Quicken For Mac 2015 Manual

Quicken Mac 2018 is a glorious flaming waste of time if you want a semblance of tracking investments. I have been using Quicken Mac since 2004. I have diligently been forced into upgrading purely because mac has improved with time and no longer can run older versions of Quicken. I am now on the 3rd round of customer service calls.

Quicken was traditionally known as one of the best personal finance software options for desktop users. However, the Mac version had traditionally lacked the features found in the PC version, and that was disappointing to many users. While last year's version was a big improvement, it still wasn't there for everyone.

After using Quicken for Mac 2019 for several weeks, we're happy to see that Quicken has continued the improvements over prior years. It's not as robust as we'd like to see yet, but it's definitely been moving in the right direction.

  • Quicken 2015 for Mac: Good basic money management, but not a whole lot more. There’s nothing revolutionary about what Quicken 2015 for Mac does – you sync your bank, credit cards and investment accounts and the software automatically categorizes transactions and gives you colorful reports that breaks down your income and spending.
  • User Manual Quicken 2015 Mac.pdf - Free download Ebook, Handbook, Textbook, User Guide PDF files on the internet quickly and easily.

So, how did Quicken for Mac 2019 do? Honestly, it's an incremental improvement over 2018. But we like the direction it's going, and if you can get a great deal on pricing (which you typically can on Amazon or when they have a sale), it could be worth it.

  • Incremental improvements over 2018 version
  • A great mobile app with seemless sync across platforms
  • Price is still a concern, but if you can find a great deal, go for it

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Key Features Of Quicken For Mac 2019

Quicken For Mac continues to build on the many traditional features that Quicken users expect. As always, it comes with great spending tracking (compared to other online options like Mint and Personal Capital), it has investment tracking, and budgeting.

For 2019, they have improved the usability of the platform, but the navigation is still a little challenging. Even after using Quicken for about a week, I still find it hard to get to different reports. It's not intuitive.

They also improved the web interface for Quicken. If you don't want to use the desktop software, and prefer a web version (like what you get with Mint), you can have that now. But I prefer the app over the web version.

Here's what the home screen looks like:

Instead of being under reporting, most of the things you'll care about are actually available by clicking on the 'Acccount' sidebar - for example, your income and spending isn't viewable under 'Reports', but it's actually visible under 'Banking'.

Quicken For Mac 2015 Manual Free

Here's an example:

Here's another example. One silly thing that's missing is having income and expenses together on one page. I think there is a report you can run, but there's no easy to access dashboard that compares your income to your expenses (except in the mobile app, which is odd).

Quicken for Mac dramatically improved their investment tracking for 2018, but this is one area that didn't continue to improve into 2019.

There are still issues here. When I imported my accounts, some positions transferred the cost basis, while others didn't. Not a huge deal, but very odd. Also, it's still missing key reports that I valued in the Windows version - most notably the asset allocation and ability to play with your allocation in the program.

See the investment screen here:

Also, Quicken touts that you can now see investment performance, but it consistently showed 'N/A' for every account. My guess is that Quicken calculates this in the program, versus using historical data. That is a good thing in that you get a real snapshot of your performance, but a bad thing in that you need the Quicken app to consistently update to make it happen.

Here's what the screen looks like:

If you check the comments below, you can find other frustrating experiences with the investing tracking in Quicken for Mac. It has so much potential, but it's just not there yet.

Quicken 2019 Mobile App

The Quicken 2019 for Mac mobile app is probably my favorite feature that has been improved. This app has existed since the last few versions, but I found it glitchy years ago and gave up on it. For this review, I started using it again, and it's actually a bit more user friendly than the desktop version.

Here's the home screen of the mobile app:

As you can see, you get your account balances and recent transactions right at the top of the page. You can link this with Quicken's new credit card, and easily categorize your transactions on the go. It then seamlessly syncs with the desktop version.

One of the features I love on the mobile app, which is missing in the desktop version, is easily being able to see your income and expenses against each other.

