Creating Quicken Reports
In This Chapter:
• Reviewing report and graph types
• Working with a report window
• Customizing reports and graphs
After you have downloaded or entered your financial data, you may need to see an explanation of your current position. Quicken offers a variety of reports and graphs, each of which can be customized to meet your needs. After data is entered into Quicken, Quicken crunches the numbers for you, provides reports and graphs to analyze your spending habits, helps you find ways to save money, helps when you prepare your taxes, and formats your data to submit information to financial institutions when you apply for loans or credit cards.
Quicken Reports Overview
While the Reports button in the Spending tab offers nine reports that you can create dealing with spending and income, there are many other reports available throughout Quicken. You can access reports from the Reports button in the Planning tab, the Reports And Graphs window, and you can find report menus in the Investing tab as well. In this chapter, you’ll learn about the various types of reports and graphs Quicken offers. Then you’ll learn how you can use a variety of techniques to quickly create reports and graphs based on the information in your Quicken data file, regardless of where it appears.
Reviewing Report and Graph Types
Within Quicken are two kinds of reports and graphs: standard and your customized reports. Quicken creates a number of standard reports and by starting with any of the standard reports, you can create customized reports and save them as your own versions. Here’s an overview of each one.
Standard Quicken Reports
When you click Reports on the menu bar, Quicken displays a number of standard reports and graphs, organized by topic: Banking, Comparison, Investing, Net Worth & Balances, Spending, Tax, EasyAnswer, and Graphs, as well as links to the Reports & Graphs Center and CreditScore.
This section discusses standard reports found in the Deluxe and Premier editions of Quicken 2015. If you are using the Home & Business or Rental Property Manager edition of Quicken, you have additional reports available.
Many Quicken users have found that reports and graphs are their reward for taking the time to download, enter, and reconcile their accounts. You can quickly create a report of everything you’ve spent on cell phone bills since the first of the year, for example, or summarize your total income from your second job.
Your tax preparer may appreciate you even more when you walk in the office next January with a complete list of all of your income, every expense, including your itemized charitable contributions, and property tax amounts. Those reports may even save you some money when that tax person sends your bill!
For example, the Banking report options include Banking Summary, Cash Flow, Cash Flow By Tag, Missing Checks, Reconciliation, and Transaction reports. These reports and graphs clearly show banking-related information. EasyAnswer reports and graphs, as seen here, answer specific, predefined questions, such as, “Where did I spend my money during the period…?” and “How much did I spend on…?” You select a question and then provide optional information, such as a date range, payee, or account. Quicken gathers the information and generates the report or graph.
Customized and Saved Reports
You can create custom reports and graphs based on standard reports and graphs. This multiplies your reporting capabilities, enabling you to create reports or graphs that show exactly what you need to show. When you save your custom reports and graphs, they can be recalled, with just a few mouse clicks, to display current information.
Recently a new user asked how to find the beginning and ending balance on his transaction report from last month. When he looked at the report again, he saw that the beginning balance for the account (or accounts when including more than one bank account) is shown at the top of the report and the ending balance shows on the bottom line entitled “Balance.” You may find as well that most of the Quicken reports do have the information you need—you just have to look a bit at the report you’ve created.
Another person asked why one of her checks showed up in the Income category of her report. When she double-clicked that transaction, she found she had entered that check into the register with an income category rather than an expense category. Once she found the error, it was easily corrected—she just had to change the category.
Creating Reports and Graphs
With Quicken, creating a report or graph is as simple as clicking a few buttons. You can use several techniques: choosing a report or graph from the Reports menu, setting options in the Reports And Graphs window, using the Reports button, and choosing commands from contextual menus. In this section, you’ll learn to use all of these techniques.
Reports & Graphs Center
The Reports And Graphs window (see Figure 15-1) offers one way to create reports and graphs. Open the Spending, Planning, or Investing tab, and from the Reports button, choose All Reports | Reports & Graphs Center to display it. You can also access the Reports & Graphs Center from the Quicken menu bar by clicking Reports | Reports & Graphs Center.
Figure 15-1 • The Reports & Graphs Center can help you create both written and graphic reports.
