Get Started

This page is a general guide to adding accounts. If you are having issues/errors adding an account you should visit the Quicken Support Page or contact Quicken Support directly.

To use Quicken you must start by adding your financial accounts. It's easy to add the accounts you want to track in Quicken. The more accounts you add the more closely Quicken reflects your true financial situation, which can assist you in short- and long-term financial planning.

Add an online account

With online accounts, you download your transactions directly from the financial institution. If you do prefer to enter your transactions manually, see Add an offline spending account below.

1. Select the Add Account icon on the top right of the Account Bar.
   

   

   
   You can also add a new account by selecting Tools → Add Account from the top menu.

2. Start typing the name of your financial institution, such as your bank or credit card provider. Quicken will filter the results based on what you type. When you see your financial institution in the panel below, select it and click Next.

   

   

   For online accounts, Quicken finds accounts based on the financial institution. This way, if you have multiple accounts at the same bank, you can add them all at once. You will have a chance to select the type of account later.

3. Enter your account/user information. This is the information you use to sign in to your online account, such as a user name and password. you may be asked for additional information, such as a challenge question or a code that is sent to your email or phone.

   

   
   

4. Review your accounts. Quicken will find all the accounts associated with your login. On this screen, you can make any adjustments, then click Next.

   • Type: Your options will vary according to the financial institution but Checking and Savings are the standard types.

   • Nickname: Enter any name that helps you easily identify the account.

   • Used for: Most accounts will be Personal, but depending on your versions you may have the option of Business and Rental. 

   • Action: Select Add to Quicken if you want to add an account.  
     
     

     

5. Quicken now adds your accounts. You'll see a message letting you know what accounts were added. You can choose to either Add Another Account or Finish.

Add an offline account

Offline accounts (sometimes called manual accounts) don't connect to a financial institution. It is your responsibility to enter all the information and track your transactions accurately. In most cases, it is preferable to use an online account, but you may choose this for security, control, or because the account is not with an institution Quicken can connect to. 

1. Select the Add Account icon on the top right of the Account Bar.

   

   You can also add a new account by selecting Tools → Add Account from the top menu.

2. Select Offline Account.
   

   

3. Select the account type. Spending accounts include Checking, Savings, and Credit Card.
   

   

4. Name your account and select Next. Depending on your version of Quicken, you may also have options for selecting how your account is used.
   

   

5. Enter your Statement ending date (The date you want to start tracking from) and your Statement ending balance (how much was in your account that day). Select Next.
   

   

6. Your account will be added. Select Finish. You can also choose to Add Another Account.

More Information

Categories are an important aspect of the Quicken software, as they help to organize and track your financial transactions. When you download your transactions from your bank into Quicken, the software automatically assigns categories to each transaction based on its best guess about the purpose of the transaction.

For example, if you spend money at a supermarket, Quicken will likely assign the Groceries category to the transaction. This helps you to easily understand where your money is going and track your spending in different areas.

It's important to note that while Quicken is good at assigning categories, there may be cases where it makes an incorrect assumption about the purpose of a transaction. In these cases, it's important to review your categories and make any necessary changes to ensure that your spending and income are being tracked accurately.

Overall, categories are a valuable tool in Quicken for organizing and tracking your financial transactions and help you to gain a comprehensive understanding of your finances.

The Power of Categories in Quicken

Categories are a powerful tool in Quicken that help to track your spending and create budgets. The categories you assign to your transactions serve to categorize and organize your financial information.

When you create a budget in Quicken, you have the ability to identify the different categories you plan to spend money in. This allows you to set spending limits for each category and track your actual spending against those limits. Quicken will automatically categorize your transactions and track your spending in each category, providing a clear picture of your financial situation.

In addition to tracking your spending, categories in Quicken can also be used to create reports and graphs. These reports and graphs provide insights into your spending habits, allowing you to identify areas where you may be overspending and make necessary changes to your budget.

Overall, categories are a crucial part of the Quicken software and play a key role in helping you to manage your finances, track your spending, and create budgets. By effectively using categories, you can gain a better understanding of your finances and make informed decisions about your spending.

