the ability to create a report directly from the Category List has been removed

RJH

Anyone else find this "improvement" frustrating? Rather than having the ability to quickly generate a report directly from a selected category in the category list, one now has to go through the following convoluted additional steps! I fail to see how this has improved anything.

How to create category reports:

1. 1. Go to Reports & Graphs Center:
   • Click on the "Reports" dropdown menu in the top menu bar.
   • Select "Reports & Graphs Center".
2. 2. Choose a report type:
   • In the left-hand panel, find the section related to the type of report you want (e.g., Spending, Income, etc.).
   • Select the specific report you need (e.g., Spending by Category).
3. 3. Customize your report:
   • The report settings will be displayed. You can adjust the date range, accounts, categories, and other options to tailor the report to your needs.
4. 4. Run the report:
   • Once you've configured the report, click "Run" or "Create" to generate the report.
5. 5. Alternative method:
   • You can also find some standard reports under the "Reports" dropdown menu without going to the Reports & Graphs Center

RalphC

I don't ever remember being able to create a report from the Category List. Although, if I wanted to generate a report, I would start at the Reports pulldown rather than navigating first to the Category List and then to the Reports Center.

Boatnmaniac

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

I am still running R62.16 and I can still generate specific category transactions reports directly from the Category List: Right click on the desired category > left click on Category Report > left click on Full Report. This is the only way I've ever done that and do not recall if there had previously been other means of pulling reports from Category List.

I can also click on the Printer icon and export the Category List to Excel but that just exports the Category List and not the details for each category.

CaliQkn

@RJH I am on the the most current revision R63.21 and from what I can see the ability to create category reports from the Category list is still available.

If you haven't already, you should add the "Usage" column to the list. It tells you if a category has any transactions. This is important because you cannot create a category report for any category that shows "0" for usage. This includes parent categories.

You can add the Usage column by clicking on the gear in the upper right next to "Action". Just checkmark it and it will be added to the list.

Then you will be able to more easily determine which categories you can create a category report for.

RJH

CaliQkn,

Thanks! That is exactly what I was looking for. I knew the Category list didn't look quite the same after the update to R63.21, but couldn't determine what changed. I don't know if the update removed the usage column or I inadvertently did.

Thanks again!

RJH

Boatnmaniac,

Thanks for your response and an alternative way to generate a Category report. I had never tried that way before. I had always used CaliQkn's method (see comments).

Thanks again.

CaliQkn

@RJH glad that worked for you. I have also noticed that that column disappears every once in a while. I never figured out why, but your comment about it happening after an update may point to a cause.

Boatnmaniac

Maybe sometimes the Usage column disappears when a version update occurs? Version updates (IMO, especially when the software does the update or there is a forced version update) will sometimes (not uncommonly) change various settings in Quicken.

Because of this, I always make it a point after every version update and before I start actively working my data files to review every one of my Preferences settings and correct any that were changed during the version update.

This issue with version updates going haywire also can affect/corrupt customized saved reports and other function views so if I see any issues in them I try to remind myself of that so I know where I should perhaps start the troubleshooting process.

It's just a guess that maybe this is what causes the usage column to be unselected but I certainly wouldn't be surprised if that might be the reason.

q_lurker

@Boatnmaniac cross checking preferences certainly strikes me as a good step, but there are so many options there any more, my remembering what I prefer is questionable. Then there are other non-preference setting as in this case. Any suggestions on how you track all these items that just might mysteriously change?

I will add I rarely have a significant mysterious change, so it is not usually a big deal for me. But they do occasionally pop up and seem to impact some users more than others.

Boatnmaniac

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20497293#Comment_20497293

I agree that cross checking preferences, other settings and saved reports is a good thing to do but it should not be necessary. And it is a real PITA to have to do it, especially since what gets changed in one data file does not always get changed or gets changed differently in other data files. I have 4 primary data files so each one needs to be individually checked with each one taking 10-15 minutes to manually check and correct as needed. I also have 4 different test data files which compounds the issue even more.

I don't have any tracking process for this that is documented. I go off of memory, too, and agree that with all of the changes being made it can be a bit difficult to know with 100% confidence that my reviews are being properly completed.

Also, I do not see such changes frequently occurring with version updates, either. For me it happens just once in a while. But some of those changed preferences and settings were so disturbing to me (such as my automatic backup settings being deleted and category splits simply disappearing in Reconciled transactions going back months and not found until weeks later) that I decided to bite the bullet on this.

I've also decided to limit the number of version updates that I do. I used to update just about every time there was a new release. Now I usually don't update until every 3rd-5th version update and then only after seeing what successes or issues others are posting about them.