How Do I Set Up A 2 Line Register In Quicken?

Chapter i. Setting Upward Your Quicken Environment

• Launching Quicken

• Setting Up Your Quicken Data File

• Opening a Quicken File

• The Quicken Guided Setup

• A Quick Guide to Quicken Preferences

After you install Quicken (encounter Appendix C for instructions), y'all accept just a few more steps earlier yous feel the joys of electronic personal finance. Quicken stores all your data and settings in a data file , which is like an electronic version of the filing cabinet that contains your financial papers. (Actually, behind the scenes, it'south a minor set of files, as the box on Section ane.two explains.)

Despite the awkward name, a information file is a proficient affair, because it lets you support your Quicken data, move information technology to another calculator, keep different family unit members' info in dissever files, and and then on. The start time you launch Quicken, the program asks yous to help gear up your data file.

If y'all've used a previous version of Quicken, your setup process is shorter, only fifty-fifty existing data files require a quick conversion to work with the new version of Quicken. If it's your first time using Quicken, the program asks you a few questions, creates a new data file, and and so launches the Quicken Guided Setup to help yous tailor the file to your needs.

In improver to setting upward your data file, it's a good idea to take a look at Quicken's preferences . Preferences (called Options in some other programs) are the settings that command how Quicken looks and acts. You lot'll return to the preferences dialog box throughout this book, merely there are some yous desire to set correct abroad—similar which currency y'all're using and which screen you lot want to see when you lot get-go upward each day.

Launching Quicken

To start using Quicken, yous launch it like about any program. Here are some popular methods:

• Quick Launch toolbar . Clicking the Quicken icon in this toolbar launches Quicken, making information technology the fastest way to get going.

  Tip

  The Quick Launch toolbar is to the right of the Start button. If you don't meet Quicken's icon at that place—or any icons there—see the box on Section ane.2.

• Desktop shortcut . Double-click the Quicken 2006 desktop shortcut that Quicken added to your figurer during installation.

• Programs menu . Without a desktop icon, you can launch Quicken from the Windows Start bill of fare. Click Offset, and and so cull Programs → Quicken → Quicken 2006.

Setting Upward Your Quicken Data File

The first fourth dimension you launch Quicken, the "Go Started with Quicken 2006" window pops up with two options: If y'all're a Quicken neophyte, the program helps you build your data file from scratch; if y'all've used Quicken in the past, you lot tin go started past using an existing Quicken data file. The setup programme guides you through the conversion process.

In the "Get Started with Quicken 2006" window, choose ane of the post-obit options:

• I am new to Quicken . Cull this option if you want to create and set up a make new Quicken data file using Quicken Guided Setup. Read on for detailed instructions on creating a make new data file.

• I am already a Quicken user . Choose this pick to get started without all the handholding; for instance, if yous already accept a Quicken data file and have installed Quicken on a spiffy new laptop. For your options and instructions, skip to Section ane.2.2.

Tip

If yous're converting a data file from an before version of Quicken, you should support your information and take a few other preliminary steps. See the box on Section ane.4 for instructions.

I Am New to Quicken

When you lot cull the "I am new to Quicken" option and click Next, the process of setting up a brand new data file begins. The start screen asks, "What do yous want to call your data file?" Yous become two options: Let Quicken name and save your data file, or tell Quicken what you want to proper noun the file and where yous want to store it.

• I will use the default file name and location . If y'all choose this option, Quicken creates a binder called Quicken in your My Documents folder and puts your data file in there, with the catchy name QDATA . (It stands for "Quicken data"—go information technology?)

  Tip

  Unless you similar to hunt effectually your hard drive for obscurely named files, choose the 2nd option (equally described next). But if you've already permit Quicken name and save a QDATA file and demand help finding it, see the box on Section 1.4

• I want to choose a different file proper name and location . With this choice, you tin assign your Quicken information file a meaningful name, like MyMoney or Fred'south Finances , and store it in any folder you similar. Personalized filenames are essential when you create more than one data file; for instance, when you lot besides track your parents' finances, or manage money for your geeky kid who's grown rich from her patents.

  With this selection, clicking Adjacent displays the Create Quicken File dialog box. As demonstrated in Figure 1-1, navigate to the folder you want and, in the File proper name box, type the proper noun for your information file. Click OK to create the file.

Figure 1-1. This is the Create Quicken File dialog box. In this example, yous're saving the file MyMoney in the Quicken Data folder within the Shared Documents binder.

After Quicken creates your data file, it launches the Quicken Guided Setup to help you ready the file—creating accounts, categories, and other features for tracking your finances. To get started, come across Section i.4.

I Am Already a Quicken User

If you lot have an existing data file from a previous version, beginning make sure y'all've backed up your existing data (and possibly printed out parts of it). With your backup and printouts in place, choose the "I am already a Quicken user" option, and so click Next. The Select Your Data File screen offers three options:

• Open a file located on this computer . If you take an existing Quicken data file on your difficult disk, choose this choice and click Adjacent. In the Open Quicken File dialog box, navigate to the folder that contains your data file, select the filename, and click OK to open the file.