The Importance of Reviewing Categories in Quicken

While Quicken is good at identifying transaction categories, it's not perfect. There may be cases where Quicken makes an incorrect assumption about the purpose of a transaction, leading to inaccuracies in your financial tracking and reporting.

For example, if you spend money at a supermarket, Quicken may assume you bought groceries. However, you may have also bought pots and pans, a magazine, or medicine during your visit to the store. In this case, the category assigned by Quicken may not accurately reflect the nature of the transaction.

That's why it's important to regularly review your categories in Quicken. By doing so, you can ensure that your financial transactions are accurately categorized and that your spending and income are tracked correctly. This helps you to make informed decisions about your finances and stay on top of your financial situation.

Reviewing your categories in Quicken is a crucial step in ensuring the accuracy of your financial tracking and reporting. By taking the time to review your categories regularly, you can gain a better understanding of your finances and make informed decisions about your spending.

Finding the right category

Quicken offers a wide range of categories, making it easy to accurately categorize your transactions. Depending on your version of Quicken, you may see several sections of categories, including personal expenses, business expenses, and investment transactions.

When categorizing transactions, a good place to start is the Personal Expenses section. This section contains the most commonly used categories for day-to-day transactions, such as shopping, auto expenses, and mortgage and rent. Starting here, you can easily categorize your transactions and ensure that your spending and income are tracked accurately.

In addition to the Personal Expenses section, you can also select to see more information about individual categories. This can help you to better understand each category and make informed decisions about which category to assign to a transaction.

Overall, finding the right category in Quicken is an important step in accurately tracking your spending and creating useful reports and graphs. By taking the time to choose the right category for each transaction, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of your finances and make informed decisions about your spending.

Editing Uncategorized Transactions in Quicken

There will be instances where Quicken does not have enough information about a transaction to assign a category. In these cases, you will need to supply the category yourself.

The Category list in Quicken appears in your register and allows you to assign a category to a transaction. You can easily change the category assigned to a transaction if it does not accurately reflect the nature of the transaction. Right-click on the Category column of the transaction in the register and select the correct category from the list.

Sometimes, Quicken will not be familiar enough with a payee to suggest a category. In these instances, you will see a blank entry in the Category list. In these cases, you must manually supply the category by selecting the appropriate category from the list or creating a custom category if necessary.

Editing uncategorized transactions in Quicken is a straightforward process that helps to ensure the accuracy of your financial tracking and reporting. By taking the time to categorize all of your transactions, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of your finances and make informed decisions about your spending.

After Quicken downloads your transactions, you can review the transactions before entering them in your register in a matching process called Compare to Register.

Can I undo accepting a transaction?

Can I accept all transactions at once?

Can I accept transactions automatically?

Can I remove transactions from the list as I accept them?

What about accepting investment transactions?

Why can't I find the Downloaded Transactions tab?

Categorizing your transactions in Quicken is more than a way to keep your finances organized—it’s a tool for understanding your spending habits, planning for the future, and making smarter financial decisions. Whether you’re tracking personal expenses, running a business, or managing rental properties, proper categorization brings clarity and precision to your financial picture.

This guide will help you categorize transactions, split them into multiple categories, and maximize Quicken’s features with tips and deeper insights.

Why Categorization Matters

Categorization is the foundation of financial tracking in Quicken. Without proper categorization, it’s difficult to see where your money is going, prepare for taxes, or create effective budgets.

By categorizing transactions, you can uncover spending patterns, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven financial decisions. Accurate categories also ensure that reports, budgets, and planning tools in Quicken work as intended.

Assigning Categories to Your Transactions

Assigning categories ensures every transaction has a purpose and is tracked correctly. This makes it easier to monitor spending, generate accurate reports, and understand your overall financial picture.

Steps to Assign a Category

1. Open the account containing the transaction.

2. In the register, select the Category field of the transaction.

3. Choose a category:

   • Start typing the category name to see suggestions.

   • Use the drop-down menu to browse available categories.

4. Save the transaction to apply the category.

What Are Categories?

