By Bonnie Biafore
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Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Setting Up Quicken

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After you install Quicken (see for instructions), you're only a few steps away from reaping the soul-soothing benefits of having a program serve as your personal bookkeeper. Quicken's setup process is a whole lot easier than filling out the paperwork for opening an account at your local bank. This chapter accompanies you through each step.

The first time you launch Quicken, the program offers to help set up your data file, an electronic filing cabinet that contains your financial records (the box on has details about what's inside this file). If you've used a previous version of Quicken, the setup process is a snap—a short conversion process preps your existing data file so it's compatible with Quicken 2008. If it's your first time using Quicken, the program's Express Setup creates a new data file, asks a few questions about your finances, and spits out a data file tailored to your basic needs. Either way, you'll have a working file in no time. You'll also learn how to open a Quicken data file, which is helpful if you work with more than one file—for instance, your own and one for your parents.

Launching Quicken works the same as pretty much any other program. shows your main options:

• Windows Quick Launch toolbar. The fastest way to get going. Click the Quicken icon in the lower-left corner of your screen, where Windows tucks a collection of instant-launch icons. (This book covers only Quicken for Windows.) The box on shows you how to add Quicken to this lineup.
• Desktop shortcut. Double-click the Quicken 2008 desktop shortcut Quicken added to your computer during installation.
• Start menu. The tried-and-true approach, great for those who don't use Quicken on a regular basis and want to keep their desktop free of shortcuts. With Windows Vista, click Start and then choose All Programs. If you use Windows XP, click Start, then choose Programs → All Programs → Quicken 2008 → Quicken 2008.

Figure : Quicken gives you three ways to launch itself. The Quick Launch toolbar is usually to the right of the Windows Start button. If you don't see Quicken's icon there—or any icons, for that matter—see the box on .

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Launching Quicken

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Launching Quicken works the same as pretty much any other program. shows your main options:

• Windows Quick Launch toolbar. The fastest way to get going. Click the Quicken icon in the lower-left corner of your screen, where Windows tucks a collection of instant-launch icons. (This book covers only Quicken for Windows.) The box on shows you how to add Quicken to this lineup.
• Desktop shortcut. Double-click the Quicken 2008 desktop shortcut Quicken added to your computer during installation.
• Start menu. The tried-and-true approach, great for those who don't use Quicken on a regular basis and want to keep their desktop free of shortcuts. With Windows Vista, click Start and then choose All Programs. If you use Windows XP, click Start, then choose Programs → All Programs → Quicken 2008 → Quicken 2008.

Figure : Quicken gives you three ways to launch itself. The Quick Launch toolbar is usually to the right of the Windows Start button. If you don't see Quicken's icon there—or any icons, for that matter—see the box on .

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Setting Up Your Data File

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The very first time you launch Quicken, the "Get Started with Quicken 2008" window pops up and greets you. If you're a Quicken neophyte, the program guides you through creating and setting up your data file from scratch. If you've used Quicken in the past, you may not see the "Get Started with Quicken 2008" window, but the program still helps convert your existing data file so it works with the new version of the program. This section describes both options.

Windows' Quick Launch toolbar (no relation to Quicken) gives you a fast way to launch the programs you use most often, while keeping your desktop from being overrun with shortcut icons. Unlike the Start menu, the Quick Launch toolbar doesn't display every installed program automatically—you just add the ones you use most often. It's a great timesaver.

The Quick Launch toolbar appears in the Windows taskbar—usually at the bottom left of your screen, as shown in . If you don't see the Quick Launch toolbar, turn it on by right-clicking an empty area on the taskbar, and then choose Toolbars → Quick Launch from the shortcut menu that pops up. A checkmark appears on the menu next to Quick Launch, indicating you're in business.

To add Quicken to the Quick Launch toolbar, simply right-click and drag it there from somewhere else. For example, you can right-click and drag the Quicken desktop shortcut onto the Quick Launch toolbar. When you release the mouse button, choose Copy Here from the shortcut menu that appears on the toolbar to create a shortcut. (If you're trying to neaten your desktop, choose Move Here instead, to move, rather than copy, the shortcut.) You can also use the right-click-and-drag technique to copy or move a shortcut from the Start menu or Windows Explorer.

The "Get Started with Quicken 2008" window isn't your only option when you want to set up or convert a file. Whenever you open a data file from an earlier version, Quicken offers to convert the file. If you'd rather create a new data file without the help of Express Setup, click the "Get Started with Quicken 2008" window's Close button and use the commands on the Quicken menu bar, as described on .

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Using Express Setup

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You can't miss Quicken's Express Setup—the program opens it as soon as you create a data file. If you know your way around Quicken, you can do everything Express Setup does using menu commands. If you're new to Quicken, though, Express Setup's step-by-step procedure clearly lays out all your options, lets you make your own financial choices, and then hands over a data file with what you need to start managing your finances right away.