Here's what that looks like:

I don't know why this can't just be included on the main page. There's also something funky up with the net income over time graph... maybe a glitch?

The pricing for Quicken For Mac 2019 continues to be a focus point for most users. Quicken changed their pricing model last year to a subscription-based model, instead of a one-time fee. I see this as both good and bad.

Quicken For Mac 2015 Manual

It's bad, because many Quicken users kept their software for years, and never upgraded. For users, this was fine - because you could avoid bad rollouts like Quicken for Mac 2017. However, to continue to receive updates and banking information, you had to update every few years anyway or Quicken would cut you off.

It's good, because my hope is with more recurring revenue, Quicken can continue to improve their software and ensure banking connectivity.

Quicken For Mac 2019 has three price points this year. I think 90% of users would benefit simply using the Deluxe version, which is $49.99/yr at full price.

Here's what the pricing looks like:

Deluxe

Best For:

Users with investments and loan tracking

Price:

$49.99/yr

It's hard to say if Premier is worth the huge additional price. I think Deluxe is the best value, for the added features of investment and loan tracking. But I've never used BillPay, and I highly recommend that most people don't use a service like BillPay because not only does Quicken charge more, but many banks charge for the service as well.

Note: For Windows, there is also a Home and Business version. However, we think most consumers with a small business would benefit more from using a tool like Quickbooks, versus using Quicken Home and Business.

Special Promotional Pricing

As you probably already know, Quicken is notorious for running promotional pricing all the time. Recently, they were offering 40% off their prices - which I think is a fair price for the product.

I would have a hard time paying $49.99 per year for Deluxe, but paying $29.99 per year makes much more sense - especially considering that I would typically upgrade every 2-3 years, this aligns much better with the pricing I'd expect.

However, in our search for deals, we found that Amazon.com is offering a 14-month subscription of the Deluxe version for $38.49 (which is 30% off full price). Given the $49.99 price is $4.17 per month, Amazon's deal is $2.75 per month. Still not as good as Quicken's own sale, but the second best deal we've found.

Check out the deal on Amazon here.

Quicken World Mastercard

Another interesting product/feature that Quicken launched this year is the Quicken World Mastercard. The Quicken credit card provides real-time transaction notifications in the Quicken mobile app, and offers integration with Quicken for Mac desktop.

This card also gives you a free year of Quicken Deluxe when you spend at least $500 in the first 90 days. If you already have a subscription, you'll get a 1 year extension.

The card offers 2x rewards points on all your qualified spending, and has no annual fees.

Given that this card is really about integration with Quicken, we're surprised that you don't get Quicken free every year as long as you spend at least $500 per year. Otherwise, all the rewards are on par or below the other top rewards credit cards out there.

Pros And Cons Of Quicken For Mac 2019

As you can see, there are some definite improvements in Quicken for Mac 2018 versus the prior year. However, it's still not perfect and it still has a lot less features than you'll find in the Windows version.

Quicken for apple mac

Pros:

  • Great mobile app to compliment the desktop version
  • Improved Loan Tracking
  • Spending Tracking Categories and Reporting

Cons:

  • Poor Navigation And Not Intuitive
  • Still Lacking Some Key Investment Features Like Asset Allocation
  • New Subscription Pricing Isn't Worth It At Full Price

Final Verdict

The final verdict is that we're giving Quicken for Mac 2019 four stars. As I've been using it more and more, I'm actually liking it more than many of the free online money management tools out there. This is especially true since the mobile app has become much more useful.

However, for those that want desktop software, AND if you can get it at a discounted price, Quicken for Mac is a much better piece of software than before.

Have you tried Quicken for Mac 2019? What are your thoughts?

Quicken For Mac 2019
  • Product Cost - 60
  • Ease Of Use - 83
  • Tools And Features - 90
  • Customer Serivce - 85

Quickbooks For Mac

80

Summary

Quicken For Mac 2019 has continued to improve on what’s been working and has an even better mobile app experience.

