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Yesterday afternoon (Saturday, March 17, 2012) I took on an incredible challenge, starting a new checking-account in my recently downloaded and installed Quicken-Essentials. Hate

Quicken is the most powerful money management software on the market. Learn more.For more Tips and Tricks, visit:https://www.quicken. As you can see from Alancito's link above, Intuit is not advertising its Quicken 2007 for Mac as a current product. That also explains why Quicken 2007 for Mac costs only about 30% as much as Quicken Essentials. I actually converted from Quicken 2007 for Mac to Quicken Essentials in Februrary, 2010 when Quicken Essentials came out.

My ancient Quicken-2003 would no longer print checks.

My current version of Quicken for Mac is the 2007 version and I've been reluctant to try anything newer because my old trusty standby does everything I want and the thought of loading up 25 years of transactions is overwhelming. Everything said here is encouraging. BUT my 2007 Quicken has been running on my Mac Power-PC G-5, not Intel. As in earlier years, I had found lower prices for Quicken at retailers - even allowing for the $10 discount - than if I bought directly from Intuit. For example, as I write this, Amazon is offering Quicken 2015 Deluxe for $42.41 and Staples for $44.99, while the Quicken site lists its discounted price at $64.99.

Long Story. This seemed to start after Apple did an “update” to my OS-X Snow Leopard. (I always let it.)
I’ve been told by a MAC-maven, who I trust, this “update” wasn’t supposed to do that.
But all-of-a-sudden all my older software applications, like Quicken 2003, no longer worked.
This included my AppleWorks-6, my Photoshop-Elements 4.0, and my Fine-Reader Express Optical-Character-Recognition (OCR) software, all of which go back about six years or more.
My Apple “Pages” word-processor would open my AppleWorks files.
I guess “Pages” succeeded AppleWorks, which is no longer made.
I had to purchase and install a new Fine-Reader (100 smackaroos), and a new Photoshop-Elements (-10; 76 bucks).
I downloaded and installed Quicken-Essentials for MAC.
It of course wouldn’t read my ancient Quicken-2003 files.
Rather than call Quicken to attempt to convert — as a stroke-survivor I have difficulty making phonecalls — I decided to do my new Quicken from scratch, balance-forward my old Quicken-2003 files, and create new Quicken-Essentials files.
I don’t do much with Quicken. I only keep track of accounts. —I don’t do budgeting or all the fancy bells-and-whistles.
We’re down to only two accounts, my checking-account and my credit-card.
I only do it so I can reconcile. And those banks better not make any mistakes.
So far they haven’t.
I worked for a bank eons ago, so have a pretty good understanding of how things work.
Those accounts better reconcile to-the-penny. If they don’t, I’ll figure out why.
And if the bank erred, they’ll hear about it. At full volume!
And so began the wrastling-match. Set up a checking-account in Quicken-Essentials, and try to get it to print checks.
Setting up an account went fairly easy.
There was little to carry forward; just two Electronic-Fund-Transfer (EFT) deposits, our Social-Security, and one uncleared check from last Christmas.
All of this was trial-and-error. There’s no startup manual at all, and “Help” was no help at all.
But I managed to do it after blowing about an hour.
Next was to attempt to print a check.
I created a small check to my dental-service, a $4 bill to pay, but it wouldn’t print unless it was “to be printed.”
After perhaps another half-hour, I ascertained I had to make the check “to be printed;” a checkbox.
Nothing like my Quicken-2003.
The check got created and deleted at least four times before I found that “to-be-printed” checkbox.
With that the check appeared in the “to-be-printed” window, I printed it on blank paper, but it printed the size of a giant business-check.
My Quicken checks are much smaller.
“Make sure your check-format to print is the same as your checks,” said Quicken-help.
Some help that was! Nothing about setting check-format.
We Googled “check-format in Quicken-Essentials.”
Fevered discussion-groups where self-declared “gurus” and “Jedi-masters” say “Why does Quicken hate MAC-users” and “So much for Quicken. I’m switching to iBank.”
I had to keep making the $4 check “to-be-printed” over-and-over, an edit function.
“To make the check ‘to-be-printed’ again, click the edit-function.” So I did.
No sign of the “to-be-printed” checkbox, but I did notice an “edit-check” button in the edit window.
I tried it. VIOLA! The “to-be-printed” checkbox appeared.
There was no indication in Quicken-help I would see that “edit-check” button in the edit window.
I just noticed it. Trial-and-error.
Thanks for all your help, Quicken. It’s always trial-and-error that notices these things. The “edit-check” button in your “edit-check” window was my noticing it. It wasn’t predicted.
I could make the check “to-be-printed” again, so it would reappear in the “to-be-printed” window.
None of these shenanigans were in my Quicken-2003.
Next problem (or is it “issue”): alter the check-printing format to be what I had.
After I clicked the “print checks” button I noticed (there’s that “notice” bit again) I could select from three check formats: “business,” “voucher,” and “wallet.”
Well I had no idea, so I tried “wallet.” (The old “trial-and-error” bit again.)
WHOA! It printed the same size as my checks, but somewhat misaligned.
That format-menu was in a strange place; or so it seemed. It was after the “print”-button instead of before.
Next step: “adjust alignment.”
After about a half-hour of searching I found the “adjust alignment” checkbox.
Reams of blank printing-paper got used fiddling the alignment to put things where they belonged on my check.
And everything moved as a unit. Too far left and stuff prints off the check. Offset that, and you’re into something already on the check.
After about 15 tries everything lined up fairly well; “the best I can do.”
I was ready to print an actual check.
That check to my dental-service went out in this morning’s mail.
Next is our credit-card account; which has a slew of carried-over entries.
Plus I have a slew of checks to print.
• “OS-X Snow Leopard” is my computer operating-system. “Snow Leopard” is a recent version of OS-X (operating-system 10). My computer is an Apple Macintosh.
• Optical-Character-Recognition software reads a scan of text, recognizes the letters, and creates a computer text-file.
• I had a stroke October 26, 1993, from which I pretty much recovered.
• “Electronic-Fund-Transfer” is just that. Instead of the payer issuing a check for me to deposit to our checking-account, the payer deposits the funds electronically directly to our account.

Labels: 'pyooter ruminations

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I Hate Quicken For Mac