Categories classify transactions into broad groups like:

• Personal Income and Expenses: Salaries, groceries, utilities.

• Business Income and Expenses: Client payments, office supplies.

• Rental Property: Rent received, property maintenance.

Quicken allows you to create custom categories for unique needs and use subcategories for more precise tracking, such as Utilities:Water.

Tips for Efficient Categorization

• Reveal Hidden Categories: Some are hidden by default. Select Show > Hidden Categories to display all options.

• QuickFill Suggestions: Quicken remembers frequently used categories for payees and suggests them in future transactions.

• Custom Categories: Create your own if Quicken doesn’t recognize the one you need.

Splitting Transactions for Accuracy

Some transactions cover multiple spending purposes, such as shopping trips or loan payments. Splitting transactions into multiple categories provides a clearer breakdown of your finances.

How to Split a Transaction

1. Open the account and select the transaction.

2. Click the Split icon by the transaction.

3. In the Split Transaction dialog, enter:

   • A Category for each portion.

   • Optional Tags for additional tracking.

   • The Amount for each line.

4. Adjust the totals as needed and save the transaction.

Balancing Split Totals

If the Transaction Total and Split Total don’t match, Quicken highlights the difference. You can:

• Adjust split line amounts to balance the totals.

• Use Adjust to set the Transaction Total to the Split Total.

• Distribute leftover amounts proportionally across other split lines using the Allocate option.

Tips for Managing Splits

• Clearing Splits: Click the X in the Category field to remove all split lines and assign a new category.

• Special Forms: Quicken uses forms for complex splits, such as paychecks or invoices, to simplify entry.

Automating Categories for Efficiency

Manually categorizing every transaction can be time-consuming. Quicken offers tools to automate categorization, saving you time while maintaining accuracy.

Automating Categorization

Quicken automatically assigns categories to downloaded transactions using merchant codes. You can adjust these categories if needed, and Quicken will remember your changes for future transactions.

Memorizing Payees

For recurring transactions, memorize payees and associate them with specific categories, amounts, and payment methods. This feature ensures consistency and reduces manual input.

QuickFill Preferences

QuickFill helps Quicken learn your habits and suggest categories over time. To manage this feature:

1. Go to Edit menu > Preferences > Data Entry and QuickFill.

2. Adjust settings to match your preferences for automatic categorization.

Categorizing Investment Transactions

Investment transactions often require unique handling, and Quicken simplifies this process by providing the Category field only when applicable. For example, you might see this field when writing checks from cash management accounts.

Transactions marked as Uncategorized will appear in reports and dashboards. To locate and fix these:

• Visit the Home tab and check the See Where Your Money Goes section.

• Assign appropriate categories to ensure your financial reports are accurate.

Maximizing the Impact of Categorization

Proper categorization unlocks the full potential of Quicken’s features. Accurate categories provide better insights into your spending and enable powerful tools like budgets and reports.

• Detailed Reports: Generate reports showing spending, income, and net worth by category or subcategory.

• Custom Budgets: Create budgets tailored to your needs and monitor spending in key areas.

Tips for Effective Reporting and Budgeting

• Stay Consistent: Use categories and subcategories consistently to avoid errors in reports.

• Review Uncategorized Transactions: Regularly check for transactions marked as Uncategorized and assign appropriate categories.

• Leverage Custom Categories: Tailor categories to align with your financial goals, such as tracking specific hobbies or business activities.

Categorizing transactions in Quicken is an essential step toward better financial management. By following this guide, you’ll not only keep your accounts organized but also gain the insights needed to achieve your financial goals. Whether you’re setting budgets, preparing for taxes, or tracking expenses, accurate categorization is the key to unlocking Quicken’s full potential.

The Home tab is the central hub for using Quicken. It allows you to view your key financial information at a glance on the Dashboard. You can also add one or more views that can be customized to suit your needs. Below is information about what you can find on your Home tab and tips for customization. 

You have a choice between our newer, Modern Dashboard and the Classic Dashboard.