Quicken 2015 makes life easier for individuals and investors (including especially real estate investors and small-business owners). But that doesn’t mean you want to spend any more time working with each whistle and bell in Quicken 2015 or reading more about the software program than you have to. Here are quick summaries of stuff you can do and information you can employ to make using the world’s most popular financial record-keeping tool easier and more profitable.

Quicken For Mac 2015 Manual

Windows Tricks for Quicken 2015 Users

Quicken “plays” well with Windows. Accordingly, you can use a handful of standard Windows tricks to make your use of Quicken financial recording program easier — and faster.

  • To move quickly to list box entries that begin with a particular letter, press the letter.

  • To select a list box entry and choose a dialog box’s suggested command button, double-click the entry.

  • To move the insertion bar to the beginning of a field, press Home.

  • To move the insertion bar to the end of a field, press End.

  • To close a window or dialog box, click its Close button in the upper-right corner. (The Close button is the little box with an X in it.)

  • To minimize a window, which shrinks it to a tiny picture, Windows users need to click the first button in the upper-right corner — the one that looks like an underline. (Windows then places the minimized program on the taskbar.)

  • To maximize the Quicken desktop so that it fills the entire monitor screen, click the middle button in the upper-right corner of the application window if the button shows one window. If the middle button shows two windows, the desktop is already maximized. For previous Windows versions, click the up arrow in the application’s upper-right window.

  • To do a Help yelp, press the F1 key. This key works just about anywhere. Don’t press it in a crowded theater, though.

  • To start another application in Windows, click the Start button.

  • To switch to another application, click its button on the taskbar.

  • To change any document’s window size, position the mouse pointer on the window border and then click and drag the border. (If you can’t see the border because the window’s been maximized, click the middle button — with the two windows in it — in the upper-right corner.)

Cool Date-Editing Tricks for Quicken 2015

Quicken For Mac

Within the Quicken accounting program (and it doesn’t matter whether you’re using Quicken Starter Edition, Quicken Deluxe, Quicken Premier, Quicken Home & Business, or Quicken Rental Property Manager), you enter dates again and again: the date you write a check, the date you record a deposit, the date you reconcile an account, the date you receive a dividend on some investment, and so on.

Fortunately, you can use several very cool, extremely handy date-editing tricks. Specifically, if the selection cursor is in a Date field, you can do these things:

Press This KeyWhat Happens
+Adds one day to the date shown.
Subtracts one day from the date shown.
tChanges the date to today’s date. You can remember this
because t is the first letter in today.
yChanges the date to the first date in the year. Note that
y is the first letter in year.
rChanges the date to the last date in the year. Note that
r is the last letter in year.
mChanges the date to the first date in the month. Just to salve
my compulsive personality, allow me to point out that m is
the first letter in month.
hChanges the date to the last date in the month. Okay, last time
I’ll provide a memory tool: Note that h is the last
letter in month.

4 Tasks Every Quicken 2015 User Should Perform

Working with a richly featured, mature financial record-keeping software program like Quicken 2015 can present a bit of a challenge. The Quicken software just does so much. Here are four tasks that every Quicken user should perform on a regular basis:

  • Set up Quicken bank accounts for all your checking, savings, and money market accounts — and then use the Quicken software to carefully track the money that flows into and out of these accounts. Maintaining even just this simple cash accounting system lets you more easily monitor your finances, budget for the future, and identify money-saving tax deductions.

    Just one quick aside for small businesses and rental property investors: The Home & Business and Rental Manager versions of Quicken let you easily set up and run simple cash-based accounting systems for a home-based business and for real estate investments. Use these great tools if you’re a real estate investor or business owner!

  • Use the Retirement Calculator to estimate when and how you can retire. Especially with the financial meltdown in the past decade, people need to get more proactive both about saving for and planning for retirement.

    To use the Retirement Calculator, display the Planning tab, click the Planning Tools button, and choose the Retirement Calculator command. Here’s a free financial planning tip: Invest some time in figuring out how to really economize on your investment-related costs, because these costs (mutual fund expense ratios, financial advisory fees, trading costs, and so on) can eat away at your profits in a fashion that most amateur investors don’t understand.

