Intuit QUICKEN FOR MAC 2006 User Manual

Quicken for Mac 2006 User Guide

Trademarks

Intuit, the Intuit Logo, Quicken, Quicken Loans, QuickBooks, TurboTax, and QuickBase, among others, are registered trademarks and/or registered service marks of Intuit Inc. in the United States and other countries. The Dollar Sign logo is a trademark and/or service mark of Intuit Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Various Quicken products and services are protected by pending and one or more of the following issued U.S. Patents: 5134564, 5423033, 5649115, 5842185, 5903881 and 6446048.

Apple, the Apple Logo, Macintosh, Mac, the Mac logo, Mac OS and .Mac are trademarks and/or service marks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S.A. and other countries.

All other product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners and should be treated as such. Some names, company names, and data used in examples and help content are fictitious and are used for illustration purposes only. Any resemblance of fictitious data to a real person or company is purely coincidental.

All features, services and any terms and conditions are subject to change without notice. Online financial services, online account services, online banking, online investing, transaction download, online payment, online bill presentment, and online tax preparation, whether prepared by Intuit or third parties, are available only in the United States and require Internet access. These services may vary from participating financial institutions and may be subject to application approval, terms, conditions, and additional fees.

Software License Agreement

Please see the Software License Agreement (from Quicken, choose Help > Quicken Help, then click the "Software License Agreement" link) for the terms and conditions under which the Software is licensed to you.

Table of Contents

1 Installation and setup 11

System requirements 11 Installing Quicken 12 Getting started if you’re new to Quicken 13 Upgrading from a previous version of Quicken 14 What’s new in this version of Quicken 16

2 Here’s what Quicken can do for you 17

Managing your bank accounts 17 Online account access 19 Tracking your investments 20 Tracking your assets and debts 21 Planning ahead 22 Reports and graphs 22 Up–to–the–minute ﬁnancial information on the Web 24

3Working with Quicken 25

The Quicken workspace 25 Customizing your Quicken workspace 27 Getting step-by-step assistance from Quicken Help 29 Using this manual 31

4 Accounts track what you own and owe 32

About Quicken data ﬁles 32 About Quicken accounts 34 Setting up a Quicken account 35 Opening an account register 37 Editing, hiding and deleting accounts 38

5 Categories and classes track income and expenses 40

About categories 40 Setting up categories and subcategories 42 Editing, deleting, and moving categories and subcategories 47 About classes 48 Setting up classes and subclasses 50 Editing, deleting, and moving classes and subclasses 50

6 Keeping your accounts up to date 52

Recording your day-to-day expenses 52 Correcting mistakes 58 What do I put in the Category ﬁeld? 59 Transferring money between accounts 64 Entering transactions with more than one category 68 Speeding up data entry 73 Finding a speciﬁc transaction 75 Customizing the register 76 Printing the register 77

7 Paying your bills 78

Scheduling bill payments 78 Writing checks with Quicken 84 Adding Quicken transactions to iCal 87 Printing Intuit checks 90

8 Reconciling Quicken accounts 104

Before you start reconciling 105 Starting reconciliation 107 Marking cleared transactions 111 Completing reconciliation 113 Solving reconciliation problems 115

9 Banking online 124

Quicken’s online banking services 125 How online banking works 125 Applying at your ﬁnancial institution 127 Setting up a Quicken account for online banking 128 Downloading transactions 129 Making your downloaded transactions easier to read 134 Transferring money between online accounts 141 Making online payments 142 Communicating with your ﬁnancial institution 148 Keep your accounts up to date 151 Storing your PINs and passwords 154 Setting up Quicken Bill Pay 157 Using Web Connect 158

10 Tracking your cash 162

When to use Quicken cash accounts 162 Entering cash transactions in Quicken bank accounts 163 Setting up and using Quicken cash accounts 165

11 Tracking your credit cards 169

When to use credit card accounts 169 Entering credit card transactions in a checking account 170 Setting up and using credit card accounts 172

12 Tracking assets and liabilities 178

When to use Quicken asset and liability accounts 178 Setting up and using asset and liability accounts 181

13 Tracking loans and mortgages 187

How Quicken tracks a loan 187 Setting up a loan 190 Handling different types of loans 196 Making a loan payment 198 Changing and deleting loans 202 Reﬁnancing a loan 202 Estimating year-to-date loan interest 205

14 Tracking investments 206

About investment accounts 206 Tracking your investment data in Quicken 213 Setting up an investment account 225 Setting up a Quicken mutual fund account 235 Recording investment transactions 239 Updating security prices 263 Tracking indexes and securities you don’t own 267 Entering a transaction history for investments 268 Changing, deleting, and moving securities 271 Reconciling investment accounts 274

15 Investing online 276

Setting up an investment account for online access 276 Downloading investment transactions 276 Updating security prices online 280 Researching securities on the Web 286 Exporting your portfolio to Quicken.com 287

16 Creating reports 288

About reports 288 Creating an EasyAnswer report 289 Creating a QuickReport 291 Creating a basic Quicken report 291 Customizing reports 293 Reusing custom report settings 310 Investigating items in reports with QuickZoom 312 Changing report preferences 314 Updating reports 314 Printing and exporting reports 315 Seeing the big picture with Insights 316

17 Creating graphs 318

About graphs 318 Creating an EasyAnswer graph 319 Creating a standard graph 320 Customizing a graph 322 Investigating items in graphs with QuickZoom 326 Changing graph preferences 328 Printing graphs 328

18 Planning your ﬁnancial future 329

An overview of Quicken’s planning tools 330 Budgeting 333 Forecasting 345 Financial planning calculators 355 Quicken.com planning tools 358 Home Inventory 359 Emergency Records Organizer 359

19 Getting ready for tax time 360

Tracking tax-related income and expenses 360 Creating tax reports 370 Transferring Quicken data to tax software 373 Estimating taxes with Quicken Tax Planner 374 Estimating capital gains 379

Appendix A: Working with Quicken data ﬁles 381

Using more than one Quicken data ﬁle 381 Importing and exporting Quicken data 382 Backing up your data ﬁle 386 Archiving your data ﬁle at the end of the year 389 Setting up passwords 395

Appendix B: Troubleshooting and contacting Intuit 397

Saving a phone call 397 Before you contact us 401 Who to contact 404

Index 407

Quicken Keyboard Shortcuts 445

Installation and setup

System requirements ............................................................................................................11

Installing Quicken.................................................................................................................12

Getting started if you’re new to Quicken..........................................................................13

Upgrading from a previous version of Quicken ..............................................................14

What’s new in this version of Quicken..............................................................................16

System requirements

To use Quicken for Mac 2006, you need the following:

• Macintosh with G3 processor

• Mac OS X, version 10.2.8, 10.3.9, or 10.4.1

• 128MB of RAM

• 50MB of available hard disk space

• Color monitor with at least 1024x768 resolution

•To print checks: Intuit checks and a laser or inkjet printer

•To access online features: Internet access (fees may apply), and Internet Explorer

5.2.2 or Safari 1.0.3

•To back up to iDisk: a .Mac account (fees apply)

To find out which version of the system software you are using or how much RAM you have, choose About This Mac from the Apple (K) menu. To find out how much free space you have on your hard disk, look at the bottom of the Finder window.

Installing Quicken

It’s a good idea to back up your existing Quicken data files before installing if you’ve used a previous version of Quicken. (See “Backing up your data file” on page 386 for more information.)

in your

Insert the Quicken

Double-click the Install Quicken icon.

Enter your computer administrator password and click OK.

Read the Read Me ﬁle and click Continue.

Read the Software License Agreement, click Continue, and then click Agree.

Select an installation destination and click Continue.

Follow the onscreen instructions to complete installation.

If you’re new to Quicken, go to “Getting started if you’re new to Quicken” next.

CD-ROM

drive.

Chapter 1, Installation and setup 12

If you’re upgrading from a previous version of Quicken for Mac, skip to “Upgrading

from a previous version of Quicken” on page 14.

Getting started if you’re new to Quicken

If this is the first time you’ve used Quicken, Quicken will create a new data file for you and then guide you through setting up your first bank account and entering your first transaction. The whole process takes only a few minutes.

The Quicken icon looks like this:

See Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts

up to date, on page 52 for information

about entering transactions in a register.

Go to the folder where you installed Quicken and double-click the Quicken icon.

Quicken asks you to personalize your copy of Quicken; type your name and click OK.

In the welcome screen, click New User to set up a ﬁle for your Quicken data.

Follow the onscreen instructions to create your ﬁrst Quicken account.

Congratulations! You’ve set up your first account. Now you can bring the account up to date:

• Enter all the transactions that have occurred in this account between the ending balance on your last bank statement and today. These transactions may be checks that you have written and recorded in your paper check register, electronic funds

transactions (deposits to or withdrawals

transfers to or from the account, or

ATM

from the account).

Chapter 1, Installation and setup 13

• Enter all transactions dated before the statement’s ending date that have not yet appeared on any bank statement.

Or you can wait and enter these transactions when you get your next bank statement and are ready to reconcile your Quicken account with the bank statement. See “Before you start reconciling” on page 105.

Then, when your next bank statement arrives, you can reconcile it with the transactions you’ve recorded in your Quicken account. See Chapter 8, Reconciling

Quicken accounts, on page 104 for information about reconciling bank accounts.

Upgrading from a previous version of Quicken

If you are upgrading from a previous version of Quicken, be sure to move your existing Quicken data files into your Documents folder. Then, if you still have your Install CD from your previous version of Quicken, you can delete your old Quicken

folder from your hard disk. If you no longer have your original before you delete it. We strongly recommend that you delete your old copy of Quicken.

, back up the folder

Note: If you are upgrading from Quicken 1 or 1.5, a document with instructions for

upgrading is available from Intuit Technical Support; choose Online > To the Web > Online Technical Support.

After you have installed Quicken, moved your Quicken data ﬁles to your Documents folder, and removed your old Quicken application from your hard disk, you can open your Quicken data ﬁle one of these three ways:

Chapter 1, Installation and setup 14

• Double-click your Quicken data ﬁle icon.

• Double-click the Quicken application icon.

• Drag your Quicken data ﬁle icon to the Quicken icon.

If Quicken asks you to personalize your copy of Quicken, type your name and click OK.

In the welcome screen, click Upgrading User.

You’ll see a series of screens telling you what’s new in Quicken. Click Continue after you read each screen.

If the Open File dialog appears, select your data ﬁle and click Open.

Before Quicken opens your data file, it creates a backup copy of the file and puts it in your Documents/Quicken Backup Folder/Old Quicken Data folder.

Converting your data ﬁle may take a little while, especially if the ﬁle is large.

After the backup file is created, Quicken updates your original data file for Quicken 2006 and you’re ready to work. To update another Quicken data file, choose File > Open File and select that file.

