Moving from Windows to Mac, take 2...

jacobs

@Bob. Your workflow with downloaded transactions is up to your preference. There is nothing you have to do to accept the downloaded transactions; they come into your registers and require no action to "accept" them; the transactions are live transactions in your register as soon as they come in. If you review the downloaded transactions, you can clear the status icon one transaction at a time, or you can select some or all transactions and clear the icon on all of them. To do that, select a group of transactions Control-click on any one of them, and select "Set Status of Selected Transactions to > Reviewed. (You can also restore any icons you may have cleared inadvertently, or to flag transactions you want to review later, in the same way, setting the status to "Not Reviewed".) Some people ignore the status icons until they do a monthly reconciliation to a statement, and clear them then. It just depends what works best for you in reviewing your transactions.

Turning to categories, there are a number of approaches. Quicken's auto-categorization, which is done at the server level before downloading into your data file, is hard-wired to use certain categories. So the simplest thing might be to merge your old category into Quicken Mac's default category (in Window > Categories), so your old transactions will be consistent with newly downloaded ones. But perhaps you prefer to continue using your old categories. In that case, you could create QuickFill rules for the Payees where you buy gas, for instance, and set them to use your preferred category for gas. In this case, you probably don't have more than a handful of common fuel vendors, so it's not much work to set up QuickFill rules for each of them. (You may also need to create Renaming Rules, if the Payee names that come through Quicken's server-based Payee renaming aren't consistent. For instance, if you have "Exxon #1234" and "Exxon #9876", you'd create a rule to rename any Payee containing "Exxon" to be simply "Exxon"; then you'd have a QuickFill rule for the Exxon Payee to use category=Auto:Fuel.)

Chris_QPW

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20482066#Comment_20482066

In Quicken Windows turn on this option and get use to the seeing the transactions be put directly in the register, and then the Quicken Mac flow (and the Mobile and Web, old Mint, Simplify and tons of other tools will make more sense).

In a nutshell the old method in Quicken Windows "Review one transaction at a time in the Downloaded Transactions tab, and then accept into the register". The new method review, all the transactions in the register that have been downloaded and have the status of New or New Match and mark them reviewed one at a time or all of them at one time once you have reviewed them all for correctness.

Also, since your renaming rules and memorized payees don't transfer, you need to recreate them in Quicken Mac's renaming rules and QuickFill (which is basically the same as Quicken Windows' memorized payees).

Bob.

I'm back. Thanks for the replies.

One of the things that concerns me on Categories is that some are tax line items and some npot, of course. When Quicken Mac changes a category to what it thinks beest, I lose the tax line. As a matter of fact, Windows shows ma e a tax lkiune. I must assume business ois the Mac equivalent, yet now another variable as to aht business or even down to which client should I desire.

So, to be sure I get tax line (can I even get granualr on that as I do with Windows?), what is the easiest way to be sure it uses a categpry with tax line regardless of whether my old or new? This is a bit more unexpected work, but would like to get that behind me.

@Chris_QPW never had that tiurned on. Prefer to have it off. Suits me.

Where do I need to recreate? Ahh, I see. Not so worried on Quickfill rules. Though I recall Windows settings for that I am not seeing here.

I asked previously, but would lobve to delete unused payees.

Cannot find where to set Tax Details other than Bills and Income Payee. What am I missing?

And I have 2629 Payees!

Bob.

Just found where the tax info is and its Categories. And only 407 of those :)

I have 0 renaming rules.

I also see actions. With odd names like"134". What are those?

So categories is my big todo item. Then renaming rules. You think better to rename existing to what Quicken auto selects and ediots those categories or have Quicken rename to my old choices?

Bob.

Last thought: Any way to search globally for "not reviewed" items?

Jon

@Bob. Probably the easiest way to find all unreviewed transactions across all accounts is to look at the All Transactions register and sort on the Status column. That should lump all the new & unreviewed transactions (blue dot) together and also all the matched & unreviewed transactions (blue pencil).