The first time you open a data file created with an earlier version of Quicken, the program opens the Convert Your Data dialog box. Before you click OK to begin the conversion, it's a good idea to gather key information from your existing file so you can verify that Quicken converts it correctly. (It doesn't happen that often, but better safe than sorry.) Here's the information you should have handy: your Account List (), Scheduled Bills and Deposits (), Online Payees (), Category List (), and the information in your Password Vault ().

The easiest way to make this comparison is to print these items from the earlier version of Quicken. (It's a good idea to keep the earlier version of Quicken on your computer until you're certain you want to use the new version, as described on .) To print a list, open the appropriate Quicken window—press Ctrl+A to open the Account List window, for example—and click Print in the window's menu bar.

After you convert the file, review the Account Bar to see that all the accounts are still there and have the same balances they did before the conversion. Similarly, confirm that all the scheduled transactions, online payees, and categories you printed are still present in the converted Quicken file.

After you click OK in the Convert Your Data dialog box and the conversion finishes, you'll see a "Get Started with Quicken 2008" window. To start working with your data file immediately, click Cancel to close the window and access your data file directly in Quicken. If you click Next instead, the program tells you about online bill payment (using Quicken's Bill Pay) and what's new in Quicken 2008—but it doesn't actually

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Opening a Quicken File

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To open a data file, simply go to File → Open or press Ctrl+O, and then select the data file you want to open. After you've opened a data file, Quicken obligingly opens that file the next time you launch the program. If, like most people, you have only one Quicken data file, you may never have to choose File → Open again. Even if you jockey between several data files, the File menu makes it easy to open the one you want, as shown in .

Figure : To find and open a Quicken data file, choose File → Open, or press Ctrl+O. The bottom of the File menu lists recently opened data files and adds a checkmark to the one that's currently open (in this case, MyMoney). Click a filename to open that file.

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Chapter 2: Taking Quicken for a Test Drive

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You might think that trying to get a handle on your finances and learn Quicken at the same time is going to push you over the edge. But have faith. With just a bit of up-front work, along with help from this trusty book, you'll have a clear view of your finances in a jiffy. To help keep you motivated, this chapter gives you a sneak peek of some of the cool stuff you can do with Quicken. You'll start by learning how to open a Quicken check register, where you record payments and deposits. Next you'll find out how easy it is to download transactions if you're an online banking fan. And, finally, you'll see a few ways Quicken can give you a quick snapshot of the state of your finances.

If you've already finished the setup covered in , you can use the Quicken data file you created.

Your finances are nothing more than a series of financial transactions, from the paychecks you cash to the checks you write to the credit card charges you make. To get the most out of Quicken, you should record all your transactions. Fortunately, doing so in Quicken is a snap. You simply open a Quicken account register (which is like a paper register on steroids) and either record or download your payments or deposits. The next three sections show you how.

Every time you spend money—by writing a check, swiping your credit card, or forking over greenbacks—you're making a payment. Quicken needs to know about all your payments so it can give you an accurate idea of how much money you have left. Recording a payment is easy; Quicken's Account Bar and the Quick-Fill feature help you every step of the way. Just follow these steps:

1. In the Account Bar, click the name of the account you want to work with (this example uses First Checking).
   The register for that account appears in the main part of the Quicken window, as shown in .
   

   Figure : The Account Bar takes up almost the entire left-hand side of the Quicken window—you could argue that it should actually be called the Account Pane if you lay awake at night thinking about that sort of thing. (You can put it on the right-hand side instead if you want—see .) The Bar shows the current balances for every account in your data file. The Net Worth value at bottom left is the total value of everything you own minus any money you owe.

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Recording Payments and Deposits

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Your finances are nothing more than a series of financial transactions, from the paychecks you cash to the checks you write to the credit card charges you make. To get the most out of Quicken, you should record all your transactions. Fortunately, doing so in Quicken is a snap. You simply open a Quicken account register (which is like a paper register on steroids) and either record or download your payments or deposits. The next three sections show you how.

Every time you spend money—by writing a check, swiping your credit card, or forking over greenbacks—you're making a payment. Quicken needs to know about all your payments so it can give you an accurate idea of how much money you have left. Recording a payment is easy; Quicken's Account Bar and the Quick-Fill feature help you every step of the way. Just follow these steps:

1. In the Account Bar, click the name of the account you want to work with (this example uses First Checking).
   The register for that account appears in the main part of the Quicken window, as shown in .
   

   Figure : The Account Bar takes up almost the entire left-hand side of the Quicken window—you could argue that it should actually be called the Account Pane if you lay awake at night thinking about that sort of thing. (You can put it on the right-hand side instead if you want—see .) The Bar shows the current balances for every account in your data file. The Net Worth value at bottom left is the total value of everything you own minus any money you owe.
2. To create a new transaction in the register, press Ctrl+N.
   This takes you to the register's first blank transaction and plunks your cursor in the Date field.
3. In the Date field, click the calendar icon and choose the date of the transaction (in this case, let's say you've written a check). Then press Tab to move to the Num field.
   Quicken automatically fills in today's date (or the same date as the last transaction you recorded), but you can pick another date. To see a different month in the calendar pop-up box, click the left or right double arrows on either side of the month and year label. If you want a date that's only a few days away, simply press the–key to move back one day at a time, or the + key to advance one day at a time.

