How do I manage category groups in a budget?
Budgeting uses category groups to make your budget more readable. The category groups that are used in your budget are the same ones that are used elsewhere in Quicken.
Get started with budget category groups
- Add or remove a category group from a budget
Click Select Categories to Budget at the bottom of the Budget window. To remove a category group from your budget, deselect all of the categories within it. To add a category group to your budget, select at least one of the categories within it.
- Create a new category group
It's possible to create your own category groups for a budget, instead of using the default category groups of Personal Expense, Personal Income, and so on. Keep in mind that whatever groups you create will be used elsewhere in Quicken to organize your categories.
- Move a category between category groups
- Ignore a category group in a budget
For whatever reason, you might find it useful to not include the sum of the income or expenses in a category group in your budget. Here's how:
Right-click the category group name in the budget, choose Mixed/Default Category Group Type, and then select Ignore. The sum of all categories in the group will be neither calculated nor rolled up anywhere in your budget. You will, however, still be able to see individual category totals. The category group will be listed in your budget below all other category groups.
- Work with a category group that has both income and expense categories
By moving categories from one category group to another, it's possible to create a category group that contains both income AND expense categories. When this happens, you can tell Quicken how you'd like to handle the category group in your budget: as an expense, as income, or to ignore it.
Right-click the category group name in the budget, choose Mixed/Default Category Group Type, and then select one of the following options:
- Expense: The sum of all categories in the group is identified as an expense. The sum is rolled up with other expense groups in the Summary Bar (at the top of the budget window) and in the Totals line (at the bottom of the budget window). The category group is listed in your budget with other expense category groups (below any income category groups).
- Income: The sum of all categories in the group is identified as income. The sum is rolled up with other income groups in the Summary Bar (at the top of the budget window) and in the Totals line (at the bottom of the budget window). The category group is listed in your budget with other income category groups (above any expense category groups).
- Ignore: The sum of all categories in the group is neither calculated nor rolled up anywhere in your budget. You will, however, still be able to see individual category totals. The category group is listed in your budget 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. If you do this, any difference in the budget amount you enter for the category group and the sum of the individual amounts for the categories in that group is assigned to Everything Else category in your budget.
To learn how to do this, take look at Quicken's advanced budgeting capabilities.
