Sidebar heading sort changed (Q Mac)

terrencet76

Not the most recent release, but the one before seems to have changed the sort order of the sidebar headers. In my case, Checking now comes before Cash. Its quite a nuisance for me which I thought might resolve with the next release, but alas it did not. I chatted with support (case number: 11218557) and they suggested I post here. Wondering if this could be logged as a minor bug or enhancement request for future.

• Quicken Classic Deluxe
• Version 7.8.2 (Build 708.53926.100)
• macOS 14.6.1

terrencet76

adding a screenshot

jacobs

@terrencet76 To follow on from what @RickO said above, I was one of the users who objected to having Cash moved to the top of the sidebar, and was happy to see Checking moved back to the top.

To recap the sequence of changes…

Since its inception in 2014, Quicken Mac had always grouped checking and cash accounts together under the subheading of "Cash", while having "Savings" as a separate subgroup. Many people had questioned this over the years, wondering why savings accounts had their own subheading, but checking accounts were grouped under the "Cash" group. This sometimes caused confusion when users unknowingly collapsed the Cash section (by inadvertently clicking to the left of the Cash heading and hitting the otherwise hidden "v" icon); they panicked that their checking account had completely disappeared.

In the 7.6.0 release in early March, checking accounts were finally given their own subheading, so Cash, Checking, Credit Card and Savings were now equal subgroups under Banking. In that release, the developers placed Checking below Cash, apparently just because that was alphabetical order. A lot of users (like me) who were used to having their primary checking account as the first account in the sidebar didn't like having checking account moved down in the sidebar. (And any reasoning for alphabetical order failed because Savings has always come before Credit Card.) The developers responded in the next release by making Checking first, followed by Cash, Savings, and Credit Cards as of the 7.6.2 release. This order also matches the Quicken Mobile app, which puts Checking before Cash.

I personally like this order. I think it makes sense to have checking, cash and savings accounts one after the other, with credit cards following. And I think for most people, their checking account is sort of "home base" of their personal finances, and it makes sense for checking to be at the top of the sidebar.

I see from your screenshot that you seem to use Cash for some different purpose than most people. Accounts in Quicken are intended to mirror "real world" accounts; in the case of Cash, that's most typically actual currency on hand — the cash in your wallet/purse, or a shoebox in the closet. In my case, I have one cash account for me and one for my wife, so we can enter transactions to categorize the cash we spend. It looks like you may be using Cash accounts differently; perhaps some form of envelope budgeting?

As RickO said, the best solution would be if the developers allowed users to reorder account groups in the sidebar to suit their personal preferences, so it's worth adding your vote for the linked Idea topic. And add a post to explain why you'd prefer to put your Cash before Checking; users providing use cases the developers may not have envisioned can help persuade them to make changes.