I don't use the Action column myself, and there doesn't seem to be any consistency in how different financial institutions use it. Even the ones that don't leave it blank generally fill it with something that's just a generic description like "PAYMENT" or "DEPOSIT" which I don't find useful.

Chris_QPW

@Bob. my point for all the Windows users that refuse to even try that option and can't live without it, shouldn't migrate to Quicken Mac, because that is the only mode support on Quicken Mac. And that maybe trying it on Quicken Windows where you are more familiar might easy the converting over on Quicken Mac.

On the payees, you can't delete old ones without deleting them in every transaction that used that payee. You can hide them though. Quicken Mac's payee names are organized in the database the same way categories are in both Quicken Windows and Quicken Mac where the field points to the payee in a list of payees, it isn't a separate entry per transaction. This means for instance that if you rename a payee, all transactions with that payee will show that change (no search and replace). Whether that is good or bad depends on your point of view, that is the way it is.

jacobs

@Bob. You fire off so many questions and then partially update them that it can be hard to know what you're still asking and what you've figured out between posts. 😂 Are you squared away on categories and tax lines now? If you use one of Quicken's default categories, it should have a tax line assigned to it, if appropriate; if you use your own categories, you need to assign the tax lines yourself. It doesn't matter which you do. The only advantage of using Quicken's default categories is that its server-based auto-categorization engine will try to categorize transactions correctly for Payees for which you have not created QuickFill rules.

Actions is an odd field in Quicken Mac. It's there for those who want to use it to identify something about their transactions, but it isn't used anywhere in the program. Some people like to use it to record the source of transactions, such and "ATM" or "Venmo" or "EFT". Some financial institutions may download some description which flows into the Action field, such as CHECK or WITHDRAWAL. (My bank does not.) I have a few random numbers in my Action field on 7 transactions out of 73,000+; it looks like they were misplaced check numbers from the legacy Quicken Mac program which somehow didn't flow into the Check # column at the time I migrated from the old program to the current one. I had never noticed this because I don't use the Action column and have it hidden in my registers. (And it's only 0.01% of my transactions!) The Action field seems to be present from when the program was created, and some people find it useful, but note that it is only somewhat supported: you can't store an Action in a QuickFill rule; you can't globally search and replace an Action entry.

Any way to search globally for "not reviewed" items?

Just to be clear we're talking about the same thing, are you referring to transactions which have blue dots indicating they have been downloaded and not reviewed? Frankly, if you've gotten your account balances and investment holdings to check out from your transition from Windows, do any older transactions which might have a blue dot matter to you? I'd be inclined to clea 'em all and start using them for new transactions going forward.

But yes, you can find them all. Click on All Transactions in the left sidebar. Then click twice on the heading of the Status column (so the sort order in the header is showing "v" not "^"), and all your transactions will be grouped by status.

Bob.

Probably the easiest way to find all unreviewed transactions across all accounts is to look at the All Transactions register and sort on the Status column. That should lump all the new & unreviewed transactions (blue dot) together and also all the matched & unreviewed transactions (blue pencil).

Actually, that seems incredibly helpful.

Thanks Chris. Helpful as well.

You fire off so many questions and then partially update them that it can be hard to know what you're still asking and what you've figured out between posts. 😂 Are you squared away on categories and tax lines now? If you use one of Quicken's default categories, it should have a tax line assigned to it, if appropriate; If you use your own categories, you need to assign the tax lines yourself. It doesn't matter which you do. The only advantage of using Quicken's default categories is that its server-based auto-categorization engine will try to categorize transactions correctly for Payees for which you have not created QuickFill rules.

Sorry. Yes I think I have this. Another unexpected transition, but each time a new category comes in I will have to at least check it to be sure it matches what I intended. And then I will have to change my existing category to this new category. Correct me if I am wrong. Seems the best way to go. Will leave the historical categories in the list and unused I suppose.
Thanks on actions. Have no idea where mine came from, but only 56 of 'em. Will not use.