The Modern Dashboard allows you to change the order of your financial cards such as Top Spending Categories, Top Payees, Recent Transactions, Uncategorized, Investment Top Movers, and Portfolio Value. It also offers newer interface tools and is the dashboard we will continue to update and refine going forward. 

To switch between the Modern Dashboard and the Classic Dashboard, use the gear icon at the top of the Dashboard. 

Using the Classic Dashboard

To add items to the Main View or to a custom view of the Home tab

1. Click the Home tab.

2. On the top of the page, click the required view name.

3. Click the Gear icon .

4. Select Customize View.

5. From the Available Items list, select the items to add to the selected view. (If necessary, click the plus sign next to a heading in the Available Items to display the list of items under that heading.)

6. Click the Add button.

7. Click Save.

To remove and rearrange items in a view

1. Click the Home tab.

2. On the top of the page, click the required view name.

3. Click the Gear icon .

4. Select Customize View.

5. From the Available items list on the right side of the Customize View dialog, select an item to move or delete.

   • To remove the item, click the Remove button.

   • To reposition the item, click the Move Up or Move Down button until the item is in the desired position.
     

     

6. Click Save.

To expand or collapse items in a view

You can expand or collapse the items in a view. Simply click the expand (plus) icon or collapse (minus) icon on the upper left side of the item panel.

See Where Your Money Goes

This section shows you how much of your money is being spent on each of your spending categories.

To change the date range or the accounts included in the graph, click Options in the upper right of the section.

Only spending accounts can be selected for display. For most users, their checking account is their spending account. To see which of your accounts are spending accounts, choose Tools menu > Account List > Personal Banking. The accounts listed under the Spending header are your spending accounts.

Double-clicking the pie chart, any category name, or Examine Your Spending opens the Spending tab where you can review each transaction included in the pie chart and recategorize them if they are in the wrong bucket.

Stay on Top of Monthly Bills

This section shows you how much money you have coming in and going out, so you can pay bills on time and avoid late payments and overdraft charges.

The list includes all upcoming bill reminders and scheduled income for the specified date range.

To change the time period, or to add a new reminder, click Options in the upper right of the section.

Any bill or income reminders that fall within the specified date range are displayed here.

The What's Left section displays the total amount of unallocated funds you have in your spending accounts at the end of the specified time range.

You will also see a Risk of Overdraft or a Projected Balances button, depending on your account balances. Clicking either button displays the Projected Balances graph, which shows your spending account balances over time, based on the planned spending and income you have told Quicken about.

Budget Your Spending

This section shows you how you're doing against your budget. The card displays a summary graph of your total spending for the month. If you want more detail, click on the graph to see how much you are over or under budget, or click Options in the upper right of the section to add categories to the card or go to your full budget.

Using the Modern Dashboard

The Modern Dashboard has cards that display different aspects of your finances. It is an excellent place to start each time you use Quicken.

Hiding a card

To hide a card, click the three-dot menu at the top right corner of the card and select Hide Snapshot.

You can also go to the gear menu and select Customize.

You will see a list of the cards and can turn any of them off or on by clicking the display toggle.

Available Cards

The first time you come to the Home tab, if you have not added any data (set up your accounts), these cards will be blank. Select Get Started in each section to go through the setup process for that section. Once you’ve done this, the buttons go away, and you can simply use the Home tab to track your financial picture.

Top Spending Categories

The Top Spending Categories card shows what categories you are spending your money in. The default view is for the Last 30 days, but you can choose other time periods as well. You can hover your pointer over any category to see more information about your spending in that category. You can click a category to see the transactions associated with that category.

Click the three-dot menu if you wish to select specific accounts to display, rename the card, or delete the card.

Top Payees

The Top Payees card shows you the payees that have received the most money. You can adjust the date range to get a better idea of your spending over time. You can also hover your pointer over a payee to see how much money you have sent them, and what percentage of your total spending was given to that payee. Click a payee to see a spending report for that payee.

Click the three-dot menu if you wish to select specific accounts to display, rename the card, or delete the card.

Recent Transactions

The Recent Transactions card shows you what transactions you've made in the last three days. If you have many transactions, you can scroll through them on the card. You can also hover your pointer over a transaction to get more details about the Account and Category. You can click a transaction to see that transaction in your register.

