This is a request many people have asked for over many years; here are a few examples of more than a dozen threads in the forum about this:

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7875992/why-do-checking-accounts-show-up-as-cash-in-the-accounts-column-on-the-left

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7878167/categorization-of-account-types-should-be-consistent-checking-vs-cash-accounts-q-mac

So, contrary to the developers "rearranging the UI without consulting users first", separating Checking from Cash is something users have actually asked for, for years.

The positive of this is that most people would prefer to see Checking, Savings and Cash accounts separated, as is now the case. The downside is that everything in the left sidebar is sorted alphabetically, which puts Cash on top of Checking — a change that I would guess 99% of people don't like. Checking accounts are likely the most-used accounts in Quicken, while Cash accounts for most people are used much less frequently.

What is obviously desirable is a way that users can reorder/reconfigure the accounts in the sidebar to their liking. Unfortunately, in the past the developers have said they don't plan to allow custom account grouping and ordering due to unspecified complexities. More than one Idea thread requesting such a change has been archived because the developers have said it's not planned. There is one current Idea thread keeping the hope for such a change alive:

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7907965/add-an-option-to-re-order-accounts-in-the-sidebar-q-mac-1-merged-vote

That thread is marked as "Under Consideration", which means the developers have not decided they won't do it, but neither have they committed to it and put it on their definitive calendar for future work. If you haven't voted for this feature request previously, I suggest clicking the View Post link so you can add your vote — and add your comment about why it's now more desirable than ever due to Cash jumping above Checking in the left sidebar. That said, I'd also note that in that thread, the last feedback from the developers is that they are considering only a small part of the request to allow account order customization:

To me, the ability to reorder accounts within a subgroup would be of limited value; you can accomplish that today by using number prefixes for your account name. The real need is to be able to reorder subgroups — placing Checking at the top, above Cash — and ultimately to allow users to create custom groups/subgroups and places account sin whatever group they want. Unfortunately, the developers have indicated this is unlikely to happen.

RickO

@jacobs wrote:

everything in the left sidebar is sorted alphabetically, which puts Cash on top of Checking — a change that I would guess 99% of people don't like. 

Not exactly… the four subgroups under banking are Cash, Checking, Savings, and Credit Card in that order. If they were alphabetically, then Credit Card would come before Savings. So clearly the order is manually coded. They should do a survey of users of their preferred order and implement whatever the majority votes for. My preference would be Checking, Savings, Cash, then Credit Card.

jacobs

the four subgroups under banking are Cash, Checking, Savings, and Credit Card in that order. If they were alphabetically, then Credit Card would come before Savings. So clearly the order is manually coded.

Good point. (Unless there is some sort by assets vs. liabilities which would amount for Cash, Checking and Savings coming before Credit Card.) All my savings are in brokerage and retirement accounts, so I don't have any stand-alone savings accounts; I had to create. dummy savings account to see that you're correct about the order.

I don't know about surveying users for preferred order; I think it would be hard to reach and get replies from enough users to be definitive. But I think common sense tells us that making Checking first, rather than Cash, would be the wish of the vast majority of users. I'm not sure there'd be such unanimity on whether Cash or Savings should be second; I also think most people won't care about the order of those two as much as making Checking first.

I'd also note that the way account groups and subgroups are coded in the software likely may impact other areas of the program than the sidebar. For instance, users can edit included accounts in the settings for reports, budgets, and now for Dashboard cards. Interestingly, in the latter two places, the subgroups are alphabetical, with Credit Card coming before Savings. It's only in the left sidebar that Savings comes ahead of Credit Cards.