VERSION 1.60A<You're at CheckMate Plus' main menu. Move the"highlighted" bar to the option of your choice and press ENTER to "pull" the menu down. You can also type the firstletter of your choice to instantly jump to that choice.TransactionsIn the "Transactions" menu, you enter and editdaily transactions (such as checks, deposits, ATMwithdrawals, etc).You can also define and edit "automatic" transactions. The"automatic transactions" are those that appear on a "menu"(to be used over and over) or may be "date activated".The Transactions menu also options for "browsing" through alist of tranactions, "closing" transactions (which willerase them permanently from the database), and "expensing"transactions (which helps you find transactions that are"out of balance").AccountsThe "Accounts" menu is where you'll define and edit allaccounts (including checking accounts and all general ledgeraccounts).You also select your "control account" here and can viewaccount status information.ReportsIn the "Reports" menu you can view and print a variety ofreports, reconcile your checking accounts, display graphics,and even print checks.MaintenanceThe "Maintenance" menu has options for repairing andrebuilding the data file. You can also create and modifydefinitions for printing your checks and customized reports.You'll find routines for backing up (and restoring) yourdata files here as well.FinanceThe "Finance" menu has helpful routines for estimatingpayments and interest on loans, regular deposits, andcompoundings.You can also view and print complete amortization scheduleshere.SetupThe "Setup" menu has many options: -- Define your FISCAL YEAR -- Protect your "Audit Trail" with a password -- Setup up a screen-saving "blanker" -- Customize CheckMate Plus' colors -- Customize CheckMate Plus' special effects -- View your video option -- Setup password protection -- View you program and data file paths -- Set "general" display and operation options -- Set default options for report printing -- Set headings for printing on reports TRANSACTIONS MENU Enter Transactions Lets you create new transactions for thecurrent control accountEdit Transactions Lets you edit or delete transactions forthe current control accountRun Automatic Scripts Runs "automatic scripts" that youhave defined previouslyEnter Auto Transactions Lets you define automatic scripts(both by name for a menu and by date). Automatic entriescan save you a tremendous amount of time. "Date activated"entries even remind you when they're due!Edit Auto Transactions Here you can edit automatictransactions you've enter above.Close Transactions This option "purges" the data base tofree up disk space and increase program performance.Expense Transactions Use this option to scan for anytransaction (in any account) that is out of balance for somereason. This is very useful for finding errors in yourgeneral ledger. ACCOUNTS MENU Enter New Accounts This option lets you define new accounts(both checking and other ledger accounts).Edit Accounts Choose this option to edit accounts you'vepreviously defined.Select Control Account All of the "transaction" options andmany of the reports work on one account at a time. You pickthat account here.Account Status This option displays status informationabout specific accounts. REPORTS MENU Reconcile The "Reconcile" option helps you reconcile yourchecking accounts. (This option only appears if the currentcontrol account is a checking account.Transaction The "Transaction" report works on the controlaccount and gives a report similar to the "checkbook ledger"that you keep by hand.Ledger "Ledger" reports give detailed information on theactivity and makeup of your chart of accounts.Summary The "Summary" reports are standard accountingreports (such as the Balance Sheet, Income Statement, andBudget Report). You can customize some of these reportsunder the "Maintenance" menu.Graphics This option lets you display graphical reports onindividual accounts or your ledger as a whole. You can alsoprint these graphical reports.Print Checks If your current control account is a checkingaccount, you can print checks with this option.GL Analysis This report checks to see if your books are inbalance, and, if not, tells you why. MAINTENANCE MENU Rebuild the Database Select this to repair and/or rebuildthe database file.Define Check Layout This option lets you create or modifyyour check layout (how CheckMate Plus prints your checks).Define Custom Balance Sheets This option permits you tocreate or modify custom "Balance Sheets" (you print theseunder the "Reports" menu).Define Custom Income Statements Choose this option tocreate or modify custom "Income Statements" that you canprint under the "Reports" menu.Backup the Database Use this option to save a