Using Online Banking Features

In This Chapter:

       •   Understanding Transaction Download

       •   Introducing Online Payment and Quicken Bill Pay

       •   Setting Up Online Account Services

       •   Checking Online Account Service Status

       •   Using the Online Center window

       •   Downloading transactions

       •   Making online payments

       •   Being reminded

       •   Creating reminders from downloaded transactions

       •   Working with the Bills tab

       •   Managing reminders

       •   Using QuickFill and memorized payees

       •   Using the financial Calendar

       •   Minding your bills

       •   Using the Paycheck Setup Wizard

       •   Creating the Address Book

       •   Viewing available alerts groups

Life can be hectic sometimes, too hectic to keep track of your bank accounts, pay bills before they’re overdue, and buy stamps to mail those bills. Quicken Personal Finance Software’s Online Account Services enable you to do most (if not all) of your banking from the comfort of your own home so banking can be a lot less of a chore. You can use these features separately or together:

  •   Transaction Download enables you to download bank and credit card account activity, and transfer money online between accounts.

  •   Online Payment enables you to pay bills online without manually writing or mailing a check. (Quicken Bill Pay offers the features of Online Payment, even if your bank does not support it.)

This section explains how these features work and how you can use them with your Internet connection to save time while keeping track of your finances.

Just a reminder: Quicken does not handle the characters &, <, or > as part of a password. In addition, each financial institution designates both the password length and its allowable (and disallowable) characters.

Online Account Services

Here’s a closer look at Quicken’s Online Account Services, including what the services are, how they work, and how you can expect to benefit from them.

Understanding Transaction Download

Quicken’s Transaction Download feature can perform several tasks, depending on your financial institution. Generally speaking, financial institutions support Transaction Download three ways. You can quickly determine which method is used for a specific account. Press CTRL-A to open your Account List. (You can do this from any screen within Quicken.) The type of connection for each account shows in the Transaction Download column of the list. If you do not see the Transaction Download column in your Account List, click the Options button at the bottom left of the Account List and choose Show Transaction Download Status. See Table 6-1 for the download features that are available for each download method.

Table 6-1 • Connection Options for Downloaded Transactions

If you have more than one account that uses Web Connect, consider downloading one account at a time the first time you download, if your financial institution allows it. This way you won’t inadvertently import the wrong account’s information into your register.

One important feature of Web Connect is you may be able to download a greater range of transactions by date than you can with Direct Connect and Express Web Connect. This is especially useful when you first set up your accounts so you can get the longest transaction history possible.

Introducing Online Payment and Quicken Bill Pay

Online Payment enables you to send a check to anyone without physically writing, printing, or mailing a check. You enter and store information about the payee within Quicken. You then create a transaction for the payee that includes the payment date and amount. You can enter the transaction weeks or months in advance if desired—the financial institution sends payment on the date you specify.

Explaining the Process

Suppose you use Quicken to send online payment instructions to pay your monthly bill at Jim’s Hardware Store. You’ve already set up Jim’s Hardware as a payee by entering the name, address, and phone number of his store, as well as your account number there. Quicken sends your payment instructions to your bank, which stores it in its computer with a bunch of other online payment instructions. When the payment date nears, the bank’s computer looks through its big database of payees that it can pay by wire transfer. It sees phone companies, credit card companies, and other banks. However, because Jim’s store is small, it’s probably not one of the wire transfer payees. So the bank’s computer prepares a check using all the information you provided. It mails the check along with thousands of others due to be paid that day.

The date the money is actually withdrawn from your account to cover the payment varies depending on your bank. There are four possibilities: one to four days before the payment is processed for delivery, the day the payment is processed for delivery, the day the payment is delivered, or the day the paper check or electronic funds transfer clears your bank.

Check with your bank to find out when they withdraw the funds from your account for online payments. You can also search the Quicken Community to see the experiences other Quicken users have had with that financial institution. To access the Quicken Community, from the Quicken Toolbar, click Help | Quicken Live Community. (While the name is now the Quicken Community, the link still says “Quicken Live Community,” although the forum is not “live” and is not a “live chat” service.)

Online Service Costs

The cost of Quicken’s Online Account Services varies from bank to bank. Check with your bank to determine the exact fees. Also, ask about how to get the fees waived. Often, a sufficient balance or a combination of balance and auto-deposits will qualify you to have the online services fee waived.

Setting Up Online Account Services

To use the Online Account Services supported by Quicken, you must configure the appropriate Quicken accounts. If you did not set up your accounts for online services when you created the accounts, you will need to do so before you can download any transactions. You must first contact your financial institution and tell them you want online services.

To apply for online account services, normally all it takes is a phone call, although some banks and credit card companies allow you to apply online. The financial institution will usually supply you with some or all of the following:

  •   Password PIN (Personal Identification Number) You’ll enter this code into Quicken when you access your account online. This is a security feature, so don’t write down your PIN on a sticky note and attach it to your computer monitor. Many financial institutions send this information separately for additional security.

  •   User Name (Customer ID Number) Each bank uses a different numbering system.

  •   Bank Routing Number Although your bank might send routing number information, Quicken won’t need it. It knows what financial institution you’re using based on the information you provide when you create the account. That’s why it’s so important to choose the correct financial institution when you create each account. You may see the routing information received by Quicken in the Routing Number field in the General tab of the Account Details dialog.

  •   Account Number for Each Online Access–Enabled Account This tells your financial institution which account you want to work with. Quicken may not need this information. Depending on your financial institution, the account number may appear in the Account Number field of the General tab of the Account Details dialog.

Getting Started with Online Account Services

With customer ID and PIN in hand, you’re ready to set up your account (or accounts) for Online Account Services. You can verify this by following the instructions in the “Checking Online Account Service Status” section, later in this chapter.

Some companies, such as department stores, that offer online access on their web pages, may not have the capability of downloading your transactions into Quicken. Check with the company to determine if they have transaction download capability.

Setting Up for Direct Connect, Express Web Connect, and Quicken Bill Pay

If you entered your accounts manually when you first used Quicken, from the Account Bar, click the account you want to set up to open its register. Click the Actions (gear) icon. From the menu, select Set Up Online as shown here. (If the account is already set up for online access, the Actions menu shows Update Now instead of Set Up Online.)

The Actions (gear) icon is at the top right of your account registers. If you have customized an account to show Account Toolbar icons, there may be additional icons showing. The Actions icon is furthest to the right. You can always use the keyboard shortcut CTRL-SHIFT-N to open the Actions menu.

Follow the directions in Chapters 1, 4, and 6 to set up this account with online services.

When logging in to your financial institution, you may have to physically place the mouse cursor each time so that it is in the proper field. Quicken does not always place the cursor in the appropriate field.

Checking Online Account Service Status

You can confirm that an account has been set up for Online Account Services and determine what kind of connection it uses. Right-click the account from the Account Bar and choose Edit/Delete Account. Then, click the Online Services tab to display the type of connection, as shown next.

  •   Deactivate Use this button if you want to stop online connection for the account. However, you must still contact the bank to deactivate the connection on their side. To deactivate (or disable) an account from online services:

       •   Click Deactivate. (If you currently have unaccepted transactions, you must either accept the transactions or delete them before you can deactivate online services.) A message appears asking if you would like to deactivate the service. Click Yes to complete the deactivation.

       •   A connection message box briefly appears while the service is deactivated. Depending on the type of connection your financial institution offers, you may see a Remove Connection button. If so, click it.

If your financial institution has changed or if you have problems deactivating an old (or closed) account, try disconnecting your Internet connection before you deactivate.

  •   Reset Account can be used when a download problem has occurred. None of your data is deleted from Quicken; the account is reset to, hopefully, solve the issue. Click this button, enter your bank password, and the account’s online access is reset. You are prompted to choose the account with which downloaded transactions are connected. Make your choice and click OK.

        During the Reset Account process, the Reset Account button is grayed out and inactive. Once the Reset Account process has completed, the Reset Account button will no longer be grayed out and a small green check mark will appear to the left of the button. If there are new transactions to be downloaded, they will be downloaded during the Account Reset process.

  •   Automatic Entry Is: On/Off This link opens the Automatic Transaction Entry dialog, shown next. From this dialog, you tell Quicken how to handle downloaded transactions for this specific account.

  •   Connection Method This link shows the current method by which you connect to your financial institution.

  •   Click OK to close the Account Details window and complete the deactivation.

Be aware that some banks use different passwords for Direct Connect services than for Web Connect or Express Web Connect.

The Online Center

While you can access online services from several of the various tabs, you can also use the Online Center to work with Quicken’s online features. This window gives you access to all the lists and commands you need to download transactions, and, if you have Direct Connect, to create payments, transfer money, and exchange e-mail with your financial institution.

Using the Online Center Window

To open the Online Center window, choose Tools | Online Center. This illustration shows the available tabs, such as Transactions, Payments, Transfer, and E-Mail, with one financial institution selected.

A number of buttons and menus enable you to work with the window’s contents:

  •   Delete removes a selected item. This button is not available in all tabs of the Online Center window.

  •   Payees (if you have set up online payments) displays the Online Payee List window, which is discussed later in this chapter in the section titled “Entering Online Payee Information.”

  •   Repeating (if you have set up online payments) displays the Repeating Online tab of the Bill And Income Reminders list window. Learn more about using this feature later in this chapter, in the section titled “Scheduling Repeating Online Payments.”

  •   Contact Info displays the Contact Information dialog for the currently selected financial institution, if it is offered. You can use the information in the dialog to contact the bank or credit card company by phone, website, or e-mail. Not all financial institutions have these options.

  •   Print prints the transactions that appear in the Payments tab window. It will also print any e-mails you have in the E-mail tab. You may be able to print downloaded transactions that have not yet been accepted.

  •   Options displays a menu of commands for working with the current account or window.

Downloading Transactions

One of the main features of Online Account Services is the ability to download transactions from your financial institution into Quicken. There are several ways to start downloading your transactions after you have set up your online accounts:

  •   Use the Update/Send button of the Online Center window.

  •   Click the blue right-curling arrow at the top of the Account Bar.

  •   Click the One Step Update button (a blue curling arrow) on the Quicken Toolbar.