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Reviewing Your Finances

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Quicken's reporting tools can be a big help in managing your cash. Just knowing how much you have in your bank account—and how little you may have in two weeks—could help you avoid painful bounced check fees. At the same time, seeing how much you're spending in different categories may be enough to coax you toward more frugal living. This section introduces a few of the tools you can use to "follow your money."

Figure : Clicking the Downloaded Transactions tab (circled) brings up this dialog box, where you type your password to access your account online. You can save yourself some typing if you use the Password Vault to store all your passwords. Then you simply set a single password to access the vault. That way, all you have to do to access your accounts online is type the Password Vault password and click OK. Quicken then automatically fills in the passwords so it can download your transactions.

When you launch Quicken, the Home page displays a calendar of the current month showing transactions for each date. The Calendar can help you in several ways:

• If you set up the Calendar to show only your checking account (), the account balance in the lower-right corner of each date box can warn if your account's about to be overdrawn, as you can see in . The account balance changes to red (and sports a minus sign) for dates where Quicken predicts a negative balance.
• You can avoid late fees by taking action as soon as you see the bright red that means a payment's overdue. And if a scheduled deposit appears in red—meaning the money hasn't shown up—you can investigate why you haven't been paid.
• To pay an upcoming bill, click it in the Calendar. In the "Transactions due" dialog box that appears, select the scheduled transaction, and then click Enter to pay it.
• To see the transactions recorded or scheduled on a certain date, click the magnifying glass in the upper-right corner of the date box.

Quicken is teeming with ways to see how much you earn and spend, which you'll learn about in the rest of this book. Here are two of the easiest:

Figure :

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Chapter 3: Setting Up Accounts

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If you used Quicken Express Setup as described in , Quicken's already set you up with a checking account and a basic collection of categories you can use to track your finances. That arrangement's enough to start using Quicken as an electronic checkbook, but it's only the beginning. To make the most of Quicken's planning, tracking, and analysis tools, you'll want to create additional accounts in Quicken to go with your real-world savings accounts, credit cards, investment accounts, and assets.

This chapter describes Quicken's different account types and shows you how to set up new accounts, as well as manage existing ones. It also introduces you to the difference between accounts and categories (a handy virtual classification system Quicken uses to help you track different types of income and expenses), so you know how the two work hand in hand. Armed with this knowledge, you can keep your Quicken records up to date as your financial needs change over time. For example, whenever you switch banks, succumb to a fabulous credit card offer, or take out a home equity loan to get your mobile dog-grooming business going, you'll need a new Quicken account. gives you in-depth coverage of how to set up and get the most out of Quicken categories.

Sometimes, the arrival of a new person or business in your life means you need an additional data file; see the box on to learn how to create one.

As you learned in , a Quicken account corresponds to an account you have at a financial institution, like a checking account, savings account, Roth IRA, and so on. You can also create Quicken accounts to keep track of assets you own like your house or car, and the loans you take out to buy them.

Quicken lets you assign a category to each transaction in an account. With categories like Groceries, Auto Insurance, and Poker Winnings, you can see where your money is going (or coming from). Every time you record a deposit, check, or credit card charge, you can assign it a category or split it among several categories (). The payoff comes when you want to find out how much you make and spend; for example, to prepare your income tax returns, see if a new hybrid car might save money on gas, or help you curb your shopping habit.

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How Accounts and Categories Work Together

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As you learned in , a Quicken account corresponds to an account you have at a financial institution, like a checking account, savings account, Roth IRA, and so on. You can also create Quicken accounts to keep track of assets you own like your house or car, and the loans you take out to buy them.

Quicken lets you assign a category to each transaction in an account. With categories like Groceries, Auto Insurance, and Poker Winnings, you can see where your money is going (or coming from). Every time you record a deposit, check, or credit card charge, you can assign it a category or split it among several categories (). The payoff comes when you want to find out how much you make and spend; for example, to prepare your income tax returns, see if a new hybrid car might save money on gas, or help you curb your shopping habit.

To get a handle on the difference between accounts and categories, consider how one hypothetical couple uses Quicken:

• Tess uses a single data file to manage both her and her husband Les's finances.
• She and Les share a checking account, savings account, and credit account at 1stBank, each of which Tess manages with corresponding accounts in Quicken.
• Tess assigns categories to every transaction she records to categorize every bit of money coming in, and going out. So, for example, she assigns Les's paycheck deposit to the "Salary Les" category and her paycheck deposit to the "Salary Tess" category. Similarly, the donations to her pals over at the Denver Dumb Friends League get assigned to the "Charity" category, and so on.

gives you a good look at how the checks Tess writes not only affect the checking account balance, but also help track how the couple spends money…all thanks to the categories Tess uses.

