Accessing a transaction via a report line

Carol
Carol Member ✭✭
This used to be very easy to do, but apparently updates have made it unfriendly. Since I'm unable to locate "Find & Replace" anymore on my Quicken 2017 version, the other option is to locate the transaction on a report and just double click on it to change what I need to. But no, it's not that easy. Now I have to make note of what it is, OPEN my account, go find it, and change it. So what should be a 2 step process is now at least 5 or 6. Unless someone can enlighten me....

Comments

  • John_in_NC
    John_in_NC SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    edited January 2020
    There hasn't been a Find & Replace in Quicken for Mac since 2007. The Search box at the upper right of the register replaced it.

    Are you not able to enter your search criteria there? You can search across individual or multiple accounts depending on what you select in the sidebar. That should allow you to find transactions without resorting to running a report to find them.

    As far as viewing reports and being able to click on them and take you to the desired transactions in the register. I just verified in the latest version of 2017 that this still works.

    Where exactly are you running into further problems?
  • Carol
    Carol Member ✭✭
    ok, it appears my answer got deleted so I will try again.

    Regarding Find & Replace hasn't been available since 2007, I got this information from the following link that says it was last updated in Dec. of 2017.
    https://www.quicken.com/support/how-manage-category-or-subcategory-quicken

    So I'm not sure why you think it was discontinued in 2007.

    In regards to your comment: As far as viewing reports and being able to click on them and take you to the desired transactions in the register. I just verified in the latest version of 2017 that this still works.

    This is not do-able on my version of Quicken which is the reason for my original question.
  • John_in_NC
    John_in_NC SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    Hi, Carol: thanks for the update.

    Quicken for Mac 2007 (and its few subsequent updates) were the last releases to support Find & Replace.

    Quicken Essentials (a completely new version released 2010) and future versions (all variants based off Essentials) offer the Live Search, but no actual Find & Replace. 

    Your link gives instructions about deleting categories, and I don't see anything about Find & Replace. Moreover, it is for Quicken for Windows, so anything there wouldn't pertain.

    Let's step back for a second: are you using Quicken for Windows 2017 or Quicken for Macintosh 2017? The latter is how your question is marked.
  • Carol
    Carol Member ✭✭
    My apologies, here is the link:
    https://www.quicken.com/support/what-if-i-want-clean-duplicate-categories-and-payees-report

    updated 12/18

    I'm using a MacBook Pro updated to Mojave. The software is Quicken 2017.
  • John_in_NC
    John_in_NC SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    Thanks. That link is for Quicken for Windows, hence the confusion.  :( We are getting somewhere.

    While, I am not seeing the lack of ability to drill down in reports in 2017, I don't know if that is the original concern.

    What are you trying to do that causes you to be looking for the older Search & Replace metaphor? Are you trying to recategorize transactions/payees? There are ways to batch change transactions quickly if that is what you wish to do. We can show you to accomplish that.
  • Carol
    Carol Member ✭✭
    I want to clean up my accounts so I'm trying to merge and/or delete duplicate categories. I made the report so I could see where the duplications are and change it that way. Since I wasn't able to access the transactions through the report (which I could do in previous versions), I tried to do a search and replace. That was probably not the most efficient way to do it but I ran out of ideas.

    If you can explain a better way to do it, please let me know.

    Thanks.
  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    Carol, if you open Quicken > About Quicken, what is the actual version number it shows? The latest version of Quicken Mac 2017 is 4.6.5.  Is that what you're running? 

    The reason I'm asking is that the ability to double-click on a transaction line in a report to see the transaction was disabled for awhile during the Quicken 2017 product year, but it was later restored in version 4.3. It's unlikely, but I was wondering if you had an old versions of Quicken 2017 that hadn't been updated.

    If that's not it, could you clarify what report you're using where you're finding you can't double-click on a transaction to view the transaction in its register? Double-clicking on lines in reports works in most places -- such as the Category Summary report, the New Reports > Comparison Report ands New Reports > Summary Report -- but not in some, such as New Report > Transaction Report. Is that last one the one you were trying? Unfortunately, that's a limitation in Quicken 2017 which is unlikely to be changed before support for it ends in 3 months. (They did fix this in newer versions, along with a lot of additional enhancements to reports.)
    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • Carol
    Carol Member ✭✭
    edited January 2020
    Version 4.8.6 (Build 48.20336.100)

    I'm using the following report: Category Transaction for the year 2019

    When clicking on the transaction, nothing happens.
  • Quicken_Tyka
    Quicken_Tyka Alumni ✭✭✭✭
    Hello Carol,

    Thank you for the response and for providing additional information.

    When I navigate to Reports > Category Summary, I am able to select the transaction and I am taken to that transaction.



    Can you confirm if this is the report that you are using?

    Also, if you are looking to edit and manage categories, I would start by going to Window > Categories.



    This will list all of the categories in the file, is there a possibility this is what you are looking?



    Please let us know!

    -Quicken Tyka
    ~~~***~~~
  • Carol
    Carol Member ✭✭
    edited February 2020
    The Category Summary Report brings up a whole new problem that I've discussed with Quicken. Although the Categories in the header list ALL the categories, the report ONLY brings up a portion of my income, nothing else. The rep even had me reinstall with the no avail.

    So I just open a "new report"/create a report/summary report/category. This is closer to what I'm trying to do and I may have to just settle for it. I can click on a transaction which will open a DETAILS report and from there I can find the transaction in question and it will take me to the account. More steps than I want, but it's at least easier than what I've being doing.

    As for the final option you noted, that won't help me unless I have more detail on the transaction...ergo....transaction/category/report would be easier. But I guess it is what it is.
  • John_in_NC
    John_in_NC SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    Carol said:
    I want to clean up my accounts so I'm trying to merge and/or delete duplicate categories. I made the report so I could see where the duplications are and change it that way. Since I wasn't able to access the transactions through the report (which I could do in previous versions), I tried to do a search and replace. That was probably not the most efficient way to do it but I ran out of ideas.

    If you can explain a better way to do it, please let me know.

    Thanks.
    I can't help you with the report issue, as I am not seeing that.

    If you wish to clean up your categories, there are a few ways of doing this:

    In the Category List, you can always rename one existing category to the name of your desired category. If that category already exists (which it sounds like it does), then you will get a prompt asking you if you wish to merge them. Confirm, and all the existing transactions will now have your desired category.

    You can also search for transactions within the register (via the search box at the upper right) for a category (or payee) that you wish to rename. I suggest having All Transactions selected in the sidebar so that it searches all accounts. When it pulls up all the resulting transactions, you can hit command+i to edit the details. Enter the desired payee or category there, and when you save, all transactions will be updated. Note: the latter won't work for categories in a split transaction. So, if you need to change them, it might be better to use the Category list route.

    I think the above two options will be faster than running a report and manually finding each and every transaction to edit.

This discussion has been closed.