Consider adding the Reports & Graphs Center icon to your Quicken Toolbar to open the center without using menus.
Click one of the sections in any of the Quicken Standard Reports sections to display a list of the available reports and graphs. The icon that appears to the left of the report name indicates whether you are choosing a report or a graph. In the example shown here, we are creating a report, as indicated by the report icon. Those items that have both the graph and the report symbol, seen here, to their left let you choose between the two when you create the report.
To create a report or graph, click its name. Set the Date Range option in the settings field. Click the Customize button to further customize the report or graph, as explained in the section titled “Customizing Reports and Graphs.” Then click Show Report or Show Graph to display the report or graph. Figure 15-2 shows an example of a report.
Figure 15-2 • Quicken’s standard reports make understanding your financial picture clear.
The All Reports Menu
In the Spending, Planning, and Investing tabs, you see a Reports button from which you can open the All Reports menu. This menu is the same as the menu you see in the Reports option on the Quicken menu bar.
To create a report or graph from the All Reports menu, click a topic submenu, and then click a report name. Quicken creates the report with default date settings, usually the current year to date. Click Reports & Graphs Center from the All Reports topical submenu to go directly to the Reports & Graphs Center.
You can set the default date range in Preferences. Click Edit | Preferences | Reports And Graphs and then set the dates you desire in the Default Date Range and Default Comparison Date Range.
You can sort from within reports using the Sort By drop-down lists or by clicking many of the headings.
If you start creating reports and find that you often want to change settings or adapt the report in some way, you can tell Quicken to open the customization dialog at the time you select a report to create. To set this preference, click Edit | Preferences | Reports And Graphs; then, from the Customizing Reports And Graphs section, click Customize Report/Graph Before Creating. Close OK to close the Preferences dialog. Then, the next time you want to create a report, the Customize dialog will open. Learn more about customization in the “Customizing Reports and Graphs” section later in this chapter.
If you have chosen to customize all of your reports and graphs before creating them in Quicken Preferences, a Customize dialog appears before the report is displayed.
Reports from Other Menus
You can also create a report by using the menus in some windows. This normally creates a report based on information selected within the window. For example, you could create a Register report for a specific account. From the register for that account, click the Actions (gear) icon and choose More Reports | Register Report.
A mini-report button also appears (seen here) in an account register window when you activate the Payee or Category field. Clicking this button displays a pop-up mini-report of recent activity for the payee or category. Clicking the Show Report button in the mini-report opens a report window with the information.
If you hover your mouse key over the word “Split” in a transaction, the mini-report icon is available from each separate category.
Contextual Menus
The contextual menu that appears when you right-click (click the right mouse button) while pointing to an item sometimes includes a command that will create a report for the item. For example, right-clicking the name of a payee in the account register window displays a context menu that includes the Payments Made To and Launch Mini-Report For Payee nnnnn at the bottom of that context menu. If you right-click a deposit’s payee, the report will be Payments Received From.
Working with Reports and Graphs
Although Quicken’s standard reports and graphs often provide just the information you need, you may want to do more with them. In this section, you will see how you can customize reports and graphs, save the reports and graphs you create so they’re easy to recall, and print reports and graphs so you have hard copies when you need them.
Working with a Report Window
When you create a report or graph, it appears in a report window, as seen in Figure 15-2. Each report or graph has a number of features and options, shown and discussed next, with which you can customize the report to meet your specific needs.
Toolbar Icons
The report window includes a number of toolbar icons, shown in the preceding illustration, that work with report contents:
• The Back arrow returns you to the Reports & Graphs Center when you have created your report from that center. The arrow does not appear if you have created your report from a Reports button within the Spending, Planning, or Investment tab. If you have created a subreport, you may see both forward and back arrows.
• The History icon displays a list of the parent report and all subreports you have created, as shown here. Click the History icon and select the name of a subreport to display it. Choose the Show Report List option to display the Report History navigation bar. This is a list of all of the subreports related to the current report. Click the Hide Report List to close the navigation bar.
• The Forward arrow is available only if you have clicked the Back button, and it allows you to move through subreports.