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Choosing Which Account Type to Use

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As complicated as personal finances can be in the 21st century, Quicken has an account type for every situation. When you create an account, you choose one of the 13 types the program offers, including the latest account types for PayPal and 529 college savings plans (also known as the "I'm a new parent and I'm freaking account"). Quicken initially pigeonholes account types by financial activities, called financial centers. Quicken's three financial centers—Cash Flow, Investing, and Property & Debt—are shown in . You can reassign accounts to a different center later (). This section describes the types of accounts you can create and what most people typically use them for.

Figure : Top: As you can see in the checking account register, checks and other payments Tess records reduce the balance in the Quicken checking account. The categories she assigns appear below the Payee's name.
Bottom: Tess can generate a report () that uses the assigned categories to see how they spent their money.

Use cash flow accounts when you're dealing with money that flows into and out of your life—checks you write, paycheck deposits, credit card charges, and the wadded-up bills you hand to the cashier at the coffee drive-through. Each type of cash flow account has slightly different features, based on how you use it. For example, Checking and Savings account registers include a Num field for entering a check number. Credit Card and Cash account registers omit this field, because transactions aren't typically numbered. See for instructions on creating cash accounts.

Do I need another data file?

In , you learned that data files are where Quicken stores all the information about your finances: your bank account, your investments, and all the transactions that go with them. If you take on managing someone else's money with Quicken, the first decision is whether you need another Quicken data file. And the answer is, "It depends."

Separate tax returns are often a big hint that you should create a separate data file for Party Number Two. For example, suppose you manage your parents' money or keep the books for a local nonprofit organization. Their money isn't your money, and you prepare separate tax returns. Gunking up your Quicken data file with someone else's income and tax deductions is just asking for trouble. The safe route is to create another data file.

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Creating Bank Accounts

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Quicken makes it pretty easy to create accounts for almost any type of bank account you've got. Once you've gone through the steps the first time, you'll get a feel for it and be able to create new accounts in no time. This section walks you through the process, start to finish. The processes for creating investment accounts, asset accounts, and liability accounts are slightly different. To learn how to create investment accounts, turn to . The steps for creating asset and liability accounts are explained in .

If you look around, you'll see that you probably own a lot more than you've documented in Quicken. Your possessions may be priceless to you, but most of them are worthless, financially speaking, to anyone else. In other words, Quicken asset accounts aren't the answer to tracking your belongings (and their value). For one thing, you can create no more than 512 accounts for each account type, so you'll run out of asset accounts before you document all your possessions. Moreover, creating and maintaining asset accounts as you buy, donate, and throw away items is too much work.

Still, your homeowners' or renters' insurance may cover the cost of these assets should you lose them in a fire or other disaster. It's a good idea to take digital pictures of your belongings to document your insurance claims. You can keep copies of the pictures on your PC, although storing them on a CD in your safety deposit box is the safest approach.

Quicken Home Inventory Manager ($29.99) is a program specifically designed to document your possessions. (There are other programs you can use, like Home Manage Software, My Stuff Deluxe, and AssetManage Home Edition, but they typically cost more and may not have the staying power of an Intuit product.) By storing pictures and scanned images of receipts, you can submit insurance claims in a jiffy and speed up your claim payments as well. Home Inventory Manager also lets you identify the beneficiary for each item, one step toward preventing family squabbles after you're gone. You can also use this inventory list to keep track of your belongings when you move or account for the furnishings in a rental property. If you're convinced your belongings have tangible value, you can reflect that value in your net worth by importing the total value from Home Inventory Manager into your Quicken data file.

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Editing Account Information

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Once you've created an account, you can edit its details any time you want. You may have set your accounts up perfectly the first time, but the Account Details dialog box is worth a visit, if only to see the many other account characteristics you can document. As you can see in , in addition to the account name and other information you initially entered, Quicken gives you space for comments and a nifty Alerts feature, so you can have Quicken warn you when your balance reaches certain levels.

Just about the only thing you can't change about an account is its type. Quicken doesn't let you change a savings account into a checking account, for instance.

To edit the details of an account, use either of the following methods:

• In the Account Bar, right-click the name of the account and then choose Edit Account from the shortcut menu.
• In the Account List window, select an account, and then click Edit in the menu bar.

Figure : For cash flow accounts, you can add a description, the account number, the interest rate, and contact information. The Comments box is perfect for noting fees or rules. The fields that are dependent on the account type are usually in the Set Up Alerts area. For example, a credit card account gives you the option of setting up an alert that notifies you when your balance reaches the credit limit on the card, while a checking account lets you create alerts for both minimum and maximum account values. See the box on for more on alerts.

Investing, asset, and liability accounts have a few fields that are totally different from the ones you see for banking accounts. See (asset and liability accounts) and (investing accounts) to learn about them.

