Sidebar settings

The Sidebar settings in Quicken for Mac provide various options to customize how your accounts and their related information are displayed in the sidebar. Below are the sections that you can configure to suit your needs.

This is the main section where you can choose your settings to control how the sidebar behaves and displays your accounts.

Account Activity Indicators

The Account Activity Indicators give you real-time feedback on the status of each account.

New Transactions: When this is enabled, a blue dot indicator will appear next to accounts that have new transactions since the last time you viewed the register.
Unreconciled Transactions: If turned on, blue dot indicator will show next to an account until all the transactions in your register are marked as reviewed.

Displayed Balances

In this section, you can customize the balance displayed for each account in the sidebar. Options include:

Today's Balance - Today's Balance tells you how much you have in your account today, according to the transactions in your register. (This is the balance that appears on the Overview and the Accounts Summary.)
Projected Balance - The Projected Balance tells you how much money you have left for the near term (as defined by your preference settings), given all the money you've stated you have coming in and going out. The Projected Balance includes today's balance minus future bills and plus future income.
Online Balance - The Online Balance is the amount of money left in your account at the time of your last download. In other words, it's the amount of money your financial institution thinks you have left.

Switching the balance type in the Account Bar

You can use the three-dot menu to switch between balance types. Select the three-dot menu at the top of the Account Bar and choose the balance type you want from the menu.

View Options

This section outlines the different types of balance and monetary displays you can enable or disable in the Sidebar.

Account Balances

Enabling this option will display the individual balances next to each of your accounts in the Sidebar.

Benefits:

Quick Overview: Immediately see how much is in each account without needing to click into them.
Targeted Monitoring: Excellent for keeping an eye on specific accounts like checking, savings, or credit cards.

Group Balances

This setting allows you to view the sum of the balances for each type of account group, such as Banking, Investing, and Property & Debt..

Benefits:

Summarized Financials: Quickly assess your overall financial standing in each major group.
Broad Comparison: Easily gauge the relative size of different financial sectors in your life.

Sub-Group Balances

By activating this, the Sidebar will display the sum of balances for each subgroup within a primary group. For example, you might see a sub-group total for Cash, Savings, Brokerage, and Retirement.

Benefits:

Detailed Insight: Gain a more nuanced understanding of specific account types.
Specialized Management: Helpful for those who maintain multiple accounts of the same type but for different purposes.

Foreign Balances in Home Currency

If you have accounts in foreign currencies, this option will convert those balances to your home currency for display in the Sidebar.

Benefits:

Unified View: See all account balances in a single currency, making it easier to understand your total financial situation.
No Mental Math: Avoid the hassle of converting currencies yourself.

Total

This option will display a grand total balance that sums up all the accounts listed in your Sidebar.

Benefits:

Holistic View: Understand your complete financial picture with a single number.
Quick Benchmark: Easily track whether your total wealth is moving in the direction you want over time.

Show Cents

Enabling this will display the balances down to the cent level, rather than rounding to the nearest dollar.

Benefits:

Exact Accounting: Know how much you have down to the last cent.
Fine-Tuned Budgeting: Useful for those who track their finances with great detail.

Accounts to Display

The "Accounts to Display" setting lets you toggle the visibility of specific account types, thereby allowing you to focus on accounts that are most relevant for your current financial activities or planning.

Closed Accounts

The "Closed" option allows accounts that have been marked as closed in Quicken to be displayed in the Sidebar.

Benefits:

Historical Insight: By showing closed accounts, you can easily access past transactions and financial history without going through multiple menus.
Comprehensive Understanding: When you include closed accounts, you get a fuller picture of your financial trajectory over time, which can be useful for long-term planning.

Hidden Accounts

When the "Hidden" option is selected, accounts you've intentionally hidden within Quicken will become visible in the Sidebar.

Benefits:

Quick Access: Useful for when you need to momentarily view hidden accounts without altering your regular Sidebar settings.
Uncluttered View: You can usually keep these accounts hidden to maintain a clean Sidebar, but display them when you need to make specific checks or updates.

Separate Accounts

Selecting the "Separate" option allows you to give certain accounts their own dedicated section in the Sidebar, separated from the other accounts.

Benefits:

Enhanced Organization: This helps you visually distinguish between different types of accounts (e.g., personal vs. business, or checking vs. investment), making for easier and quicker navigation.
Focused Monitoring: When you separate accounts, you can pay more detailed attention to those that require frequent checks or updates without getting distracted by other accounts.