Note: After you update your file to Quicken 2006 format, you

CANNOT

go back and use the same file with an earlier version of Quicken. If you ever need to use your old data with your previous version of Quicken, you can open the copy of the file that Quicken put in the Old Quicken Data folder.

Chapter 1, Installation and setup 15

What’s new in this version of Quicken

To see what’s new in this version of Quicken, go to Quicken Help and click

What’s new in Quicken 2006

Chapter 1, Installation and setup 16

Here’s what Quicken can do

for you

Managing your bank accounts............................................................................................17

Online account access...........................................................................................................19

Tracking your investments..................................................................................................20

Tracking your assets and debts...........................................................................................21

Planning ahead......................................................................................................................22

Reports and graphs...............................................................................................................22

Up–to–the–minute financial information on the Web.....................................................24

Managing your bank accounts

A Quicken bank account register looks a lot like a paper checkbook register. You enter all the transactions that affect your account balance in the register, including checks

(automated teller machine)

you’ve written, deposits, electronic transfers, transactions, and so on.

ATM

Quicken displays the name of the account (Joint Checking) in the window title.

You can use more than one series of check numbers at a time. You can write your checks by hand, print Intuit checks directly from Quicken, or use a combination of both.

Quicken computes the account balance automatically each time you record a transaction.

Quicken helps you accomplish many banking tasks quickly and easily:

• Keep detailed records of all your transactions without spending a lot of time

entering data. QuickFill™ remembers each transaction you enter, so you only have to type recurring transactions once.

• Reconcile your Quicken accounts to make sure they agree with the statements from

your bank.

•Transfer money between Quicken accounts. Quicken records the transfer in both

accounts and updates your balances automatically.

• Schedule any kind of transaction—from a car payment that you pay at the same

time every month, to a class fee that you pay only once, to a paycheck direct deposit. When a bill is due or when payday ﬁnally rolls around, Quicken either

Chapter 2, Here’s what Quicken can do for you 18

Entering categories is easy. As soon as you type the letters “Gr,” QuickFill completes the category name “Groceries.”

reminds you about it or simply enters it for you automatically—whichever you prefer.

• Keep track of where your money goes with categories. For example, if you buy

groceries at several different stores, you can tell Quicken to use the same “Groceries” category each time you record a payment to any of those stores in any Quicken register. Then, at the end of the month, you can create a report or graph that shows how much you spent on groceries that month.

You can also choose a category name from the pop-up menu in the Category ﬁeld.

Online account access

Online account access gives you convenient, day or night access to your accounts using state-of-the-art encryption and security features. With online account access, you can:

• Update your Quicken registers, following a schedule you choose, with

transactions downloaded directly from your ﬁnancial institution, saving data entry time and effort

• Easily reconcile your accounts with automatic transaction matching

• Pay your bills without ever writing a check or licking a stamp

•Transfer funds between accounts at the same ﬁnancial institution

Chapter 2, Here’s what Quicken can do for you 19

• Retrieve account balances and credit and charge card information, so you have

up-to-date information for better ﬁnancial decision making

• Schedule a payment now to be paid at a future date you specify

• Update securities transactions in an investment account

Tracking your investments

Use investment accounts to track what you own in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and other types of investments that fluctuate in price. Investment accounts let you:

• Compare the performance of your investments

• Keep detailed records of investment transactions

• Update current market values

• Report on investment income and capital gains

The Portfolio window lets you see all your investment accounts in a single window. You can update security prices and view summary information for all your securities.

Chapter 2, Here’s what Quicken can do for you 20

Tracking your assets and debts

Quicken can help you track loan balances, the value of your car or other personal possessions, and the balances due on your credit cards. If you set up accounts for all your assets and debts, Quicken can include them in net worth reports and graphs to give you an accurate view of your total financial picture.

When Quicken tracks loans and mortgages, it keeps track of both the amount of interest you’ve paid and the loan’s outstanding principal balance—it even calculates the proportions of interest and principal for each payment.

Chapter 2, Here’s what Quicken can do for you 21

Planning ahead

Quicken offers a variety of long- and short-term planning tools to help you look into your financial future. Use reports, graphs, and budgets to assess your current financial health, and then try out “what-if” scenarios with the financial planning calculators. The Quicken Tax Planner helps you estimate what your next tax bill will be, and the loan tracking tools help you shop for loans by figuring exactly how much interest and principal you would pay in different loan scenarios.

For more information on Quicken’s planning tools, see Chapter 18, Planning your

financial future, on page 329.

Reports and graphs

Quicken can create many different kinds of reports and graphs to give you insight into your finances. With Quicken’s flexible reporting tools, you can include information from any or all of your Quicken accounts. You can create a QuickReport™ or an EasyAnswer report or graph for a quick update, or you can customize standard Quicken reports and graphs by changing the layout and choosing just the accounts and categories you want to see.

Suppose you want to look at your expenses for the last three months of last year. You can see the information you want in a category summary report or an expense comparison graph.

Chapter 2, Here’s what Quicken can do for you 22

In a category summary report, Quicken totals your income and expenses and displays the totals on the screen. You can also print the report if you like.

To view the transactions that make up a value in a report, double-click the value to get a QuickZoom report (a list of transactions). To change one of the transactions in that list, double-click it to go to the register with that transaction selected.

Subcategories help you analyze your spending or income patterns; you can look at a detailed breakdown of how much you’ve spent or earned for each subcategory as well as see a total for the category.

An expense comparison graph shows how much you are spending on individual categories in relation to your total spending and to other categories. You can use graphs to analyze spending patterns, show your top ten expenses, alert yourself to overspending, and compare historical data.

To see more detail about a value in a graph (for example, a speciﬁc pie slice), double-click the value to get a QuickZoom graph.

Chapter 2, Here’s what Quicken can do for you 23

Up–to–the–minute ﬁnancial information on the Web

If you have a Web browser, it’s easy to connect to the Web right from Quicken. Just choose Online > To the Web and then choose your Web destination. Quicken’s home page on the Web is updated continuously to give you the very latest in financial information, online banking, and Quicken technical support.

Chapter 2, Here’s what Quicken can do for you 24

Working with Quicken

The Quicken workspace.......................................................................................................25

Customizing your Quicken workspace .............................................................................27

Getting step-by-step assistance from Quicken Help .......................................................29

Using this manual .................................................................................................................31

The Quicken workspace

Activity areas

Quicken has six activity areas that are represented by six tabs at the top of your screen. These tabs help organize your work and prevent your workspace from becoming cluttered with too many open windows.

• Banking: Work with bank accounts, including checking, savings, and money

market accounts.

• Investing: Track stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and other investments.

• Planning: Budget and forecast how new events might affect your ﬁnances, plan for

tax time, and develop strategies to save more and pay less interest on your debts.

• Reporting: Create reports and graphs that tell you where your money comes from

and where it goes.

• Property & Loans: Track credit cards, loans and mortgages, and assets such as your

home.

• Services: The last area contains task buttons that help you access ﬁnancial

information resources on the Web.

Toolbar

You can choose Quicken commands by clicking a button in the toolbar. The toolbar includes the buttons for the most commonly used commands in the activity area you’ve selected. For example, the toolbar in the Banking area includes buttons for common banking tasks.

To add, delete, and rearrange command buttons, see “Customizing your Quicken

workspace” on page 27.

Here is the keyboard shortcut for the Accounts command.

Keyboard shortcuts

A keyboard shortcut is a combination of keys you press at the same time to choose a command. To use a keyboard shortcut, hold down the x (Command) key while you press another key. To open the Account list, for example, hold down the x key and press A. You can see a list of keyboard shortcuts on page 445. You can also create your own keyboard shortcuts in Quicken. See “Creating your own Command-key

shortcuts” on page 28.

Chapter 3, Working with Quicken 26

Customizing your Quicken workspace

You can define your Quicken workspace by personalizing the toolbar, and adding, rearranging, or removing tabs and command buttons.

Customizing the toolbar

You can use the toolbar just as it is, or you can change it so it suits your working style.

Adding a button to the toolbar

You can add many Quicken menu commands to the toolbar in any activity area tab. You could, for example, add the Portfolio button to the toolbar in the Banking tab to easily access your Portfolio window while you work in the Banking area.

Choose Quicken > Conﬁgure Toolbar.

Click the activity area tab where you want to add the command button.

Choose the command button you want to add to the activity area tab from the scrolling list of commands.

Drag the button from the Command Button list onto the toolbar.

Rearranging and removing command buttons

To change the position of a command button, open the Configure Toolbar window. Select and drag the button you want to move to a new location in the toolbar.

Chapter 3, Working with Quicken 27

To remove a single command button, open the Configure Toolbar window. Select the button you want to remove and drag it off the toolbar. To remove the whole toolbar, clear the Show Tabs, Show Command Buttons, and Show Account Buttons checkboxes.

Creating your own Command-key shortcuts

You can access your favorite commands faster by creating shortcuts for them. A shortcut lets you execute the command with a simple key sequence: pressing the x key plus one other key. You can assign a Command-key shortcut to any menu command, including any account name in the Registers menu.

Hold down the x key and click in the menu bar. Don’t release the mouse button.

Release the x key and select the menu command to which you want to assign a shortcut.

With the command selected, release the mouse button.

Quicken displays a window that shows the menu name, command name, and existing Command-key shortcut (if any).

For example, if you want the shortcut for an account named Checking to be

-1, type 1 and click OK.

4 Type the key you want to combine with the x key and click OK.

If another menu command already has the same Command-key shortcut assigned to it, Quicken asks you to conﬁrm the change. If you conﬁrm the change, Quicken removes the shortcut from the other menu command and assigns it to the command you selected.

Chapter 3, Working with Quicken 28

Removing a Command-key shortcut

1 Hold down the x key and click in the menu bar. Don’t release the mouse button.

2 Release the x key and select the menu command.

3 With the menu command selected, release the mouse button.

4 Delete the shortcut from the Command Key ﬁeld in the Edit Command Key

window.

5 Click OK.

Getting step-by-step assistance from Quicken Help

If you have a question about how to do something in Quicken, go to Quicken Help for step-by-step assistance. When you use Quicken Help, its window moves in front of any windows you have open in Quicken. If you need to move it, just drag its title bar. To return to Quicken, click in any Quicken window.

The step-by-step procedures that are available in Quicken Help are listed in tables like this one.

For step-by-step help, go to Registers in Quicken Help and select

How do I enter a transaction?

Chapter 3, Working with Quicken 29

There are a number of different ways to open Quicken Help:

• Choose Help > Quicken Help.

•Press x-?

•Press the Help key if you are using an extended keyboard.

• Hold down the Control key, and click in a window to display a contextual menu.

Choose Help for information speciﬁc to the window you’re working with.

Searching Quicken Help

When you type in your text and click Search (or press Enter), Quicken Help displays a list of related tasks. Click the topic that interests you.

Type a word or phrase and press Enter.