  •   From an account’s register, click the Actions (gear) icon at the top right of the register and choose Update Now from the menu that appears.

  •   From the Quicken menu, choose Tools | One Step Update.

Connecting to the Financial Institution with Direct Connect or Express Web Connect

If your financial institution supports Direct Connect or Express Web Connect, you can download all transactions from within Quicken.

Using the Online Center window, choose the name of your bank or credit card company from the Financial Institution drop-down list. Click the Update/Send button. The One Step Update Settings dialog for that institution appears. Enter your password, and click Update Now.

Wait while Quicken connects to your bank. A status dialog may appear while Quicken collects your data. When Quicken has finished exchanging information, the status dialog disappears and the One Step Update Summary window takes its place. Continue following the instructions later in the chapter, in the section titled “Comparing Downloaded Transactions to Register Transactions.” Depending on your preference settings, you may only see the One Step Update Summary window if there is an error in the online session.

When you choose One Step Update you are first prompted for your Intuit password. By default, this is also the password to your Password Vault. See Chapter 1 to refresh your memory about this Quicken utility. Click Skip to see a list of all of your accounts that have been activated for online services. You may choose to download transactions from one or all of them by entering your password(s).

Downloading a Web Connect File

If your financial institution supports Web Connect but not Express Web Connect, you’ll log in to your financial institution’s website and manually download the statement information, just as you did when you first set up the account for Online Account Services. Even if your financial institution supports Express Web Connect, you can download using Web Connect if you wish. The availability of Express Web Connect does not preclude use of Web Connect.

However, if you have chosen Express Web Connect or Direct Connect as your download method for an account, to download via Web Connect, you will need to start from the financial institution’s website rather than from within Quicken.

In the Online Center window, choose the name of your bank or credit card company from the Financial Institution drop-down list. If necessary, click the Update/Send button. Quicken connects to the Internet and displays your financial institution’s login page. Log in, navigate to the page where you can download statements, and download the statement or transactions you want.

If necessary, switch back to Quicken. It should automatically import the transactions you downloaded into the correct account. If you have chosen to accept your downloaded transactions automatically, you will see a small blue ball icon at the left of each of the downloaded transactions in your account register. Transactions that have been matched to scheduled transactions have a calendar icon in the same location.

If Express Web Connect or Direct Connect is available for an account, you may see a dialog offering to upgrade your connection. You may see a prompt to handle your Web Connect transactions now or save the transactions for later processing. To set this, go to Edit | Preferences | Downloaded Transactions and make your selection.

Click the Close button in the One Step Update Summary window to dismiss it. Then, click that account’s name in the Account Bar to open the register for that account.

Unless you have chosen to turn on the Automatically Add To Banking Registers preference, your downloaded transactions will appear in the Downloaded Transactions tab at the bottom of the register window. From there, you can use the directions in the next section “Comparing Downloaded Transactions to Register Transactions.”

Keep in mind that the first time you connect via Direct Connect, the bank normally sends all transactions from the past 90 or more days. (Some banks send a full year of transactions!) After that, only new transactions (items that have not been downloaded) will be downloaded. For Web Connect downloads, you can often specify the transaction period when you set up the download.

Comparing Downloaded Transactions to Register Transactions

If you have opted to accept downloaded transactions manually, you will compare the downloaded transactions to the transactions already entered in your account register. This process enables you to review or identify transactions that may have been entered incorrectly, by either you or the bank.

If you do not see the Downloaded Transactions tab at the bottom of your register you may have told Quicken to automatically add downloaded transactions to the banking registers. To allow the tab to display, click Edit | Preferences | Downloaded Transactions | Downloaded Transaction Preferences | After Downloading Transactions, and clear the Automatically Add To Banking Registers check box.

The bottom half of the account register window is the Downloaded Transactions tab (refer to Figure 6-1). It shows three ways to identify downloaded transactions:

  •   Match identifies transactions that match those in the register. This will happen if the transaction has already been entered in the Quicken register and matches the information in the downloaded transaction.

Especially the first time you are downloading transactions for an account, you will want to closely check the Match transactions to ensure the downloaded transaction is matched to the correct register transaction. Incorrect matches can make downloaded transactions seem to disappear and can cause your reconciliation to fail to balance.

  •   New identifies transactions that are not in the register, or that are in the register but are different from the downloaded transactions. Maybe you transposed a number or the date is different. You need to manually match these transactions so you do not get duplicates.

        Be sure to check each New transaction carefully to ensure that you were the one who actually initiated the transaction and that the transaction is to the payee and in the amount you created. If you suspect any type of fraud, call your bank immediately.

  •   Accepted identifies matched transactions that you have accepted. When a downloaded transaction has been accepted, a small “c” appears in the Clr column of the account register to indicate that the item has cleared the bank but has not yet been reconciled.

   When you select a transaction in the bottom half of the register window, the transactions below it shift down to make room for a blank line with an Accept button and an Edit menu. You can use these to work with the selected transaction.

  •   Accepting a Matched Transaction If a transaction matches one in the register, you can accept it by selecting it in the list at the bottom of the window and clicking the Accept button, as seen next. If Quicken sees what appears to be a transaction that matches one in your register, a small, uncleared icon appears in the Status column at the left of your register, as seen here. The icon is a pencil and the icon label is “Uncleared.” Click the icon to match the register entry to a downloaded transaction. Even if there is not an apparent match, any time you see the uncleared icon, you can click it to get the Match To A Downloaded Transaction context menu item and, by clicking that menu item, get to the Manual Match window.

  •   Entering and Accepting a New Transaction To enter and accept a new transaction, select the transaction in the bottom half of the window. If the information on the transaction is complete and correct, click Accept. If you have entered the part of the transaction in the register (the top half of the window), fill in any missing details, including the payee, category, and memo. Then click Save in the top half of the window or Accept in the bottom half. Quicken marks it as Accepted and a small “c” appears in the Clr column of the register.

  •   Unmatching a Matched Transaction If a matched transaction really shouldn’t be matched, select it in the bottom half of the window and choose Unmatch from the Edit pop-up menu as seen here.

       •   Unmatch tells Quicken that it got the match wrong, but this command lets Quicken attempt to match it to another transaction. As a result, it may come up with another match. It’s your job to determine whether the new match is correct. If it can’t find a match, the status changes to New.

       •   Make New tells Quicken that the transaction shouldn’t match any existing transaction. The status changes to New, and Quicken can then treat it as a new transaction.

       •   Make All New tells Quicken to make all of the downloaded but not yet accepted transactions new so you can manually match them or enter them as a new transaction.

  •   Manually Matching a Transaction If a downloaded transaction identified as New should match one in the register, or if a single transaction corresponds to multiple transactions in your account register, you can manually match them up. In the bottom half of the window, select the transaction that you want to match manually, and click the Edit button. Click Match Manually to open the Manually Match Transactions dialog. Turn on the check box(es) for the transaction(s) you want to include in the match. When you click Accept, Quicken marks the transaction in the Clr column with a small “c”.

If the transaction included multiple register transactions, the entry Quicken creates includes each of the register transactions on a separate split line. You can click the Split button for the transaction to edit it as desired. See Chapter 5 to review working with split transactions.

If you see a transaction that displays as “New” but you’re sure you’ve entered it, check for small discrepancies, perhaps in the amount. You can force a manual match, or simply correct the item you’ve entered into your register and the item status will change to Match.

If you choose to have Quicken add your downloaded transactions into your banking register, you can still manually match a transaction. Register transactions that have not been matched with a downloaded transaction have a small icon near them, as seen here in a two-line register. If you use a one-line register, this icon appears to the left of the date. Click the icon and choose Match To A Downloaded Transaction. You can use this matching method whether you auto-enter your downloaded transactions or manually review/accept your downloaded transactions.

Deleting a New Transaction To delete any transaction, select it in the bottom half of the account register window, click Edit, and choose Delete from the Edit pop-up menu. A confirmation dialog appears; click Yes to remove the transaction from the list.

Sometimes matching issues can be resolved, especially when reconciling an account, by choosing to display the Downloaded Posting Date column in your register. Display this column (field) in your register by choosing the Actions (gear) icon | Register Columns | Downloaded Posting Date. Since reconciliations are date-driven, the posting date may be after the cutoff date of the reconciliation. Click Done to close the Register Columns list and return to the register.

Moving Transactions If you have several accounts at the same bank and inadvertently accept transactions into the incorrect account, you can move either a single or multiple transactions. You can use this procedure to move transactions between accounts at different banks or to move transactions between accounts that are not online accounts.

To move a single transaction:

1.   Right-click the transaction in the account register. Choose Move Transaction(s) from the context menu.

2.   The Move Transaction(s) dialog box appears. Choose the account into which you want to move the transaction from the drop-down list, shown here.

3.   Click OK and Quicken returns you to the original register.

To move multiple transactions as a group in your register:

1.   Click the first transaction in the register to highlight it.

2.   Hold down your SHIFT key and, while still holding it, click the last transaction in the group. All of the transactions will be selected. Release the SHIFT key.

3.   Right-click in the highlighted area, and from the context menu, choose Move Transaction(s).

4.   The Move Transaction(s) dialog box appears. Choose the account from the drop-down list into which you want to move the transactions.

5.   Click OK to return to your original register.

To select multiple transactions that are scattered throughout your register:

1.   Click the first transaction in the register to highlight it.

2.   Hold down your CTRL key and, while still holding it, click each transaction you want to move. All of the selected transactions will be highlighted. Release the CTRL key.

3.   Right-click in the highlighted area, and from the context menu, choose Move Transaction(s).

4.   The Move Transaction(s) dialog box appears. Choose the account from the drop-down list into which you want to move the transactions.

5.   Click OK. You are returned to the original account register.

You may be able to get all the transactions together in a contiguous group by sorting or filtering the account register.

In each case, the transactions are moved to the account you designate.

If you are moving reconciled transactions, you will see a prompt for each transaction you are moving, asking you if you are sure you want to move a reconciled transaction. This can be tedious if you are moving many transactions. You may want to use Copy Transaction(s) and Paste Transaction(s) instead, as this method will not show the prompt asking if you are sure about changing the reconciled transactions.