  Tip

  If yous're lucky (or unlucky) enough to have a home network, the Open Quicken File dialog box can admission a Quicken information file in any shared folder on your network.

• Restore a Quicken information file I've backed up to CD or disk . This choice works only with files backed up with Quicken's Fill-in command, equally described in Chapter 3. When you choose this pick and click Next, the Restore Quicken File dialog box appears. To restore the backup file, navigate to the folder or CD that contains the backup file, select the filename, and click OK. One time the information file is snuggled comfortably in the folder, yous can choose File → Open to work with it.

• Start over and create a new information file . If you've mangled or lost the but re-create of your data file in a horrible deejay-cleaning accident, take a deep breath, make a mental note to back up your data in the future, and then choose this option to tell Quicken to create a brand new file.

  When y'all click Side by side and the Create Quicken File dialog box appears, navigate to the folder you lot use for Quicken data. In the File proper name box, type a proper name for the new file and click OK. Quicken creates the data file and launches the Quicken Guided Setup.

Note

You tin can featherbed the "Become Started with Quicken 2006" screen by opening an existing information file direct (past double-clicking it, for example). To convert your data file from there, see the box on the adjacent folio.

Opening a Quicken File

Once you've opened a information file, Quicken accommodatingly opens that file the side by side time you launch the plan. If yous have only i Quicken data file—and nearly people do—you may never have to cull File → Open once again.

Fifty-fifty with a scattering of information files, you need get no further than the File carte to open up them, as demonstrated in Effigy 1-2.

The Quicken Guided Setup

In that location'southward no escaping the Quicken Guided Setup—Quicken opens it equally soon every bit you create a data file (or catechumen ane from a previous version). If you know your way around Quicken, you can do everything that the Guided Setup does using menu commands. The get-go time around, though, the Guided Setup'south footstep-by-footstep procedure tin't be beat. It clearly lays out all your options, lets you make your own financial choices, and then gives you lot an mistake-free data file that's tailor-fabricated for you.

For example, the setup tool helps yous create accounts , which are the electronic cousins of the accounts you accept at fiscal institutions—checking accounts, savings accounts, credit cards, Private Retirement Accounts (IRAs), and then on. Information technology can also create categories that help organize your budget and track the money you spend. For instance, if you lot tell the Guided Setup that y'all ain a business firm, it adds a category for mortgage interest.

Figure 1-2. This is the File menu. To find and open a Quicken data file, cull Open (circled), or press Ctrl+0. The bottom of this menu lists recently opened data files and adds a checkmark to the i that'due south currently open up (in this case, MyMoney). Click a file name to open that file.

From the Quicken Guided Setup Welcome screen, shown in Figure 1-3, you can navigate the setup process in two different ways. Clicking Next Step to proceed to the next setup task is the easiest way to work through the Guided Setup. If this isn't your first time through the tool, you can also click a category on the left side of the window to jump to the job you want.

Note

If you want to use the Guided Setup but Quicken hasn't displayed it, simply choose Tools → Quicken Guided Setup.

Figure i-three. In the list to the Welcome Screen's left, the slightly darker gray bar shows which setup step yous're currently working on (in this case, information technology's the Welcome Setup). If you're in the mood for some educational entertainment, click Watch Quicken Tour (circled) for a brief audiovisual presentation.

The Welcome screen lists all the things yous'll be doing in the setup. As noted below, the remainder of the chapters in this volume provide detailed instructions for setting upward your information file on your ain.

• Create greenbacks menstruum accounts . Cash period accounts cover checking accounts, savings accounts, credit cards, and plain sometime cash. Affiliate 2 explains how to create them from scratch.

• Create investment accounts . Whether your investment accounts are retirement or taxable, brokerage or mutual funds, Affiliate 9 explains how to create them from scratch.

• Create nugget and liability accounts . If you lot want to track how much y'all own and owe, Chapter 5 explains how to create accounts for assets and loans.

• Set paychecks . Affiliate 4 explains how to use Quicken'south Paycheck Setup tool to automate the entry of paychecks, regardless of how many deductions your company makes.

• Set up upward bills you lot pay regularly . If you pay the same bills fourth dimension afterwards fourth dimension—even if the corporeality changes from payment to payment—yous can automate your pecker entry by following the steps described in Chapter 4.

If this process sounds like a lot of work, you lot're correct! But yous tin interruption upward the setup process into smaller chunks, as discussed in the box on Section 1.4.2. Before you dive in, you'll need to have some information handy and think near how y'all want to employ Quicken, as described next.

What You Need for Setup

To set upward Quicken to handle your financial needs going frontwards, you lot have to assemble some data about your nowadays position. At minimum, y'all need the account balance from the most recent statement for each banking concern account. With the nigh recent ending balance, y'all tin can begin to manage accounts in Quicken. However, a more useful (though time-consuming) approach is to go back to the beginning of the electric current twelvemonth. Past starting with the ending residual from the previous year and bringing all your transactions up to appointment, yous can take reward of Quicken to set this twelvemonth's tax returns and analyze your yearly finances.