Click the three-dot menu if you wish to select specific accounts to display, rename the card, or delete the card.

Uncategorized

The Uncategorized card is an excellent resource that you can use to assign categories to your transactions. You can click any transaction to review it on a list of your uncategorized transactions.

Click the three-dot menu if you wish to select specific accounts to display, rename the card, or delete the card.

Investment Top Movers 

If you are using Quicken to track investments, the Investment Top Movers card will show the investments with the highest percentage change, either up or down. It will show the information for the day of your most recent update, listing the date on the card. During trading hours, the information will reflect a fifteen-minute reporting delay. You can also choose to view top movers in all of your holdings or only in securities.

Click the three-dot menu if you wish to select specific accounts to update quotes, rename the card, or delete the card.

Portfolio Value

The Portfolio Value card shows the total worth of your investment holdings and tracks the change in value. You can choose from several different time periods. Turning off Y-axis at Zero will focus on the value changes rather than the total portfolio value.

Click the three-dot menu if you wish to select specific accounts to display, rename the card, or delete the card.

How do I customize a view on the Home tab?

You can create multiple views on the Home tab; add, delete, or rearrange the components that each displays. You can add up to a total of 40 snapshots, depending on your version of Quicken—so that each contains only the Quicken data that is most important to you.

Quicken lets you create a total of 11 views to track different financial areas.

To add a custom view to the Home tab

1. Click the Home tab.

2. Click Add View.

3. Enter a name for the view.

4. Add any items that you want this view to display.

5. Click OK.

To arrange items to the Main View or to a custom view of the Home tab

1. Hover your pointer over the center top of an individual card. You should see a double row of dots.

2. Drag the card to where you want it to be located. The card will replace the one currently there, and the other cards will be rearranged to reflect the new order.
   

   

To navigate between views on the Home tab

1. Click the Home tab.

2. On the top of the page, click the required view name.

To delete a view

1. Click the Home tab.

2. On the top of the page, click the required view name.

3. Click Customize.

4. Click Delete This View.

   

   You can't delete the Main View unless you have created at least one other view.

Why am I seeing this page / window?

This help page is often the first help page people see because it is associated with the Home screen and Dashboard, one of our most commonly used features. You can access help from any screen in Quicken by pressing the F1 key or by clicking on one of our circular question mark icons . People sometimes do this by accident and are surprised to find themselves on this page.

Do you need to contact support?

You can contact support here.

Note for our Canadian Customers

The following terms will be different in the Canadian releases of Quicken.

Canada: "Cheque" / United States: "Check"
Canada: "Colour" / United States: "Color"
Canada: "Centre" / United States: "Center"
Canada: "Realise" / United States: "Realize"
Canada: "Behaviour" / United States: "Behavior"
Canada: "Analyse" / United States: "Analyze"

Troubleshooting

Are you having issues with your transactions? Please visit our support site.

Use the Spending tab to see a breakdown of where your money is going. The pie chart provides a way to drill down and see the transactions in a particular category. You can also see which transactions are uncategorized, so you can easily assign them to categories.

See where your money is going

1. Click the Spending tab.

2. Use the filters at the top of the window to change the accounts, time period, and type of transactions (spending, income, or spending without taxes) that you want to see.
   

   

3. Click a slice in the pie chart to see the transactions in a particular category. You can also click any of the items in the legend. The list of transactions below the pie chart changes to show only the transactions in that category. Using the list you can easily change the categories and payees assigned to your transactions.
   

   • If transactions are assigned to the wrong category

     If any transactions are incorrectly categorized, click a transaction in the list below the pie chart and select the correct category.

   • If transactions are assigned to the wrong payee

     If transactions are assigned to the wrong payee, click a transaction in the list below the pie chart and select the correct payee.

   • To navigate back up

     To navigate back up, click the "breadcrumb" links in the upper left of the pie chart window.

4. Continue to click a slice in the pie chart or legend to see the transactions paid to a particular payee.

Note

If there are any uncategorized transactions, a message appears with a link that will take you to a list of the uncategorized transactions.