Accepting All Downloaded Transactions The Accept All button accepts all transactions into your account register. If you select this without reviewing them one by one, some transactions may not be properly categorized. Also, some transactions may be matched to the wrong transaction, making it appear as if the downloaded transaction disappeared. Most Quicken users don’t use Accept All without first examining each downloaded transaction to ensure it matched to the proper register transaction.

After you have reviewed all of your transactions and accepted, matched, or deleted the transactions, click Done to close the Downloaded Transactions tab. Choose Finish Later to close the dialog if you cannot complete the task at one sitting.

Renaming Downloaded Payees

One of the potentially annoying things about entering transactions by accepting downloaded activity information is the way your bank identifies payees. For example, one bank identifies the payee as “Shell Oil 23456” instead of plain old “Shell.” Fortunately, Quicken’s Renaming Rules feature can automatically rename bank-assigned payee names with names you prefer. You can also create and apply your own renaming rules. You do this with the Renaming Rules dialog, which allows you to control how Quicken deals with the differences between the payee names in your records and those of the bank’s.

To open this dialog, click the Renaming Rules button at the bottom of the Downloaded Transactions tab of the register window, or choose Tools | Renaming Rules. You can also select a payee in your register, click the small downward arrow at the right of the Payee field, and click the Renaming Rules button.

The Renaming Rules dialog lists all the renaming rules you have already created. Click the Add A Rule link, or the white cross within the green circle icon next to the Add A Rule link, to add a new rule. Click the Do Not Rename Rules tab to add a payee to the Do Not Rename list. (You can add a rule from that tab as well; just click the Add A Rule link.)

If you want to delete a rule, simply select the rule, and click the icon with the small white line within the red circle. A confirmation message appears. Click OK in the confirmation dialog to remove the rule.

To modify a rule, select the payee to display three icons: a pencil, a green circle with a white plus sign, and a red circle with a white line. Click the pencil icon to open the Edit Payee Name dialog. Use this dialog to modify settings for the selected payee. Click OK to save your renaming rule edits and return to the Renaming Rules dialog.

After you have made all of your changes, click Done to return to the register.

However, be careful when renaming generally named downloaded transactions. In the following example, we’ve written a check to Car Repair By Royce in the amount of $202.26. Our US Bank account downloads transactions as “CHECK Download from usbank.com.” If we use the Add A Renaming Rule dialog, all downloaded checks will be renamed as Car Repair By Royce! The best workaround for this is to enter checks in your register manually and then match those checks to the downloaded transactions.

When you are in the Renaming Rules dialog and select the Add A Rule link, it opens the Add A Rule dialog. Enter the name you want to see as the payee name in the Change Payee To box. Then, from the drop-down list, choose If Quicken Name Is or If Payee Contains and then enter the word (or words) that most likely will appear in the downloaded transaction. When you click OK in the dialog, you are returned to the Renaming Rules dialog and will see the new renaming rule added to the list.

Making Online Payments

Paying your bills from within Quicken can save you both time and effort. If your bank supports Online Bill Pay, this may be the best choice for you. This section explains how to set up online payees, enter payment information for one-time and repeating payments, and work with payment instructions.

Entering Online Payee Information

To send payments from your account, your bank must know who each payee is and where they are located. To ensure that your account with the payee is credited properly, you must also provide account information. You do this by setting up online payees in the Online Center.

  •   From the Tools menu, click Online Center to open the Online Center dialog. Select Payees to open the Online Payee List. You can also choose Online Payee List from the Tools menu to open the list.

  •   The Financial Institution drop-down list shows the institutions for which you have enabled Online Bill Pay. If there is more than one, choose the institution that has the account from which you will be paying this payee. The payees you have added for the displayed institution will be listed, showing the payee name, the lead-time for this payee, and the account number. Some financial institutions do not provide the lead-time for online bill payments. There are several buttons at the bottom of the list, as discussed later.

If you have not yet set up Online Bill Pay, the Payees menu item may be disabled. This is also true of the Online Payee List option in the Tools menu.

  •   New opens the Set Up Online Payee dialog.

       •   Enter the name of the online payee in the Name field and any description that might be needed in the optional Description field. Verify (or enter, if this is a new payee) the mailing address, account number, and phone number. If you skip over one of these required fields, Quicken will prompt you for the information.

       •   Click OK when you have completed entering the information. The Confirm Online Payee Information message appears displaying the information you just entered. Check the information in this box carefully. When you’re satisfied that the information is correct, click Accept. The new payee is added to the Online Payee List. If the information is not correct, click Cancel and you are returned to the Online Payee dialog.

The following items appear on the Online Payee List:

  •   Help (the small question mark in the yellow circle) opens the paying bills online section of Quicken Help.

  •   Print (the printer icon) prints a list of online payees.

  •   Edit enables you to modify the information for the selected online payee. However, note that you cannot change the account number without deleting the payee and setting up a new payee.

  •   Use switches you back to the Payments tab of the Online Center window and inserts the selected payee into the payment form.

  •   Report displays a report of all payments made to the selected online payee.

  •   Delete removes the selected online payee. Deleting a payee simply deletes the payee’s information from the Online Payee List window. It does not change any transactions for a payee. You cannot delete a payee for which unsent payment instructions exist.

  •   Done closes the Online Payee List.

Entering Payment Instructions

To enter additional online payment instructions, click Tools | Online Center | Payments. Ensure you are using the correct financial institution if you have more than one set up for online payments. Fill in the fields in the middle of the window with the following payment information:

  •   Processing Date is the date the bank should begin processing the payment. For some banks, this date is fixed based on the Delivery Date field and can’t be changed.

  •   Delivery Date is the date you want the payee to receive payment. This should be before the date the bank will either create and mail the check or make the electronic funds transfer. The check may be received before the delivery date, depending on the mail (if the check is mailed). The date you enter, however, must be at least the same number of business days in advance as the lead time for the payee—often four business days. For some banks, the delivery date cannot be changed; instead, specify a processing date that allows enough time for the payment to be made on a timely basis.

  •   Payee is the online payee to receive payment. Quicken’s QuickFill feature fills in the payee’s name as you type it. If desired, you can choose it from the drop-down list of online payees. If you enter a payee that is not in the Online Payee List window, Quicken displays the Set Up Online Payee dialog so you can add the new payee’s information. This enables you to create online payees as you enter payment instructions.

  •   $ is the amount of the payment.

If you have set your Quicken Preferences to use the ENTER key when moving between fields, this process ignores your Preference setting and uses ENTER to enter the online payment.

  •   Category is the category for the transaction. You can enter a category, choose one from the drop-down list, or click the Split button to enter multiple categories.

  •   Memo, which is optional, is for entering a note about the transaction.

When you’ve finished entering information for the transaction, click ENTER. Depending on your financial institution, a message box may appear reminding you that you need to allow enough time for the payment to be processed by your financial institution. Click OK to continue or Cancel to return to the payment. Click the Don’t Show This Message Again check box to keep the message from appearing for future transactions.

The transaction appears in the list in the bottom half of the window with the words “Payment request ready to send” in the Status column beside it. You can repeat this process for as many payments as you want to make.

You can also enter an online payment instruction directly into the appropriate account register and choose Send Online Payment in the Check # column.

Sending Payment Instructions

Once your payment instructions have been completed, you must connect to your bank to send the instructions. In the Online Center window, click the Update/Send button. Quicken displays the One Step Update Settings dialog, which lists all of the payment instructions, including any repeating payment instructions. If you are prompted, enter your password and click the Update Now button.

Quicken connects to your bank’s server and sends your payment (or payment cancellation) instructions. When the process is complete, you see the One Step Update Summary window. Click Close. In the Payments tab of the Online Center window, the words “Scheduled for delivery on” followed by the payment date appear in the Status column beside the payment instructions that have been sent to your bank.

Canceling a Payment

Occasionally, you may change your mind about making a payment. Perhaps you find your spouse already sent a check or that you set up the payment for the wrong amount. For whatever reason, you can cancel an online payment that you have sent to your bank, as long as there’s enough time to cancel it before the payment is to be paid.

When you send a payment instruction to your bank, it waits in the bank’s computer. When the processing date (determined by the number of days in the payee’s lead-time and the payment date) arrives, the bank makes the payment. Before the processing date, however, the payment instructions can be canceled. If you send a cancel payment instruction to the bank before the processing date, the bank removes the instruction from its computer without sending payment to the payee. Quicken won’t let you cancel a payment if the processing date has already passed. If you wait too long, the only way to cancel the payment is to call the bank directly and stop the check.

Keep in mind that canceling a payment instruction isn’t the same as stopping a check. If you send the cancel payment instruction in time, the bank should not charge a fee for stopping the payment. In the Online Center window, click the Payments tab, select the payment that you want to cancel, and click the Cancel Payment button. Click Yes in the confirmation dialog that appears. Use the Update/Send button to send the cancel payment instruction. The Cancel Payment button changes to Don’t Cancel Pmt if you have a payment with the cancel payment instruction ready to send selected.

Transferring Money Between Accounts

Quicken makes it easy to record your transfers between accounts. If you have more than one account enabled for Online Bill Pay via Direct Connect at the same financial institution, you can even transfer money from one account to the other directly from within Quicken.

To record a transfer of funds that you make with a phone call or on the financial institution’s website:

1.   From the Account Bar, select the account from which you want to transfer the funds.

2.   Click the Actions (gear) icon | Transfer Money or press CTRL-SHIFT-T to open the Transfer Money Within Quicken dialog.

3.   Enter the transfer information—From Account (source account), To Account (destination account), and amount—in the fields in the middle of the window.

4.   Click OK. The transaction will appear in both check registers.

5.   If you do not have Direct Connect, be sure to call the bank or go to the website to actually send the instructions to transfer funds.

To create an online transfer, both accounts must be activated with Direct Connect and be at the same bank under the same customer identification number. Some financial institutions allow you to pay a credit card that is associated with the same identification number in this manner as well.

To create the online transfer:

1.   In a new transaction line, click the Date field and enter today’s date. While you can schedule an online transfer for a future date, the transfer will show on the date you actually sent the transfer. Financial institutions process transfer instructions on the same day the request is received.