Chapter 3, Working with Quicken 30

Learning useful tips and shortcuts

Tips & Shortcuts are helpful hints that can help you get more out of using Quicken.

Choose Tips & Shortcuts from the Quicken Help table of contents. Then click a link to see a series of tips and shortcuts for that topic area.

Using this manual

Quicken includes this onscreen User Guide. You can open this Adobe Acrobat document by choosing Help > User Guide.

Chapter 3, Working with Quicken 31

Accounts track what you

own and owe

About Quicken data files .....................................................................................................32

About Quicken accounts......................................................................................................34

Setting up a Quicken account..............................................................................................35

Opening an account register................................................................................................37

Editing, hiding and deleting accounts ...............................................................................38

About Quicken data ﬁles

Your Quicken data file contains all your financial data. Your personal Quicken data file might contain several accounts, such as a checking account, a savings account, credit card accounts, and an investment account. If you use your Quicken data file for business, it might contain a business checking account, an A/R account, an A/P account, and a capital equipment account.

A Quicken data ﬁle is like a drawer in a ﬁling cabinet, and the accounts in it are like the folders in that ﬁle drawer. You might, for example, have folders in your ﬁnancial ﬁle drawer labeled Checking, Savings, Car loan, Mortgage, and so on.

All the accounts in one Quicken data file share the same lists of categories, classes, and other information—and you can transfer funds from one account to another within the same file. Plus, when you run a Quicken report or graph, you can choose to see data from any or all of the accounts in your file. For example, if you want a status report on the accounts you use every day, you can create a net worth report that includes the balances from your checking, credit card, and savings accounts. If you want your net worth report to show your overall financial picture, you can include information from all of the accounts in your file, including investment accounts, retirement accounts, and the asset and liability accounts you use to track the value of your home and the remaining balance on its mortgage.

If you use Quicken for personal finances only, you probably need just one data file. Quicken reports, graphs, and budgets only include information from accounts that are in the same data file. However, you may decide you need more than one data file if, for example, you want to keep your personal and business finances completely separate. See “Using more than one Quicken data file” on page 381.

Chapter 4, Accounts track what you own and owe 33

About Quicken accounts

Each Quicken account represents either something you own (an asset) or something you owe (a liability), and lets you track the money—or value—that is added to or subtracted from that account.

Quicken is flexible enough to let you track as many as 255 accounts in one file. Some people track only their primary checking account; others want to know where every penny goes. Some people use just one checking account for a while and then add other accounts as they go along; others set up all their accounts before they begin entering any data.

Accounts that track what you own

• Bank accounts (checking, savings, and money market). Use these to track your

checking accounts, savings accounts, and money market accounts. You can print checks and make electronic payments from these types of accounts. See Chapter 7,

Paying your bills, on page 78, and Chapter 9, Banking online, on page 124.

• Cash accounts. Use this to track your cash. See Chapter 10, Tracking your cash, on

page 162.

• Asset, house, and vehicle accounts. Use these to track the value of an asset such as

a home or car. For a business, use asset accounts to track your capital equipment or accounts receivable. See Chapter 12, Tracking assets and liabilities, on page 178.

• Investment accounts (brokerage, 401(k), and IRA). Use these to track multiple

investments in a single account. See Chapter 14, Tracking investments, on

page 206.

Chapter 4, Accounts track what you own and owe 34

• Single mutual fund accounts. Use this to track a single mutual fund. See

Chapter 14, Tracking investments, on page 206.

Accounts that track what you owe

• Credit card and line of credit accounts. Use these to track your credit cards, lines

of credit, and equity lines. See Chapter 11, Tracking your credit cards, on page 169.

• Liability accounts. Use these to track something you owe, such as a mortgage or

car loan. For a business, use liability accounts to track accrued liabilities or accounts payable. See Chapter 12, Tracking assets and liabilities, on page 178.

Setting up a Quicken account

The steps for setting up an account are basically the same for all Quicken accounts. You can edit most account information later if you decide to change it (see page 38).

Note: To set up an investment account or track a loan, see “Setting up an investment

account” on page 225, “Setting up a Quicken mutual fund account” on page 235, or “Setting up a loan” on page 190, before you set up the account.

1 Choose File > New > Account, or List > Accounts and then click New.

The Account Setup Assistant appears.

2 Follow the onscreen instructions to create the account.

Chapter 4, Accounts track what you own and owe 35

When you are done with the Assistant, Quicken creates the account, adds its name to both the Account list and the Categories & Transfers list, downloads current transactions (if you set up online account access), and opens its register.

Chapter 4, Accounts track what you own and owe 36

You can come back to this transaction later and change the opening balance amount and the date if you need to.

Opening an account register

There are several ways to open a register in the current data file (or bring it to the front if it’s already open):

• Click the button for that account in the account bar at the bottom of the toolbar.

Quicken displays buttons of the most recent accounts you’ve opened:

Note: If you don’t see buttons like the ones shown above, choose Lists > Accounts,

select the account, click Edit, and make sure that both the Show account in lists and Show account in toolbar checkboxes are checked.

• Choose the account from the Registers pop-up menu in the toolbar.

• Choose Lists > Registers > [account].

• Choose Lists > Accounts, and then double-click the account name.

Chapter 4, Accounts track what you own and owe 37

• If the account you want to work with is already open, use the Windows menu to

bring the open account to the front.

You can work with more than one account at a time by opening multiple register windows. You can always tell which account you have open because the account name is part of the Register window title.

Editing, hiding and deleting accounts

To edit a Quicken account, select the account name in the Account list and click Edit. Then change the account information in the Edit Account window. You can rename an account, change the account description, change an account’s online access, and read or edit any notes you added. You can edit the credit limit for a credit card account or change an investment account’s tax status. You can also change the account type in

most cases.*

If you don’t use an account anymore, you can hide it so that it doesn’t show up in the Account list or the Categories & Transfers list. Its transactions are still there so you can use them in reports and graphs, but it doesn’t show up in any lists. To hide an account, select it in the Account list and click Edit. Clear the Show account in lists checkbox. In the Account list, clear the Show hidden accounts checkbox. To see the hidden account again, select the Show hidden accounts checkbox in the Account list.

You can delete an account by selecting it in the Account list and clicking Delete.

* You can’t change the account type of an investment or mutual fund account, and you can’t change a

bank, cash, asset, credit card, or liability account into an investment or mutual fund account.

Chapter 4, Accounts track what you own and owe 38

Caution: Do not delete an account as a step in changing account information. If you

delete an account, you lose all of the transactions in it. When you edit the account information, the account retains all of its transactions.

When you delete an account, you lose all of the transactions in that account, and any transfers between the deleted account and your other Quicken accounts lose the transfer information.

For step-by-step help, go to Accounts in Quicken Help and select

How do I edit account information?

How do I hide an account?

How do I delete an account?

Chapter 4, Accounts track what you own and owe 39

Categories and classes track

income and expenses

About categories....................................................................................................................40

Setting up categories and subcategories............................................................................42

Editing, deleting, and moving categories and subcategories.........................................47

About classes .........................................................................................................................48

Setting up classes and subclasses .......................................................................................50

Editing, deleting, and moving classes and subclasses.....................................................50

About categories

Categories are labels you assign to transactions to help you track where your money goes. When you “categorize” your transactions, Quicken can give you insight into your finances through reports, graphs, and budgets. Reports and graphs can tell you:

• How much you spend each month on groceries, utilities, mortgage interest, auto

maintenance, and more. These items are tracked using expense categories.

• How much you receive each month in salary, bonuses, dividends, interest income,

rental income, and so on. These items are tracked using income categories.

If you assign categories to the transactions you enter in Quicken, you can:

•Create income- and expense-based reports and graphs that show where your

money comes from and how you spend it. See Chapter 16, Creating reports, on

page 288, and Chapter 17, Creating graphs, on page 318.

• Set up budget amounts for some or all of your categories and create reports or

graphs that compare your budget to your actual expenses and income. See

“Budgeting” on page 333.

• Save time when preparing your tax returns by generating a list of tax-related

income and expenses, or by exporting information to tax-preparation software. See

Chapter 19, Getting ready for tax time, on page 360.

“What do I put in the Category field?” on page 59, explains how to assign

categories to transactions.

You can assign a category to any transaction in any non-investment account.* If you write a check for groceries, you could assign the category “Groceries” to the transaction when you enter it in your Quicken checking account register. If you pay for the groceries by credit card, you would also assign the category “Groceries” to the transaction when you enter it in your credit card account register.

The more specific your categories are, the more detailed your reports and budgets will be.

It is important to assign categories and subcategories consistently. For example, if you sometimes assign the category “Auto” to transactions for gasoline, but other times you assign the category and subcategory “Auto:Fuel,” Quicken displays two separate amounts in reports: one for “Auto” transactions, and another for “Auto:Fuel” transactions. Use the Replace command to find all occurrences of “Auto” in a register

* Quicken assigns special investment categories to many kinds of investment transactions. See the table

that begins on page 244 for more information.

Chapter 5, Categories and classes track income and expenses 41

and decide whether to recategorize some of them as “Auto:Fuel” (see “Finding a

specific transaction” on page 75).

Tip: You’ll get more accurate reports, graphs, and budgets if you categorize credit and

charge card purchases the same way you categorize checking account transactions, instead of assigning a general category like “AmEx” or “Credit card.” See Chapter 11,

Tracking your credit cards, on page 169.

Setting up categories and subcategories

When you started Quicken for the first time, you had the opportunity to include a preset home category list, business category list, or both in your Quicken data file. You can use the preset categories as they are or modify them to suit your needs.

Note: If you chose not to include Quicken’s preset category lists when you initially

created your data file, but now wish to include them, choose Lists > Categories & Transfers > Import Business Categories and/or Import Home Categories.

To get started quickly, use one of the preset category lists and then add new categories as you work with Quicken. Or, if you prefer, review the preset category lists and the modified lists on page 44 and then create your own list.

To see your list, choose Lists > Categories & Transfers > List.

The next page shows the preset category lists provided by Quicken:

Chapter 5, Categories and classes track income and expenses 42

Quicken’s preset Categories & Transfers lists

The list on the left is the preset list of home categories that Quicken provides, and the one on the right is the preset list of business categories.

Subcategories are indented under the main category. Click the triangle to the left of the category name to hide or show its subcategories.

Click a column title to change the order in which categories appear in the list. This list is sorted by category name, but you could also choose to sort it by type if, for example, you want to group your all of your income categories together. You can

also sort by tax status or description.

Delete any unused categories by selecting them in the list and clicking Delete. For example, if you live in the U.S., you may want to delete all the Canadian categories. And if you live in Canada, you may want to delete the U.S. tax categories.

You can mark categories as tax-related and assign tax form information to them. See Chapter 19, Getting

ready for tax time, on page 360.