• The Delete icon deletes the report from the current Report History List. This button is gray if the report has not been added to the report list. See more about the report list in the section “Saving Reports and Graphs,” later in this chapter.
• Click the Print icon to send the report or graph to the printer or a file.
• Click the Export icon to display a menu as shown here. From this menu, you can export the contents of the current report in several ways. See “Exporting Your Reports” later in this chapter.
• Select the Save icon to save the current report. See “Saving Reports and Graphs” later in this chapter for more information.
• The Find/Replace icon opens the Find And Replace dialog. See Chapter 5 for more information about using Find And Replace.
• Use the Customize icon, which looks like a small gear, to use the Customize dialog to tailor the currently displayed report.
• The last item on this toolbar is the familiar question mark Help icon.
Hiding or Displaying Report Detail
You can show or hide the details for some reports by clicking a plus (+) or minus (−) button beside a report line. Some reports include additional items that allow you to change what appears on the current report without using the Customize dialog. These items appear under the report title and include
When you see Uncategorized as a category or payee on any report, double-click the amount to drill down to each transaction so that you can add a category or payee. Since many financial institutions download checks without your category, you may have quite a number of uncategorized transactions in one report. As explained in Chapter 6, ensure that you review each downloaded transaction and categorize it if necessary.
• The Expand All and Collapse All buttons, seen here, do the same thing as the plus and minus signs by individual categories, but for all groups in that report.
• The Edit drop-down list, which displays in transactions reports, allows you to:
• Resolve a placeholder in an investment transaction report (if any exist)
• Delete a selected transaction (or a group of transactions)
• Recategorize the selected transaction (or group)
• Retag the selected transaction or group of transactions
• Rename selected payees
• Edit transaction memos
When you double-click a transaction shown on a report, Quicken opens that transaction in the appropriate account register. You can return to the report by clicking the report’s name at the bottom of the register.
• Date Range, Sort By, and Subtotal By fields allow you to change the focus of the current report.
• Update to Show offers additional options for the report you’ve run.
Spending Trends
A very useful tool you will see in some Quicken Reports is the Spending Trend report. You see the symbol (shown next) in both the Spending by Payee and Spending by Category reports. Click the Spending Trend symbol to the left of a category or payee to see a small graph, shown next, that shows the trend for this category or payee over the last year. Click Done to close the graph and return to your report.
To choose only one bank for a report, use the Accounts tab in the Customize dialog and clear the check marks from all the other accounts.
Customizing Reports and Graphs
You can customize just about any report or graph you create so it displays only the information you choose. Customization options vary from one type of report or graph to another, so it is impossible to cover all variables in this chapter. Here are the most common options so you know what to expect. When you can customize it, however, depends on how you create it.
When you create a report or graph using the Reports And Graphs window (refer to Figure 15-1), you can customize it before or after you create it.
When you create a report using other commands, you may be able to customize it only after you have created it, unless you have set your preferences to always display the Customize dialog.
EasyAnswer reports do not display a Customize button when you create them from the Reports & Graphs Center; however, once the report is displayed on your screen, the Customize icon is available from the toolbar.
Once your report appears on your screen, you can always customize that report with the Customize icon.
You can adjust the columns on many reports by placing your mouse cursor on the line between headings. A small horizontal arrow appears. Hold down your left mouse button and drag the line to the left or right as you require.
Using the Customize Dialog
To customize a report or graph, click the Customize button in the options area for the report or graph in the Reports And Graphs window or the Customize button at the top of the report window (refer to Figure 15-2). The Customize dialog, as shown next, appears. The dialog’s full name includes the name of the report or graph.
When you have set your report preference to show Customize Report/Graph Before Creating and click Customize in the report window, no fields will be populated.
The Customize dialog includes up to seven tabs of options that you can set to customize the report:
• Display enables you to set display options for the report, such as the title, row and column headings, organization, number formatting, and columns.
• Accounts lets you select the accounts that should be included in the report. Quicken will include transactions or balances in this report for only the accounts you specify.
• From Categories you can select the categories to include in the report. If you choose, you can use this tab to include only transactions for which the payee, category, or memo contains certain text.