If you're upwards to the task of entering a few months of transactions, collect all of your account statements through the last month of the previous twelvemonth. You can employ the account remainder from the last statement of the previous yr and enter all the transactions from the following statements to bring your Quicken accounts up to date.

Tip

If y'all plan to use online services (which you can read about in Affiliate 6), don't worry nigh inbound transactions. Your first download may import all the transactions you lot need. See "Downloading Transactions" on Section 1.5.10 for more detail.

Tell Quicken nigh Yourself

Quicken starts by request for a little personal information. Don't worry—it'southward only to decide some of the appropriate accounts and categories to track your finances. On the left side of the Quicken Guided Setup window, click About You, and then provide your age (exist honest), whether you're married, and whether you own a home. Click Next Step when you're finished.

Set Your Goals

Quicken is a personal finance program with many powerful features, but telepathy isn't i of them. Nor tin Quicken take the place of a personal financial advisor. Before you dive into setting upwards the accounts in your data file, y'all need to know what you want to rail with Quicken—and more chiefly, how diligent you lot're likely to exist at tracking financial details.

The Set Your Goals screen isn't almost defining your financial goals; it's near your goals for using Quicken to manage your finances. Each checkbox corresponds to a feature that Quicken offers. Plough on a checkbox to see what setup you need to perform, as illustrated in Figure i-4. For example, turning on the "Manage my checkbook and bills" checkbox adds an icon to Cash Period (the category for checking accounts) and Bills.

Figure 1-four. In this instance, "Manage my checkbook and bills" is the chosen task, so Quicken tells y'all that you need to set upward a Cash Flow account and a Bills account.

As you lot can see on the Ready Your Goals screen (Figure one-4), Quicken Guided Setup comes equipped to tailor your data file for a number of common financial concerns. Start by choosing the goal that is closest to your current situation, although y'all can (and probably will) adjust your goals (and your data file) later.

• Manage my checkbook and bills . Turn on this checkbox if yous want the Guided Setup to help you lot create your checking business relationship and set up the bills yous pay.

• Know where your money is going . If y'all whip out a estimator at tiffin to divvy upwardly the beak to effigy out each person's cost to the penny, you'll appreciate the tracking that Quicken tin perform. Turn on this checkbox if y'all want the Guided Setup to help you create categories to track your income and expenses.

• Save more money . When you lot turn on this checkbox, Quicken Guided Setup helps you prepare a budget to rein in your spending.

• Rails all my investments in 1 place . Turn on this checkbox if y'all desire Quicken Guided Setup to help you lot create investment accounts.

• Go out of debt . When you plough on this checkbox, Quicken Guided Setup helps yous create accounts for what yous ain and the money you owe. Once you've got Quicken set, you tin cull Planning → Debt Reduction Planner to learn how to go out of debt more quickly.

• Make tax grooming easier . If you're the blazon of person who jams dollar bills and modify into your pocket and notices a problem only when aught comes out but lint, you might want to rails only tax-related income and expenditures. Turn on this checkbox to fix upwards tax-related categories and a link to Intuit's TurboTax program.

• Retire when I want . Turn on this checkbox if yous want to prepare an investment program that helps you retire when you desire.

• Know my internet worth . Turn on this checkbox to brand sure you create all the accounts you need to stay on height of how much y'all're worth.

Tip

Although it's adept to start with a clear thought of what y'all're going to do in Quicken, you don't have to go the level of detail perfect the first time. As you'll learn in Chapter two, y'all can add, delete, or modify categories whatsoever time you desire.

Add together Accounts

In the Quicken Guided Setup, the Add together Accounts pace is where the existent work gets done. Between creating accounts, setting up your paycheck, and setting up the bills you pay, this step hits most every area of your financial life. In fact, completing this step in i session might exist more than than you can handle. The skillful news is that y'all can cease any fourth dimension you want and come back to practice a bit more (encounter the box on Department one.4.two) afterwards y'all've downed a grande latte or ii.

Moreover, you can get-go using any accounts you have created before you consummate the setup. Simply click Stop Later to close the Quicken Guided Setup window and perform the financial tasks you desire. For example, if you want to enter some checks you've written, see "Recording Checks" on Section 4.iii.1. When you lot're ready to continue, choose Tools → Quicken Guided Setup and you'll be back where you left off.

Setting up cash menstruation accounts

If yous click Cash Menstruation underneath Add Accounts, you'll run into the "Add cash menstruum accounts" screen. The types of accounts you add on this screen all relate to spending and saving money—checking, savings, credit cards, and, of course, cash. To the correct of the type of account y'all want to start with, click the Add Account push button, as shown in Figure 1-v.

Note

The Quicken Credit Bill of fare account has two Add buttons (Figure i-v). If you already utilize a Quicken credit card, click Add together Account to create an account in your data file. Click Apply At present merely if y'all want to succumb to Intuit'south marketing ploy and use for its credit card.