Just to be clear we're talking about the same thing, are you referring to transactions which have blue dots indicating they have been downloaded and not reviewed? Frankly, if you've gotten your account balances and investment holdings to check out from your transition from Windows, do any older transactions which might have a blue dot matter to you? I'd be inclined to clea 'em all and start using them for new transactions going forward.

Yep. And that's why I was asking for an easy wholesale way to review and remove them. I assume I can shift-click and then review all at once on a right click.

OK, a few more rapid fire questions:

1. 
   How do I get Bills to stop estimating my next bill amount? Did not have that (or do not have that - have not switched. Running parallel). I set all my variable bills in Windows to 0.00 And that changes when a bill is scraped. Would like to stop the estimates here in Mac.
2. I have not yet in Mac had a matched payment come in. Is there any indication it matches (or better, Quicken THINKS it matches) other than the review blue dot? Do I have control over saying it is or is not a match?
3. And totally non related, anyone a T-moble customer here? My pdf's stopped on Jan 30th. Neither Win nor Mac picking up and I am wondering if just me.

Thanks all. More progress. I personally could never have anticipated some of these questions no matter what I read if I could find something to have read. Have to use it and in some cases, have to have used Windows to even think of the things I might be missing.

Jon

@Bob. For eBills I don't see a way to stop it from automatically filling in the amount (which will be the most recent bill until the next one becomes available). For manual bills just set the bill amount to $0 - I do that with my utility bills that change month to month & I've never had an issue with Quicken changing that on me.

Matched transactions only occur if you are manually entering your transactions - when the transaction eventually shows up in your download the orange pencil icon in the status column that was created when you initially entered the transaction will change to a blue pencil. If you disagree on the match you can right click on the transaction and select "Reject Automatic Transaction Match" and it will unmatch the transaction; at that point you will have the original manually entered transaction with it's orange pencil status restored and a downloaded transaction with a blue dot. At that point you can drag the downloaded transaction onto a different manually entered transaction to pair them, or just mark the downloaded transaction as reviewed if there is no manual transaction to match it to.

As for reviewing multiple transactions, you can click on the blue status icon of a downloaded transaction and select "Mark All Downloaded Transactions as Reviewed" and it will do that for all the transactions in the register you are looking at. If you want to select multiple transactions and review just the selected ones, then after selecting the transactions right click on one of them and select "Set Status of Selected Transactions To" and then "Reviewed" from the submenu.

jacobs

Another unexpected transition, but each time a new category comes in I will have to at least check it to be sure it matches what I intended. And then I will have to change my existing category to this new category. Correct me if I am wrong. Seems the best way to go. Will leave the historical categories in the list and unused I suppose.

New categories won't be created unless you create one manually.

If you have two categories which are for the same thing — e.g. one from your Quicken Windows data and one from Quicken Mac's defaults — I'd suggest merging the categories so only one remains. You just have to decide which to keep and which to jettison. When you merge two (or more) categories, all existing transactions using the category(ies) being merged into another will automatically be changed to the surviving category. So after a little cleanup, you shouldn't have old categories you no longer use: they'll either merged into a category you do use or marked as hidden.

I assume I can shift-click and then review all at once on a right click.

Correct.

I have not yet in Mac had a matched payment come in. Is there any indication it matches (or better, Quicken THINKS it matches) other than the review blue dot? Do I have control over saying it is or is not a match?

Matched transactions will have a blue pencil icon rather than a blue dot. You can see all the possible status icons on this Quicken Help page.

Yes, you can unmatch a matched transaction. Control-click a transaction and select "Reject Automatic Transaction Match" (or "Unmatch Transaction" if you manually merged them). You can re-match the transactions if you unmatched by mistake.

anyone a T-moble customer here?