Search Quicken Help for “match character,” click the “How do I filter reports and graphs?” topic, and then expand “How do I enter match information?” in item 5. Use “match character” for sophisticated matching.
• The Payees tab shows options from which you can select the payees to include in the report. If desired, you can use this tab to include only transactions for which the category, payee, or memo contains certain text.
• The Tags tab lets you select the tags you want to show in your report.
When working with split transactions where some items have tags and others do not, ensure you have cleared the Not Tagged check box in the Tags tab in the Customize dialog so that the non-tagged items are not included in your report.
• The Advanced tab offers different options, depending on the standard report with which you are working. For example, you can set additional criteria for transactions to be included in the report, such as amount, status, and transaction type. It is also from this Advanced tab that you can tell Quicken to exclude all transfers you make between your accounts.
• The Securities tab, available on some reports, allows you to choose the securities you want included in the report. From this tab, you can also instruct Quicken to include hidden securities.
• The Actions tab, seen in the Investment Income and Investment Transactions reports, lets you opt to display only certain investment actions you have taken, such as purchases or sales.
• The Security Types tab, again only available in some investment reports, lets you determine which security type is displayed on the report.
• The Investing Goals tab allows you to create a report that displays the current status of your various investing goals.
If you have established category groups, you may also see a Category Groups tab in Summary, Comparison, or Budget reports.
Once you have set options as desired, click the Show Report or Show Graph button as necessary.
Some of the investing and tax schedule reports are available only in the Premier or higher editions of Quicken.
If the custom report or graph isn’t exactly what you want, that’s okay. Just click the Customize button in the report or graph window and change settings in the Customize dialog to fine-tune the report or graph. When you click OK, Quicken creates a new report. You can repeat this process until the report or graph is exactly the way you want it.
Using QuickZoom
The QuickZoom feature enables you to create a report or graph on the fly. Simply double-click a report line item, graph bar, or legend item. Quicken generates and displays a subreport for the item you double-clicked. Click the Back arrow to return to your original report.
Working with Subreports
Each time you make changes to an existing report or graph, or create a QuickZoom report, Quicken creates a subreport. As you can imagine, it’s easy to accumulate quite a few of these subreports when experimenting with Quicken’s reporting features. This can be reduced somewhat by changing your preference settings. Select Edit | Preferences | Reports And Graphs | Customizing Reports And Graphs, and select Customizing Modifies Current Report Or Graph. Click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
To view a specific subreport, choose its name from the History menu in the report window’s toolbar. The view changes to the report. You can also choose Show Report List from the History menu in the toolbar to display the Report History List. Click the name of the report you want to view to display it.
You can click the Back or Forward button at the top of the navigation bar to move among subreports you have already viewed.
To delete a subreport, display it and then click the Delete icon in the toolbar. You can also delete any subreport (other than the first one in the report list) by right-clicking the subreport name in the Report History List and selecting Delete This Report from the context menu.
Saving Reports and Graphs
You’ll often customize a predefined report to create a report you want to be able to see again and again. Rather than creating and customizing the report from scratch each time you want to see it, you can save the report’s settings. Then, when you want to view the report again, just select it from a list and it appears. You can do the same for graphs.
Saving a Report or Graph
To save a report or graph, start by creating, customizing, and displaying it. When it looks just the way you want, click the Save icon in the report window’s toolbar. The Save Report dialog appears.
Enter a name and description for the report or graph in the appropriate boxes. To save the report or graph in a specific folder, choose the folder name from the Save In drop-down list. You can create a new folder by clicking the Create New Report Folder option, which appears on the Save In drop-down list. Enter a name for the folder in the dialog that appears, and click OK. To save all versions of the report that you create, turn on the Save Report History check box. When you’re finished setting options, click OK to save the report.
Viewing a Saved Report or Graph
When you save a report or graph, it appears in a number of places throughout Quicken, organized by folder if you have saved them into specific folders. Your saved reports and graphs appear in the My Saved Reports area of the Reports And Graphs window, as seen next. Click the name of the report or graph, change the date range if you choose, and click Show Report or Show Graph to display it.