2.   In the Check # field, click the downward arrow, and select Online Transfer from the list. It will appear in your Check # field as OXfr.

3.   Enter a description, if you choose, in what is normally the Payee field.

4.   In the Payment column, enter the amount of the transfer. Press TAB to move to the Category field. Choose the account to which you want to transfer the money from the drop-down list that appears.

5.   Click Save to enter the transaction.

Use the One Step Update dialog to send the instructions to your financial institution. You may also use the Online Center to send an online transfer.

1.   Click Tools | Online Center.

2.   Select the appropriate financial institution from the drop-down list.

3.   Click the Transfers tab.

4.   In the Transfer Money From field, choose the account from which you want to transfer the funds from the drop-down list.

5.   In the To field, choose the account where the money is going from the drop-down list. Enter the amount in the Amount field.

6.   Press ENTER. The transfer is added to the list at the bottom of the Online Center window.

7.   Click Update/Send to send the instructions to the bank.

Whether you use the Online Center method or the account register method, you must send the transfer instructions to the bank in order for the transaction to take place.

There is no way to delete the unsent transfer instruction in the Online Center Transfers tab. However, you can delete the unsent transfer from the account register.

Transfer Detection

A Quicken feature scans your transactions as they are being downloaded to detect transfers between your accounts. When Quicken finds what looks like a matched pair of transfer transactions, it automatically creates the transfer in Quicken for you. The default in Quicken 2015 is this setting. To change this feature, from the Quicken menu bar, click Edit | Preferences | Register | Transfer Detection and clear the Automatically Create Transfers When Detected option. Even if you choose to keep this option, be cautious with this preference—it may detect matches that are not truly transfers. Consider including the option for Quicken to ask for confirmation first. To set this option, from the Quicken menu bar, click Edit | Preferences | Register | Transfer Detection and click the Confirm Possible Transfers Before Entering In Register option.

Exchanging E-mail with Your Financial Institution

You can use the E-mail tab of the Online Center window to exchange e-mail messages with financial institutions for which you have enabled Online Account Services via Direct Connect. Keep in mind that not all financial institutions support this feature. Also, remember that this communication is between you and your financial institution, not Intuit (the makers of Quicken). It is intended primarily for exchanging information about your account, not technical support for using Quicken.

  •   Creating an E-mail Message In the E-mail tab of the Online Center window, click Create. If a Create dialog appears, use it to set general options for your e-mail message. If your message is about an online payment, choose the account from the Account drop-down list, and select the payment from the Payments list. Even if there is only one payment in the list, you must select it or the OK button remains disabled. When you click OK, a Message window appears. Use it to compose your e-mail message. Click OK again to save the message. The message appears in the bottom half of the E-mail tab of the Online Center window, ready to be sent to your financial institution.

        If you currently have no online payments scheduled, the option E-mail About An Online Payment will be grayed out. If you elected to e-mail your financial institution regarding a payment, the window is titled Payment E-mail.

  •   Exchanging E-mail Messages In the Online Center window, click the Update/Send button. Quicken displays the Online Update window, which includes any e-mail messages you may have created that need to be sent. Enter your password and click the Update Now button. Then wait while Quicken establishes an Internet connection with your bank and exchanges e-mail.

  •   Reading an E-mail Message When your bank sends you an e-mail message, it appears in the E-mail tab of the Online Center window. To read the message, select it and click Read. The message appears in a message window. If desired, you can click the Print button to print the message for future reference. You can also click Delete to delete the e-mail once you no longer need it.

  •   Click Close to close the Online Center window.

Bills and Income Reminders

A favorite Quicken feature is the ability to tell Quicken about the bills, deposits, and other transactions that need to be made in the future, especially the ones that happen on a regular basis. This feature, when fully utilized, doesn’t just prevent you from forgetting to pay bills; it can completely automate the transaction entry process. Starting from the time you first create your Quicken file, you can create reminders to help you stay on top of your monthly bills. This part of the chapter discusses bill and income reminders, including how to set up and use them.

Being Reminded

Reminders aren’t only for payments. You could create a reminder for incoming funds, such as an expected bonus or a monthly annuity check you receive. You can even schedule your paycheck—but it’s better to use Quicken’s Paycheck Setup feature, which is discussed later in this chapter, to do that.

Quicken’s Reminders feature is one of the best timesaving features Quicken offers. By taking full advantage of this feature, you can minimize the time you spend entering transactions into Quicken. Generally speaking, you can be “reminded” about two types of transactions:

  •   One-time transactions are future transactions that you expect to record only once. For example, suppose you are arranging to purchase some furniture. You have already paid a deposit for the furniture and you know that the balance will be due at month-end, when the furniture is delivered. You can schedule that month-end payment in advance.

  •   Recurring transactions are transactions that occur periodically on a regular basis. Many of your monthly bills are good examples: rent or mortgage payments, car payments, utility bills—unfortunately, there are too many to list!

Throughout this chapter and this book, bill reminders, scheduled transactions, and scheduled reminders all are used and mean the same process, saving information about a payee or a transaction so that you can pay or enter the information at a future time.

Remember that creating a reminder is not the same as recording a transaction, even if you opt to show the reminder in your account register. You must print a check or send an online payment instruction to record the transaction. Creating the reminder is only part of the job.

Creating Reminders from Downloaded Transactions

You can create a scheduled transaction in Quicken in several ways. When you first install Quicken, in the Home tab’s Main View, click the Get Started button in the Stay On Top Of Monthly Bills snapshot. If you have downloaded your bank account transactions, you may already see outgoing transactions that appear to be recurring transactions. The Review Bills dialog lists these transactions. (If you do not see the Get Started button in the Stay On Top Of Monthly Bills snapshot, skip ahead to “Work in the Home Tab’s Main View,” later in this chapter.)

If you have not downloaded your transactions, nor created a bank account, you may see three different Get Started buttons. However, until you create your first bank account, the only available Get Started button will be in the See Where Your Money Goes snapshot.

You may remove the transactions or edit them. If you do not want to enter a transaction as a recurring transaction into Quicken, select that transaction and click Remove in the Action column.

Remember, you are editing a transaction reminder, not the transactions already listed in the account register.

To edit a transaction:

1.   Select the transaction and click Edit. The Edit Bill Reminder dialog appears.

2.   Click in the Pay To field to change or correct the payee of this transaction.

3.   Click in the Due Next On field to change the date if necessary. You may either type the information or use the calendar at the right of the field.

4.   Click Change to the right of the Due Next On field to open a dialog in which you tell Quicken how often to pay (or receive) this item. Make any appropriate changes and click OK (or Cancel if you’ve not made any changes) to return to the Edit Bill Reminder dialog.

If you have a bill that is due on the third Friday of each month, to schedule this bill, select Monthly. Leave the second field at Every 1 Month and set the third field at 3. In the final field, select Friday, as seen next. Until you select 1 through 4 in the third field, the last field will only contain Day.

1.   Click the Change link to change the amount, if necessary. You may either type the new amount or use the small calculator to the right of the field.

2.   If necessary, open the drop-down list in the From Account field to change the account from which this payment is to be made or to which the deposit is to be deposited.

3.   Click anywhere within the Details section to add a category, tag, or memo. Click OK (or Cancel) to close the dialog and return to the Edit Bill Reminder dialog.

You may also see the split button to the right of the Category field, a small two-headed arrow.

4.   The Optional Settings section is covered in the section “Setting Up Reminders in the Bills Tab” later in this chapter.

5.   After you have completed changing or entering the information, click Done/Next. If you have additional recurring items, the Stay On Top Of Monthly Bills | Review Bills dialog asks that you follow the same process for each item on the list.

6.   If you have recurring income items, follow Steps 1 through 9 for each income item. When you have completed the income items, click Done. You are returned to the Home tab’s Main View in the Stay On Top Of Monthly Bills snapshot. Note that the Bill And Income Reminders section now includes the recurring items.

Work in the Home Tab’s Main View

After you have set up recurring bills from downloaded transactions, you can continue to work in the Stay On Top Of Monthly Bills section in the Home Tab’s Main view. Click the Options menu, from which you can do the following:

  •   Change the displayed date range to display the reminders for the next 7, 14, 30, or 90 days, or 12 months.

  •   Open the Add Reminder dialog to add a new Bill, Income, or Transfer reminder. Each option opens the appropriate reminder dialog for that specific task.

  •   Go to the Bills tab, from which you can work with reminders, see what bills and income are due in the near future, and see your projected balances for the next 12 months or even longer, if you choose. See the upcoming section “Setting Up Reminders in the Bills Tab” in this chapter.

Each reminder displayed on the Stay On Top Of Monthly Bills list is a link. Click the small, right-facing arrow to the right of the amount to see a menu, shown here, from which you can do the following:

  •   Enter the reminder into the appropriate register, which opens the Enter Expense Transaction (or Enter Income Transaction) dialog. With this dialog, you can enter the transaction into the register immediately rather than waiting for the date you set earlier. The transaction will reflect the date you specify, showing in the register with that date in the future.

  •   Skip this one entry.

  •   Click Edit to open a submenu from which you can

       •   Edit This Instance of the reminder, which opens the Edit Reminder dialog.

       •   Edit This And All Future Instances, which opens the Edit Bill Reminder dialog. If the reminder is an income or transfer reminder, the Edit Income Reminder or Edit Transfer Reminder dialog opens.

       •   Delete This And All Future Reminders, which opens a message that you are about to delete a scheduled bill or deposit. You must click OK to delete the reminder or click Cancel to close the message without deleting the reminder.

If you click the reminder amount, the Edit Reminder dialog appears. This dialog lets you edit the amount and due date for the next instance only.

See What’s Left

The What’s Left section at the left of the Stay On Top Of Monthly Bills section shows how much is available for the date range you selected in the Options menu. If any of your accounts will be overdrawn, you will see “Risk of Overdraft” displayed at the left of the What’s Left section. Click the link to display the Projected Balances dialog. In this case, the Projected Balances shows only the overdrawn accounts.

