Quicken for Mac v6.4 Released

Quicken Marcus
Quicken Marcus Employee ✭✭✭✭
Last night we started rolling out Quicken for Mac v6.4. There's not a lot of obvious new features on the surface of it but there's a ton of engineering work that is been built under the hood. 

We are switching to a brand new Quicken Connect transaction aggregation service which will make downloads more secure and reliable. In the best case, you won't even notice when we've switched you to the new service. We've already switched a large portion of our beta customers to the new service and I'm not aware of anyone reporting an issue.

This infrastructure is required before we can move customers to new and improved financial institution connections. For example, Charles Schwab wants all third-party apps like Quicken to move to their new, more modern connection so they can start to retire their legacy systems. Before customers can make the change, they first have to be using the new Quicken Connect infrastructure. We'll provide more details for Schwab customers in the coming months. Schwab is the first of many financial institutions that we're working with to make this transition.

6.4 makes all of this possible so it's important to take this upgrade even if there aren't any new user features.

Also, for those of you who are still running Quicken v5.18 because you're using a version of macOS that is no longer supported, please consider upgrading your OS and in turn upgrading Quicken. Version 5.18 does not work with the new Quicken Connect system.

In addition to all of the new Quicken Connect aggregation work, there are a few small improvements and fixes in this release.
1) We added a category type filter to the category list so you can now quickly and easily see just used or unused categories or income or expense categories.
2) A number of you use reconcile to review and categorize transactions and we accidentally broke your workflow by filtering out scheduled transactions from the reconcile window.  We restored this capability. Thanks for bringing this issue to our attention here in the forums.
3) We also added a feature that will take a set of columns from one account and then apply them to similar accounts.  We're not publicizing it because it's not working exactly as we would like since it will add and remove all the columns making the accounts match but it doesn't get the column order correct.  I mention it because it's still better than doing this manually but we have to go back and make this better.
4) We continue to refine Dark Mode. We're not quite ready to call this "done" but we're making improvements.

As always, please report issues with this release here in this post.  We will be monitoring it closely.

UPDATES
9/23 - Started the rollout of 6.4.0
9/24 - Fixed an issue with our What's New window not appearing and released 6.4.1.
10/1 - Shipped 6.4.2. Added Color Tags as an Early Access feature. Everyone will be notified of this upgrade.
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Comments

  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    It appears that the new connection required re-entry of my password for my Salem Five banking accounts and initially broke the connection to my Fidelity Investment accounts. After quitting and relaunching, updated to 6.4.1 and tried again. This time password entry was required for Fidelity accounts after which all accounts updated properly.

    What's new still did not auto-launch in 6.4.1, but maybe because I had already run 6.4?
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
  • Jon
    Jon SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    edited September 2021
    I went straight from the latest 6.3.x to 6.4.1 and What's New did not auto-launch for me. When I bring it up from the menu, the window title says "What's New in Quicken 6.3" (but I think it's showing the new features from 6.4, it's just the title that's wrong).
    So far I have not been prompted to re-enter any passwords, so the transition to the new service seems to be working OK for me.

    Quicken Mac subscription. Quicken user since 1990.

  • Austin@
    Austin@ Mac Beta Beta
    edited September 2021
    I also went straight from the most recent 6.3.x version to 6.4.1 and the "What's New" window did not show for me either. When pulling up the window manually, the content is correct, but the title bar of the window references Quicken 6.3. Other than that, I haven't had any issues. My data file switched to FDS and all my accounts updated without any issues or interruptions.

    Update: I'm also loving the new ability to autofill passwords from iCloud Keychain when entering account credentials, as well as the ability to autofill 2 factor authentication codes received as text messages. These are little touches that make the app feel more like a true, native mac app.
  • Quicken Marcus
    Quicken Marcus Employee ✭✭✭✭
    Jon said:
    I went straight from the latest 6.3.x to 6.4.1 and What's New did not auto-launch for me. When I bring it up from the menu, the window title says "What's New in Quicken 6.3" (but I think it's showing the new features from 6.4, it's just the title that's wrong).
    So far I have not been prompted to re-enter any passwords, so the transition to the new service seems to be working OK for me.
    Unfortunately, What's New is still broken and won't auto-open when you launch the app. This one is completely my fault. I didn't check to make sure the code I changed actually ended up in 6.4.1. Oops. Anyway, What's New is available on the Help menu if you want to see it.  It's basically the same as the release notes so I don't think it's critical to pop up. 
     