Afterward y'all click the Add Business relationship button, a Quicken Account Setup dialog box appears, which is the very same dialog box you run into if you create an account without the Guided Setup'south assist. You can see what it looks like in Figure 1-half-dozen.

The setup tool starts past selecting the option to specify the fiscal institution that holds the account. In the text box, blazon the name of the banking company. For example, the name of the bank where your checking account is, or the bank that issued your Visa card. As you type, Quicken automatically selects the closest matching name from its list of participating fiscal institutions. For case, by the time you've typed citi , Quicken displays Citibank. (On the other mitt, if your savings are stuffed in your mattress, yous can choose the "This account is non held at a fiscal institution" option.)

Figure 1-v. All cash menses accounts have something to exercise with spending and saving money, only Quicken provides different types of greenbacks accounts, since they each piece of work a bit differently. You can read the total descriptions of each on Section two.2.

Effigy 1-half dozen. The first thing you specify when you create an business relationship is the financial institution where it resides.

One time you've selected your depository financial institution, click Next. And so go on to choose options and respond questions, clicking Next to move to the next bit of data required. If you need assistance, the entire procedure is described in detail on Section two.3– Section 2.3.one in Chapter 2. When you click Washed, Quicken creates the account and adds information technology to the list at the bottom of the screen, as illustrated in Figure 1-7.

Tip

If you don't have balance information handy, or tin't decide nearly some account details correct now, you lot can edit these items at any fourth dimension. See Section 2.four.

Setting upwards investment accounts

Underneath the Add Accounts step, click Investments to add brokerage, retirement, and common fund accounts to your data file. The "Add investment accounts" screen contains buttons for adding brokerage accounts, IRA or Keogh accounts, 401(k) or 403(b) accounts, and single mutual fund accounts.

Figure i-7. Mistakes are easy to correct in the list of accounts at the lesser of the screen. On the right side of the account row, click Edit to open up the Account Details dialog box. Click Delete to remove an account. To change an ever-increasing credit limit, in the Credit Limit column, click the hyperlink showing your current credit limit and, in the dialog box that appears, type the new limit.

In a procedure similar to adding cash flow accounts, you click an Add Business relationship push button to open the Quicken Business relationship Setup dialog box. The first screen looks similar the one in Figure 1-6, but after that, you'll see screens with specific investment business relationship options. No request for an ending residue is a pleasant surprise, just you're not off the hook. Equally you lot'll discover in Chapter 9, you specify the catastrophe balance for an investment account later when you add securities. You'll notice the unabridged setup process described on Department 9.iii, Section nine.3.i, Section 9.3.ii and Section 9.4.

When y'all're done, click Done. The Quicken Account Setup dialog box closes and, in Quicken Guided Setup, your new business relationship appears in the listing of investment accounts at the lesser of the "Add investment accounts" screen.

Setting upwards accounts for what y'all ain and what you owe

Also on the Add Accounts setup screen, click Belongings & Debt to add accounts for your assets and loans. The next screen contains buttons for adding nugget accounts for houses, cars, and other items of value (jewelry, Beanie Babies, or the odd Renoir), merely similar the one in Effigy 5-3 (Section v.2.2). You can set up these accounts to track their value over fourth dimension, as you buy more Beanie Babies or make improvements on your home, for case. Quicken uses this information to calculate your cyberspace worth.

The fourth option on this screen is a fleck dissimilar from the other 3. Information technology'south designed to track not how much you own but how much you owe . While assets add to your net worth, liabilities are in the minus column.

Nugget and liability accounts work together with your cash menstruum accounts, and so when you write a bank check for a loan payment, Quicken lets you immediately see a reduction in the corporeality you owe and an increase in the equity y'all own. For case, most people write checks from their checking accounts to pay off their loans. If you track your loans in Quicken, one transaction deducts the coin from your checking account and shows that your loan balance goes down as well. If you utilise Quicken to calculate your net worth, you'll oft discover you have both an nugget and a liability account for the same piece of belongings or the aforementioned vehicle. (Yet, you lot can ain an asset without a loan or borrow money without having a corresponding asset, as in the instance of a student loan for higher.)

If you kickoff past calculation a firm or car, the Guided Setup creates an account for the asset. Merely that'due south not all. If yous borrowed money to purchase the nugget, the setup can keep going and take you right through the process of setting upwardly the respective liability account and even setting upwardly your regularly scheduled loan payment. If setting up the asset account was enough work for the mean solar day, in the Quicken Account Setup dialog box, click Abolish. When y'all're ready to continue setting up asset and liability accounts, the complete instructions are on Section 5.2.1.

When you're done setting upward accounts for the time beingness, in the list of steps on the left, click Paycheck.

Setting up your paycheck

Setting up your paycheck in the Guided Setup doesn't actually create whatsoever additional accounts. It does, however, set a scheduled transaction with as much detail almost your paycheck deductions every bit yous can comport to specify. Underneath the Add together Accounts step, click Paycheck to launch the Paycheck Setup tool, described in detail in Chapter 4 on Section four.fifteen, Section 4.15.2, Section four.15.ii.1 and Section iv.xv.ii.2. If your most recent pay stub isn't clutched in your hand at the moment, y'all can also click Next Step to move on to setting up the bills y'all pay.