If your accounts are all positive (not overdrawn), you will see a See Projected Balances link instead of the Risk Of Overdraft link. Click See Projected Balances to display the balances in each of your spending accounts. This is the same information you see in the Bills tab’s Projected Balances view. Click Close to dismiss the Projected Balances dialog.

Credit card accounts are not considered spending accounts in the Projected Balances dialog.

Setting Up Reminders in the Bills Tab

The Bills tab is the place to work with your reminders. If you did not download any recurring transactions when you created your first bank account, when you first click the Bills tab, you will see a Get Started button. If you have already created one or more reminders, click the Add Reminder button and select Bill Reminder, Income Reminder, or Transfer Reminder from the drop-down list.

When you are first working with your Quicken file, you only see the choice to open bill and income reminders. As you add more accounts, you see the Transfer Reminder option.

So, to begin, click the Get Started button in the Stay On Top of Monthly Bills snapshot in the Home tab’s Main View. The Stay On Top Of Monthly Bills dialog appears with which you worked in “Creating Reminders From Downloaded Transactions” earlier in this chapter. Click the words “Set Up” in the sentence “Set Up A Scheduled Bill Or Deposit” to open the Add Reminder dialog. To go directly to the Add Bill Reminder dialog, click the Add A Bill button at the bottom left of the Stay On Top Of Monthly Bills dialog.

1.   Enter a name in the Pay To or From field. The name of this field depends on the type of reminder you choose from the list. While it does not appear in this order, it’s easier to choose the type of reminder and then enter the name.

      a.   If this is a bill reminder and you have entered payees before, click the drop-down arrow to choose from a list of existing payees. If you are setting up a bill reminder in a new Quicken file, you will probably not yet have any payees on your list.

      b.   If you are creating an income reminder, type the name of the income source in the From field. This field also has a drop-down list from which you can choose if you have entered other income sources.

      c.   Click Next to continue.

2.   The Add Bill Reminder dialog appears, as seen in the next illustration, with the Pay To field prefilled with the information you entered in Step 1.

3.   Enter a date in the Due Next On date field. You can also choose a date from the Calendar to the right of the field.

4.   Click Change to set how often you need to be reminded about the bill. The Change dialog appears, from which you can change

      a.   The start date.

      b.   How often the item is deducted from your account. Choose an option from the drop-down list. Your options are Weekly, Bi-Weekly, Monthly, Twice A Month, Quarterly, Yearly, Twice A Year, Only Once, and To Pay Estimated Taxes (which follows the IRS estimated tax payment schedule). Then set options in the area to the right of the How Often field; the options change based on the frequency you select.

      c.   Click the End Date field’s drop-down arrow to display the End Date options. These specify when the recurring transaction should end.

           i.   No End Date, the default option, keeps the transaction scheduled until you delete it or set another option in this dialog.

          ii.   End On enables you to set a specific date for the last transaction.

          iii.   End After enables you to specify the number of transactions before they automatically end or the date on which the payments end. What you see will depend on what you enter in the How Often field.

          iv.   If all of the information on the Change dialog is correct, click OK to close the dialog and return to the Add Bill Reminder dialog.

5.   Enter an amount in the Amount Due field, or use the Calculator to the right of the Amount Due field. You cannot leave this field blank, but you can change the amount when it is time to enter the bill in the register.

6.   Enter the account from which this bill is to be paid in the From Account field. You may also choose from the drop-down list, which will display all of your non-hidden accounts.

The drop-down list displays all of your non-hidden accounts, including credit card, savings, and investing accounts. If you have used an earlier version of Quicken and hidden some of your accounts, you may need to update how those accounts are displayed so that you can see them in the Add Reminder dialog.

7.   Click anywhere within the Details section to add a category, tag, or memo. (It is best to enter at least the category; that way, each time this reminder is entered into the account register, it will be categorized correctly.) The Category dialog appears:

      a.   Type a category or choose one from the drop-down list. You can even split the category—see the split icon to the right of the Category field? (Learn more about splits in Chapter 5.)

      b.   Enter a tag if you choose. Review how tags work in Chapter 4.

      c.   Type a memo.

      d.   Click OK to return to the Add Bill Reminder dialog.

8.   Click the Optional Settings link to set additional information for this bill. Click the Change link by the Remind Me 3 Days In Advance option to be reminded according to a different time schedule. From this dialog:

      a.   Use the up or down arrows to increase or decrease the number of days before the bill is due to be reminded. You can also type in the number of days.

      b.   Tell Quicken to enter the bill for you automatically and specify the number of days before the bill is due that you want the bill to be entered.

      c.   Tell Quicken to count only business days when calculating the reminder days.

      d.   Click OK when you’ve made your changes to return to the Add Bill Reminder dialog.

9.   Click the Add link next to the Related Website option to add the payee’s website. Click OK after you have typed the website address to return to the Add Bill Reminder dialog. You can also copy the web address directly from the appropriate website and paste it in the field. This will ensure you don’t make a typo when you enter the web address.

10.   Click the Change link next to the Estimate Amount For Me option to open the Estimate dialog.

      a.   The Fixed Amount option displays a text box you can use to enter a dollar amount that the transaction will always use. You can change the amount when the transaction is entered, if necessary.

      b.   Click the drop-down list to choose Previous Payments. This option tells Quicken to create an estimate based on the payments you have made previously.

      c.   The other option on the drop-down list is Time Of Year. This is used when you make recurring payments at a specific time of year, such as real estate or other taxes.

If your Quicken file does not have enough data to estimate either Previous Payments or Time Of Year information, you will see a pop-up message telling you this.

      d.   If you have set any estimates in the Estimate dialog, click OK. Otherwise, click Cancel to close the dialog and return to the Add Reminder dialog.

11.   If you use Microsoft Outlook, select the Sync To Outlook check box to synchronize your due date reminder with the Outlook calendar.

12.   Select the Print Check With Quicken check box to tell Quicken to print the check for this bill when it is due. Print Check With Quicken records the transaction as a payment using a check to be printed. Entering the transaction, of course, decreases the balance in a banking account. The Check Number field in the account register is set to PRINT, which signals Quicken to include the transaction with other checks to be printed.

13.   Click Done to close the Add Bill Reminder dialog.

Working with the Bills Tab

You can view your reminders in your account registers if you have elected to display Reminders in the account registers, or

  •   From the Quicken menu bar when you click Tools | Manage Bill & Income Reminders.

  •   From the default Main View of the Home tab, in the Stay On Top Of Monthly Bills section, as discussed in the section “Work in the Home Tab’s Main View,” earlier in this chapter.

Use the Bills tab, shown in Figure 6-2, to view upcoming bills and other scheduled transactions in a number of different ways:

  •   Add Reminder enables you to add a bill, income, or transfer reminder as discussed earlier in this chapter.

  •   Manage Reminders displays the Bill And Income Reminders window.

Upcoming Button

The Upcoming button’s view, as seen with View as Stack selected in Figure 6-2, shows each upcoming scheduled transaction with a note-like interface. Click one of the reminders, and its details appear in the middle of the window. Use the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the window to display upcoming reminders. You can use a transaction’s buttons to enter, skip, or edit the transaction. Clicking a Show History button displays a payment history for that payee.

You may change the way the information shows by clicking the View As drop-down list.

  •   Stack displays each item in a “stack” as if they were papers on top of each other. You can use the Due Within Next drop-down list to choose the date range. Your options are 7, 14, and 30 days. You can choose to not include items that have been paid by clearing the Include Paid check box, located to the right of the Due Within Next field.

  •   List displays information about the status, due date, pay to or receive from information, and amount of each reminder. From this view you can enter, edit, or skip the reminder. The Due Within Next and Include Paid options are the same as in the Stack view.

  •   Calendar shows all reminders in a calendar view that includes transactions and their amounts, as well as the ending total banking account balance. You can use the arrows by the current month area to scroll through months.

The Calendar view does not show cash or bills paid from any Brokerage accounts, nor can you indicate which accounts to include on the Bills tab’s Calendar view, even if you have designated those accounts in the full Calendar view. See “Using the Financial Calendar” later in this chapter.

  •   Monthly List shows all scheduled transaction reminders for the current month. You can choose another month by using the arrows to the left and right of the current month.

  •   The Account drop-down list allows you to select the accounts to show in each view, except the Calendar view, which does not have any sort of account selection option available.

  •   Select the date range for which you want the reminders displayed in the Due Within Next drop-down list. You may choose to see what is due for the next 7, next 14, or next 30 days in the Stack view and next 7, 14, 30, 90 days or 12 months in the List view.

Projected Balances

This button’s view, seen next, shows projected balances and your upcoming reminders in a list view, as shown in the next illustration. While the default is to display all spending accounts, you can select a single account to view from the Select Accounts drop-down list or choose Multiple Accounts to open the Projected Balance selection dialog. This dialog allows you to choose two or more spending or credit card accounts to display. Click the Show (Hidden Accounts) check box to include them in the cash flow view. Click Tools | Manage Hidden Accounts if you don’t see the accounts you expect to see here.

Selecting Multiple Accounts in the Select Accounts drop-down list opens the Customize dialog, where you can select the accounts you wish to include in the Projected Balances graph.

Click Select All to choose all displayed accounts or Clear All to start over with your selection. Click OK to close the dialog.

You may choose a date range to display by clicking the Time Range drop-down list. You may choose the next 7, 14, 30, or 90 days; the next 12 months; or create a customized date range.

The Projected Balances graph snapshot includes all of the accounts you have selected for the date range you select. A legend showing the account or accounts represented in the line graph appears at the bottom of the section. For example, in the illustration above, only one account was chosen.

In the Upcoming Bills And Income From nn/nn/nnnn to nn/nn/nnnn section, you can work with your transaction reminders as follows:

  •   Click the right-pointing arrow in the circle icon in the Action column to enter, skip, or edit the selected transaction.

  •   Click the account name in the Account To Use column to be taken to that account’s register.

  •   Click the transaction’s amount in the Amount column to open the Edit Reminder dialog.

Working with Reminders

Scheduling a transaction was the hard part. (Not very hard, though, was it?) Entering, editing, and skipping a scheduled transaction is easy. Here’s one way that some say is the quickest and easiest, to work with reminders.