  • Quicken Marcus
    Quicken Marcus Employee ✭✭✭✭
    RickO said:
    It appears that the new connection required re-entry of my password for my Salem Five banking accounts and initially broke the connection to my Fidelity Investment accounts. After quitting and relaunching, updated to 6.4.1 and tried again. This time password entry was required for Fidelity accounts after which all accounts updated properly.

    What's new still did not auto-launch in 6.4.1, but maybe because I had already run 6.4?
    That's a bummer that you had to re-enter your passwords. That shouldn't have happened because we actually haven't switched anyone to the new tech yet and even when we do I don't think you'll have to re-enter passwords. Also, Fidelity is a Direct Connect account so I don't think it even uses the new stuff since the new stuff is really only for Quicken Connect accounts.  Anyway, I'm going to assume the banks required you to re-login for some reason. Let us know if it happens again. Thanks for reporting the issue.
  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    Quicken Marcus said:  Anyway, I'm going to assume the banks required you to re-login for some reason. Let us know if it happens again. Thanks for reporting the issue.
    Thanks Marcus. I was thinking it was probably just a coincidence too, but figured I would report just in case.
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
  • Not the best update transition... I opened my Quicken this morning and the first message was that I had opened an "older version of my file", and then I ended up having to reenter EVERY password for EVERY account.
  • caram
    caram Member ✭✭✭
    There's a regression that has been introduced by 6.4 re. Cloud accounts. A .qfx file will no longer import if there is no Cloud account. I don't have, and don't wish to use, a Cloud account for this particular quicken file. There was a similar issue about 2 years ago and now it seems to be back.

    Also, the Preferences/Connected Services is now blank. In 6.3, it used to be populated with various fields and now they have all disappeared.


  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    I like the colored tags feature. There are two minor issues/suggestions:

    1. With Row Height set to Tiny, the bottom of the rounded rectangle of the tag image is cut off. This was also the case with the non-colored oval tags, but has become more obvious. Here is how it looks with Row Height Tiny (font size default 13): . And here is how it looks with Row Height Compact: 

    2. It would be great if there was a column in the Tags window that showed the color. Even better if the color could be changed directly in that column. If not, then at the very least, color the tags as they appear in the Tags window.
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
  • cherishen
    cherishen Member ✭✭
    One of the most recent updates changed the way Quicken for Mac displays updates to my accounts. The account summary screen used to not show up until it was completely done. Now it shows up partly through, but it is still reconciling. The biggest issue is the helpful little blue dots that show up on the left side by the accounts/categories that show there was an update. While useful, they do not disappear if I go into each account from the update summary and reconcile the account. After I do that, I still have to go into the list on the left and click on each one to make the indicator go away.
    It would be useful if it automatically disappeared if I reconciled the account that it was indicating.
  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    cherishen said:
    The account summary screen used to not show up until it was completely done. Now it shows up partly through, 
    I believe what's happening is that it shows up once when Direct Connect accounts are completed then again when Quicken Connect accounts are done (or vice versa). A bit annoying.
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
  • Gretchen P
    Gretchen P Member ✭✭
    I upgraded to 6.4.2 this morning - I cannot find how/where to assign a color to a tag? Is this feature active in v. 6.4.2 for Mac?