Setting up bills to pay

If you pay bills—and who doesn't—click Bills under the Add Accounts category. Quicken offers an incredibly handy feature, called a scheduled transaction that reminds you to pay your recurring bills. The "Add bills" screen offers a Quicken Nib Pay button. Click it if you lot've signed upward to part with your money electronically using this service. Quicken not only remembers that the pecker is due, simply pays it for you, based on the instructions you give here. (Full details on setting upwardly Online Bill Pay are in Chapter vi.)

If you simply want Quicken to requite you a friendly reminder to write paper checks, or y'all use a different online bill paying service, click Add together Bills Manually. Figure 1-8 shows how easy information technology is to schedule your bills, merely for further pedagogy, run into Section 4.xiii.ii, Section iv.14.one, Department four.xiv.1.1, Section 4.14.1.2, Section 4.14.2 and Section 4.fifteen in Affiliate 4.

Click OK when you lot're done adding bills. The Set Up Bills dialog box closes and you lot tin click Setup Summary in the pace list on the left to survey how much of the setup yous've completed.

Finishing Upwards the Guided Setup

When you're done setting up Quicken (or getting fidgety to do something else), click Go out Setup to close the Guided Setup tool. On the other mitt, if you've dutifully clicked Next Step on each Guided Setup screen, you reach Setup Summary nirvana. As shown in Figure 1-ix, the final screen shows every account you lot've created, the paychecks you've set up up, and the bills you've created for regular payment. Click Done and vigorously congratulate yourself.

Figure 1-8. For virtually recurring bills, you tin type in all the particulars: the payee, the account you use to pay the pecker, the category, the amount, how ofttimes you lot pay the nib, and when it'southward due adjacent. Except for the amount, each field includes a drop-downward menu of likely choices, including the list of categories in your data file. Yous'll learn much more virtually categories in Chapter 2.

A Quick Guide to Quicken Preferences

Quicken doesn't give you every bit much control over its behavior as some other programs. You won't discover anything like the vast array of options in Microsoft Give-and-take, for example. Some of Quicken's preferences make tiny changes barely worth noticing, while others—similar Backup—just might save your sanity. This department describes the preferences you're most likely to change and why.

To open the Quicken Preferences dialog box, choose Edit → Preferences and then choose Quicken Programme. These preferences decide Quicken's bones beliefs and advent, so you might observe yourself drawn dorsum from fourth dimension to time to brand adjustments every bit your experience grows and your needs change.

Figure 1-9. The Setup Summary screen lets you savor in the glory of your achievement (or to put it more prosaically, "Review your data"). You'll have to scroll down to meet all the accounts, paychecks, and bill payments you've set up.

Annotation

When you lot choose Edit → Preferences, you'll run into two other menu choices: Customize Online Updates and Internet Connection Setup. Both of these categories let you lot control how Quicken handles your online transactions. Run across Affiliate 6 for the details.

Startup

The Startup preference tells Quicken what to brandish when yous first launch the program. Out of the box, the program displays Quicken Home, a financial shopping mall for all your Quicken tasks. To choose a different view, or even a single account, choose Startup. In the "On startup open up to" drib-down card, choose the Quicken Center or account you'd rather encounter. For case, if you lot utilise Quicken every bit a checkbook, choose your checking account or Cash Flow Eye to see checking, saving, and credit card accounts and options.

Note

Earlier you lot turn off Quicken Home, note that you can customize it to prove only what you desire to run across. Learn how in Online Appendix F.

Setup

The Setup category is dwelling to settings that command Quicken's basic appearance, keyboard shortcuts, and sounds, shown in Figure 1-10. Since your preferences for keyboard shortcuts and your noise tolerance are private matters, this console can have a large touch on on your Quicken feel.

Turn on Quicken sounds

If your PC or laptop has speakers, you can't help but notice the odd noises that erupt as you lot use Quicken. If you prefer to heed to Brandenburg concertos on your stereo without Quicken's percussion section, turn off the "Turn on Quicken sounds" checkbox, as illustrated in Effigy 1-10.

Business relationship Bar display

You can display the handy Account Bar, shown in Figure 1-11, on the left or right side of the Quicken window. If you almost e'er piece of work in the aforementioned account (or can't beget to give up any screen real estate), hide the Business relationship Bar past turning on the "Never display Account Bar" checkbox.

Figure 1-10. If you tin can't stand up the beeps, burps, and ka-chings of Quicken sounds, join the crowd and turn off the "Turn on Quicken sounds" checkbox (indicated by cursor).

Tip

When the Business relationship Bar isn't showing, yous can always open an account from the Quicken menu bar. For example, to open an investing business relationship, cull Investing → Investing Accounts then, on the submenu, cull the account name.

