Quick Start Guide
Overview
New to Quicken Simplifi or Quicken Business & Personal?
This guide walks you through the core setup steps so you can get oriented quickly and start seeing value right away.
You do not need to set up everything at once.
Start with the basics:
Connect your accounts
Review your dashboard
Review your transactions
Choose what you want to do next
Everything else builds from there.
Step 1: Connect Your Accounts
You may have connected your accounts during setup — if so, take a moment to confirm everything appears correctly. If you skipped this step or only added some accounts, now is the time to finish.
Connected accounts are what bring Quicken to life. Once connected, Quicken automatically downloads transactions and balances so your financial information stays current.
You can connect:
Bank accounts
Credit cards
Loans
Investment accounts
If your financial institution does not support automatic downloads, you can still add accounts manually.
Note: Transactions may take a few minutes to appear after connecting an account for the first time. If your Dashboard looks empty, give it a moment and refresh.
Next: Adding Accounts
Step 2: Set Up Your Business
(Quicken Business & Personal only)
To track your business and personal finances separately, you must add your business. If you didn’t add your business during initial set-up, or your are adding an additonal business, make sure to do that now.
This helps:
Keep business and personal finances separated
Improve reporting accuracy
Organize tax-related activity and keep you tax ready
Create clearer financial insights
You can always refine things later — the goal right now is simply getting organized.
Quicken Simplifi users: Skip ahead to Step 3.
Next: Setting Up Or Adding a Business
Step 3: Explore Your Dashboard
Your Dashboard is your financial home base.
Your Dashboard is designed to help you quickly understand your finances at a glance. Spend a few minutes exploring the different sections and getting familiar with the information Quicken is already organizing for you.
Your Dashboard gives you a quick snapshot of:
Account balances
Recent transactions
Upcoming bills
Spending activity
Net worth
Cash flow insights
The Dashboard is also customizable, so you can organize it around what matters most to you.
Tip: Don’t worry about understanding every feature yet. Start by getting comfortable with your financial picture.
Next: Getting to Know Your Dashboard
Step 4: Review Your Transactions
With your accounts connected, Quicken has already started categorizing your downloaded transactions.
Take a quick pass to make sure things generally look correct.
You do not need to review every transaction right away. Instead, focus on:
Incorrect categories
Duplicate transactions
Missing business expenses
Obvious errors
Correcting a few important items now helps improve your reports, spending summaries, and future categorization.
Tip: Don’t aim for perfection on your first pass. Quicken learns from your edits over time.
Next: Working With Transactions
You’re Ready — Where Should You Go Next?
There’s no single “right” next step.
Some people want to jump into action - by creating a personal budget or invoicing a client. Others prefer to build trust first by reviewing their finances and learning how things work.
Choose the path that feels most useful to you.
Simplifi
Option 1: Explore Your Spending
Not ready to create a Spending Plan yet? Start by reviewing where your money is already going.
You can:
View spending by category
Identify subscriptions
Review monthly trends
Understand your cash flow
Next: Spending Report
Option 2: Review Recurring Bills & Income
Confirm upcoming bills, paychecks, subscriptions, and recurring expenses so you can better understand your monthly cash flow.
This is a great way to feel more organized without setting up a budget.
Next:
Option 3: Create a Spending Plan
Ready to take the next step? A Spending Plan helps you organize your monthly income and expenses so you can make intentional financial decisions.
You can start simple and refine it over time.
Next: Spending Plan
Option 4: Customize Your Dashboard
Make Quicken feel more personal by organizing your Dashboard around the information you care about most.
Next: Getting to Know Your Dashboard
Quicken Business & Personal Users
Option 1: Review Transactions & Accounts
Start by reviewing your recent transactions and account activity so you can see where your money is going and confirm everything looks accurate.
As your accounts download data, Quicken begins organizing your income, expenses, balances, and recent business activity automatically. This is one of the fastest ways to build confidence in your financial data and better understand how money moves through your business.
You do not need to review every transaction right away — just scan for anything that looks obviously incorrect or unfamiliar.
Next: Working With Transactions
Option 4: Set Up Invoicing & Payments - Get Paid
Ready to start using Quicken for day-to-day business operations? Create your invoice template, send invoices, record payments, or issue sales receipts.
Even setting up your invoice template now can save time later.
Next: Tracking Income
Option 3: Review Business & Personal Categories
Review your categories to make sure business and personal finances stay clearly separated for reporting, budgeting, and taxes.
Categories help Quicken organize your financial activity so reports, spending summaries, and tax-related tracking are more accurate and useful over time.
You can always refine categories later — the goal right now is simply creating a clean foundation.
Next: Using Categories & Tags →
Next: Using Categories & Tags
Option 4: Explore Business Cash Flow
Review how money is moving through your business by monitoring income, expenses, balances, and upcoming bills.
This is often one of the fastest ways to understand your business finances.
Next: Running Reports
Keep Going at Your Own Pace
You do not need to master everything in one day.
Quicken is designed to grow with you. Start with the basics, build confidence, and return to new features when you’re ready.