Saved reports and graphs also appear on the Reports menu as My Saved Reports & Graphs. (This submenu appears only if at least one report has been saved.) Choose a report name to display it. If you have a lot of saved reports, you will see an item, More Saved Reports & Graphs, which you can click to open the Reports And Graphs window.
Managing Saved Reports
Quicken offers two tools for managing saved reports: the Manage Saved Reports and Manage Toolbar Reports dialogs. When you choose the Reports & Graphs Center from the menu and look at the My Saved Reports pane, you may see one or two buttons at the bottom of the pane: Manage Toolbar Reports and Manage Saved Reports.
Manage Toolbar Reports When you click the Manage Toolbar Reports button, its dialog appears. This dialog allows you to add saved reports to the Quicken Toolbar for easy access. (This option appears only when you have chosen to show the Quicken Toolbar. Click View | Show Toolbar if you do not see this button on the My Saved Reports pane of the Reports And Graphs dialog.)
In the dialog, click the check box of each report you want to show as an icon in the Quicken Toolbar. Then, click OK to save your settings. You will see the icon on your toolbar. If the name is long, the entire name may not appear. (If you do not see the text for your report’s icon, right-click in the toolbar and choose Customize Toolbar | Show Icons And Text. Click Done to close the Customize Toolbar dialog.)
If you have created your own folders, as described next in “Managing Saved Reports,” for your saved reports, you can choose to have one or more of those folders display on the Quicken Toolbar as well. When you click a saved report folder icon on the Toolbar, it will appear as a pop-up menu button that lists the reports within it. Learn more about customizing the Quicken Toolbar in Appendix B.
Manage Saved Reports The Manage Saved Reports dialog, shown here, enables you to organize saved reports by folder, edit report settings, or delete reports. Select the item you want to work with in the report list, and click a button:
• Create Folder displays the Create New Report Folder dialog. Enter a name for the folder in the Name box, and click OK. The folder appears in the list.
• Move To Folder displays the Move To Report Folder dialog. When you select a report from the list, this button becomes available. Click the Move To Folder button to open the dialog, and select a different folder from the Name drop-down list. Click OK when you’ve made your choice, and the report is moved to that folder.
• Select a current folder, and the Rename Folder button becomes available. From the dialog that appears when you click this button, enter a new name for the folder in the Name box and click OK. The folder’s name changes.
• When you have selected one of the saved reports, the Edit button is available for use. This button allows you to enter a new name and description for the report. Click OK to save your changes.
• Delete removes any selected item. When you click this button, a confirmation dialog appears. You must click OK to delete the item permanently. Remember, when you delete a folder you are deleting all the items in that folder. Should you want to save any of the items, move them before deleting the folder.
• Done closes the Manage Saved Reports dialog and returns you to the Reports And Graphs window.
Exporting Your Reports
Another method of working with your reports is to export them into other formats or programs. From your report’s toolbar, choose the Export icon to view this menu. As you can see, there are three choices, each of which is explained in the sections that follow.
Report To Excel Compatible Format
Use this option to save your report into a .txt file that can be used with the Microsoft Office Excel program. The file is saved as a tab-delimited file with the file extension .txt. To save your file in this format:
1. From the Export menu, choose Report To Excel Compatible Format to open the Create Excel Compatible File dialog, as seen next.
2. Browse to find the folder into which you want to save this file, and click that folder.
Enter a name for your file, and click Save. The file will have a .txt extension. The new file is saved into the folder you designated and you are returned to your report window. A small message appears telling you the export was successful and notes the location of the Excel file. See “Work with Your Saved Excel File” next to see how to open the file in Excel.
Work with Your Saved Excel File
Once you have saved the file, you can work with it in Microsoft Excel. To do so:
1. Open Microsoft Excel. (The illustrations in this section refer to Microsoft Excel 2013, but the application works in similar ways with earlier versions of Excel.)
2. Click File | Open. Choose Text Files instead of All Excel Files as the type of file for which you want Excel to look. (See the next illustration.) Locate the folder into which you saved your file. When the folder opens, select the file you saved and click Open.
