How do I remove recently used files from the application in the dock? (edited to include title)

When I click on Q icon in my dock, a list of four folders and one Q icon appear. All but one folder are irrelevant. How can I get rid of the other three folders and the icon? Can I change the valid folder, clicking on which opens what I want to see, to an icon?

Comments

  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    It sounds like you are clicking a Q icon that's to the right of the divider (or below it if your dock is vertical). This is the area for documents and folders rather than apps. It sounds like for some reason you have a folder there instead of a single Q file.

    If you right click on this and choose Options > Show in Finder, you can see where it is in the Finder and then delete irrelevant contents.

    Alternatively, when Quicken is running, you should see a Q icon to the left (or above) the divider. You can right click on this then Options > Keep in Dock. This will keep the Quicken app icon in the dock. Clicking on this will launch Quicken which will by default open with whichever file it was last using. You can then remove the folder from the right end by right clicking then Options > Remove from Dock.

    Another alternative is to put your Quicken file by itself on the right end. To do this, locate your Quicken file in the Finder (in Quicken, menu File > Show "filename" in Finder). Then drag the file in the Finder into the right end of the dock.
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
  • Thank you for that very fast reply. The Q icon lives in the main dock with the icons of other applications, not over on the right. Whether Quicken is closed or open, right-clicking and going to Options > Show in Finder simply takes me to the Q application itself.

    When I click on the Q application in the dock in order to open Quicken, a panel rises up that shows in sequence, top to bottom:
    FOLDER named David's Finances 3.2.17.38 PM.quicken, which is empty and dead and I'd like to get rid of.
    RED Q ICON named David's Finances 3.quicken which also is dead and I'd like to get rid of.
    FOLDER named David's Finances 3.quicken, which also is empty and dead and I'd like to get rid of.
    FOLDER named 2019.charity quicken. The name of the folder is the name of a report listing 2019 charitable donations, but clicking on the folder does not go to the report; it is the only thing that opens my Quicken accounts.
    Those four items are followed by Options, Show Recents, and Open.

    My problem is (a) to get rid of the first three items and (b) to assign to the fourth item an appropriate name, such as "David's Finances" and not the name of a report.

    I realize that I am imposing on your time. But you may find yourself intrigued by there being such a mess. My computer is now Mac OS 10.15.3, but the Quicken mess arose when it was back in 10.14 I think. It is only now that I have decided to try to straighten it out. David
  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    Based on this description (screenshots would be helpful though), it sounds like you are right-clicking (or control-clicking) on the dock icon rather than regular left-click. The items (Options, Show Recents, Open) normally only appear with right-click. If you left-click the dock icon, Quicken should open with the last used file and those you see when right-clicking shouldn't matter.

    That said, you can clear the recent items that come up when you right click the dock icon. To do this, open Quicken and make sure your regular Quicken file is open. Then click menu File > Open Recent > Clear Menu. This will clear Quicken's recent files menu and should clean up the dock menu as well.
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
  • Things are odder than that:

    The "drop-up" panel opens both when I click normally and when I right-click. It has changed, though. When we last corresponded it contained "Show Recents", but since then that has been replaced by "Show All Windows". See the first exhibit below..

    When all this started, the name of my Quicken file was "David's Finances 3". "2019 Charity" was merely the name of a report. Now the former has converted itself into "David's Finances 3.quicken" and has become a dead icon, while "2019 Charity" has converted itself into a folder named "2019 Charity.quicken" and is the thing I must click on to get to my Quicken file.

    When I click on "Show All Windows" (formerly "Show Recents"), the three folders and Quicken icon of the "drop-up" panel appear on the desktop as shown on the second attachment. They are linked, and they all disappear when I open any application To make the second attachment I opened Utilities > Screenshot, whereupon the three folders and Quicken icon disappeared. Then I set Screenshot for a 5- or 10-second delay, giving time in which to re-open the three folders and Quicken icon so that they could be photographed at the end of the delay.

    None of this makes any sense to me.

    David
  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    Left clicking on the dock icon should not open the popup menu. You may have a bad mouse or sticking control key on your keyboard. Or... have you restarted the computer? It may just be a glitch that can be fixed by restarting. Does the same thing happen with other programs (left click on a dock icon gets you the popup menu)?

    The difference between Show Recents and Show All Windows is controlled by whether Quicken is running or not. When not running, you will see Show Recents. When running, you will see Show All Windows. This applies to all applications.

    The reason you are seeing what appear to be folders in the menu is a little bit harder to explain. Quicken files are actually a special kind of folder called a package (ending in .quicken). Under normal conditions, they appear as a file icon in the Finder and Recents menus. For some reason, these have lost the package status and are appearing as folders. Probably doesn't matter.

    Did you take my suggestion and clear the Recents menu from within Quicken? That should clear out the listed folders you are seeing.

