Adding spending accounts, including checking, credit card, savings, and cash accounts, lets Quicken give you a complete picture of your finances and supports accurate budgeting, expense tracking, and financial planning.
Which spending accounts should I add?
Use this table to decide which account types to set up first.
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Quicken account |
Real-world account |
|---|---|
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Checking (Tell me how) |
Checking. Begin with your primary checking account. This is the account where you deposit your paycheck and pay your bills. |
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Credit Card (Tell me how) |
Credit card. Start with the card you use most often, and decide how you want to track your credit card in Quicken. Line of credit. Use a credit card account to track a line of credit that isn't a home equity line of credit. (Use a Home Equity Line (HELOC) account instead.) |
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Savings (Tell me how) |
Savings. Add your savings accounts, especially if they represent a significant part of your net worth or emergency reserves. You can also use this account type to track CDs (certificates of deposit) or money market accounts. |
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Cash (Tell me how) |
Cash expenditures or petty cash. Add a cash account if you want to know where all your money goes, or if you need to track petty cash for your business. You can save time by tracking cash expenses only to the nearest dollar. |
How do I add a spending account?
This page is a general guide to adding accounts. If you are having issues or errors adding an account, visit the Quicken Support Page or contact Quicken Support directly.
To use Quicken you must start by adding your financial accounts. 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 prefer to enter your transactions manually, see Add an offline account below.
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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.
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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.
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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 sent to your email or phone.
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Review the list of accounts Quicken found. On the Add Account screen, confirm each account is set up the way you want, then click Next.
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Account name: Click the edit icon and enter a name that helps you identify the account.
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Type: Your options vary by financial institution, but Checking and Savings are common.
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Used for: This field only appears for editions that include Business or Rental accounts. Use Business or Rental to differentiate from Personal accounts.
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Action: Choose Add to Quicken to add the account, Don't add to Quicken to skip it, or Link to existing account to connect it to an account already in your file.
Accounts already in your file show Already added to Quicken and cannot be added again.
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Quicken adds your accounts. You'll see a confirmation message. Select Add Another Account to continue, or select 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 option for security, control, or because the account is not with an institution Quicken can connect to.
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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.
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Select Offline Account.
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Select the account type. Spending accounts include Checking, Savings, and Credit Card.
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Name your account and select Next. Depending on your version of Quicken, you may also have options for selecting how your account is used.
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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.
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Your account will be added. Select Finish. You can also choose to Add Another Account.