Click the Bills tab, and then click the Upcoming button to display the view you prefer, and select a reminder. The options described here may be on the selected item’s transaction list, as in the List or Monthly List views, the Calendar date in the Calendar view, or the reminder itself in the Stack view.

  •   Enter In all views except the Calendar view, if the transaction has not already been entered, the Enter button displays the Enter Transaction dialog. Use this dialog to finalize settings for a transaction. When you click Enter Transaction, the transaction is entered into the account register. The dialog will be labeled Enter X Transaction, where X is Expense or Income. If a reminder has already been entered, there will be no Enter button displayed. Instead, the button will be Go To Register.

  •   Skip In all views except the Calendar view, the Skip button skips the transaction if it has not already been entered into the account register. The transaction moves down in the list, and its due date changes to the next due date. If a reminder has already been entered in the register, there will not be a Skip button.

  •   Edit In all views except the Calendar view, the Edit button displays the Edit Transaction Reminder dialog when the transaction has not yet been entered into the account register. This dialog looks and works very much like the Add Income Reminder dialog shown earlier. Use this dialog to modify settings for the transaction’s future entries. If the transaction is an instance of a recurring transaction, the Edit button appears as a menu with the following two options:

       •   Edit This Instance displays the Edit Reminder dialog that enables you to change the date and amount of the transaction.

       •   This And All Future Instances displays the Edit Transaction Reminder dialog, as discussed earlier. The dialog will be labeled Edit X Reminder, where X is Income, Transfer, or Expense.

The dialog will be titled Edit Bill Reminder, Edit Income Reminder, or Edit Transfer Reminder. You will only see the Edit button without the Edit menu for a reminder that is scheduled to occur only one time. You will not see either the Edit button or the Edit menu if the reminder has already been entered in the account register.

While the Calendar view does not feature an Edit button, you can double-click each day’s transactions to open a dialog with which you can choose to enter, edit, or skip the transactions.

Managing Reminders

In the Bills tab, click Manage Reminders or press CTRL-J to open the Bill And Income Reminders window, which displays both current and future transactions. If you have previously scheduled transactions or repeating online transactions, the Bill And Income Reminders window has four tabs, as shown next. Until you have created either one or both or if none of your accounts are enabled for Online Bill Pay, there are only two tabs visible.

Bills and Income Reminder Button Options

You can use button options in both the Monthly Bills & Deposits and the All Bills & Deposits tabs to enter, skip, create, edit, or delete scheduled transactions. You must select a transaction to activate all but the Create New option.

  •   Enter opens the Enter [type of] Transaction dialog. Enter the appropriate information, and click Enter Transaction. If the reminder is for investment income, you may see a dialog titled Edit Income – Income (Div, Int, etc.).

  •   Skip enables you to skip the payment (or next payment) of that transaction.

  •   Create New enables you to create a new scheduled transaction. See “Setting Up Reminders in the Bills Tab” earlier in this chapter.

  •   Edit opens the Edit Bill (or Income) Reminder dialog in which you can modify each area of the reminder.

  •   Delete removes the scheduled transaction. It does not remove any transactions that have already been entered in a register.

  •   Options offers commands for changing the way the Bill And Income Reminders window is sorted. You can also change the sort order by clicking the Due, Pay To/Receive From, Payments, or Deposits column header. Depending on the tab in which you are working, you may also be able to sort by amount.

  •   Print prints a list of scheduled transactions.

  •   How Do I? displays the Quicken Personal Finances Help window with instructions for completing tasks with the Bill And Income Reminders window.

  •   Action buttons on individual transaction reminders can also be used. To access the action buttons, select a reminder and choose from the following:

       •   Enter opens the Enter Transaction dialog discussed earlier in the chapter.

       •   Edit opens a menu giving you the option to change only this reminder or this and all future reminders.

       •   Skip tells Quicken to skip the reminder for this time only.

Bills and Income Reminders Tabs

There may be up to four tabs available in the Bill And Income Reminders window. Until you have scheduled some online payments, you will only see the first two tabs.

  •   Monthly Bills & Deposits displays all reminders for the month. You can click the arrows beside the name of the month to view reminders for other months.

  •   All Bills & Deposits displays all types of scheduled reminders.

  •   Scheduled displays the deposits and payments that you have scheduled for this month. Remember, until you have set up an account with Online Payment capabilities, you will not see the Scheduled tab.

  •   Repeating Online lists repeating payments you have scheduled for online payment.

Display Check Boxes In each tab, two check boxes enable you to display additional information in the window:

  •   Show Graph displays a column chart showing cash flow for selected accounts for the month.

  •   Show Calendar displays one or two calendars (this month and the next month) that indicate scheduled transaction dates.

Schedule These?

You may see a Schedule These? list at the bottom of a Bill And Income Reminders window. When this is present, it displays transactions that Quicken “thinks” you might want to schedule for the future. It builds this list based on categories used in the transactions or transactions you have entered more than once.

  •   To schedule a transaction in the list, click the Yes button beside it. Quicken displays the Edit Bill (or Income) Reminder dialog so you can turn the transaction into a scheduled transaction.

  •   To remove a transaction from the list, click the No button beside it.

You will not see the Yes/No buttons until you have selected a suggested reminder in the list.

Scheduling Repeating Online Payments

Some payments are exactly the same every month, such as your rent, a car loan, or your monthly cable television bill. You can set these payments up as repeating online payments.

The process begins when you schedule the online payment once, indicating the payee, amount, and frequency. Quicken sends the instructions to your bank. Thirty days before the payment is due, your bank creates a new post-dated payment based on your instructions and notifies you that it has created the payment. Quicken automatically enters the payment information in your account register with the appropriate payment date. The payment is delivered on the payment date. This happens regularly, at the interval you specify, until you tell it to stop. Because you don’t have to do a thing to continue paying regularly, the more payments you make with this feature, the more time you save.

1.   From the Bills tab, choose Add Reminders | Bill Reminder.

2.   Enter the name of your payee in the Pay To field. Click Next.

3.   In the Add Bill Reminder dialog, set the date, the amount, and the account from which you will be paying this bill. Be sure to choose an account in which you have activated Online Bill Pay!

4.   Enter a category, tag, or memo if necessary.

5.   Click the Use Online Bill Pay check box.

6.   Click Optional Settings if necessary to display your options. Click the Make This A Repeating Online Payment check box. If you have made the payment a repeating online payment, you cannot ask Quicken to remind you to enter the payment or estimate the amount of the payment.

7.   Click Done.

If this is a new online payee, Quicken prompts you to enter address and account number information so that your payment can be processed by your bank.

There are two very important things to remember when using the Add A Reminder dialog to create a repeating online payment:

  •   Click the Use Online Bill Pay check box to tell Quicken that the payment will be made online.

  •   Click the Make This A Repeating Online Payment check box if you choose. This tells Quicken to send one instruction for multiple repeating payments.

When you click Done to save the payment instruction, it appears in the Repeating Online tab of the Bill And Income Reminders dialog. You can use the buttons at the top of the Bill And Income Reminders dialog to work with items listed in the Repeating Online list window. In each instance, if you have not clicked a transaction to select it, the appropriate button option is grayed out even if there is only one online transaction in the Repeating Online list.

  •   Enter records the selected repeating online payment in the register.

  •   Skip skips payment of the selected repeating online payment.

  •   Create New enables you to create a new scheduled transaction or paycheck.

  •   Edit displays the Edit Repeating Online dialog so you can modify the details of the repeating online payment.

  •   Delete removes the repeating online payment from the list, thus canceling future payments. You must click Delete in the confirmation dialog that appears to remove the transaction.

  •   Options offers commands for changing the sort order of payments in the list; however, you may have to click the header of the column by which you want to sort to make it sort properly.

  •   Print prints a list of repeating online payments.

  •   How Do I? displays the Quicken Personal Finances Help window with instructions for managing your spending and completing tasks with the Bill And Income Reminders list.

Stopping a Single Repeating Online Payment

In the Online Center window’s Payments tab, select the payment you want to stop, and click the Cancel Payment button. Click Yes in the confirmation dialog that appears. Use the Update/Send button to send the cancel payment instruction. Note that the payment may not appear in the Online Center window unless you have reviewed and approved all downloaded payment transactions, as instructed earlier in this chapter.

Stopping All Future Payments for a Repeating Online Payment

Press CTRL-J to open the Bill And Income Reminders window. In the Repeating Online tab of the Bill And Income Reminders window, select the payment you want to stop, and click Delete. Click Delete in the confirmation dialog that appears. The transaction is removed from the list. Then use the Update/Send button in the Online Center window to send the cancel payment instruction.

Using QuickFill and Memorized Payees

As you enter transactions, Quicken is quietly working in the background, memorizing transaction information for each payee. It creates a database of memorized payees. It then uses the memorized payees for its QuickFill feature. QuickFill works in two ways:

  •   When you enter the first few characters of a payee name in the Write Checks or account register window, Quicken immediately fills in the rest of the name. When you advance to the next text box or field of the entry form, Quicken fills in the rest of the transaction information based on the last transaction for that payee.

  •   You can select a memorized payee from the drop-down list in the Payee field of the Write Checks or account register window. Quicken then fills in the rest of the transaction information based on the last transaction for that payee.

QuickFill entries include amounts, categories, and memos. They can also include splits and tags. For example, you might pay the cable or satellite company for television service monthly. The bill is usually the same amount each month. The second time you create an entry with the company’s name, Quicken fills in the rest of the transaction automatically. You can make adjustments to the amount or other information as desired and save the transaction. It may have taken a minute or so to enter the transaction the first time, but it’ll take only seconds to enter it every time after that.

By default, the QuickFill feature is set up to work as discussed here. If it does not, check the QuickFill options to make sure they are set properly. To check these options:

1.   Click Edit | Preferences | Register | Data Entry And QuickFill.

2.   Ensure all of the check boxes are selected.

3.   Click OK to close Quicken Preferences.

Utilizing the Memorized Payee List

If desired, you can view a list of your memorized payees. Just choose Tools | Memorized Payee List or press CTRL-T. The list displays the last transaction you entered for each payee.

Depending on the type or category for a payee, you may see more than just the last transaction in the Memorized Payee List.