    It looks like you uploaded the same screenshot twice, so I'm not sure what you are seeing in the second one you describe. BTW, you don't need to set a screenshot timer. You can just type Command-Shift-3 to take an instant screenshot of the whole screen.
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
  • I think, Ricko, that we are just about at the end.

    Left-clicking and right-clicking open identical popup menus on all of my applications. Restarting made no difference. My computer is only 5 months old, and it seems unlikely that there is a sticky key. The keys are clean, and I've seen no other evidence that one might be sticking.

    Thank you for explaining the differing appearances of Show Recents and Show All Windows. I'd never before had occasion to use either and so had not recognized the point.

    Yes, I did clear the Recents menu from with Quicken. Now when I click on the Quicken icon in the dock, no folders or icons appear in the popup menu, which is a great advance. The menu shows only Options, Show Recents, Open.

    Thank you for telling me the more direct way of getting a screen shot. I used to know of it but had forgotten through lack of use. Searching "screen shot" and "screenshot" in Quicken Help only brought up "No Results Found". Surely the Help function ought to tell one how to make a screen shot.

    Here is the only remaining problem:
    Double-clicking on the Quicken icon in the dock, Quicken being closed, now opens a "Let's get started" page, not my Quicken file. See the first attachment. Clicking the "Open Quicken File" on that page does not open the file but sends me searching for the file with no idea where it is stored. See the second attachment. Surely double-clicking on the icon in the dock ought to lead me directly to the file??!!

    David
  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    Bottom line: all your problems are Mac problems, not Quicken. So it is Apple that's going to need to help you. Fortunately, Apple has great support.

    I think you'd know if you had a stuck control key because pretty much anytime you left-clicked on anything you'd be getting a popup menu.

    Taking macOS screenshots is an Apple function, not Quicken. So I would not expect to find that in Quicken help. Googling "macOS screenshot" though will give you lots of articles.

    For fixing the dock clicking problem, I'd probably start with resintalling macOS. You have to start up in Recovery to do that. Google it. Or just call Apple.

    It appears that Quicken has lost track of your file. If you didn't change the location, it is stored by default at /Users/david/Library/Application Support/Quicken/Documents.  To navigate to this, in the Finder, hold down the Option key and click menu Go > Library. Double click the file David's Finances.quicken. That will open your file in Quicken and Quicken should remember it going forward.
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
  • RickO: It's fixed, but not quite in the way you suggested. When I went Go > Library there was no David's Finances.quicken nor any other .quicken to be opened. But there was a Quicken backup file. I copied the icon for yesterday's backup to the desktop and opened it to be sure that it still took me to yesterday's backup. It did. Then in Go > Library > Quicken I opened a new subfile ("Quicken file") and moved the icon from the desktop there. It still worked. Finally, I changed the name of the icon from "2019 Charity.quicken" to "My file.quicken". Now when I click on the icon in my dock, the file that opens has My file at the top.The popup menu is not cluttered with the names of irrelevant files. All is well.

    Thank you, RickO, for your very great help and your very great patience.

    David
  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    Good to know.
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    @David A. Macdonald I've been puzzling over your posts, but @RickO has been ahead of me in replying. I was puzzled, like Rick, by your screenshots, but I think the smoking gun is this sentence you wrote: "Left-clicking and right-clicking open identical popup menus on all of my applications." That's not the way a Mac is typically configured. There must be something in your system preferences that is misconfigured. Are you using a mouse or trackpad? That might make difference in what setting is messed up. But I agree with Rick that this is a Mac issue, and you might want to turn to Apple if you can't figure out why you're getting a Right/Control click action when you click on a Dock icon.
    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • My Quicken is now in good order and acting just as I would want it to, as you may have seen from my last reply to RickO.

    I use a wirelessly connected mouse.

    Thank you for your reply. So far as I know, the fact that both left- and right-clicking lead to a popup menu does not lead to any consequences elsewhere. I am inclined to ignore it and shall either turn to Apple or to my trusty computer store if there seems to be reason to do that.

    When I told RickO that searching for screen or screen shot or screenshot in Help, he thought that I was speaking of Quicken's Help. No, I was speaking of Apple's Help. It is surprising - no, astonishing - that Apple's Help has no help on that point.

    David
  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    @David A. Macdonald Yes, I saw your post that you were satisfied that you had things under control. I just wanted to make sure you were aware that what you described is not normal macOS behavior. What you show is what happens if you click and hold the mouse on an item in the Dock; if you just click, it shouldn't show the pop-up menu and should just launch the application.

    But if you're not having any other issues, and your extra Quicken folders have been dealt with, then no problem; happy sailing! ;)
    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    @jacobs  Good point. I had forgotten that long-click in the dock does the same a right-click. That's probably what David is doing. Possibly combined with a change in an Accessibility setting that reduces the length of click necessary to trigger the long-click actin.
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
  • RickO

    You are correct. It is a long click that does it. It is good to know that - in that respect at least - my computer is neither diseased nor neurotic.

    David
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