Quicken for Mac: Reporting
As I have noted elsewhere, I have been running Quicken for Mac and Quicken for Windows in parallel for a number of reasons (i.e., learn interface differences, QMac development, QMac ability to replace QWin, etc.).
I have recently been focusing on the reporting capabilities and, in particular, the card / dashboards / tile reporting in the various tabs (i.e., Home / Business / etc.).
In the Home tab the QMac values and the QWin values for the same dashboards (i.e., Income & Expenses, Net Worth, and Spending) have different values. For example, for the Newt Worth Dashboard, the QMac version includes only CAD whereas the QWin includes CAD + USD.
It would be nice to standardize the reporting to get the same results under either QMac / Windows.
Comments / thoughts?
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@JoelC It's no surprise you'll see differences if you use multiple currencies. Quicken Mac doesn't yet have full support for multiple currencies. So, as you've seen, the Net Worth Dashboard card shows only your home currency. But the left sidebar shows accounts in other currencies, and performs an on-the-fly conversion to the home currency for totals. And the Net Worth Report allows you to select which currency to report on, but doesn't allow them to be combined like in the left sidebar. Implementing full support for multi-currencies is on the developers' officially "Planned" list of features.
Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 19930 -
@jacobs , as always, much thanks for the informative and timely response.
It would be nice — in addition to the multi currency support you note above — that the following also be added / changed:
- Configuration / linkage between the dashboards and the changes made to the underlying report so that the dashboards are truly useful. The current problem I have is that underlying dashboard reports are not configured that way I want and because there is no linkage the dashboards are not terribly helpful.
- For those moving from Windows → Mac configure the dashboards similarly as there are differences other than multicurrncy support!
Once again, much thanks!
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The developers have said they are working to provide more configurability to Dashboard cards. I believe that we'll soon see some way to include/exclude accounts, and either at the same time or a different time, the ability to deal with accounts in different currencies. I don't know if there will be any additional configurability to the Dashboard cards.
The developers have said they do not intend Dashboard cards to fully mimic the fine-tuning available in Reports. They intend Dashboard cards to be a way to do a quick look/overview of some of your financial data, not an alternate version of reports. So it's likely there will be things you can configure in reports you will not be able to configure in Dashboards.
As for making Quicken Mac Dashboards mimic the behavior of Quicken Windows, I don't think that's likely. The databases are built considerably differently, reporting is different, and I don't think compatibility for the sake of compatibility with a feature like Dashboards drives their design and programming changes. That said, if you can articulate a particular desirable feature which would be useful, you should definitely create an Idea post to advocate for it.
Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 19930 -
The developers have said they are working to provide more configurability to Dashboard cards. I believe that we'll soon see some way to include/exclude accounts, and either at the same time or a different time, the ability to deal with accounts in different currencies. I don't know if there will be any additional configurability to the Dashboard cards.
The dashboards would then be on par with those in Windows. In Windows you can click on the dashboard which brings up the underlying report which the user can then configure and save as a separate report (i.e., it does not change the dashboard).
The developers have said they do not intend Dashboard cards to fully mimic the fine-tuning available in Reports. They intend Dashboard cards to be a way to do a quick look/overview of some of your financial data, not an alternate version of reports. So it's likely there will be things you can configure in reports you will not be able to configure in Dashboards.
I think this is a big miss by Quicken. I think the dashboards are a great idea but not being able to change / link then to an underlying report really limits their usefulness.
The idea of having a base / starting dashboard is great but not enabling the to be linked to a report is something I do not understand.
As for making Quicken Mac Dashboards mimic the behavior of Quicken Windows, I don't think that's likely. The databases are built considerably differently, reporting is different, and I don't think compatibility for the sake of compatibility with a feature like Dashboards drives their design and programming changes. That said, if you can articulate a particular desirable feature which would be useful, you should definitely create an Idea post to advocate for it.
The idea I would would like to suggest is the link the dashboard to the underlying report. I will do the shortly.
Thank you.
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Just a few heads up.
Multiple currency:
The most complete is Quicken Windows Canada. Quicken Windows US lacks recording of historical exchange rates like Quicken Windows Canada does. On the other hand, Quicken Window US can change the home currency and Quicken Windows Canada can't. Also Quicken Windows US will not sync non-USD accounts to Mobile/Web (supposedly because it doesn't have multiple currency support). From what I have heard both Quicken Mac and Quicken Windows Canada will sync multiple currencies to Mobile/Web. At least that is what I have seen in some posts, because originally it was noted that Quicken Windows Canada would only sync CAD accounts. It should also be noted that some time back they merged Quicken Windows Canada branch back into the main US branch, and they are now the same program, but depending on the Quicken Id subscription and if the data file was created "US or Canadian" they still have most of the same behavior that they had before they were merged back together (but things like the tax lines are no longer in shared file name and change when a US or Canadian data file is opened).
Quicken Windows has Home tab "Dashboards (using the new term)".
It seems like the new one is what Quicken Mac is basically got/getting. The "classic" is MUCH more extensive. The new one these "cards".
A card can be duplicated and rearranged. There is some customizing for like duration, and most can select different accounts. Some jump out to reports or the spending tab, interesting Net Worth displays a completely (non "report/view") window.