As you'll learn throughout this book, Quicken has alerts that notify you of tasks you should perform or situations you may want to respond to. For example, the minimum-balance alert is particularly useful for checking accounts that charge exorbitant fees if your balance drops too low. Conversely, most banks wouldn't dream of telling you that you've deposited too much. But you can use the alert for the maximum balance field to see when it's time to move some money into an account that pays a higher interest rate.

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Closing Accounts

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Over time, you'll probably close some bank accounts: CDs mature, you switch banks, or you finally smarten up and move your credit card balance to one with a single-digit interest rate. In Quicken, you don't delete the accounts you're no longer using, even if they have a zero balance. Deleting an account deletes all of the transactions in the account, including transfers to and from other accounts—potentially mangling those accounts.

Fortunately, there's a way of getting those old accounts off your Account Bar and Account List (and out of your hair). When you close a real-world account at a financial institution, enter the final cash transfers out of the account in Quicken and then hide the account. Hidden accounts—and their transactions—remain in your data file, but you won't see them in the Account Bar, menus, windows, or drop-down lists.

Here's how to hide an account:

1. In the Account Bar, right-click any account and choose "Delete/hide accounts in Quicken" from the shortcut menu.
   Quicken opens the Account List window and displays the Manage Accounts tab. If you open the Account List window by pressing Ctrl+A, you'll see the View Accounts tab, which shows your unhidden accounts, their balances, and a few other bits of account information. Click the Manage Accounts tab.
2. To hide an account, in the "Hide in Quicken" column, turn on the account's checkbox.
   shows the account checkbox turned on. There's just one more step to hide your account and keep it hidden.
   

   Figure : The Manage Accounts tab in the Account List window lets you hide an account as well as perform a few other account management tasks, as the box on explains.
3. On the right side of the Account List menu bar, click Options. If a checkmark appears to the left of the "View hidden accounts" command, click the command to turn off the checkmark, and thus the display of hidden accounts.
   Select the View Accounts tab. You can see the account is now officially hidden.
   The Manage Accounts tab isn't just for hiding accounts. It also has helpful features even experienced Quicken fans may not know about. Here's what you can do:

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Chapter 4: Categories and Tags: Tracking Transactions

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As you learned in and , Quicken lets you assign categories to financial transactions to help track what you're spending your money on, preparing your tax returns, and so on. If you do a good job of categorizing each entry (and Quicken makes this work dead simple), then you're never more than a click or two away from generating reports that answer questions like "How much did taxis cost me this year?" and "Do I spend more on my Chihuahua or my child?" When you create a new Quicken data file, the program automatically sets you up with a boat-load of categories, based on the answers you give during setup (marital status and whether you own a home, for instance).

For most of us, our financial needs change as time passes. That apartment you had when you first created your Quicken data file? Gone, replaced by your own home. Or perhaps you're now even renting out condos to others. You can turn Quicken's built-in categories on and off to track different types of income and spending as changes like these happen.

At the same time, everyone has their personal peccadilloes. You may have a shoe fetish that warrants tracking how much you spend on footwear, whereas your best friend tracks the cost of feed, vet bills, and horse shoes. If Quicken doesn't come with a category you want, creating brand-new ones is easy. The program also includes another feature, called tags, to help you slice and dice your information in ways that categories only dream about.

This chapter starts by explaining what categories and tags can do. You'll learn about the different types of categories Quicken has, from broad groups for mandatory and discretionary spending to detailed subcategories. Then, if the category list Quicken sets up for you isn't enough, you'll learn how to add built-in Quicken categories to the list or create your own. If you decide to use tags to analyze your income and expenses, you'll learn how to set them up, too.

The categories Quicken creates may well be all you need to track your finances. If that's the case, you can safely skip this chapter. You can always come back at any time if you want to tweak the categories you use.

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Understanding Categories and Tags

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Quicken has two features for classifying your financial information:

• Categories are like Quicken's own Dewey Decimal system—except a whole lot more intuitive. By assigning plain-English labels (Dining, Groceries, Salary, and so on) to every transaction, you can use Quicken to easily track how you earn money and what you spend it on.
• Tags, on the other hand, are like keywords. They're flexible enough to cut across categories, letting you track money in ways that would be tedious, if not impossible, with categories. For instance, you can apply the same tag to income and expense categories to determine net profit on a rental property. Or you can apply multiple tags—"Ski Houses," "Retirement Income," and "Idaho"—to those same rental property transactions.

Some people organize their papers so meticulously they can pinpoint the eye doctor's bill from 1997, the telephone bill from last August, or the pay stubs from their last job. For others, two shoeboxes labeled In and Out are enough. In Quicken, categories can support the most careful or cavalier of organizational schemes. Read this section to learn how categories work before you start modifying categories en masse. Then, as you think about how you want to track your financial information, you can set up custom categories to match your needs.