If a payee does not appear on the Memorized Payee List and you believe it should, check your Preferences. Click Edit | Preferences | Data Entry And QuickFill. Select the Remove Memorized Payees Not Used In Last nn Months check box or change the amount in the Months field.

Select a memorized payee to display the Edit and Delete action buttons. Edit displays the Edit Memorized Payee dialog for the currently selected transaction.

  •   The Payee Name field displays the payee name as it is currently entered. You may change the name or any of the other fields as required.

  •   The Never Auto-categorize This Payee During QuickFill Or Downloads option tells Quicken you wish to enter the proper category for this payee.

  •   The Type of Transaction field is established when you set up the payee.

  •   Click Lock to leave this payee unchanged when it is edited in a register to ensure the transaction stays blank in the Memorized Payee List.

  •   Show This Payee On The Calendar Memorized Payee List, which is selected by default, determines how this item is displayed in the Calendar. See “Using the Financial Calendar” later in this chapter.

If you do not see the Show On Calendar column in the Memorized Payee List, select Options and click Show Calendar Status Column In List.

  •   When you have selected a payee, Delete displays a dialog asking you to confirm that you really do want to delete the selected item. If you delete the transaction, it is removed from the Memorized Payee List only, not from any register in the Quicken data file.

  •   With a selected payee, click Edit to open the Edit Memorized Payee dialog box from which you can make any necessary changes, as shown here.

  •   The Memorized Payee Report icon is hard to see. It is located to the right of the Delete button in a selected payee. Click this icon, seen here, to open and print a Payee Report about this payee.

You can also use the Memorized Payee List as follows:

1.   Open the register from which the item will be paid, and click the next available line. Use the CTRL-T keyboard shortcut to open the Memorized Payee List.

2.   Right-click the memorized payee transaction you want to use.

3.   From the context menu that appears, click Use to paste the item into your register.

4.   Click Save or use the ALT-A keyboard shortcut to save the transaction.

You may want to build a Memorized Payee List from all of your existing cash flow accounts. To do so:

1.   From the menu bar, click Tools.

2.   Hold down CTRL-SHIFT and click Memorized Payee List.

3.   Your new Memorized Payee List displays.

Memorized Payee List Activities

You can use buttons at the bottom of the Memorized Payee window, as seen in Figure 6-3, to change what displays in the list, add, merge, rename, or delete memorized payees on the Memorized Payee List:

  •   New Payee displays the Create Memorized Payee dialog, which is similar to the Edit Memorized Payee dialog. You use the Create Memorized Payee dialog to create brand-new transactions without actually entering them into any register of your Quicken data file. Just fill in the fields to enter transaction information, and click OK. The new transaction appears in the Memorized Payee List window.

  •   Options opens a menu that allows you to choose to display the “Lock” and the “Show On Calendar” columns in the Memorized Payee List. Click View Locked Items Only to display locked memorized payees only.

  •   Merge/Rename displays the Merge And Rename Payees dialog, which you can use to enter a new name for the selected payee. When you enter the new name, the Add A Renaming Rule dialog appears. Enter the new payee name, choose either If A Payee Contains or If Quicken Name Is from the drop-down list, and click OK.

  •   Use the Delete button to delete one or more payees from the list. You must first select the memorized payees to be deleted.

  •   The Renaming Rules button opens the Renaming Rules dialog, covered earlier in this chapter.

  •   The question mark icon opens the Quicken Personal Finances Help window with additional information for completing tasks with the Memorized Payee List window.

  •   The printer icon opens the Print dialog with which you can print the Memorized Payee List.

  •   Click Done to close the Memorized Payee List.

Use the CTRL-M keyboard shortcut after you have entered a transaction to memorize the payee and the category.

Using the Financial Calendar

Quicken’s Calendar, shown in Figure 6-4, keeps track of all your transactions, past and future, by date. You may open the Calendar by choosing Tools | Calendar or by pressing CTRL-K.

Calendar Buttons

You can use buttons to work with the window’s contents:

  •   Go To Date enables you to go to a specific calendar date. Click the Calendar icon to open a tiny calendar, and select the date you want. Or, enter the date in the Go To Date field and click the Go button.

You can also use date field keyboard shortcuts, like M for the first of the month, T for today, and H for the end of the month. Learn more about keyboard shortcuts in Appendix A.

  •   Arrow buttons on either side of the month’s name enable you to move from one month to another.

  •   Add Note enables you to enter a note for a selected date. You can even change the color of your note. The Note icon then appears on the Calendar on the date you select. After you have selected the color of your note, check your monitor settings. Depending on your monitor, the icon may be hard to see!

  •   Options offers commands for viewing and working with the contents of the Calendar window.

  •   Print opens the Print dialog from which you can print the Calendar.

  •   Help displays the Quicken Personal Finances Help window with information about using the Calendar.

The Transactions Window

When you double-click a calendar date (or single-click an already selected date), the Transactions window, which lists all the transactions for that date, appears, as seen here. You can use the buttons in the Transactions window to work with transactions:

  •   Enter opens the Enter Expense Transaction dialog from which you can enter the selection into the register. If the transaction has already been entered into the account register, this button changes to Go To Register and opens that transaction in the register where it is entered.

  •   Edit enables you to modify the currently selected transaction. If this transaction has not been entered into the register, the Edit <type> Reminder dialog displays. If it has been entered into the register, the Edit Register Transaction dialog appears.

  •   Delete removes the selected transaction. This option is only available for transactions that have already been entered into the register!

  •   Skip lets you skip the transaction for this date. This option is only available for transactions that have not been entered.

  •   Schedule enables you to create a new scheduled transaction based on the selected transaction. This option is only available if the currently selected transaction is not a scheduled transaction.

  •   The Help icon opens Quicken Help at the section explaining how to work with the Calendar.

  •   Add enables you to enter a new transaction. From this menu you can add an expense or income transaction as well as a new reminder.

  •   Close closes the window.

The dollar amounts that appear in the bottom of each calendar date box show the total account balances for the accounts displayed in the window after taking all payments into consideration. (You can specify which accounts to include by choosing Select Calendar Accounts from the Options menu in the button bar.) This feature works, in effect, like a simplified forecasting tool.

Useful Quicken Features

In addition to the Bill and Income Reminders, Memorized Payees, and QuickFill, Quicken offers a number of other useful functions to help you with your financial recordkeeping.

Minding Your Bills

Quicken’s optional Billminder feature makes it possible for you to monitor upcoming bills and scheduled transactions without starting Quicken. This application displays a window that summarizes upcoming transactions. It also includes a convenient button to run Quicken, should you decide to take action on a listed item.

How you open Billminder depends on your operating system.

  •   Windows 7 and earlier Choose Start | All Programs | Quicken 2015 | Billminder.

  •   Windows 8.1 Choose the Billminder tile located near your Quicken 2015 app, shown here.

To make the most of Billminder, you may want to configure it so it automatically starts each time you start your computer. To do this, click the Options button in the Billminder button bar to display Billminder Options as shown here. Select the Enable Billminder On Windows Startup check box. You can set other configuration options as desired to determine when Billminder should appear. Then click OK. Click Exit to close Billminder.

Using the Paycheck Setup Wizard

Quicken’s Paycheck Setup Wizard feature offers yet another way to automate transactions. You use it to enter information about your regular payroll check and its deductions. Then, when payday comes along, Quicken automatically enters the payroll deposit information based on the Paycheck Setup transaction.

Quicken allows you to set up your recurring paycheck so that all the deductions can be fed into the appropriate categories. There are three ways to access the Paycheck Setup Wizard.

1.   From the Planning tab, select Tax Center and from below the Taxable Income YTD section, click the Add Paycheck button.

2.   From the Tools menu, click Manage Bill & Income Reminders | Create New | Income Reminder and choose the Paycheck Setup Wizard at the bottom of the dialog.

3.   Some experienced Quicken users prefer to use the Classic menus instead of Standard menus as these menus offer easy access to the Paycheck Setup Wizard. Click View | Classic Menus | Bills | Add Reminder | Paycheck Reminder. Until you have selected Classic Menus, you will not see the Bills menu.

In all cases, the Paycheck Setup Wizard appears as shown in Figure 6-5. As you can see, you can choose to enter either the net amount of your paycheck or the gross amount, which will help you track tax and other deductions. In the example outlined below, we have chosen to record the gross payroll. Quicken says that you will need your most recent paycheck and that you’ll need to add any 401(k) accounts to Quicken before you begin.

1.   Once you have all the required information at hand and have entered any 401(k) or other accounts in Quicken, from the Paycheck Setup screen, click Next. If necessary, select Gross Amount, and then click Next.

2.   Select the paycheck owner (you or your spouse), and type the name of the company from whom you earn the paycheck. Press TAB to move to the Memo field. Type any additional information in this optional field, for example, if you receive two checks, one for base pay and one for commissions. Click Next to open the Track Paycheck dialog, shown in Figure 6-6.

3.   Click the Account field down arrow, and select the bank account into which this income is deposited. Press TAB, ENTER, or select the date, indicate whether you want it automatically entered or just a reminder, and finally select the date you get paid. You can also change your mind and choose to track your net pay only by selecting the Track Net Only button.

4.   Click Edit or Amount opposite Salary to open the Amount field. Enter the gross amount of income you receive. If you do not receive the same amount each time, enter an average.

5.   If you have other components of your income, such as a regular bonus or commissions, click Add Earning, select the category of other earnings, enter the amount, and click OK.

6.   If you have pre-tax deductions, such as 401(k) contributions, click Add Pre-Tax Deduction, select the category, select the account, enter both the contribution and employer-matching amounts, if applicable, and click OK.

Depending on your company’s insurance plan, some health insurance premiums are deducted after taxes, not before.

By entering deduction information from your regular paycheck, Quicken can create tax reports, help you plan for taxes, and export information to TurboTax for year-end tax reporting.

7.   Click in the amount field next to each of the tax items that are on your pay stub and enter the amount. If you want to make any changes to the name and category, click Edit, make the changes, and click OK. However, it is best to stay with the standard tax categories, as Quicken has already linked those categories with the proper tax-line items.