  • Create a category list that makes tracking your spending and tax deductions easy. Within Quicken, you organize your financial information using income and deductions categories. Any stream of income you want to separately track or monitor, for example, requires its own category. And any expense that you want to regularly tally — perhaps the expense represents a tax deduction — also requires its own category. You can set up categories by choosing Tools→Category List.

  • Balance bank accounts each month with only a few minutes of effort by clicking the Actions button and then choosing the Reconcile command. (The Actions button appears in the upper-right corner of the Quicken window whenever a bank register shows.) Reconciling a bank account lets you catch and correct bookkeeping errors with your accounting records.

Quicken 2015 Shortcuts That Save You Time

Want to save time working with the Quicken 2015 program? Consider using and memorizing a handful of the keyboard shortcuts listed in the table here. Using Quicken keyboard shortcuts requires a bit of memorization work up front, but it usually pays rich dividends in the form of data-entry time savings.

ShortcutWhy You Want to Try Really Darn Hard to Remember This
Ctrl+SDisplays the Split Transaction window (so that you can use more
than one category to describe a payment or deposit).
Shift+DeleteCuts out the selected text in a field and moves it to the
Windows Clipboard (so that you can paste it into some other
field).
Ctrl+InsertCopies the selected text in a field to the Windows Clipboard
(so that you can paste it into some other field).
Shift+InsertPastes what’s on the Clipboard into the selected field.
Ctrl+PPrints the contents of the active window. (Well, almost
always.)
Ctrl+OLets you open another Quicken data file.
Ctrl+GGo to date.
Ctrl+KDisplays the financial calendar.
Ctrl+BPuts you on the fast track to backing up your data.
Ctrl+ADisplays the Accounts List window.
Ctrl+WDisplays the Write Checks window.
Ctrl+LDisplays the tag list.
Ctrl+TDisplays the memorized Payees list.
Ctrl+JDisplays the scheduled transactions list.
Ctrl+UDisplays the Portfolio View window.
Ctrl+VAllows you to void a transaction.
Ctrl+YDisplays the security list.
Ctrl+HDisplays the Find and Replace window.
Ctrl+MMemorizes the transaction.
Ctrl+RReconciles dialog.
F1For those times when you just have to say, “Aaagh! Help!
Help!”
F11Maximizes register view.
Alt+HomeGoes to the Home Tab.
Ctrl+Shift+CGoes to the Category list.
Ctrl+Shift+MGoes to the Manage Hidden Accounts dialog.
End four timesGoes to the last transaction in register.
Quicken 2015 for mac manual

5 Free, Reliable Websites for Quicken 2015 Users

The web represents a treasure trove of information about personal finance, small business, and tax accounting that Quicken users will appreciate. Individuals, investors, and small business owners just beginning their research, however, often aren’t sure which websites offer the most reliable information. Here are half a dozen sites that provide lots of reliable information you can use.

SiteWhy It’s Useful
Social Security
Administration
The Social Security Administration website lets you estimate
your future benefits. (Despite what you sometimes here people say,
Social Security will “be there” for future generations.
But benefits will probably be scaled back for at least some
recipients, which you can read more about at the Social Security
Administration’s website
BogleheadsBasically, the online fan club for Vanguard Group founder John
Bogle, this great forum provides tons of investment planning and
record-keeping advice — all influenced by a strong belief in
the superiority of a passive, low-cost investing
QuickenFind lots of stuff for Quicken.com users, all from the maker of
Quicken — Intuit. Note that if you register at the
Quicken.com site, you also gain additional functionality within the
Quicken program. For example, you can usually download stock price
information for free.
Internal Revenue ServiceMost people by now know that the IRS website provides
downloadable forms and informational booklets. What some people
don’t know, however, is that it also provides access to U.S.
tax law (both the Internal Revenue Code and the Treasury
Regulations).
Evergreen Small
Business
The author of Quicken For Dummies has a blog with several
hundred pages of small business, personal financial planning, and
tax-related information, including free downloadable copies of many
of his old (but still useful) books.