Chapter 5, Categories and classes track income and expenses 43

Here are two sample category lists:

• The list on the left is a partial view of a category list used by a couple who want to track their income and expenses in more detail than provided by the preset home category list.

• The list on the right is shorter than the preset list of home categories, and it contains main categories only—no subcategories.

The ﬁrst time you set up an investment or single mutual fund account, Quicken adds these investment categories (preceded by •) to your Categories & Transfers list.

Modifying the preset category lists

You can modify a preset category list by creating new categories or new subcategories and by editing or deleting existing categories and subcategories. You can also change a category into a subcategory or a subcategory into a category, and you can move subcategories from one category to another. See “Creating new categories” on

page 45, “Creating subcategories” on page 46, and “Editing, deleting, and moving categories and subcategories” on page 47.

Account names in brackets ( [ ] ) are included in this list so you can transfer funds between accounts. Double-click an account name to create a transfer. See “Transferring money between

accounts” on page 64.

Chapter 5, Categories and classes track income and expenses 44

The category name can be up to 32 characters long. Be careful not to enter more than one name for the same category. For example, if you type “Clothes,” Quicken will see it as a new category even if you already have a category called “Clothing.”

Click Income if this is an income category such as salary, interest income, or rent from an investment property. Click Expense if this is an expense category such as groceries, utilities, mortgage interest, or charity.

Creating new categories

You can set up your categories before you enter any transactions, or you can set them up “on the fly” while you are entering transactions.

1 Choose Lists > Categories & Transfers > List (x-L).

2 Click New (x-N).

3 Enter information about the category.

The category description can be up to 54 characters long. You can show the description instead of the category name in reports and graphs if you want to see a more detailed description.

(Optional) Select the Tax-related checkbox if you want to use this category to track tax-related income or expenses.

(Optional) Select Assign a tax link if you wish to assign a category to a speciﬁc line item on an IRS form. See “Marking

categories as tax-related” on page 361.

4 Click Create to add the category to the Categories & Transfers list.

Chapter 5, Categories and classes track income and expenses 45

To add the subcategory “Insurance” under “Auto,” select “Auto” and click Add Subcategory. Then type “Insurance” in the Category ﬁeld and click Create.

Creating subcategories

Using subcategories gives you more flexibility than using categories alone. For example, under the category “Utilities” you could have subcategories such as “Cable TV,” “Gas & Electric,” and “Water.” Then you can show information for each subcategory under the main categories in your reports, graphs, and budgets.

1 Choose Lists > Categories & Transfers > List (x-L).

2 In the Categories & Transfers window, select the category for which you want to

create a subcategory and click Add Subcategory.

Quicken doesn’t display a type (income or expense) for subcategories because they are always the same type as the parent category.

3 Enter information about the subcategory just as you would for a new category.

See the illustration in step 3 on page 45.

4 Click Create to add the subcategory to the list.

Quicken displays the new subcategory below the main category in the Categories & Transfers list. Subcategories are listed in alphabetical order.

Chapter 5, Categories and classes track income and expenses 46

Editing, deleting, and moving categories and subcategories

You can edit category or subcategory information by selecting a category in the Categories & Transfers list and clicking Edit. If you rename a category or subcategory, Quicken automatically replaces the old name with the new name in all transactions categorized with the old name.

You can delete a category or subcategory by selecting it in the Categories & Transfers list and clicking Delete.* When you delete a category or subcategory, Quicken removes the name from the Categories & Transfers list and from the Category field of any transactions to which it is assigned.

Caution: Don’t delete a category or subcategory as a step in changing its name. Delete

a category or subcategory only if you don’t expect to use it again or if you want to reassign the transactions for the deleted category to several different categories.

You can also change a category into a subcategory, or move a subcategory from one category to another by dragging and dropping them in the Categories & Transfers list.

For step-by-step help, go to Categories & Classes in Quicken Help and select

How do I edit categories and subcategories?

How do I delete categories and subcategories?

* You cannot edit or delete the predefined investment categories (those preceded by •), and you can

only edit or delete transfer categories from the Categories & Transfers list by editing, hiding, or deleting the associated account (see “Editing, hiding and deleting accounts” on page 38).

Chapter 5, Categories and classes track income and expenses 47

For step-by-step help, go to Categories & Classes in Quicken Help and select

How do I move categories and subcategories?

About classes

Classes add an additional dimension to reports and graphs by letting you specify where, to what, or to whom transactions apply. Classes do not replace categories; they add information to transactions that already have categories. Unlike subcategories, which can only be used with their parent category, classes can be used with any category. You can create reports and graphs based on categories, classes, or both.

You can use classes in situations like these:

• If you share a Quicken data ﬁle with others in your household, you can create a class for each person so you can track how much each person earns and spends without creating subcategories for each category. For example, spouses could classify dining expenses as Dining/Sue and Dining/Jim, and clothing expenses as Clothing/Sue and Clothing/Jim.

• If you use your personal checking account for business and personal expenses, you can identify business transactions with the class Business to distinguish them from personal expenses in the same category. For example, you could classify business expenses as Dining/Business, Entertainment/Business and Subscriptions/ Business.

• If you manage properties, you can identify transactions by property name or address. For example, six water bills could be categorized as utility expenses and

Chapter 5, Categories and classes track income and expenses 48

classiﬁed as applying to six different properties by entering Utilities:Water/ElmSt, Utilities:Water/OakSt, and so on.

• If you work with multiple clients, you can identify transactions by client name. Then you can report separately on the income and expenses related to each client. For example, you might classify income earned as Income/Smith, Income/Jones, and Income/Lee.

The following table gives examples of how to use classes:

Use classes to specify Reason for using classes Examples of class names

Whom the transaction is for:

•Your clients

•Your salespeople

•You or your spouse

Where the transaction applies:

•Sales regions

•Property names

Track income and expense by client Track commissions Track income and expense by individual

Track performance by division Track income and expense by property

SellCo, Mena, Bartel, Lew & Co. Bob, Karen, Glenn, Kate, Eric Chris, Terry

Midwest, West, East, North, South Harlow St, Ward Way, Rusko Ave

What the transaction is for:

•Job or project names

•Equipment or vehicle

•Business use

Perform job costing Track expense by item Separate business income and expense

from personal income and expense

Chapter 5, Categories and classes track income and expenses 49

Crandall, Miller, Smith Truck, phone, fax, copier Business

Setting up classes and subclasses

Quicken does not provide a preset list of classes. To create a class, choose Lists > Classes and click New. You can set up classes before you enter any transactions, or you can set them up “on the fly” while you are entering transactions. For more information, see “Assigning a class to a transaction” on page 62.

For step-by-step help, go to Categories & Classes in Quicken Help and select

How do I set up classes and subclasses?

Editing, deleting, and moving classes and subclasses

You can edit class or subclass information by selecting a class in the Class list and clicking Edit. If you rename a class or subclass, Quicken automatically replaces the old name with the new name in all transactions classified with the old name.

You can delete a class or subclass by selecting it in the Class list and clicking Delete. When you delete a class or subclass, Quicken removes the name from the Class list and from any transactions to which it is assigned.

Caution: Don’t delete a class or subclass as a step in changing its name. Delete a class

or subclass only if you don’t expect to use it again or if you want to reassign the transactions for the deleted class to several different classes.

You can also change a class into a subclass, change a subclass into a class, or move a subclass from one class to another. Just drag and drop them in the Class list.

Chapter 5, Categories and classes track income and expenses 50

You cannot change a class into a category, or vice versa.

For step-by-step help, go to Categories & Classes in Quicken Help and select

How do I edit classes and subclasses?

How do I delete classes and subclasses?

How do I move classes and subclasses?

Chapter 5, Categories and classes track income and expenses 51

Keeping your accounts up

to date

Recording your day-to-day expenses ................................................................................52

Correcting mistakes ..............................................................................................................58

What do I put in the Category field?..................................................................................59

Transferring money between accounts..............................................................................64

Entering transactions with more than one category........................................................68

Speeding up data entry ........................................................................................................73

Finding a specific transaction..............................................................................................75

Customizing the register......................................................................................................76

Printing the register ..............................................................................................................77

Recording your day-to-day expenses

Every Quicken account has a register where you can enter transactions for that account. A transaction is any item that affects the balance in your account. Common transactions in a bank account include:

• checks (written by hand or printed with Quicken)

ATM (automated teller machine) transactions

•

• deposits

• EFT (electronic funds transfer) deposits or withdrawals

• bank service charges and interest

When you set up a new account, Quicken opens the Register window for that account. You can record all transactions for that account in the register—although you may want to enter online payments and checks you plan to print with Quicken in the Write Checks window (see “Writing checks with Quicken” on page 84) or the Enter Online Payment window (see “Creating and sending online payments” on page 144).

All Quicken accounts have registers. Although the types of transactions vary from register to register, the basic entry techniques are the same whether you are using the register for a bank, cash, credit card, asset, or liability account.*

* Investment and single mutual fund accounts also have registers, but investment transactions require

additional information. See “Entering investment transactions in the register” on page 241.

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 53

Click Number to sort the register by check number.

Enter the amount of a check or other payment in the Payment column; enter the amount of a deposit in the Deposit column.

Post-dated transactions appear below the orange line.

The active, selected transaction has a blue border around it.

Click Record to save the transaction and update the account balance.

Click Restore to revert the transaction to the way it was before you changed it.

Quicken shows the name of the account in the window title. A "C" in the Clr

column indicates the cleared status of each transaction. See

page 114.

Balance Today is the balance of all transactions through today. If you postdate transactions, Quicken also displays an ending balance that is the balance of all transactions in the register.

Click here to add the selected transaction to iCal (see page 87 for more information).

Entering a transaction in the register

1 Choose Lists > Registers > [account].

You can also open a register by choosing the account name from the Registers pop-up menu when you are in the Banking, Investing, or Property & Loans areas.

2 If the selected transaction is not a blank transaction, choose Edit > New Transaction

(x-N).

3 Enter information about the new transaction in each ﬁeld.

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 54

Type a date, or use the pop-up calendar to select a date.

In the Number column, enter a check number, or press + to automatically enter the next check number.

You can also select an item from the pop-up menu. Choose List from the pop-up menu to create your own items.

In the Payee or Description ﬁeld, enter a payee name or other description for the transaction.

Enter a category to track income and expenses. See “What do I put in the

Category field?” on page 59.

(Optional) Enter other information about this transaction here.

Press Tab to move the insertion point to the next ﬁeld. If you prefer to press Return instead of Tab to move from ﬁeld to ﬁeld, see “Customizing the register” on

page 76.

4 Click Record. Quicken saves each new transaction in your data ﬁle as you record it.

When you record a transaction, Quicken sorts it in the register and recalculates all subsequent balances. You can sort transactions by date or by check number.

Entering a transaction in the Calendar

In the Payment or Deposit column, enter the amount of the payment or deposit.