Reports

For more spending data you may want to try our reports.

Go to the Reports menu → Spending for a list of spending reports.

For more information

• Categorizing transactions in Quicken

• About tracking tax-related expenses by category

Creating a budget in Quicken helps you organize your finances by setting spending limits and tracking your expenses. With a budget, you can allocate funds to specific categories, compare actual spending to your plan, and make adjustments as needed. This guide explains how to create, customize, and manage a budget in Quicken.

Quick steps to create a budget

Follow these steps to set up your budget:

1. Open the budget tool:
   • Go to the Planning tab. If tabs are hidden, enable them via View menu > Show Tabs.
   • Click Budgets.
2. Start your budget:
   • If this is your first budget, click Get Started.
   • To create a new budget, select Budget Actions > Create New Budget.
3. Name your budget: Enter a name to help identify it (e.g., "2024 Budget").
4. Select the year:
   • Budgets default to the current year. Use Advanced Budget Settings to adjust this if needed.
5. Choose categories:
   • Quicken can automatically include recurring categories, or you can select categories manually. Both options allow changes later.
6. Complete setup: Click Next to generate your budget.

Once the budget is created, you can start tracking your spending and make changes as needed.

How Quicken creates your budget

When you create a budget, Quicken uses your transaction history to provide a starting point. The program analyzes prior spending patterns and organizes the data into budget categories.

• Categories included:
  • Recurring personal expense categories (e.g., groceries, utilities).
  • Transfers, income, and special categories like _401Contrib are excluded by default.
• Transaction data used:
  • Quicken looks at transactions from the past 12 months. If less data is available, it uses as few as three months.
• Budgeting method:
  • Quicken uses actual spending for past months and averages for current and future months.
• Rounding: Amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar.
• Accounts included:
  • Quicken includes personal expense transactions but excludes Invoice and Sales Tax accounts (Quicken Home & Business only).

This process gives you a baseline budget that you can customize to better reflect your financial needs.

Customizing your budget

After creating a budget, you can adjust it to better fit your financial situation. Customization allows you to focus on specific spending areas and make updates as your needs change.

Adding or removing categories

1. Click Select Categories to Budget at the bottom of the Budget window.
2. Add categories that are relevant to your spending or remove those that aren’t.

Adjusting amounts

1. Click a category in the Budget window.
2. Enter a new monthly budget amount as needed.

Customizing your budget ensures it aligns with your spending patterns and goals.

Extending your budget to a new year

Quicken can copy your existing budget into a new year. This allows you to maintain consistency while making adjustments for any changes in your expenses or income.

Extending your budget:

1. Use the date control at the top of the Budget window to select the new year.
2. Choose one of the following options:
   • Copy budget categories and values: Retain the same categories and amounts.
   • Copy categories and actuals: Use spending data from the prior year as the new budget values.
   • Copy categories only: Carry over categories without preset amounts.
3. Click OK to create the new budget.

This approach simplifies the process of updating your budget annually.

Advanced budgeting options

Quicken includes features for planning ahead or reviewing past budgets. These tools can help you analyze trends and prepare for future financial changes.

• Planning future budgets: Use the date control to create a budget for an upcoming year before it begins.
• Analyzing past budgets: Create budgets for prior years to examine historical spending patterns.
• Tracking actuals: Budgets automatically reflect income and expense actuals based on transactions for the selected year.

These features provide additional flexibility for organizing your financial data.

Notes about budgeting in Quicken

• Updating budgets: Quicken recalculates budget values automatically based on spending trends.
• Editing budgets: Changes to a current budget won’t affect previous budgets.
• Filtering categories: Use the Customize > Advanced tab to exclude non-budgeted categories.
• Integrating with reports: Budgets can be used to generate detailed financial reports.

Summary

Budgets in Quicken help you organize your expenses and track progress over time. By setting spending limits and comparing actual spending to planned amounts, you can make informed decisions about where to adjust. Creating, customizing, and maintaining a budget is straightforward and helps you stay organized financially.