I am, but I don't import bills or PDFs. My bills is on auto-pay, and when the payment downloads in my bank account, it matches my scheduled transaction when the amount is the same; when the amount changes, the transactions don't auto-match, so I match them and check why the amount has changed. I just log onto the T-Mobile website to download my bill each month. (I don't store any attachments in Quicken.)

Bob.

For eBills I don't see a way to stop it from automatically filling in the amount (which will be the most recent bill until the next one becomes available). For manual bills just set the bill amount to $0 - I do that with my utility bills that change month to month & I've never had an issue with Quicken changing that on me.

In Windows, even eBills set to 0.00 are sticky. Thought I might have missed a setting in Mac.

Matched transactions only occur if you are manually entering your transactions - when the transaction eventually shows up in your download the orange pencil icon in the status column that was created when you initially entered the transaction will change to a blue pencil.

Naw, really???? If I schedule a bill to be paid via my Bank Checking Account Bill Pay, it has a transaction that will be matched when the bill is pad.

Got reviewing transactions down now. Funny as I am running Win and Mac parallel (only PAYING bills in Win), have to pause to recall what is where in each version.

New categories won't be created unless you create one manually.

Sure, but NEW TO ME when coming in from Quicken auto generated will be. And I feel I need to check them. Right now, with an N of 15, I think I needed to change one from the auto generated.

When you merge two (or more) categories, all existing transactions using the category(ies) being merged into another will automatically be changed to the surviving category.

And how does one merge? Let me look at that….OK, Isee the Merge command but not how to choose which one survives. This will be a good idea.

I'll ask a question about pdf's in general in Quicken. Some seem "going away" I prefer to get them here or paper.

jacobs

And how does one merge? Let me look at that….OK, Isee the Merge command but not how to choose which one survives.

• In Window > Categories, select two or more categories (using Command-click to select).
• Click Merge Categories
• In the Merge window, you'll see the categories you've selected in the top portion, and the bottom "Into" dropdown menu allows you to select which one of the categories will be the one which survives:

I'll ask a question about pdf's in general in Quicken. Some seem "going away" I prefer to get them here or paper.

I'm pretty anal about bill and document retention; I just don't do it within Quicken. For many bills, I download and print statements; I have a file cabinet drawer with folders for each credit card/service provider where I file bills. For important receipts — for appliances or other things which have warranties — I capture a PDF, name and date it, and store it in a Receipts folder. And I'm inching my way to transition to saving PDFs of some of my bills in lieu of paper, but again, I don't store them in Quicken; I store them in folders by vendor/payee. (Some prefer storing documents in folders by year and then month, some prefer by payee and then year.)

Why not store them in Quicken, attached to the transaction or account they belong to? For me, a few reasons. (1) Over time, a Quicken data file can grow pretty significantly large — many GB versus a few hundred MB — if you have hundreds of PDFs stored in the file. This slows backup time when quitting and adds to the volume of other backups Time Machine, iDrive, etc.) (2) Should your Quicken data file somehow get corrupted or lock you out, or should you decide to move to different software, or should Quicken as a company go kaput, all your records are locked in the data file; I prefer having them as file accessible by the Ma operating system. (3) There's no way to search for attachments, only the transactions which may contain them. (That may not be a big deal.) (4) The biggest open for me is that there is no functionality for dealing with attachments in Quicken. You can find a transaction or account with an attachment and open it. But let's say you want to delete all your credit card bills older than 3 years: you have to find each transaction and manually delete each attachment. Or let's say you want all your bills for a certain payee: you have to find each transaction, open the attachment and export/print it, one at a time. Or let's say in five years you decide to stop using Quicken, and want to gather up all the documents you've carefully saved over time; again, you'd have to do it one transaction/document at a time. Quicken would need attachment management functionality to overcome this issue for me. Better still, if Quicken added the ability to store a link to a document stored outside Quicken in a folder on my Mac, that would be the best solution for me.

Chris_QPW

Naw, really???? If I schedule a bill to be paid via my Bank Checking Account Bill Pay, it has a transaction that will be matched when the bill is pad.