Quicken calculates a new balance for you when you record the transaction.

You can also schedule transactions — including recurring transactions such as bill payments and your paycheck deposit — in the Calendar or the register for dates in the future (see

“Scheduling bill payments” on page 78.

You can enter new transactions in the Quicken Financial Calendar™ for today or for any date in the past. You can also edit or delete transactions or move transactions from one day to another. You can enter, edit, move, or delete transactions in the Calendar for any non-investment account.

When you add a new transaction in the Calendar, Quicken automatically records it in the appropriate register as well.

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 55

1 In the Banking area, click the Calendar button in the toolbar, or choose Activities >

Calendar.

Use the arrow keys to move from day to day, and the PgUp and PgDn keys to move from month to month.

Today’s date is shaded blue.

If there are more transactions for a day than will ﬁt, the date is followed by an ellipsis (...). Double-click the day to see all its transactions in a separate Transactions window.

The selected day is shaded gray.

Click Selected Accounts to select the accounts you want to see. The Calendar initially shows transactions from all accounts except investment accounts.

Click the arrow buttons to move forward or backward one month at a time.

Click Add Note to add a note for the selecte d day. Double

-click the note to read or edit the note.

2 Select the day (past or present) on which you want to record the transaction.

3 Click New Transaction in the lower right corner of the Calendar window.

4 Enter information about the transaction in each ﬁeld, just as you would in a

For more information, see “Entering a transaction in the register” on page 54.

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 56

Make sure the correct account is shown in the Account ﬁeld. When you record the transaction, it is entered both in the Calendar and in the register for the selected account.

Quicken 2006 offers more ﬂexibility in scheduling frequencies than ever before. For information about the scheduling section of the window, see “Scheduling a

future transaction in the Calendar” on page 79.

Click here to add the selected transaction to iCal (see page 87 for more information).

Use these buttons to enter an online transaction (only if the account is already enabled for online payment), a check, or a transaction in the register.

This is the Balance Today (and an ending balance, if there are any postdated transactions in the register) for the selected account.

5 Click Record to record the transaction in the Calendar and in the register.

You can also enter a new past or present (recorded for today) transaction in the Calendar by:

• Dragging a transaction from the QuickFill Transactions list (see “Entering data

with QuickFill” on page 73).

• Copying a transaction from any open Transactions window. Hold down the Option key while you drag and drop the transaction to today or to a day in the past (or to the Transactions window for that day).

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 57

You can also print the Calendar or add a reminder note to a day in the Calendar.

For step-by-step help, go to Paying bills in Quicken Help and select

How do I add calendar notes?

Correcting mistakes

To make a change to a transaction, select it and edit any field by selecting the incorrect information and typing over it. To undo a single mistake while entering or editing information in a field, choose Edit > Undo (x-Z). To restore a transaction to the way it was before you made any changes to it, click the Restore button. The only item in the transaction you cannot edit is the balance in the Balance column.

Note: Changing a reconciled transaction—one with a bold R in the Clr column—can

cause problems when you reconcile your Quicken records with your bank statement. Quicken warns if you are about to change a reconciled transaction.

You can edit any transaction in the Calendar, even if you originally entered it in the register. If you enter a transaction in the wrong account, you can easily move it to the correct account by editing it in the Calendar to change the account.

You can also move a transaction to another account using the contextual menu in the register. Select the transaction you want to move, hold down the Control key and click

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 58

in the register; choose Move this Transaction from the contextual menu. Then enter the “to” account name in the Move Transaction window.

For step-by-step help, go to Registers in Quicken Help and select

How do I edit a transaction?

How do I move a transaction?

You can delete a transaction by selecting it and choosing Edit > Delete Transaction (x-D). Sometimes you may prefer to void a transaction instead of deleting it. By marking a printed or handwritten check as void, you can keep an accurate record of each numbered check. To void a transaction, select it and choose Edit > Void Transaction.

For step-by-step help, go to Registers in Quicken Help and select

How do I delete or void a transaction?

What do I put in the Category ﬁeld?

You can enter any of these items in the Category field of a transaction:

• Categories and subcategories let you label your transactions so you can track where your money comes from and where it goes. See “Assigning a category to a

transaction” next.

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 59

• Classes and subclasses let you deﬁne transactions even more speciﬁcally than with categories alone. Some Quicken users beneﬁt from using classes; others ﬁnd that categories are all they need to track their ﬁnances. See “Assigning a class to a

transaction” on page 62.

• Transfers let you move money from one Quicken account to another. See

“Transferring money between accounts” on page 64.

Tip: To assign more than one category, class, or transfer to a single transaction, you

can “split” the transaction. See page 68.

Assigning a category to a transaction

See “About categories” on page 40 for more information about creating and using categories.

You should assign at least one category to each transaction because Quicken uses the category information you assign to create reports, graphs, and budgets based on your income and expenses. If you don’t assign a category to a transaction, Quicken uses the label “Other” to refer to uncategorized amounts in reports and graphs. You can set a preference telling Quicken to warn you if you forget to enter a category; see

“Customizing the register” on page 76.

You can assign a category to a transaction by:

• typing the category name in the Category ﬁeld

• choosing a category from the pop-up menu in the Category ﬁeld

• selecting a category in the Categories & Transfers list

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 60

Typing a category name in the register

1 Click in the Category ﬁeld of the transaction you want to categorize.

2 Start typing the category name.

If the ﬁrst few characters match the beginning of more than one category name, QuickFill enters the ﬁrst category that begins with the letters you typed. Keep typing until QuickFill enters the correct category name.

You can also choose a category from the pop-up menu in the Category ﬁeld.

3 When Quicken displays the category you want, either press Tab to accept that

category, or type a colon ( : ) to enter a subcategory.

The colon always appears at the end of the text that’s currently in the Category ﬁeld, no matter where the cursor is located when you type it.

4 (Optional) Start typing a subcategory name.

Type the letter “u” to enter the category name “Utilities.”

Continue typing until QuickFill ﬁlls in the correct subcategory.

To enter a subcategory, type a colon as soon as you see the category you want. In this case, typing the letter “w” after the colon displays the subcategory name “Water.”

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 61

If you enter a category (or subcategory) name that isn’t in the Categories & Transfers list, Quicken asks if you want to set it up.

Choosing a category from the Categories & Transfers list

1 Click anywhere in the transaction you want to categorize.

2 Choose Lists > Categories & Transfers > List (x-L).

3 Double-click a category name in the list to paste it in the Category ﬁeld.

You can also select the category name you want and click Use or press Return. Or you can drag the category name from the Categories & Transfers list and drop it in the selected transaction in the register.

Assigning a class to a transaction

Classes do not replace categories; rather, they add more information to transactions that already have categories. See “About classes” on page 48 to determine whether classes are appropriate for your situation.

You can assign a class to a transaction by:

• typing the class name in the Category ﬁeld

• selecting a class in the Class list

Typing a class name in the register

1 Click in the Category ﬁeld of the transaction you want to classify.

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 62

You can add a class name after a category name, or after an account name to classify a transfer transaction.

2 Type a forward slash ( / ).

The forward slash separates the class from the category (or account). It always appears at the end of the text that’s currently in the Category ﬁeld, no matter where the cursor is located when you type it.

3 Begin typing the class name.

If the ﬁrst few characters match the beginning of more than one class name, QuickFill enters the ﬁrst class that begins with the letters you typed. Keep typing until QuickFill enters the correct class name.

As soon as you type a forward slash, Quicken recognizes that you are entering a class. In this example, the category is Repairs and the class is Oak St.

4 When Quicken displays the class you want, either press Tab to accept that class or

type a colon ( : ) to enter a subclass.

The colon always appears at the end of the text that’s currently in the Category ﬁeld, no matter where the cursor is located when you type it.

5 (Optional) Start typing a subclass name.

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 63

Continue typing until Quicken ﬁlls in the correct subclass. You might, for example want to add a subclass to the transaction in step 3 to specify which unit needed repairs: Repairs/Oak St:Unit1.

If you enter a class (or subclass) name that isn’t in the Class list, Quicken asks if you want to set it up.

Choosing a class from the Class list

1 Click anywhere in the transaction you want to classify.

2 Choose Lists > Classes (x-K).

3 Double-click a class name to paste it in the Category ﬁeld.

You can also select the class name you want and click Use or press Return. Or you can drag the class name from the Class list and drop it in the selected transaction in the register.

Transferring money between accounts

Transfers can record these and other common transactions:

• movement of funds from a checking account to a savings account

• cash advances from a credit card account to a checking account

• loan payments from a checking account to a liability account that tracks the balance of the loan

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 64

Here is a transfer transaction in the source account. The brackets show that it is a transfer.

The transfer transaction is automatically recorded in the destination account as a result of the transfer.

When you record a transfer transaction in a source account, Quicken automatically creates a parallel transaction in the destination account. If the source transaction is a payment or decrease, the destination transaction is a deposit or increase.

For example, if you transfer $500 from your savings account to your checking account to cover household expenses, you would type a left bracket ( [ ), and then enter the name of the checking account in the Category field of the transfer transaction in your savings account. Quicken automatically records a corresponding deposit transaction of $500.00 in the Deposit column of your checking account. You don’t include an income or expense category in the Category field for a transfer transaction because you have simply moved funds from one account to another.

If the register for the source account is already open, you can transfer money by entering the transfer information directly in the Category field of the transfer transaction.

1 In the register for the source account, enter the name of the destination account in

the Category ﬁeld by typing [ , and then typing the name of the account.

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 65

If you type “[jo”, QuickFill adds “int Checking].”

Choose the destination account name from the pop-up menu in the Category ﬁeld (account names are at the bottom of the list).

2 When Quicken displays the account you want, press Tab.

3 Click Record to record the transfer transaction.

Quicken records the transaction in this register and creates a parallel transaction in the destination account register for the same amount.

In some cases, you may want to transfer part of the total amount of a transaction. For example, you may want to transfer some of your paycheck into a retirement account. Or you might want to transfer the portion of your mortgage payment that goes toward the loan principal into a liability account that tracks the loan balance and assign an expense category to the interest portion of the payment. See “Entering transactions

with more than one category” on page 68 for information about transferring part of a

transaction.

You can include class information in a transfer transaction. If, for example, you pay for an antique table from a checking account and you want to record the purchase in an asset account called “Personal Assets” and assign the class “Antiques” to the transaction, you would enter “[Personal Assets]/Antiques” in the Category field.

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 66

You can also enter a transfer transaction between accounts by choosing Activities > Transfer Money.

For step-by-step help, go to Registers in Quicken Help and select

How do I transfer funds between accounts?

Changing a transaction that includes a transfer

When you change a transaction that includes a transfer to or from another account, the transaction created by the transfer may also change.

• If you edit the date or amount of the transaction, the information changes in both accounts. But if you edit anything else, the information changes only in the account where you make the change.