Categories break your finances down into ever smaller portions: from basic distinctions like income or expense; to high-level divisions like housing, utilities, and taxes; to subcategories for each utility company you pay. Here's the breakdown of all the levels Quicken provides:

• Income and expense. As you'll learn shortly (), when you create a category, you specify whether it represents income or an expense. Income categories are for the money that comes into your personal coffers, like salary, part-time income, and winnings from the gals' bunko game. Expense categories represent the money you spend, including unavoidable expenses like electric service and discretionary expenses like the cost of your skydiving hobby.
  Quicken automatically creates a third type of category, Transfers and Payments

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Adding New Categories

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The categories Quicken automatically includes in a newly created data file meet most needs for most people, but chances are you'll want to make at least a few changes. As you experience life (buy a home, have kids, pay for college, and so on), the income and spending you want to track changes. Quicken comes with built-in categories for the most common sources of income and expenses, which you can turn on and off as your needs evolve.

But you can also create your own categories from scratch. (You can even recategorize transactions if you decide to revamp the categories you use.) The Category List window, shown in , is the best place to make category changes en masse. To open this window, choose Tools → Category List or simply press Ctrl+C. (If you use the Windows mapping for Ctrl+C, as described on , press Shift+Ctrl+C.) Alternatively, if you enter a credit card charge and can't find the category you want, you can add a new category then and there: In an account register, when you click a transaction's Category box, a mini-version of the Category List window appears. Click Add Category to open the Set Up Category dialog box, where you can define a brand-new category ().

Figure : The Category List window is the best place for serious sessions of adding, editing, deleting, and managing the categories you use.

If you're hooked on using Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C, and Ctrl+V to cut, copy, and paste, respectively—as is the case in so many Windows programs—don't be alarmed if Quicken does unexpected things when you try those keyboard shortcuts. Quicken uses them for its own purposes: Ctrl+X for viewing where transferred money is heading to or coming from, Ctrl+C for opening the Category List window, and Ctrl+V for voiding a transaction. Fortunately, you can tell Quicken to interpret those commands the way you're used to. To do so, choose Edit → Preferences → Quicken Program. In the Quicken Preferences dialog box, click Setup in the "Select preference type" list. Select the "Windows standard (Und/Cut/Copy/Paste)" option and then click OK.

The categories you see in the Category List window depend initially on the answers you gave during setup. If you have children, buy a house, or get married (not necessarily in that order), you don't have to create categories from scratch just because you don't see them in drop-down lists in transaction Category fields. Look through Quicken's categories first to see if the ones you want are there. If they exist, built-in categories are more convenient than creating your own because Quicken specifies the tax form and line item to which the category applies. Here's how you find and add built-in categories to your Category List:

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Editing Categories

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You can modify any aspect of an existing category. For example, you can rename it something more meaningful, change it into a subcategory, assign a tax line item for expenses you joyfully realized qualify for tax deductions, and so on. To change a category's settings, go to the Category List window (Tools → Category List or press Ctrl+C) and right-click the category you want to change, and then click Edit on the shortcut menu that appears. Or, if your mouse hand needs more exercise, you can click a category and then, on the right end of the category row, click Edit.

If your company or volunteer association reimburses you for expenses, a category for tracking your reimbursements can help you make sure you receive all the money you're due. Here's how:

1. Create an income category called, say, Business Reimbursements. (You could just as easily use an expense category, but income categories are usually fewer in number and thus easier to spot.)
2. Every time you spend money on reimbursable expenses (like parking), assign the transactions to Business Reimbursements. Then, when you run an Itemized Categories report (), the value for Business Reimbursements shows up as a negative number—your cue that you're still waiting for your reimbursement. In fact, you can use that Itemized Categories report to prepare your expense report. (Creating a customized report () that shows only the Business Reimbursements category makes it easy to see what you should claim.)
3. When you receive your check for reimbursed expenses, assign the deposit to the Business Reimbursements category as well. You'll know you've been reimbursed for all your expenses when the total for this category is zero or equal to the amount of unreimbursed expenses.

The Edit Category dialog box that appears is identical to the Create Category dialog box ()—except for its title and the fact that the fields are filled in with the category's current settings. Change the fields you want, and then click OK to save your changes. When you edit a category, the changes you make apply to all transactions in that category.

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Removing Categories

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You can remove categories from the Category List in two ways. Hiding is a temporary solution, and perfect if you think you'll need the category again in the future; deleting is permanent, meaning you may have to recategorize some transactions. For example, if personal hygiene isn't a priority, you can delete the Personal Care category, which removes the category from the Category List completely. If you own a home but worry about your spouse kicking you out, you may want to hide the Rent category, so you can restore it if you have to make alternative living arrangements.