    > @RickO said:
    > I like the colored tags feature. There are two minor issues/suggestions:
    >
    > 1. With Row Height set to Tiny, the bottom of the rounded rectangle of the tag image is cut off. This was also the case with the non-colored oval tags, but has become more obvious. Here is how it looks with Row Height Tiny (font size default 13): 
    > . And here is how it looks with Row Height Compact: . 
    >
    > 2. It would be great if there was a column in the Tags window that showed the color. Even better if the color could be changed directly in that column. If not, then at the very least, color the tags as they appear in the Tags window.
  • michaelweinberg
    michaelweinberg Member ✭✭✭
    @cherishen I'm also finding that change to be somewhat annoying. I like to have the update complete before I go into the updated accounts to verify the updates and correct categories, etc. I keep jumping the gun now as I can't tell when the updates have finished downloading.
  • Just Lurking
    Just Lurking Mac Beta Beta
    Just updated to 6.4.2. When I update my online accounts, the Account Status window pops up right away, even though I have it set to show "Only if there are errors." Seems like this is a bug?

    I'm considering setting it to "Never" and relying on just the new Orange indicators on the left which may solve this issue, but I'm waiting a bit longer to confirm the orange balls are reliable indicators of problems.
  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    I upgraded to 6.4.2 this morning - I cannot find how/where to assign a color to a tag? Is this feature active in v. 6.4.2 for Mac?
    1. Colored tags is an Early Access feature in QMac 6.4.2. So first, you have to enable it in Preferences. Click menu Quicken > Preferences, the check the Early Access box and the Tags box:



    When you do this, you will immediately see the tags in your registers change from an oval background to a rounded rectangle. 

    2. To color an individual tag, click menu Window > Tags. Double click a tag (or use the pencil icon) and you will see the option to change the color for that tag (after having completed step 1).
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
  • magoodm
    magoodm Member ✭✭✭
    edited October 2021
    So I see how to assign a color to tags, but is there a way to not have the tags highlighted at all and to look like all of the other fields? I'm using Dark Mode.
  • MWright-X
    MWright-X Member
    I just upgraded tp QMac 6.4.2 and the "reconcile" button is grayed out and I can't access the feature. I've rebooted my iMac but that didn't solve anything. Does anyone have any suggestions on what may be causing this. I did not have the problem prior to the update.
  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    edited October 2021
    @MWright-X  Check to make sure you have a single individual account selected in the sidebar and not one of the group registers.
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
  • Quicken Marcus
    Quicken Marcus Employee ✭✭✭✭
    Not the best update transition... I opened my Quicken this morning and the first message was that I had opened an "older version of my file", and then I ended up having to reenter EVERY password for EVERY account.
    We made a change a couple of releases ago where we now check the last update time on cloud and compare it to the local file. If the local file is really old, we'll force a reset to make sure that local transaction data isn't negatively impacted.  I'll reach out to you to learn more. Thanks for reporting this issue.
  • Quicken Marcus
    Quicken Marcus Employee ✭✭✭✭
    caram said:
    There's a regression that has been introduced by 6.4 re. Cloud accounts. A .qfx file will no longer import if there is no Cloud account. I don't have, and don't wish to use, a Cloud account for this particular quicken file. There was a similar issue about 2 years ago and now it seems to be back.

    Also, the Preferences/Connected Services is now blank. In 6.3, it used to be populated with various fields and now they have all disappeared.

    Did a screen popup asking you to create a cloud account? By the way, a cloud account just means that we create your profile in our systems but it doesn't mean that there's any transaction data or other type of information. To use connected services, even to just download quotes, you need to be registered in our systems. We blank the connected services preference screen if you don't have a cloud account because you can't do any connected services without an account. You should still be able to view your data without a cloud account.
  • Quicken Marcus
    Quicken Marcus Employee ✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2021
    RickO said:
    I like the colored tags feature. There are two minor issues/suggestions:

    1. With Row Height set to Tiny, the bottom of the rounded rectangle of the tag image is cut off. This was also the case with the non-colored oval tags, but has become more obvious. Here is how it looks with Row Height Tiny (font size default 13): . And here is how it looks with Row Height Compact: 

    2. It would be great if there was a column in the Tags window that showed the color. Even better if the color could be changed directly in that column. If not, then at the very least, color the tags as they appear in the Tags window.
    Thanks for the feedback. It's really helpful to hear what issues are floating to the top as important to fix. Both of these issues are why we shipped this under the Early Access umbrella. I'll make sure both of these are noted in our bug tracking database.