• If you delete the transaction, Quicken deletes it from both accounts.

• If you rename an account, Quicken updates every occurrence of the name in all transactions.

If a transfer is part of a split transaction (see “Entering transactions with more than one

category” next), you can change the date or amount only in the original transaction in

the source account. You cannot change it in the destination account (the one that received the transfer).

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 67

Click the Open Split button to open the split.

Entering transactions with more than one category

You can assign multiple categories, classes, or transfers to a single transaction by

splitting the transaction. For example, you might want to create a split transaction if

you write a single check to purchase items such as clothing, office supplies, and home furnishings from a department store.

When you create a split transaction, you enter category names and amounts to identify each part of the split.

Entering a split transaction

1 Enter information about the transaction in the Date, Number, and Payee ﬁelds, and

enter the total amount of the transaction in either the Payment or Deposit column.

2 Click the Open Split button (x-E).

Quicken copies any information you have already entered in the Category, Payment, or Deposit ﬁelds of the transaction to the ﬁrst split line.

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 68

Quicken subtracts the amount you typed in the Amount ﬁeld of the ﬁrst split line ($32.47) from the total amount you entered for the transaction ($124.57) and displays the remainder ($92.10) in the next Amount ﬁeld.

3 Type a category name in the ﬁrst Category ﬁeld in the split, or choose a category

from the pop-up menu and press Tab.

4 (Optional) Type a memo in the ﬁrst Memo ﬁeld and press Tab.

5 Type the amount you want to allocate to the ﬁrst category in the ﬁrst Amount ﬁeld.

The amount for the entire transaction is already selected; just type the amount for the ﬁrst category right over that amount.

6 Press Tab to move to the next Category ﬁeld.

7 Continue to add categories, memos, and amounts until you have added one split

line for each part of the transaction.

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 69

You can add as many lines as you want to a split transaction.

If you decide not to split this transaction, click Clear Split to delete all the information in the split lines.

If you have an uncategorized remainder on the last line of a split and you want to recalculate the transaction total, click Adjust Total. Quicken deletes the remainder and recalculates the total transaction amount based on the sum of the split amounts entered.

8 Click Record to record the transaction.

If you see the message “This split transaction contains one or more uncategorized items. Save changes?” you have not entered a category for at least one of the amounts in the transaction. Click Cancel to go back to the transaction and enter the missing category; click Discard to delete the entire transaction; or click Save to leave part of the transaction uncategorized.

Sample split transaction: entering your paycheck

See “Scheduling bill payments” on

page 78 for information about

entering your paycheck automatically every month.

You can split your paycheck deposit into categories for salary, federal income tax, state income tax, and so on. Once you set up the deposit correctly, Quicken can memorize the transaction so you can re-use it without having to enter it all again.

1 Start a new transaction in your bank account register (x-N).

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 70

Fill in the Date, Number (optional), and Payee ﬁelds, and then enter the net

amount you are depositing in the Deposit column. The net amount is your salary

minus taxes and deductions.

2 Click the Open Split button to open the split.

3 In the ﬁrst line of the split, enter the category you use to track your salary in the

Category ﬁeld and the gross amount of your paycheck in the Amount ﬁeld.

If pre-tax amounts are deducted from your gross salary (such as amounts for a retirement plan or ﬂexible spending for health care), you may want to split your salary category into subcategories to track the pre-tax amount and the taxable amount separately. That’s what was done in this example.

Enter your net pay as the total amount for the transaction. Your net pay is the amount left to deposit after all the deductions.

Enter the category you use to track gross salary. In this example, Terry has $196.78 in pretax deductions taken out of a total gross pay of $1,290.37, so the gross amount is divided between two Salary subcategories: Taxable and Pre-Tax. If you don’t want that level of detail, use the Salary category for the full amount.

Enter your gross pay (the amount before any deductions) in the Amount ﬁeld of the ﬁrst split line. To track both pretax and taxable salary (as in this example), enter one amount in the ﬁrst split line and the other

amount in the second split line. Since the gross salary is larger than the net deposit, the remainder is a negative number.

4 Enter every deduction from your paycheck as a negative amount.

You may have deductions for items such as federal taxes, state taxes, medical insurance, disability insurance, and so on. You can use Quicken’s standard categories for some of these items, and you can create additional expense categories for other deductions as needed.

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 71

You can create categories for “Self” and “Spouse” for salary and taxes to distinguish between people in a two-income household.

Deductions are entered as negative amounts because they are subtracted from your gross salary.

See “Transferring money between

accounts” on page 64 for information

about entering a transfer transaction.

To enter a transfer of money from this account (the account where you are depositing the paycheck) to another account (like a Quicken account that tracks your 401(k), enter the account name in brackets and enter the amount as a negative amount.

You can also assign transfers to amounts in split transactions. You may, for example, want to enter a 401(k) contribution. This money is not an expense (since it’s still your money); it is just being transferred to another Quicken account. In this example, Terry has entered transfers to both a ﬂexible spending account for medical expenses ( [Medical FSA] ) and a retirement account ( [Terry’s 401k] ). These transfers are negative amounts because they are deductions from Terry’s paycheck; they show up as deposits in the destination accounts.

5 Click Record to record the transaction.

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 72

Speeding up data entry

Quicken makes it easy to enter transactions quickly:

• QuickFill™ automatically ﬁnishes ﬁlling in transaction ﬁelds for you.

• QuickMath™ lets you make simple calculations right in your register.

• Online account access lets you download information directly from your ﬁnancial institution. See Chapter 9, Banking online, on page 124.

Entering data with QuickFill

To stop Quicken from automatically memorizing transactions, choose Quicken > Preferences > Customization > Registers, and clear the “Add new transactions to the QuickFill list” checkbox.

To stop QuickFill from ﬁlling in transactions, clear the “Use QuickFill to ﬁll in transactions” checkbox.

Quicken marks each locked transaction in the list with a padlock icon.

QuickFill automatically memorizes transactions as you enter them and stores them in the QuickFill Transactions list so you can re-use them without having to type them each time. To look at the list, choose Lists > QuickFill Transactions (x-T).

For example, you may write a check to Blaisdell Grocery every week. The first time you record that check in a Quicken register, Quicken memorizes everything except the date and check number and adds “Blaisdell Grocery” to the QuickFill Transactions list. The next time you begin typing “Blaisdell Grocery” in a Payee field, Quicken finds the transaction in the QuickFill Transactions list and enters it in the register for you. You can change any information Quicken enters—such as the amount—and then record the new transaction. If you change anything, Quicken updates the “Blaisdell Grocery” transaction in QuickFill Transactions list.

You can lock an individual QuickFill transaction to keep it from changing. When you recall a locked transaction, you can make changes to it before you enter it in the register; however, the QuickFill Transactions list retains the original locked transaction unless you edit it manually. For example, if you usually withdraw $40

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 73

when you go to the always enters $40 for you—even if you changed the amount of your last

ATM, you can memorize that transaction in the list so that QuickFill

ATM

withdrawal.

Even if you choose to work with QuickFill turned off, you can still recall a transaction by dragging it from the QuickFill Transactions list and dropping it in the register or the Write Checks window. If you decide you want to change or delete a QuickFill transaction, you can select it in the QuickFill Transactions list and click Edit or Delete.

For step-by-step help, go to Registers in Quicken Help and select

How do I recall a memorized transaction?

How do I memorize a transaction?

How do I edit a memorized transaction?

How do I delete a memorized transaction?

Calculating transaction amounts with QuickMath

Sometimes you may want to make simple calculations to determine the correct dollar amount to enter in a transaction. For example, you may want to total the amount due on several bills before you transfer money from your savings account to your checking account to pay them. QuickMath can do these calculations for you right in the amount field. Just press any operator key (+, –, *, /, or =) to pop up a “paper tape” where you can see numbers as you enter them, just as if you were using an adding machine.

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 74

The tape shows your calculations as you type them.

You can also assign special QuickMath keys to add, subtract, multiply, or divide dollar amounts with a single keystroke. For example, the percent key ( % ) is preassigned to multiply amounts by 0.01 so you can easily calculate percentages.

For step-by-step help, go to Registers in Quicken Help and select

How do I calculate transaction amounts?

How do I assign QuickMath keys?

Finding a speciﬁc transaction

The Find command locates specific transactions in the register or the Write Checks window. For example, you might want to find a specific check number or a specific payee. Choose Edit > Find to open the Find and Replace window.

You can use the Replace command to make changes to text in your transactions. For example, if you misspelled a payee name, you could search for all occurrences of the misspelled name and replace them with the correct name. Choose Edit > Replace to open the Find and Replace window.

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 75

You can restrict find and replace actions to a single account, or choose to find or replace transactions in all your accounts.

For step-by-step help, go to Registers in Quicken Help and select

How do I ﬁnd a transaction in a register?

Customizing the register

You can change settings that affect Quicken’s registers by choosing Quicken > Preferences > Customization > Registers, and selecting or clearing the checkboxes. For example, you can enter amounts without decimal points, use the Return key instead of the Tab key to move between fields, or ask Quicken to warn you when you enter a duplicate check number. Any changes you make to the preferences are in effect for all your registers and other data-entry areas in Quicken.

For step-by-step help, go to Registers in Quicken Help and select

How do I customize the register?

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 76

Printing the register

You can specify a time period of a day, a week, a month, a year, or longer, and then print a record of your transactions for that period of time.

For step-by-step help, go to Registers in Quicken Help and select

How do I print the register?

Chapter 6, Keeping your accounts up to date 77

Paying your bills 7

Scheduling bill payments.....................................................................................................78

Writing checks with Quicken..............................................................................................84

Adding Quicken transactions to iCal.................................................................................87

Printing Intuit checks ...........................................................................................................90

Scheduling bill payments

Scheduling your bill payments can save you time and help you remember to pay your bills when they’re due. Many bills, such as rent and insurance payments, occur at regular intervals and are always for the same amount. Other bills occur less regularly, or the amount varies from month to month. Even regular bills don’t come all at once— they trickle in. You can schedule all your bills in the Calendar, even if the amount varies. You can also schedule income and transfer transactions, such as paycheck deposits or monthly transfers from checking to savings.

After you schedule a transaction, Quicken either reminds you about it or records it in your register automatically when it is due. Then you can make the payment electronically, print a check with Quicken, or write a check by hand.

When you schedule financial transactions—including bill payments—in the Calendar, you get a visual month-by-month overview of your financial past, present,

and future. You can see at a glance where your income is expected to come from in the future, and how you expect to spend it. You can also use the Calendar instead of the register to enter transactions, which is useful if you’re working with more than one account at a time. See “Entering a transaction in the Calendar” on page 55.

Scheduling a future transaction in the Calendar

1 In the Banking area, click the Calendar button in the toolbar.

For more information about the Calendar, see page 56.