• Hiding a category. In the Category List window, turn on the Hide checkbox for every category you want to hide. To show them again, turn off the same checkboxes.
  If you don't see the category you want in the Category List window, check for hidden categories with the Show drop-down menu by choosing either "All categories" or "Hidden categories."
• Deleting a category. In the Category List window, click the name of the category you want to delete and then, at the right end of the category row, click Delete. If there are transactions assigned to that category, Quicken asks you to recategorize them, as shown in . If you don't recategorize transactions, they become uncategorized and won't show up in reports (for taxes or actual spending, for example).

Figure : In the "Recategorize transactions to" drop-down menu, choose the existing category you want to reassign transactions to and then click OK. For every transaction that referred to the old category, Quicken switches the category to the new one you selected.

If you delete a category that hasn't been used, Quicken displays a dialog box asking you to confirm that you want to delete the category. Although deleting a category is permanent, go ahead and click Yes. It's easy enough to recreate it later.

How do I use Quicken categories to do things like prevent overspending and analyze my income?

Quicken has lots of ways to track your spending—but it can't control your spending for you. There's no magic button in Quicken to stop you from pulling out your credit card to buy a cobalt blue KitchenAid mixer at Nordstrom.

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Organizing Categories

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The Category List window gives you plenty of tools to help review and organize the categories you're working with:

• Show. To inspect a portion of the Category List (and filter out the others), in the Show drop-down menu, choose a type of category. For instance, choose "Tax-related categories" to check whether you've assigned your tax categories to tax line items correctly (see ).
• Category types. Quicken breaks income, expense, and transfer types into fine-grained classifications. For example, to see only personal expense categories, on the left side of the Category List window, click the Personal Expenses tab. (This hides expenses related to investments and rental property, for example.)
• Options. Click Options at the bottom of the window to choose what you want to see in the window. For example, you can show or hide category descriptions, category groups, the type of category (income, expense, or sub), and the tax line assignment. To assign a category group, choose Options → "Assign category groups" ().

At some point, you may decide to organize your categories differently, for example, to map your medical expenses categories to specific line items on the Schedule A federal tax form. After you set up your new categories, you can reassign existing transactions to them (see ) by going to the Quicken menu bar and choosing Edit → Find & Replace → Recategorize.

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Setting Up Tags

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With Quicken's built-in categories and the custom ones you create, you may never need tags. However, if you want to take advantage of the special powers that tags possess (), they're a cinch to set up. (You'll learn how to apply tags on .)

Unlike categories, Quicken doesn't create any tags automatically (unless you use Quicken Home & Business——in which case the program sets up business tags to help you track your business income and expenses.) You have to create any tags you want to use. Here's how:

1. Choose Tools → Tag List or press Ctrl+L.
   The Tag List window opens.
2. Click the New button at the top of the Tag List window.
   The New Tag dialog box opens.
3. In the Name box, type a name that clearly describes the tag, like Kids or Parents (for tracking your kids' expenses versus your own), and then click OK.
   If you want to describe the tag in more detail, type a description in the Description box. You fill in the "Copy number" box only in a few situations, as the box on describes.
4. Click OK.
   Quicken creates your new tag, and it appears in the Tag List window, ready for you to use.

When you create a tag, you fill in the "Copy number" box only if you track your rental properties in Quicken and you want to export your rental income and expenses to TurboTax. The IRS requires a separate Schedule E tax form for each rental property you own. In Quicken and TurboTax, the combination of a tag and a copy number uniquely identifies a rental property so you can generate its Schedule E.

For example, say you own a ski condo and a beach condo. First, set up a tag, such as Ski Condo, and fill in the "Copy number" box with the number 1. Then, create a second tag, called Beach Condo, and set its "Copy number" to 2. When you assign these tags to rental condo-related transactions, Quicken can export each property's rental income and expenses to TurboTax, which in turn generates a Schedule E form for each condo.

The Edit Tag dialog box is almost identical to the New Tag dialog box, except the boxes are filled in with the tag's current values. If you want to edit a tag—to rename it, say—in the Tag List window (choose Tools → Tag List or Ctrl+L), click the tag and then click Edit at the right end of the tag row. Make the changes you want in the Edit Tag dialog box and then click OK when you're done. Any transactions using the tag automatically reflect the changes you made.

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Chapter 5: Recording Banking Transactions

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Underneath Quicken's fancy exterior—its reporting tools, its number-crunching features, and its reminder system—lies a database. Like any database, there's not much it can do until you start feeding it data. Quicken's main meal is all your daily transactions: the credit cards you swipe, the bills you pay, the cash you hand over. Your job is to tell Quicken each time one of these things happens; that's what this chapter is all about. Fortunately, Quicken is loaded with timesaving tools that make data entry a whole lot easier—some might even argue fun.

You can take even more work off your plate by letting Quicken automatically record some of your transactions. shows you how to set up scheduled transactions, so you don't have to remember when bills or deposits are due. You'll also learn how to set up a paycheck in Quicken, which records every pay-check you deposit and meticulously splits it into various categories for your income and all the deductions.