Got reviewing transactions down now. 

If you aren't reviewing all of your transactions in Quicken Windows, you are doing it wrong.

Whether that reviewing is in the Downloaded Transactions tab or in the register it is the same. One shouldn't just assume that their downloaded transactions are OK. In the Downloaded Transactions tab you click on each, and make sure that they are correct, and then accept them into the register. About the only thing that is different for a Matched transactions is it is marked with Match, you still need to make sure that matching is correct before accepting that transaction/match into the register. When doing it in the register you are doing the same thing, you are making sure the match is correct and then marking it reviewed.

EDIT: I will also state something that might not be obvious from @jacobs' statement about the orange and blue pencil. What is happening is a "merge" of the transaction entered into the register and the downloaded one. You are getting some information from the downloaded transaction and some from the existing transaction in the register. For instance, the category from the pre-entered transaction, and the unique Id from the downloaded transaction.

Bob.

Thanks @jacobs I didn't want to hit "Merge" until I knew how to choose the survivor.

@Chris_QPW

If you aren't reviewing all of your transactions in Quicken Windows, you are doing it wrong.

Thisis a MAC topic :) Everything here is working just fine in Windows and I match, etc trouble free. I have not yet had a match in Mac so was questioning how Mac alerts me it is a match.

About the only thing that is different for a Matched transactions is it is marked with Match, you still need to make sure that matching is correct before accepting that transaction/match into the register.

If that refers to Mac, then I have the answer. I know how it works in Windows. Thanks.

Off to merge Categories:)

Chris_QPW

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20482975#Comment_20482975

Do you? Do you use automatic transaction entry mode? If not, then you don't know all the ways it might be done in Quicken Windows.

This is something that I have fought on the Quicken Windows side for YEARS, and against SuperUsers no less.

They use terms like "magic" and "guessing". Well, that is all because they haven't used the mode and basically don't know what they are talking about. Fundamentally there isn't anything different between the two at the level of what is being done. The process is to check to make sure that the downloading and merging to existing transactions was done correctly and not assume that they are. The procedures are slightly different, but the goals are the same, and both have pluses and minuses.

And you made this statement:

Got reviewing transactions down now. 

And my point is that hopefully you were always reviewing your downloaded transactions.

Jon

Naw, really???? If I schedule a bill to be paid via my Bank Checking Account Bill Pay, it has a transaction that will be matched when the bill is pad.

Sorry, forgot about the reminders for scheduled transactions, those will get matched just like manually entered transactions.

Bob.

Never used automatic entry in Windows. Prefer to check, match, review before it enters. I LIKE that process. I MISS that process in Mac. And yes, I undertsand Matching in Windows WITHOUT automatic entry. I have not experience Mac yet. Surprised after thousands of posts here over years you might think I was not reviewing and matching entries oin Windows. Still a Mac newbie, so looking for mthods and options. Particulalrly those that mirror how I work today in Windows.

jacobs

Still a Mac newbie, so looking for mthods and options. Particulalrly those that mirror how I work today in Windows.

As I've mentioned before, try to identify what your end goal is rather than how you're used to accomplishing it. If you're constantly trying to mirror how you've worked in Windows, it can create frustration every time things don't work the same as they worked in Windows. Doing some things differently will take patience and time to retrain your brain and fingers, but over time may be as comfortable as what you were previously used to.

I never used Quicken Windows, but I used the legacy Quicken Mac (2007 and earlier) for more than 20 years. Some changes (such as 2-line register to 1-line register) were things I pretty quickly adapted to; other things are either still missing or require an extra step or two and my brain still has the old muscle memory. Despite some shortcomings, I grew to like modern Quicken Mac more than the old Quicken Mac, but that didn't happen overnight. 🤣

Bob.

An exaggeration. Did not say that at all. So no need to constantly remind me things are different. But if they are similar or equivalent, I want to find them as well as audition how they are done differently. Please put that one to rest.