    I like this feature too. I personally have 2 rental properties and I tag them with the unit number.  Since the tag just had numbers it was hard to distinguish between the two at a glance.  Now I use colors to distinguish between them and it makes it really obvious which transactions are related to each other.
  • caram
    caram Member ✭✭✭

    Did a screen popup asking you to create a cloud account? By the way, a cloud account just means that we create your profile in our systems but it doesn't mean that there's any transaction data or other type of information. To use connected services, even to just download quotes, you need to be registered in our systems. We blank the connected services preference screen if you don't have a cloud account because you can't do any connected services without an account. You should still be able to view your data without a cloud account.
    Marcus, yes a dialog did popup asking me to create a cloud account. This is new since 6.4 and I don't think it should be asking me at this point. Importing a locally stored .qfx file should not mandate a cloud account.
  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    caram said:
    Marcus, yes a dialog did popup asking me to create a cloud account. This is new since 6.4 and I don't think it should be asking me at this point. Importing a locally stored .qfx file should not mandate a cloud account.
    @caram  Importing a local QFX file actually is part of Quicken's online services; it has to verify the ID of the financial institution contained in the data file. This is why you can't import QFX file if you don't maintain an active subscription. As Marcus wrote above, a "cloud account" does not contain your transaction data, but is necessary for any connected services to operate.

    (Unless they changed it, you also need to have a cloud account to use the Report a Problem feature in the program; in the past, people who tried to submit a bug report encountered an error because it couldn't associate the report with a cloud account of a user.)

    In any case, there's no reason to jump through hoops to get rid of a cloud account; as long as you have Sync turned off, none of your private data is stored in the cloud.
    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • JoelC
    JoelC Member ✭✭✭✭
    I cannot find how / where to try the new column copy feature (even though the ordering is wrong).

    Is this included in Columns / Apply to All Accounts or is it elsewhere?

    Thx!
  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    edited October 2021
    JoelC said:
    I cannot find how / where to try the new column copy feature (even though the ordering is wrong).

    Is this included in Columns / Apply to All Accounts or is it elsewhere?

    Thx!
    Yes, it is found in menu View > Columns > Apply To All (group) Accounts. Or by right-clicking on a column header. Make sure you scroll down; it may be off screen depending on your screen height.

    It is only available to apply to accounts in the same account group (eg. credit cards) as the source account. And it only affects which columns are visible, but not the order or width of those columns. 

    Hopefully they will improve the feature to copy the entire column setup/format including column order and widths. As it is, it's not very useful.
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
  • JoelC
    JoelC Member ✭✭✭✭
    @RickO

    Appreciate that…would be wonderful to get the order and width to match as well, then it would be truly helpful!
  • So 6.4 trashed my linked accounts then I find out you deleted the old "send" command in the check column - now it is next check number, pay with quick pay, mail check with Check pay or print check. For quick pay and Check pay I had to "enroll" accounts that I had been using the "send" command for every - why the change and no explanation for a big change like that?
  • RickO
    RickO SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    @Kenneth L Kaylor The Send option in the Check Number field is still allowed. The account must be enabled for Bank Bill Pay. 

    I'm not sure what you mean by "trashed my linked accounts", but it sounds like your Direct Connect connection on this account may have been changed. If that's the case, you should open the Account Settings > Downloads tab and click the Change Connection Type button. Change the connection to Direct Connect and then make sure Bank Bill Pay is enabled. Once this is done, you should have the Send option available. 

    However, one possibility is that this bank no longer supports Direct Connect. If that's the case, then Bank Bill Pay (and hence Send) will not be an option. If you would provide the name of the Bank, we can check if that's the problem.
    Quicken Mac Subscription; Quicken Mac user since the early 90s
  • Thanks for your help when I had so much trouble getting my WF accounts to sync/download- it took several weeks and finally had to delete all of my "connection data" for all of my accounts and re do them all - so trashed. I was instructed to change to quicken connect from direct connect. Send is now back working
  • When will Quicken for Mac have the Portfolio X-Ray feature now available on the Windows Version? The is the one feature I've been waiting for for years. Am a user since 1985, and on Mac since 2015. Please advise, thanks!