Before you can record transactions, you first need to open the account register you want to work on. Quicken's registers are the spreadsheet trackers for each of your accounts; they function just like paper registers (like the ones in the back of your checkbook)—except Quicken packs nifty shortcuts into every field.

The Account Bar, shown in , is the fastest way to open up any register—simply click the name of the account whose register you want to open.

Quicken also gives you a few other options: To open a cash flow account register from the Quicken menu bar, go to Cash Flow → Cash Flow Accounts, and then choose the account name. To open an investing account or property and debt account register, choose Investing → Investing Accounts or Property & Debt → Property & Debt Accounts, respectively.

Figure : Opening a register is easy: just click the name of the account.

Okay, so you're ready to get down to business. Here's a look at the three main ways you can use Quicken to record your transactions, along with some advice on when to use each method:

• Register window. A Quicken account register makes quick work of recording all kinds of transactions and it's the only game in town for cash transactions. A register is also good for entering checks you've written by hand (); setting up online payments (); and manually entering credit card charges, debit card charges, and transfers (). Downloading transactions (described next) may be convenient, but entering transactions in Quicken

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Transaction Basics

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Before you can record transactions, you first need to open the account register you want to work on. Quicken's registers are the spreadsheet trackers for each of your accounts; they function just like paper registers (like the ones in the back of your checkbook)—except Quicken packs nifty shortcuts into every field.

The Account Bar, shown in , is the fastest way to open up any register—simply click the name of the account whose register you want to open.

Quicken also gives you a few other options: To open a cash flow account register from the Quicken menu bar, go to Cash Flow → Cash Flow Accounts, and then choose the account name. To open an investing account or property and debt account register, choose Investing → Investing Accounts or Property & Debt → Property & Debt Accounts, respectively.

Figure : Opening a register is easy: just click the name of the account.

Okay, so you're ready to get down to business. Here's a look at the three main ways you can use Quicken to record your transactions, along with some advice on when to use each method:

• Register window. A Quicken account register makes quick work of recording all kinds of transactions and it's the only game in town for cash transactions. A register is also good for entering checks you've written by hand (); setting up online payments (); and manually entering credit card charges, debit card charges, and transfers (). Downloading transactions (described next) may be convenient, but entering transactions in Quicken prior to downloading is a good security precaution. Because financial institutions set a time limit for reporting card theft or suspicious charges, comparing the transactions you enter to the ones you download is a great way to catch transactions you don't recognize.
• Downloading transactions. The fastest way to get transactions into Quicken is to download them, as () explains in detail. Once you've created a connection between Quicken and your real-world accounts, Quicken can download transactions and fill in most, if not all, of the transaction fields. If you've already entered a transaction in Quicken, the program matches downloaded transactions to the ones in the register; it marks the matched downloads as "accepted" () so you don't end up with duplicates. Either way, your job is to confirm the transactions Quicken downloads are correct.

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Recording Checks

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With the popularity of swiping credit or debit cards and paying bills online, writing checks is almost as quaint as playing vinyl records. Yet even leading-edge technology buffs write checks every now and then. This section shows how easy it is to record the checks you write by hand. In addition to recording handwritten checks, you can print and record dozens of checks in no time. All it takes is some setup to tell Quicken how you want to print checks.

With a combination of keyboard shortcuts, clicks, and the occasional typed character, you can make short work of recording checks in the register. Remember to press Tab (or Enter, as explained in the box on ) to move to the next field.

Out of the box, Quicken is set up so that you press Tab to move between transaction fields and Enter to record the transaction. The advantage of this method is that you can press Enter as soon as the transaction fields are filled in—which can be almost immediately if QuickFill features and memorized payees do their jobs.

You can change this behavior, though, so you press Enter to move through every field and then press it one more time to record the transaction. This way, you don't have to jockey between Tab on the left side of the keyboard and Enter on the right. The drawback to this approach is that the Enter key no longer provides a shortcut to accepting QuickFill entries in one fell swoop. To record the transaction, you either have to press Enter through every field, click the Enter button in the second row, press Ctrl+Enter, or press Alt+T.

If you want to switch to using the Enter key to move through fields, choose Edit → Preferences → Quicken Program. In the "Select preference type" list, click QuickFill. Turn on the "Use enter key to move between fields" check-box and you're all set.

Here are the steps:

1. Open the appropriate register (see ).
2. To create a new transaction in the register, press Ctrl+N.
   If you've been scrolling through past transactions, pressing Ctrl+N takes you to the end of the register and places the pointer in a blank transaction. You can also jump to a new transaction by pressing Ctrl+End.

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Recording Deposits

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Recording a deposit into an account is almost identical to recording a check. Follow the steps starting on , but with the following adjustments:

• In the Num field, choose Deposit (or type D) instead of entering a check number. When you choose Deposit, Quicken changes the order you Tab through fields to match the task at hand. The program automatically jumps to the Deposit field instead of the Payment field, preventing you from accidentally recording money that's coming into your account as money going out.
• In the Deposit field, enter how much money you're deposit