2 Select the day in the Calendar on which you want to schedule a transaction.

3 Click the New Transaction button in the lower right corner of the window (x-N).

4 Enter information about the transaction.

Chapter 7, Paying your bills 79

Choose the name of the Quicken account from which you will make this payment.

Choose how frequently you make the payment. Quicken 2006 offers more scheduling frequency choices than ever before.

Specify when you want the scheduled transactions to end. In this example, 7 is entered because there are seven payments left on this loan.

Let Quicken know if this is a bill, a deposit (like a paycheck), or another transaction.

Click here to add the selected transaction to iCal (see page 87 for more information).

Use these buttons to enter an online transaction (only if the account is already enabled for online payment), a check, or a transaction in the register.

If each transaction will be the same ﬁxed amount, choose "does not vary", and whether you want Quicken to remind you to enter the transaction, or have Quicken automatically enter the transaction for you. If each transaction's amount varies (for example, a paycheck deposit that varies by a penny with each transaction), choose "varies..."

You can also schedule income transactions, such as a paycheck deposit (see

page 70 for instructions for entering a paycheck).

5 Click Record to save the scheduled transaction.

Quicken may ask you to conﬁrm the scheduled transaction information; click OK to save the transaction, or click Edit to edit the transaction information.

Chapter 7, Paying your bills 80

Scheduling a future transaction from the register

To enter a scheduled transaction from the register, select an existing transaction, hold down the Control Key and click within the transaction. Choose Schedule this Transaction from the Shortcuts contextual menu. Then fill in the Schedule Future Transaction window as shown in step 4 above.

Scheduling a future transaction from the Bills window

To schedule transactions from the Insights window, click “Schedule a future transaction” in either the Scheduled Transactions area or the Bill Status area.

You can enter a scheduled transaction from the Upcoming Bills and Scheduled Transactions window: in the Banking area, click the Bills button in the toolbar, click the Scheduled Transactions tab, and then click New. Then fill in the Schedule Future Transaction window as shown in step 4 above.

Missed Bill Reminder scans for recurring transactions

Quicken’s Missed Bill Reminder feature scans for recurring bills that you might want to set up as scheduled transactions. When you enter a transaction, the Missed Bill Reminder checks to see if your register contains regularly occurring transactions to the same payee. If there is a match, Quicken asks if you wish to create a scheduled transaction based on your entry.

What happens after I schedule a transaction?

Each time you start Quicken, it checks for scheduled transactions that are due or past due, since the last time you used Quicken. If it finds a scheduled transaction that is due or past due, one of two things will happen:

Chapter 7, Paying your bills 81

• If you selected Remind Me About when you set up the scheduled transaction: Quicken displays the Upcoming Bills and Scheduled Transactions window.

You can select and edit the transaction, if necessary, and click Record to record it in the register and change it from scheduled to recorded (or postdated) in the Calendar.

• If you selected Automatically Enter when you set up the scheduled transaction: Quicken records the transaction in the register and changes it from scheduled to recorded (or postdated) in the Calendar—without asking you for conﬁrmation.

After your transaction has been recorded in the register, you can make the payment in any of the following ways:

• Send an instruction to make the payment electronically. See “Making online

payments” on page 142.

• Enter and print a check with Quicken. See “Writing checks with Quicken” on

page 84 and “Adding Quicken transactions to iCal” on page 87.

•Write a check by hand.

To pay a scheduled transaction early, double-click the day on which it appears, select it in the Transactions window, and click Pay Now.

Editing and deleting scheduled transactions

You can edit, delete, and move transactions in the Calendar. Double-click a day in the Calendar to open the Transactions window for that day. Then:

•To delete a transaction, select it and click Delete (x-D).

Chapter 7, Paying your bills 82

Select a bill you want to pay in the

Upcoming Bills area.

•To edit a transaction, select it and click Edit (x-E).

•To move a transaction, either edit it to change its date, or drag it from the Transaction window to another day in the Calendar.

When you edit or delete a past, present, or postdated transaction in the Calendar, your changes are also recorded in the register.

Quicken reminds you to pay your bills

Missed Bill Reminder notiﬁes you of scheduled transactions that are due or overdue when you start Quicken. If you have bills due or overdue the Upcoming Bills and Scheduled Transactions window opens.

You can choose to skip a scheduled transaction, just click Don’t Pay.

Scan For Bills searches for recurring transactions you may want to add to the Scheduled Transactions list.

lick Edit to change transaction

information such as the amount or

ategory.

Clicking Pay now adds the transaction to your register on the date listed in the Next Due Date column. If you set up the transaction as a variable amount, the transaction window opens for you to enter the correct ﬁgure.

Chapter 7, Paying your bills 83

For step-by-step help, go to Paying Bills in Quicken Help and select

How do I have Quicken notify me when a bill is due?

Writing checks with Quicken

By using Quicken to print checks, you save time and minimize errors because you avoid the duplicate work of hand-writing checks and then recording them in Quicken.

Intuit checks

Intuit checks are printed to the exacting standards of the American Banking Association and are pre-approved by all banks, savings and loan institutions, credit unions, and brokers in the United States and Canada. When you order personalized checks, Intuit prints your name, address, account number, bank name, check numbers, and all the information required by financial institutions on your checks.

All Intuit checks are triple guaranteed. We guarantee that:

•Your checks will be accepted by your bank.

•Your checks will work with your inkjet or laser Macintosh-compatible printer.

•Your check order will be printed exactly as you submitted it.

Chapter 7, Paying your bills 84

If we fail to meet these three conditions, please call right away. We will quickly replace your order or refund your money, whichever you prefer.

Ordering checks

To order checks, choose Online > To The Web > Checks and Supplies. You can also call the phone number on page 404.

How do I write checks away from home?

For checks you write away from home, use the paper checks you already have or fill in an Intuit check by hand. The next time you use Quicken, enter the transactions in your check register.

When you order your Intuit checks, indicate a starting number considerably higher than your existing paper check numbers. For example, if your personal check numbers are in the 1000 range, begin your Intuit checks at 3001. That way, you avoid confusion or possible duplication of numbers.

Quicken can easily manage two sets of check numbers in one account. The bank has no concerns about which numbers you use on your checks. Check numbers are for your own records.

You can also add a logo or other art to your checks when you send them through your printer. See “Adding art

to checks” on page 102.

How can I get a logo printed on my checks?

Intuit has a large selection of standard logos that can be printed free on Intuit checks. If you want a custom logo, enclose black-and-white, camera-ready artwork with your order. There is a one-time setup fee for custom logos. If touch up, typesetting, or rearrangement is required, additional charges may be incurred.

Chapter 7, Paying your bills 85

Filling out a check

1 In the Banking area, open the account from which you want to write checks.

2 Click the Checks button in the toolbar (x-J).

3 Enter information in the appropriate ﬁelds on the check.

To mail the check in an Intuit window envelope, enter the payee name and mailing address. You can use up to ﬁve lines; press Return to start a new line. Press the quote key ( ’ ) to copy the payee name to the ﬁrst line.

This memo prints on the check and appears in the Memo ﬁeld in the register. If you don’t want your memo to be visible when you mail the check in a window envelope, change Quicken’s Register preferences to add a Note ﬁeld where you can enter it instead.

Enter category, class, or transfer information here. You can split a check just as you split a transaction in the register (see

page 68).

Enter the payee name. This name appears in the Payee ﬁeld in the register.

Click here to add the selected transaction to iCal (see page 87 for more information).

When you enter the dollar amount in the $ ﬁeld, Quicken automatically spells out the amount on the next line.

Balance Today is the balance of the transactions in the account through today; the ending balance is the balance for all transactions, including postdated transactions.

4 Enter a category in the Category ﬁeld.

Enter categories, splits, or transfers just as you would in a register. If you use Intuit voucher checks, Quicken can print up to nine lines of split information on the perforated voucher attachment.

Chapter 7, Paying your bills 86

5 Click Record to save it in both the Write Checks window and the register.

You can review your checks before printing by scrolling through the Write Checks window or by reviewing them in the register.

Quicken inserts the correct check number in the register when it prints the check. Until the checks print, Quicken displays transaction in the register.

PRINT in the Number column of each printable

Adding Quicken transactions to iCal

iCal is a calendar application that comes pre-installed on Mac systems running Mac OS X version 10.2.2 or later. You can add Quicken transactions to your iCal calendar (version 1.0.2 and later) to help remind you of important bill due dates.

Adding a Quicken transaction to iCal

1 In Quicken, open any bank, cash, or credit card account register.

2 Select the transaction you want to add to iCal.

You can choose a transaction that has already occurred, or a future transaction.

Chapter 7, Paying your bills 87

Select the transaction you want to add to iCal...

...and then click the iCal icon.

3 Click the iCal icon.

If iCal is already running, Quicken adds the transaction. If iCal isn’t already running, Quicken opens iCal, adds the transaction, and then closes iCal.

Displaying the transaction in iCal

• In iCal, click the date of the transaction in the left column.

Your Quicken transaction is displayed as an all-day event. To see the details of the transaction, highlight the event and click the i button.

Chapter 7, Paying your bills 88

The ﬁrst time you add a Quicken

Quicken adds the transaction as an all-day transaction to iCal, a Quicken calendar is

event in iCal. added to the Calendars list.

Quicken creates a new calendar for each data ﬁle, and is named the same as the data ﬁle.

To hide all Quicken transactions in iCal, uncheck its calendar in the Calendars list.

To see the details of the transaction, select the transaction and then click the ’i’ button.

Hiding Quicken transactions in iCal

• Uncheck the Quicken calendar in the iCal Calendars list.

Other areas of Quicken from where you can add a transaction to iCal

You can also add a Quicken transaction to iCal from:

• the Quicken Write Checks window (see page 86)

Chapter 7, Paying your bills 89

• the Quicken Add and Edit Scheduled Transaction windows (see page 78)

If the scheduled transaction repeats at regular intervals (for example, monthly), it will be added to iCal as a repeating event.

Printing Intuit checks

You can print checks with Quicken on page-oriented printers (including laser and inkjet printers).

Setting up your printer

1 Select your printer.

Open Print Center (located in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder on your hard disk), choose Printers > Add Printer, choose a connection type, select the printer you plan to use and click Add.

2 Choose Quicken > Preferences > Checks > Print.

3 Make any desired changes, and then click Save Changes.

Chapter 7, Paying your bills 90

These are the default preferences.

Print Checks settings are speciﬁc to a single Quicken bank account. Choose the account you want to set up from this pop-up menu.

Choose one of these icons to print a partial page of checks.

Choose a font name and size for the text that prints on your checks. The Sample box shows an example of the currently selected font and size.

Choose your check style from this pop-up menu. For information about Intuit checks, see “Intuit checks” on

page 84. For information on Check

21, choose Help > Quicken Help, and click "What’s new in Quicken 2006."

