How do I manage category groups in a budget?

A budget uses category groups to make your budget easier to read. The category groups in your budget are the same ones you use elsewhere in Quicken, so any changes you make to a group from inside a budget also apply outside of it.

The sections below cover the most common tasks for managing category groups within a budget.

Add or remove a category group from a budget

You control which category groups appear in your budget by selecting categories within them. A category group appears in your budget when at least one of its categories is selected.

1. At the top right of the Budget window, click Manage Budget Categories.

2. In the Select Categories to Budget dialog, choose a category type on the left (such as Personal Expenses).

3. To add a category group, select the checkbox next to at least one category within that group.

4. To remove a category group, clear all checkboxes for categories within that group.

5. Click OK.

Create a new category group

You can create your own category groups instead of using the defaults (such as Personal Expense and Personal Income). Any group you create can be used elsewhere in Quicken to organize your categories.

To create a new category group, see How do I work with category groups?. The procedure runs from Tools menu > Category List rather than from inside the Budget window.

Move a category between category groups

You can reassign any category from one category group to another. Whatever group structure you end up with is also used elsewhere in Quicken.

To move a category between groups, see How do I work with category groups?. The same dialog you use to assign a category to a group also lets you remove it from one group and add it to another.

Ignore a category group in a budget

You might want to exclude a category group's totals from your budget while keeping the underlying categories visible. The Ignore option does this.

1. In the Budget window, right-click the category group name (for example, Personal Expenses).

2. Point to Mixed / Default Group Type.

3. Click Ignore.

After you ignore a group, the sum of categories in that group is no longer calculated or rolled up anywhere in your budget. You can still see individual category totals. The ignored group is listed in your budget below all other category groups.

Work with a category group that has both income and expense categories

If you move categories around enough, you can end up with a category group that contains both income and expense categories. When that happens, Quicken needs to know how to treat the group in your budget: as an expense, as income, or as ignored.

1. In the Budget window, right-click the category group name.

2. Point to Mixed / Default Group Type.

3. Click one of the following:

   • Expense: The sum of all categories in the group is treated as an expense. The total is rolled up with other expense groups in the budget summary at the top of the Budget window and in the Totals row at the bottom. The group is listed with other expense category groups, below any income category groups.

   • Income: The sum of all categories in the group is treated as income. The total is rolled up with other income groups in the budget summary at the top of the Budget window and in the Totals row at the bottom. The group is listed with other income category groups, above any expense category groups.

   • Ignore: The sum of all categories in the group is not calculated or rolled up. You can still see individual category totals. The group is listed below all other category groups.

Budget using category groups only

You can budget for an entire category group instead of entering a separate amount for each category within it. When you budget at the group level, any difference between the amount you enter for the group and the sum of the individual category amounts is assigned to the Everything Else category in your budget.

For details, see Work with a budget and look for the Budget category groups section.