3. The Text Import Wizard appears.
4. Ensure that Delimited is selected. Normally, this is the default option. Click Next.
5. Make sure that Tab is selected from the Delimiters column. Click Next to continue.
6. At the last step, choose General and then click Finish to complete the import.
Your Excel worksheet appears, as seen in Figure 15-3. You may have to make the columns wider to see the information on the report. If so, place your cursor on the line between the column letters and drag to the right.
Figure 15-3 • Export your reports to Microsoft Excel for more customization.
You may also have to format the numbers to display as dollars and cents. To do this, highlight the cells with numbers in them and click the $ tool on the ribbon.
Save the file in an Excel format. To do so:
1. Click File.
2. Click Save As. From the Save As dialog, choose an Excel Workbook format and click Save.
Copy Report to Clipboard
Use this option to copy the report into another Windows program. If you have set your keyboard shortcuts to the Windows Standard, you can also use the keyboard shortcut CTRL-C. To “paste” this report into another program, use the keyboard shortcut CTRL-V. You can even use this method to copy the report into Microsoft Excel, a much easier process than the one Quicken recommends.
To set the Windows Standard keyboard shortcuts as your preference, click Edit | Preferences | Setup | Keyboard Mappings and choose Windows Standard.
Export to PDF Format
PDF stands for Portable Document Format. This format, patented by Adobe Systems, allows the reader to view and/or print a document from nearly any computer or word processor. This option is particularly useful if you are saving the report to e-mail it or sharing the file with someone who does not have either Quicken or Microsoft Office. To save as a .pdf file:
1. From the Export menu, click Export To PDF Format.
2. The Print dialog appears. In the Printer field you will see “Quicken PDF Printer on nnnn” rather than your regular printer.
3. Click Print. The Save To PDF File dialog appears. Locate the folder into which you want to save your file, type a name, and click Save. Your file is now saved with a .pdf extension.
Printing Reports and Graphs
One of the best things about reports and graphs is the ability to print and share them with others. You can create hard copies for your paper files, print a copy to take to your tax professional (and make that person very happy), or you can include professional reports with a loan application.
To print a report, subreport, or graph, begin by displaying it in the report window. Then click the Print icon on the window’s toolbar. The Print dialog appears, as seen in Figure 15-4. Set options as desired and click Print.
Figure 15-4 • Printing reports means you can share your financial information with other authorized entities.
Here’s a look at the available options.
• Print To options determine the destination of the printed report or graph. You have two choices:
• Printer prints to the printer you choose from the drop-down list, which includes all printers, faxes, and related devices you have set up in Windows.
• Export To makes it possible to export the report information in one of three formats you choose from the drop-down list: Text File, Tab-Delimited (Excel-Compatible) Disk File, or PRN (123-Compatible) Disk File. This option is only available if you are printing a report.
• Print Range determines which pages will print. You can use this if the printed report is more than one page. The default setting is All, which prints all pages of the report. To print a range of pages, select Pages and then enter the page numbers for the page range you want to print.
• Copies determines how many copies of the report will print. If you enter a value greater than 1, you can select the Collate check box to collate the copies as they are printed.
• Page Scaling options enable you to resize a report or graph to a specific percentage or to fit on a certain number of pages. These options are only available for certain printers.
• Print What lets you toggle between two check boxes to determine whether to print a graph or report or both. The available options depend on what’s in the report window.
• Orientation determines how the printed report will be viewed. The options are Portrait or Landscape. These are standard options offered by all programs. The icon beside each orientation option illustrates it.
• Ink Color allows you to choose between three options to determine the ink color and quality of the printout: Color (available only if a color printer is selected from the Printer drop-down list), Grayscale, or Draft.
• Fonts let you use the two Change Font buttons to change the header and body typefaces of the report or graph. Clicking the button displays the Font dialog, which you can use to set standard font options, such as font, size, and style.
• Preview shows a thumbnail preview of the document. You can click the buttons in the Viewing Page area to scroll through all pages of the report. To change the margins for the document, click the Adjust Margins button. The Preview area changes to offer boxes for entering margin values. To view a full-size preview, click the thumbnail in this area or click the Preview button at the bottom of the dialog.
• Viewing Page dialog allows you to scroll through the pages of your report to see how each page will look when printed.