8.   Click After-Tax Deduction, which can include health insurance and stock purchases, correct the name if needed, select the category you want to use to collect this deduction, enter the amount, and click OK. Repeat this for multiple deductions.

9.   If you want to split your paycheck deposit over two or more accounts, click Add Deposit Account, select the additional account, type any memo information you want, enter the amount of your paycheck that will go into that account, and click OK.

10.   When you have entered all of the paycheck information you want to track, click Done to close the Track Paycheck dialog.

11.   Quicken asks if you want to enter year-to-date information. If you choose to enter that data, click OK, click in each of the Year To Date amount fields, type the requested information, and, when you’ve entered all the data you choose to include, click Enter to close the dialog box. Otherwise, click I Do Not Want To Enter This Information, and click OK.

Creating the Address Book

Quicken’s Address Book feature stores the address information you enter when using the Write Checks window. You can also use this feature to modify or delete existing information or add new records. Keeping track of addresses with the Address Book makes it easy to insert addresses when writing checks and to look up contact information when you need to follow up on transactions.

Choose Tools | Address Book to display the Address Book window. This window lists all the records in the Address Book.

You can use buttons and menus to work with Address Book window contents as shown here.

  •   The Group drop-down list lets you choose between All Groups and any other groups you have established within Quicken.

  •   The Column Sets drop-down list lets you view each of the various Address Book tabs in a columnar display. There are different columns in each column set. Each column set allows you to display different Address Book record data.

  •   New opens the Edit Address Book Record from which you can enter a new entry to the Address Book.

  •   Edit enables you to edit the selected record.

  •   Delete removes the Address Book record. It does not affect transactions that used the deleted Address Book record.

  •   Options opens a menu with which you can work with your Address Book entries:

       •   Switch Names And Organization swaps the name you have entered as a contact into the Organization field in the Contact tab of the Address Book record.

       •   Switch Payee & Secondary Addresses changes an address you have entered as the primary address to a secondary address.

       •   Format Address opens a dialog with which you can format how the payee’s address will appear on the checks you print.

       •   Assign To Groups opens a dialog with which you can assign this payee to a group within Quicken.

       •   Select All/Select None selects all or none of the payees in the Address Book.

       •   The Help icon displays the Help window with instructions for working with the Address Book.

       •   Print offers commands for printing Address Book record information.

You cannot print envelopes from this section.

Adding or Modifying Address Book Records

To add a new Address Book record, click the New button in the Address Book window. The Edit Address Book Record dialog, shown earlier, appears. You also use the Edit Address Book Record dialog to edit an existing record. Simply select the record in the Address Book window, and click the Edit button in the button bar. You can also double-click the entry to open it if you choose.

The Edit Address Book Record dialog has five tabs for recording information. Click a tab to display its options, and then enter the information you want to store.

Here’s what you can enter in each of the five tabs:

  •   Payee is for the information that would normally appear in a Write Checks window, as well as some additional contact information. From this tab, you can also tell Quicken to include this payee in other lists.

  •   Contact is for the name, title, phone numbers, and website of a specific person.

  •   Secondary is for a secondary mailing address and e-mail address.

  •   Personal is for personal information, such as spouse and children’s names, birthday and anniversary, an ID number if you need one, and still more phone numbers.

  •   Miscellaneous is for additional information, such as user-defined fields and notes. Click OK to save your entry.

Printing Entry Information

You can print the information in the list in three formats: list, labels, and envelopes.

Start by selecting a group from the Group drop-down list at the top of the Address Book window. From the group of records that displays, select a payee or several payees whose information you want to print. To change the format of a specific record, choose that record and click Options | Format Address to open the Format Print Check Address dialog. Set the options and click OK.

From the Address Book window, click the Print icon to open a drop-down list of printing options. These options are List, Labels, and Envelopes.

  •   List Choose List to display a Print dialog just like the one that appears when printing Quicken reports. Use it to enter printing options, and then click OK to print the list.

  •   Labels Choose Labels to display the Print Labels dialog. It includes a list of commonly used Avery label products; be sure to select the right one. Then select Contact To Print at the bottom of the Print Labels dialog. Click Print to open another Print Labels dialog from which you select the printer you want to use. Make sure you have label stock in the printer and choose the orientation of your labels, either Portrait or Landscape. Select Print Preview to see how your printed labels will look and click Print to print your labels.

  •   Envelopes Choosing Envelopes displays the Print Envelope dialog. Use it to print #10 envelopes for Address Book records. To print your envelopes:

         1.   Select the payees for which the envelopes are to be printed.

         2.   Click the Print icon and select Envelopes.

         3.   From the Print Envelope dialog, you may print either the contacts you have selected or select Print All Contacts to create envelopes for everyone in the group.

         4.   Click Print Return Address if you want a return address printed on your envelopes. Select the return address.

         5.   Click Print to open the Quicken Print Envelopes dialog. Your default printer appears in the Print To section.

         6.   Select either a Horizontal or Vertical feed, depending on your printer’s envelope printer. Set the Margin Offsets if necessary.

         7.   If you want to use another printer, select Printer Setup and choose another printer.

         8.   Click Font if you want to change the size of the printed information.

         9.   Ensure you have envelopes in your printer’s envelope feeder. When you have made your choices, click OK to print your envelopes.

       10.   Click Done to close the Address Book window.

About Alerts

When you’re juggling multiple bank, credit card, and investment accounts along with taxes, reminders, and several insurance policy renewal dates, Quicken’s Alerts feature can really help you keep your sanity. After all, who can keep track of all those balances and keep them where they should be? Quicken can! Financial superstar!

The Alerts feature can also prevent embarrassment at a checkout counter by warning you when a credit card balance is getting dangerously close to its limit. Likewise, it can remind you to pay your credit card bill so even if your balance is relatively low, you won’t forget to make that monthly payment on time.

This section discusses the kinds of alerts Quicken offers and explains how to set them up.

Viewing Available Alerts Groups

Quicken offers four different groups of items for which you can set alerts. To enable them, open the Tools menu, choose Alerts Center, as shown in the following illustration. Click the Setup tab, and then open the group with which you want to work. Here’s an explanation of the alerts you can set in each group.

Banking Alerts

  •   Account Min. Balances enables you to set minimum balances for your checking and savings accounts. Quicken alerts you when the account balance falls below the reminder amount you specify.

  •   Account Max. Balances enables you to set maximum balances for your checking and savings accounts. Quicken alerts you when the account balance climbs above the amount you specify.

  •   Credit Card Limits enables you to set limits for your credit card accounts. You can set a limit amount and a reminder amount. Quicken alerts you if the balance exceeds the reminder amount.

  •   Check Reorder Notice tells Quicken to alert you when you reach a certain check number. You can set this option for both checking and savings accounts.

  •   Monthly Expenses enables you to specify maximum monthly spending amounts for any Quicken expense category. If you exceed the limit you specified, Quicken alerts you to the fact.

  •   Savings Goals tells Quicken to alert you when you fall behind on a savings goal. This option works directly with Quicken’s Savings Goals feature, which you learn about in Chapter 13.

  •   Online Services Available tells Quicken to alert you when one of your financial institutions supports Online Account Services.

In addition, Quicken offers three other General group reminder alerts that fall in the banking group:

  •   Online Transactions tells Quicken to remind you to download transactions from your financial institution if you haven’t done so for 30 days or more.

  •   Scheduled Bills Or Deposits Due Soon tells Quicken to remind you in advance of any scheduled transactions that are due.

  •   Send To Quicken.com tells Quicken to remind you to export your portfolio to Quicken.com when holdings change.

Investing and Tax Alerts

Chapter 8 discusses setting the Investing group alerts while you can see Chapter 14 for a discussion on the three Taxes group alerts that are available for your use.

General Alerts

In addition to the three alerts discussed earlier in this section in “Banking Alerts,” you can set alerts for the following:

  •   Insurance Reappraisal Use this alert to remind you of insurance policy renewal dates and to ensure that your current coverage amounts are up to date.

  •   Mortgage Reappraisal This is a particularly useful alert if your mortgage has a variable interest rate, requires a balloon payment, or requires other, periodic attention.

Setting Up Alerts

You set up alerts from the Setup tab of the Alerts Center window. Click the name of one of the alerts to view and set it. To set an alert, select the name of the alert on the left side of the window. If necessary, click the check box to select it. Then click the value you want to change on the right side of the window and enter a new value. Not all alerts have values you can change; for example, the Online Services Available alert is a simple on or off setting made with the check mark.

You can tell Quicken how to notify you with the options in the bottom half of the Setup window.

  •   Text In The Alert List displays the alert as an item in an Alerts snapshot only, which you can see in the Alerts Center Show All tab and when you add alerts to another view.

  •   Urgent (Pop Up Dialog Box) displays the alert in a dialog when you first start Quicken each day.

  •   Keep the Alert in the List For lets you tell Quicken how long the alert should remain in the Alerts snapshot. The default setting is One Month, but you can use the drop-down list to choose One Day, One Week, One Month, One Quarter, or One Year.

When you’re completely finished setting alerts, click OK to close the Alerts Center window. The alerts will work quietly in the background, watching your financial dealings. When it’s time to go to work, they appear as you specified.

Working with Alerts

Once you’ve set up alerts, you can view, modify, or delete them as desired. Here’s how:

  •   Viewing Alerts View alerts in the Show All tab of the Alerts Center window. Click Tools | Alerts Center | Show All to display them.

  •   Modifying Alerts Change the way an alert works at any time. Open the Tools menu, and choose Alerts Center | Setup. Then follow the instructions in the previous section titled “Setting Up Alerts” to change alert settings.

  •   Deleting Alerts To delete an alert, display the Show All tab of the Alerts Center. Click the Delete button beside each alert you want to delete. A confirmation dialog appears. Click OK to delete the alert.

To prevent a deleted alert from appearing again, use the Setup tab of the Alerts Center window to clear the check box for the alert in the list on the left side of the window.

You can select multiple alerts and click one of the selected Delete buttons to delete all of the selected alerts. To select multiple alerts, click the first alert, then hold down SHIFT and click the last alert you want to delete. Click any of the Delete buttons within the highlighted selection.