Click here to print category information from split transactions on the perforated attachment to voucher checks.

lick here to change the date on the checks

o the date when you print the checks.

You can add a company logo or other art to your checks. See “Adding art to

checks” on page 102.

Click Positioning to adjust the position of text on your check.

Printing checks from your account

1 If you haven’t already put the checks in your printer, do it now.

2 Make sure your printer is turned on and online.

3 Open the bank account from which you want to print checks.

4 Choose File > Print Checks.*

Chapter 7, Paying your bills 91

This number should be the same as the number on the ﬁrst check in the printer.

Click each check you want to print. Quicken puts a checkmark in the Print column for each check you select. If you accidentally mark a check you don’t want to print, click it again to remove the checkmark.

5 Check the settings in the Print Checks window.

Click here to print a full page of checks. To print a partial page of one or two checks, see “Printing a partial

first page of checks with pageoriented printers” on page 94.

6 If you chose Selected Checks, mark each check you want to print and then click

OK.

7 Click Print to open the printer dialog for your printer.

* If you see a message that you don’t have any checks to print, you need to enter your checks in the

Write Checks window (see page 86). If you have already entered the checks in the register, enter PRINT in the Number column to show Quicken which checks you want to print.

Chapter 7, Paying your bills 92

8 Click Print to start printing your checks.

Stopping a print job

If you notice a problem while your checks are printing, stop the printing process by pressing the Command key (x) and period key together. If your printer continues to print, turn its power switch off.

Examining printed checks

After the checks have finished printing, Quicken asks if they all printed correctly.

• If any of the checks did not print correctly, click No.

• If all the checks printed correctly, click Yes.

Until you click Yes, unprinted checks in the register still have PRINT in the Number column. After you click Yes, Quicken enters the check numbers.

Sometimes Quicken displays this message before the printer finishes printing your checks. Wait a few moments so you can examine the checks before you click Yes or No.

Chapter 7, Paying your bills 93

1 Examine the printed checks.

2 If the checks printed correctly, click Yes.

Quicken puts check numbers in the Number column of the printed checks in the register. You are ﬁnished printing.

3 If any of the checks did not print correctly, click No.

• Quicken asks you to type the number of the ﬁrst unprinted or incorrectly

printed check. Type the number of the ﬁrst check that printed incorrectly (or did not print) and click OK.

• Examine your printer to see if the checks jammed or the printer ran out of

checks.

• If the text on the checks is not aligned correctly, try adjusting the check printing

settings. See “Adjusting check alignment for page-oriented printers” on

page 97.

4 Start printing again after you’ve ﬁxed the problem.

Go back and follow steps 4 through 8 in “Printing checks from your account” on

page 91 to print the remaining checks.

Printing a partial ﬁrst page of checks with page-oriented printers

If you use standard or wallet checks in your page-oriented printer, you’ll sometimes find that a partial page of one or two blank checks remains after you’ve finished printing. You can start printing on that partial page the next time you begin to print checks.

Chapter 7, Paying your bills 94

Before you start, turn on your printer, but don’t load your checks yet.

1 Choose Quicken > Preferences > Checks > Print.

2 Make sure the account from which you are printing checks is selected in the

Account pop-up menu; then select one of the alignment icons to show Quicken how you insert envelopes into your printer.

Before you choose your page orientation and insert your partial page of checks in the printer, you need to know:

• the type of envelope feeder your printer has

• if you should insert the check face up or face down

• if you should insert the left edge or the top of the check into the printer ﬁrst

Feed partial pages of checks into your printer the same way you feed envelopes. See your printer manual for more information.

The direction of the arrows is toward the printer.

Note: If your checks print upside down or on the wrong side, reverse the way you load the checks into the envelope feeder.

Centered in the envelope feeder or paper tray, with the top edge of the check feeding into the printer.

Positioned against the left side of the envelope feeder.

Centered in the envelope feeder.

Positioned against the right side of the envelope feeder.

3 Click Save Changes.

4 Choose File > Print Checks (Shift-x-P).

Chapter 7, Paying your bills 95

5 Be sure the number in the Starting Check Number ﬁeld is the same as the number

of the ﬁrst check on your partial page of checks.

6 Select the one or two checks you want to print on this partial page.

7 Select a Checks on First Page icon.

Choose the icon for the number of checks you’re printing.

Note: Depending on the printer you use, the orientation of the check icons on the buttons may be horizontal instead of vertical.

8 Load the one or two checks into your envelope feeder or cassette as pictured in the

partial-sheet icon you selected.

If your printer requires that you load letterhead face down, load your checks that way. Look in your printer manual if you aren’t sure.

9 Click Print to start printing the checks.

Note: If your printer won’t print checks properly from the envelope feeder (or

doesn’t have an envelope feeder), try positioning the checks in the paper tray with the top of the check touching the rollers. You might need to order forms leaders; see page 404 for contact information.

After the partial page of checks is printed, you can continue printing on a full page of checks by following steps 4 through 8 in “Printing checks from your account” on

page 91.

Chapter 7, Paying your bills 96

Adjusting check alignment for page-oriented printers

In most cases, you won’t need to do anything special to print checks with the text aligned correctly. If you have a non-Apple, page-oriented printer, however, you may need to use the information in this section to adjust the alignment of text on your checks—but only if you have followed the instructions for printing checks in this chapter and the text is still not aligned correctly on the printed checks.

You can make fine-tuning adjustments to the location of text on your check if certain fields don’t print in quite the right place. Once you get your checks to print correctly, Quicken saves your alignment settings, so you won’t have to change them again to print checks with the same alignment in the future.

Note: You can adjust the positioning of text in individual fields on Intuit checks, but

you cannot rearrange the order of the fields to match those on non-Intuit checks.

1 Review your printed checks to decide which ﬁeld and line positions need

adjusting.

2 Choose Quicken > Preferences > Checks > Print.

3 Make sure the account from which you are printing checks is selected in the

Account pop-up menu, and then click Positioning.

4 In the Adjust Positioning window, enter new settings for the items you want to

change and click OK. You can use positive or negative numbers. See the tables that follow step 5 for solutions to speciﬁc positioning problems.

Chapter 7, Paying your bills 97

Quicken determines the number of Lines Per Check based on the type of Intuit check you selected.

Adjust the top-to-bottom position of all the text on a check, or change the Memo Position setting to adjust the top-to-bottom position of the text in the Memo ﬁeld only. Enter a smaller number to move the text up and a larger number to move it down.

Vertical settings are in hundredths of an inch. Horizontal settings are in number of characters per ﬁeld.

Adjust the side-to-side position of text in individual ﬁelds.

Adjust the top-to-bottom position of text on a check printed as a partial page.

5 Print a test check on blank paper, and then place the paper on top of a check page

and hold them both up to the light to see if the text printed correctly.

Chapter 7, Paying your bills 98

Vertical positioning problem Solution

The text on the ﬁrst check prints correctly, but the text on the next check prints too high.

The text on the ﬁrst check prints correctly, but the text on the next check prints too low.

The text on the ﬁrst check starts printing too high.

The text on the ﬁrst check starts printing too low.

The memo text on a check prints too high.

The memo text on a check prints too low.

Increase the number of lines in the vertical Lines Per Check setting.

Decrease the number of lines in the vertical Lines Per Check setting.

Increase the number in the Fine Tuning setting to move the text down the check.

Decrease the number in the Fine Tuning setting to move the text up the check.

Increase the number in the Memo Position setting to increase the distance between the Memo ﬁeld and the top of the check.

Decrease the number in the Memo Position setting to decrease the distance between the Memo ﬁeld and the top of the check.

Chapter 7, Paying your bills 99

Horizontal positioning problem Solution

One or more check ﬁelds print too far to the left.

One or more check ﬁelds print too far to the right.

Check amount starts printing in the right place, but is cut off on the right.

Spelled-out check amount starts printing in the right place, but doesn’t ﬁll the line.

Partial-page positioning problem Solution

The text on a partial page of checks starts printing too high.

The text on a partial page of checks starts printing too low.

Increase the number of characters in the horizontal Date, Payee, Amount, Text Amount, Address, or Memo setting to increase the distance between the text in that ﬁeld and the left edge of the check.

Decrease the number of characters in the horizontal Date, Payee, Amount, Text Amount, Address, or Memo setting to decrease the distance between the text in that ﬁeld and the left edge of the check.

Decrease the number of characters in the Amount Width setting to force Quicken to ﬁt the amount into a shorter space. Ten characters is the minimum.

Increase the number of characters in the Text Amount Width setting to make the spelled-out amount longer.

Increase the number in the Single Check or Two Checks setting to move the text down the check.

Decrease the number in the Single Check or Two Checks setting to move the text up the check.

Chapter 7, Paying your bills 100

Intuit QUICKEN FOR MAC 2006 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Installation and setup

System requirements

Installing Quicken

Getting started if you’re new to Quicken

Upgrading from a previous version of Quicken

What’s new in this version of Quicken

Managing your bank accounts

Online account access

Tracking your investments

Tracking your assets and debts

Planning ahead

Reports and graphs

Working with Quicken

The Quicken workspace

Activity areas

Toolbar

Keyboard shortcuts

Customizing your Quicken workspace

Customizing the toolbar

Creating your own Command-key shortcuts

Getting step-by-step assistance from Quicken Help

Searching Quicken Help

Learning useful tips and shortcuts

Using this manual

About Quicken accounts

Accounts that track what you own

Accounts that track what you owe

Setting up a Quicken account

Opening an account register

Editing, hiding and deleting accounts

About categories

Setting up categories and subcategories

Modifying the preset category lists

Creating new categories

Creating subcategories

Editing, deleting, and moving categories and subcategories

About classes

Setting up classes and subclasses

Editing, deleting, and moving classes and subclasses

Recording your day-to-day expenses

Entering a transaction in the register

Entering a transaction in the Calendar

Correcting mistakes

Assigning a category to a transaction

Assigning a class to a transaction

Transferring money between accounts

Changing a transaction that includes a transfer

Entering transactions with more than one category

Entering a split transaction

Sample split transaction: entering your paycheck

Speeding up data entry

Entering data with QuickFill

Calculating transaction amounts with QuickMath

Customizing the register

Printing the register

Paying your bills 7

Scheduling bill payments

Scheduling a future transaction in the Calendar

Scheduling a future transaction from the register

Scheduling a future transaction from the Bills window

Missed Bill Reminder scans for recurring transactions

What happens after I schedule a transaction?

Editing and deleting scheduled transactions

Quicken reminds you to pay your bills

Writing checks with Quicken

Intuit checks

Filling out a check

Adding Quicken transactions to iCal

Adding a Quicken transaction to iCal

Displaying the transaction in iCal

Hiding Quicken transactions in iCal

Other areas of Quicken from where you can add a transaction to iCal

Printing Intuit checks

Setting up your printer

Printing checks from your account

Stopping a print job