Subtitles of the Movie

Let's begin by talking about how to get around Quicken. First, I'd like to talk about where you find your icons and starting Quicken itself. You will note that I have a shortcut key right on the top of my Desktop. This is a question that Quicken will ask you during the installation process: if you'd like a Desktop icon. If you do not have that icon, always remember that you can go to your Start menu, you can go to All Programs, and within All Programs you will see Quicken. Simply go over to the icon and click to start it. If you'd like to create a Desktop icon just do a right-click, go down to Send To, and when you Send To, just choose Desktop Create Shortcut. From that point on you will have Quicken right in the middle of your Desktop or wherever you'd like it. I'm going to double-click on it and I start into Quicken. Now, here you'll note that on the screen it typically opens to one of the tabs on top. Let's take a tour of the Quicken layout. Now, keep in mind it can get somewhat confusing because every time you open it, you could be in a different spot. Note on top that I have a series of tabs: Home, Personal, Business, Investing; it's a good idea to always have a home base. I like to go to the Home tab to always know that I'm in the same place. When you are on the Home page you'll also note that you have a variety of views. We'll talk about this in our next movie. First, let's talk about our options of moving around Quicken. Number one. On the left-hand side of our screen we have our accounts. This shows our checking and our business, and our investment accounts. If I'd rather not see those numbers on my Desktop within Quicken I'll simply go to the minus sign; when I click on it, it closes off those accounts. When I want to open it, simply click on the plus sign and it's right back open again. Another way that I can get around Quicken is by using the icon or tool bar. The tool bar is a series of pictures which may or may not have their names underneath. Of course, I'll be showing you in our next movie, how we can put those names on. Here, you will notice it allows me to get to my calculator, allows me to go into my accounts, and my categories; matter of fact, I can set this tool bar up to go anywhere I want to within the Quicken environment. You will also note that I have a series of menus. These menus will also allow me to go anywhere that I want to within Quicken. Here, I'd like to point out that the naming conventions really follow the same order of our tabs. You will notice I have Personal Cash Flow, I have Cash Flow on top; Business, and Business Investing, Investing, Property and Debt, Property and Debt. The only one that's just a tad different is our Financial Overview. The financial overview is a combination of planning and tax. Now, please keep in mind, depending on what version of Quicken that you have you may not have every one of these tabs. The fundamentals are still identical, though. When you're maneuvering in Quicken, the idea is to find which method that you like best and go with it. When we go into any one of these menus you will also note that it will, when applicable, tell you the shortcut key. I went to Find and Replace. Now, you'll notice in Find and Replace, it's telling me that if I click Control F, I'll automatically go to Find. Many of us prefer shortcut keys and this is a wonderful way to determine what those shortcut keys are. You will also note that there is a great deal of customization including our Account bar, which is our information on the side; our tool bar, which is our icon bar; and even overall preferences. When maneuvering in Quicken, it's important to get comfortable with how you'd like the program to look. Take the time to set it up for your liking. Don't worry about it being a little bit different than your neighbor's. The idea is find what works for you and stick with it.