Keyboard mappings

If y'all're a speed demon with Windows programs, y'all've probably burned Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C, and Ctrl+Five into your muscle memory. Simply undo, cutting, copy, and paste don't come up much in Quicken activities, and so the program automatically chooses the "Quicken standard" setting to assign different meanings to these keyboard shortcuts, every bit shown in Tabular array ane-ane. If the idea of two different meanings for the same keyboard shortcut is more than you can carry, choose the "Windows standard (Undo/Cut/Copy/Paste)" setting.

Figure one-11. This is the Business relationship Bar. Many consider information technology the fastest way to become to whatsoever account. It lists all of your accounts in one convenient panel and a quick click of any account opens its annals.

Table 1-1. Quicken and Windows Keyboard Mappings

Keyboard shortcut	WINDOWS COMMAND	WHAT IT DOES IN QUICKEN	QUICKEN COMMAND
Ctrl+Z	Undo	Displays a QuickZoom report	Double-click a report entry
Ctrl+10	Cut	For agile transaction, jumps to transaction in transfer account	Right-click transfer and, on shortcut menu, choose "Go to matching transfer"
Ctrl+C	Re-create	Displays Category List	Tools → Category List
Ctrl+V	Paste	Voids active transaction	Right-click transaction and, on shortcut menu, cull "Void transaction(south)"

Tip

Keyboard shortcuts are the fastest way to perform their respective tasks. To learn more Quicken keyboard shortcuts, run into Appendix C.

Calendar and Currency

If your year begins in Jan and ends in December, and yous deal with only U.S. dollars, you can skip right past the "Calendar and currency" preferences. But if your life is but not that simple, you can tell Quicken to follow your fiscal year. This panel is also where y'all turn on the programme's currency exchange feature.

• Working calendar . Quicken sets the "Calendar twelvemonth" option automatically. If you want to work with a fiscal year (for example, to track a home-based business organisation), choose the "Fiscal year" option and choose the month in which your fiscal yr begins.

  Notation

  If y'all track your personal finances and a minor business, it's wise to create separate data files for your domicile and business organisation finances. That way, you tin ready your personal data file to use a calendar year and the business data file to use the company's fiscal twelvemonth.

• Multicurrency back up . If your income is in Euros rather than U.S. dollars or y'all travel the world spending coin in dozens of local currencies, plough on the "Multicurrency support" checkbox. Quicken sets the currency for all your current transactions to the currency you've chosen in Windows' Regional and Language Options control panel (see the box on Section one.5.4).

Fill-in

If yous use your reckoner for more than managing your coin, you probably run backup software, like Windows Backup, to protect all of your data. One backup procedure can capture messages to your mom, your Quicken data file, and pictures of your domestic dog.

So why should yous care about Quicken's backup preferences? For ane thing, your Quicken information file may change more than often than your other information. Unless you're disciplined virtually running a regular fill-in procedure, Quicken's backups provide extra insurance for your finances. Too, if you often mutter "I should really back up my information today" but rarely follow through, Quicken'due south fill-in reminders could be the nudge you need.

Tip

Another reason you might autumn to your knees in gratitude for Quicken fill-in copies is when you've forgotten the new countersign y'all recently set. As long as at to the lowest degree one of the Quicken backup copies doesn't take the new password assigned, you tin open that data file, recreate the missing transactions, and yous're set up. Oh yeah, and assign a new password that you'll be able to call back .

Quicken's backup preferences control how often the program's automatic backup (Section iii.one.3) runs and how many backup copies it keeps. The post-obit are some guidelines for setting these preferences.

• Remind after running Quicken_times . When you blazon a number in this box, Quicken reminds yous to back up your data file afterward you've launched Quicken that number of times. If you lot tend to slog through marathon Quicken sessions entering dozens of transactions, set the reminder to i .

  If only 1 or 2 transactions dribble in each time yous run Quicken, prepare this preference to 3 or higher. Y'all still won't spend much time recreating lost transactions, but yous'll take backups that span a longer timeframe.

• Maximum number of copies . Quicken automatically saves several copies of the backups it creates on your hard disk drive, so you lot can retrieve lost data from several sessions by. Quicken sets this preference to v —the middle ground between prophylactic and disk space conservation. To recover older files (and if you've got disk space to spare), choose a higher number (upwards to 9). To utilize less deejay space, cull a number every bit low every bit i. Run across Section 3.two to learn where Quicken stores these backups and how it cycles through the copies.

• Warn earlier overwriting sometime files . Quicken turns on this checkbox automatically to make sure you lot don't accidentally overwrite backup files that you desire to keep. This preference applies to the backups you lot tell Quicken to make (not the ones it makes automatically each week). Turn it off if you're satisfied that your Quicken and Windows backup routines are keeping your data prophylactic and want Quicken to stop asking.

Investment Transactions

Investment transaction preferences are a new add-on to Quicken. These settings give y'all more control over how your investment register looks onscreen.

• List display . Choose One Line or Two Line in the drib-down menu to specify whether Quicken shows one or ii lines in the investment register. If you lot prefer to conserve screen space, cull One Line. With this setting, Quicken shows each transaction on 1 line—except the currently selected one, which expands to ii lines for amend visibility.