The "classic" can have multiple "views":
Each works like a tab and gives you a different set of "items/cards". (Dashboard above is the "new" one)
The "items":
At this point it seems like the best Quicken Mac can muster would be the "New Dashboard" compatibility.
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As you know I have the Quicken for Mac/ Windows Canadian versions.
I confirm it supports CAD and USD as the reports and mobile/web syncing include both.
In terms of the Quicken Windows cards / dashboards they can, as you note, be duplicated, they can be modifed (for accounts and time periods) but can not be modified for other key parameters or linked / tied to a report.Thus there limited usefulness!
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At least some of the Dashboards will — and currently do — generate an underlying report. When you generate that report, you can edit the report just like any report you generate manually. But if you change accounts or categories or tags in the report's set-up, it won't change the Dashboard card. So the Dashboard can be a starter for a report, which you can then further customize; you just can't have the modified report reflected back in the Dashboard.
Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 19930 -
Given your submitted idea for customizing/reporting in the other thread I will point out how Quicken Windows does this.
First off, the "new dashboard" doesn't really do much of this. Other than, what you see on the cards themselves like "Due in X days" about the only thing you can customize it the accounts.
On the other hand, the "classic items" tend to be much more customizable based on what they are displaying. For instance, the Net worth by Assets and Liabilities has a "customize this graph" that pops up this dialog:
And as a programmer I suspect that this indicates a completely different approach between the "cards" of the new Dashboard and the old "items/widgets". To me this customized dialog is the same one used for the report of the same name.
I suspect that the new cards are just that, some new GUI card, with basically nothing else behind it besides a database query. Whereas the classic seems to have a customable report behind it and its "item/widget" is just another way to display that report.
Note that when you click on these and they take you somewhere else for the most part they do "push their settings" to that new report/view.
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To clarify more, "new" → Take settings as arguments to report.
Old → hidden report that you are customizing and then → push as arguments to report/view
But in both cases when you get to "end report/view" you are dealing with something that isn't going to be pushing its settings back to the original item on the Dashboard.
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@Chris_QPW apologies for the naive question but can you explain / share what you mean by the "classic items" vs the "new dashboards".
Thank you.
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@Chris_QPW , appreciated (though admittedly I sam still nt entirely clear). That said, the key point that you wart is :
But in both cases when you get to "end report/view" you are dealing with something that isn't going to be pushing its settings back to the original item on the Dashboard.
This is the very reason for my idea!
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But at least in Quicken Windows very hard to implement.
You don't always end up in a report. Sometimes it is "view". Other times it the security details window, …
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Apologies but I am not a programmer so cannot comment but will take your for it!
Admittedly, it would be a great feature to have (at least for me)!
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Most of it was shown in the screenshots above:
Going back in time before "Dashboard/cards":
What can go into this "Main View"?
and all the others show in the other comment.
Instead of "cards" you have these "widgets" that resize depending on what is in them (three of them shown above):
More examples:
And you can add views, which can each hold whatever "widgets" you like:
As you can see the "Dashboard/Cards" are a "step down" as far as functional goes in Quicken Windows.
Thankfully in Quicken Windows we have both, but it is pretty clear that someone those that all of this is too complicated, so they have been pushing "Dashboards" into different parts of Quicken Windows. This also supposedly "modernization". That is the real problem with when people push for "modern" they don't really understand the limitations and the fact that it will take a very long time for a new system to "build up" if ever gets built up. The Dashboard on the Home tab has only had minor changes since it was put in.
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It is good that you are suggesting it at this point in Quicken Mac's development because that might get them thinking about how to implement each "zoom out". Basically, in the case of Quicken Windows, what you have is they already had reports, views, windows … with the information so they just made use of that by pushing the "parameters" on the Home tab widget to what already existed.
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@Chris_QPW Appreciated and got it (i.e., main view tab = classic items = widgets whereas other tabs = new dashboards = cards)!
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This is what the Quicken Mac product manager said last year shortly after the Dashboards were introduced:
I agree with the @jacobs statement that "the philosophy of the Dashboards is to provide quick looks at your data in different ways." Dashboard helps to see your financial data at a glance, maybe take a quick action (categorize new transactions, for example), and decide if you need to dig deeper on any of it. Then you could use reports, register, Bills & Income, etc.
I just don't think the idea of being able to infinitely adjust the parameters of a report and have those settings used for a dashboard card is likely to happen. Would those settings be expected to be persistent? Then you'd see a Dashboard without being able to see the underlying settings of what the card is showing you. I guess it will depend on what user configuration controls they add to dashboard cards, whenever that functionality is added.
Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 19930 -
I appreciate you sharing the below:
I just don't think the idea of being able to infinitely adjust the parameters of a report and have those settings used for a dashboard card is likely to happen. Would those settings be expected to be persistent? Then you'd see a Dashboard without being able to see the underlying settings of what the card is showing you. I guess it will depend on what user configuration controls they add to dashboard cards, whenever that functionality is added.
Agreed that "it will depend on what user configuration controls they add to dashboard cards". I would be fine were the dashboards "fixed" so long as one can copy them and change the underlying parameters.
For the meantime, I am sticking with the reports as the dashboards do not really meet my needs. Hopefully they do for others.
Thank you.
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