• Sort pick . In this drop-downward bill of fare, you lot tin can cull Ascending Date or Descending Date to show your investment transactions from primeval to most recent or vice versa. If y'all add new transactions oftentimes, stick with Ascending Appointment, which the programme chooses automatically. That way, your new transactions appear at the lesser of the list as yous add them.

• Show hidden transactions . Quicken leaves this checkbox turned off initially, but you can turn it on if you desire to see placeholder transactions or balance adjustments. If you lot notice an error and tin't seem to find its source, turning on this checkbox to bear witness all transactions can help you find the problem.

Register

Unlike your newspaper check register, yous can change how the Quicken register looks and behaves. Considering inbound transactions in registers is such a big part of using Quicken, it pays to ready the Register preferences to your liking. Most of these options are a affair of taste, only a few are worth special mention considering they have a direct issue on your working speed.

• Remove memorized payees non used in last_months . The memorized payees feature lonely is nearly worth Quicken's purchase price (see "Managing Memorized Payees" in Chapter 4). As soon as you type a memorized payee name in a transaction, Quicken fills in the corporeality, category, and memo for you. Unfortunately, as you lot buy stuff from more companies, the Memorized Payee list can bloat bigger than the aunt who super-sizes all her meals, ultimately slowing downward your data entry. The more names in the Memorized Payee listing, the more characters you accept to blazon earlier Quicken finds the matching payee, and the more names you must slog through in the payee drop-down menu.

  To tell Quicken to remove companies you oasis't purchased from in the last year from your Memorized Payee List, plow on this checkbox and type 12 in the box, as shown in Figure i-12.

• Maximize my register view . Turning on this checkbox (or pressing F11 when a register is visible) hides the Account Bar and fills the Quicken main window with the register. As a event, the register fields become larger, and so you can run across more payee proper noun and memo information.

  

  Figure 1-12. For a bacteria list, choose a lower number of months than the 12 months shown here. To keep payees around longer, choose a higher number.

  Note

  Maximizing the annals view makes the fields larger, just the blazon-face remains the aforementioned size. Unfortunately for baby boomers, there isn't a way to change the font size in Quicken. But in that location are quite a few things you can practice in Windows to make text easier to read onscreen: Cull Start → Control Console → Brandish tab or Showtime → Control Panel → Accessibility Options. Consult Windows XP for Starters: The Missing Transmission by David Pogue for more information on accessibility.

• Utilize automated categorization . Quicken turns this preference on initially, with skillful reason. Information technology tells the program to fill in the transaction category automatically if the payee yous type matches a company in the Quicken database, which is, of course, likely to be the right category. Otherwise, you'd take to call back to choose a category manually every time.

QuickFill

QuickFill (Section 4.iii) is Quicken's attempt to speed up your data entry. About of the fourth dimension, information technology works surprisingly well. If y'all approve of Quicken's fill-in assistance, y'all tin can featherbed this console altogether. But if transactions seem to take on a life of their own during information entry, turn off this checkbox to rein in QuickFill'south assistance:

• Automatically memorize new payees . Quicken comes with this checkbox turned on, which tells the plan to save new payees you use in transactions to the Memorized Payee List. Although this setting ensures that the next transaction for a payee fills in automatically, it can lead to overpopulation, likewise. So there are the vendors y'all'd rather not memorize—like the diner that gave you nutrient poisoning. To decide which payees to add together to the Memorized Payee List, turn off this checkbox.

  Every bit if you demand more than justification to turn off this checkbox, consider that Quicken stops memorizing new payees automatically one time your Memorized Payee List hits 2,000 entries. The automated memorization gunks up the list with payees you don't desire and then may not memorize payees you do want.

Tip

If y'all turn off automatic memorization, you lot can memorize a payee as you add a transaction by pressing Ctrl+M.

Notify

The Notify preferences tell Quicken when to warn or remind y'all most potential problems every bit you lot work. Here are the settings and when you may want to turn them on or off:

• When entering out-of-date transactions . This notification warns you when you type a date that is more than twelve months away from today's engagement. It'due south a godsend those first few weeks (or months) or every year, before you get used to typing the new year's day in dates.

• Before changing existing transactions . This pick warns yous when you attempt to save an existing transaction that you've inverse. If you know your fashion effectually Quicken and ofttimes change existing transactions (say, to add memos to downloaded transactions), plow off this checkbox to eliminate the frequent interruptions.

• When entering uncategorized transactions . Almost every transaction should accept a category. This notification simply reminds you lot to do the right thing and supply ane. Don't turn information technology off.

• To run a reconcile report later reconcile . Y'all can turn off this checkbox without a trace of guilt. Reconcile reports tell you lot mostly what y'all already know: which transactions accept cleared, which haven't, and whether there's a discrepancy between your and your bank's records. If you've had to do some fancy footwork to reconcile your checking account one month, you tin document that with a reconciliation report by choosing Reports → Cash Catamenia → Reconciliation.

• Warn if a bank check number is reused . Nearly the only fourth dimension you'll utilize the same check number is when you're renumbering checks that you entered out of order. Proceed this checkbox turned on to receive well-deserved warnings when you lot type a check number you've already written.

Write Checks

The Write Checks preferences control the appearance of checks y'all write through the Write Checks window and subsequently print. If you write your paper checks by manus, skip this department birthday. This section describes the few preferences y'all might want to change and why.

• Permit entry of extra message on bank check . If the visitor you're paying wants you lot to include your account or member number, you can blazon that data in the Write Checks window. If you plough on this checkbox, Quicken prints the message on the check.

• Change date of checks to appointment when printed . Quicken initially turns off this checkbox, which ways that the date on the check is the engagement that y'all type in the Write Checks window, regardless of when yous print the cheque. If your upkeep is tight and you consider mail-dating checks a critical greenbacks management technique, this setting is ideal. On the contrary, if y'all're a stickler for accuracy, turn this choice off then checks e'er show the exact date you print them.

Downloaded Transactions

When yous download transactions from your bank or credit carte carrier into Quicken, you're at the mercy of somebody's (or more likely, some machine'south) bizarre naming schemes. Your first instinct is to pounce on the keyboard and rename the transactions to something that will actually help y'all remember what you did or bought. Quicken's ready to aid: It automatically creates renaming rules by "watching" y'all edit the transactions. The next time y'all download, the programme and so substitutes your preferred payee names for you.

For case, perhaps you stopped at 40 unlike Texaco gas stations on a cantankerous-state vacation, and each downloaded accuse shows "Texaco" followed a bunch of cryptic numbers. If all you care about is that you spent that money on gas, yous simply replace "Texaco 140562789" with "Gas." Quicken sets its "Downloaded transactions" preferences to create renaming rules automatically when you lot modify a payee proper name, and tells yous it's doing so.

Here's what the "Downloaded transactions" preferences do:

• Apply renaming rules to downloaded transactions . Quicken automatically turns on this checkbox, which applies existing renaming rules to transactions equally you download them. As in the above example, when yous download a Texaco fill up-up, Quicken changes the payee name to "Gas."

• Automatically create rules when manually renaming . Quicken comes with renaming rules turned on. Turning off this checkbox blocks Quicken from creating rules based on your edits, so that when y'all edit a transaction, y'all're simply editing that ane transaction.

• Don't display a bulletin when renaming . This checkbox is initially turned off, and then y'all'll see a message any time Quicken renames a payee. Turn this checkbox off to tell Quicken to rename payees without notifying you.

Note

Technically, renaming rules create aliases for the seemingly infinite number of payee names that come with downloaded transactions. In software every bit in existent life, an allonym is simply a substitute name.

Reminders

The one preference in this category tells Quicken which calendar notes you desire to run across. For example, you tin can alter the "Show calendar notes for" preference to "Next 14 days" to see your notes to yourself well-nigh what's coming upward in the adjacent two weeks. Or, if you're at the other cease of the dependability spectrum, alter information technology to "Concluding week" to run into tasks you've missed.

Reports and Graphs

Quicken wouldn't exist much good if information technology couldn't produce a list of your taxation-deductible expenses or a pie chart showing your investment diversification. In this category of preferences, you lot can specify the data range for reports and graphs you generate and what to do when yous customize a report. Here are the options and why you may desire to accommodate them:

• Default date range . In the Default engagement range driblet-downward carte du jour, cull the menstruum that you utilise well-nigh often in reports; for instance, "Year to date" or "Current month."

• Default comparison date range . For reports that compare two time periods, choose the period for the comparison appointment range. For example, if you set the Default date range to Current Year, set this preference to Terminal Year to compare the two years.

• Customizing reports and graphs . If you frequently customize reports, you can choose options to either create new reports and graphs from the customized report or salvage the customizations to the current report or graph.

• Customize report/graph before creating . If you lot tweak every report you produce, turn on this checkbox to open the Customize dialog box immediately when y'all choose a written report from the Reports bill of fare. (See Chapter 10 for the full story on Quicken'due south reports and graphs.)

Reports But

These preferences control the appearance of reports, not graphs, and are generally innocuous. You may want to tinker with the following settings:

• Employ color in report . If you lot prefer to encounter reports in blackness and white, turn off this checkbox. Yet, keeping information technology turned on shows any shortfalls or investment losses in red to grab your attention.

• Remind me to save reports . If y'all've customized every written report to come across your needs, you probably don't need a reminder to save reports and can turn this checkbox off.

• Decimal places for prices and shares . Quicken sets this preference to three . If you reinvest dividends, you're probable to own infinitesimally pocket-sized fractions of shares. The best setting for this preference is the number of decimal places for the most exacting of your financial institutions. For case, if your Vanguard IRA reports prices and shares to six decimal places, type 6 in the box.

How Do I Set Up A 2 Line Register In Quicken?,

Source: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/quicken-2006-for/0596101279/ch01.html

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