copy of yourvaluable data to a floppy disk.Restore the Database (from a Backup) This choice let's yourestore your data from your backup. USE THIS OPTION WITHCARE, AS YOUR BACKUP WILL REPLACE YOUR CURRENT DATA FILE! FINANCE Loans "Loans" lets you perform various loan calculationsand print an amortization report.Regular Deposits Here you can analyze and predict returnsfrom regular interest-bearing deposits (and print anamortization report).Compounding "Compounding" a fixed sum refers to making asingle, one-time deposit in an interest bearing account.With this option you can see how that initial deposit willgrow over time (and print an amortization report). SETUP Fiscal Year Select this option to define the starting monthof your "fiscal year". You can also define past fiscalyears with this option.Audit Lock You can password protect your audit trail withthis option.Screen Saver This option lets you activate the "screensaving" feature (which blanks the screen after a period ofinactivity).Colors You can customize CheckMate Plus' colors with thisoption.Special Effects You can customize CheckMate Plus' specialeffects (such as the exploding windows) with this option.Video Lets you set your video option (for displayinggraphics).Password Here you can define a password to limit access toyour data file.File Paths This option reports the current program and datafile paths.General You can specify a "date format", "currency symbol",and whether you want to use minus signs or parentheses torepresent negatives (on reports) here. You can also set thelength of time CheckMate Plus will search for unclearedtransactions (while reconciling your accounts).International users can specify how to spell the word"check" and set the order in which CheckMate Plus displayscommas and the decimal point.Report Printing This option permits you to define reportprinting defaults (such as margins, setup strings, etc).Report Headings Lets you define heading lines that willappear on all reports.Order Form This option helps you easily print a form toorder a registered copy of CheckMate Plus. You'll also findinformation on ordering computer-form checks here.Select the transaction type you want to enter.This is the "primary" data entry screen for transactions.Here are some "special keys" to keep in mind while enteringtransactions: alt-F2 Pop up the menu of "automatic" transactions + , - Increment or decrement the date (cursor must be on "date" field = Set date to "DOS" date (cursor must be on "date" field + , - Increment or decrement the check number (cursor must be on "check number" field F2 Pop up the "utilities" menu F3 "Split" the transaction F4 Edit the check "stub" alt-F4 Edit the "notes" alt-C Pop up the Calculator F10 Save the transaction ESC ExitHere are the fields you see while entering checks. Othertransaction types have considerably fewer fields.Check Number CheckMate Plus automatically assigns each check with the "next check number". You can override CheckMate Plus' choice by pressing the up-arrow key (to move up to the check number). Pressing the plus and minus keys will increment and decrement the check number respectively.Date
The date of the transaction. The default is the system (DOS) date. Remember that you can press the plus and minus keys to increment or decrement the date (or you can enter it free format).Amount The next field is the "amount" field (which, of course, is the amount of the check). After you enter the amount, the "spelled out amount" will appear and the current account balance will update.TO The "TO" field is who you're writing the check for (the Payee).Address If you told CheckMate Plus that you wanted to print addresses on the checks (while you were defining the account), you'll have three lines to enter the Payee's address under the Payee's name.For This is the "memo" or "for" line on the check. You can enter a short note here.Vendor Acct # Many vendors want you to write your account number on the checks you send them so they can properly credit your account. That's what this field is for.Comments You have 67 characters to enter miscellaneous comments about the check in the "comments" field.Tax Ded This is a YES/NO flag you can use to designate checks as tax deductible. Marking checks in this way makes it easy to generate a report of tax deductions at year's end.Marked Like the "Tax Ded" flag, you can "mark" a check with this YES/NO flag. This is a general purpose field, that is, you can use it for whatever you want.Printed If you're using CheckMate Plus to print checks, CheckMate Plus will mark this field for you when you print the check. If you mix writing checks by hand and printing them, be sure and mark this field for the checks you write out (otherwise CheckMate Plus will want to print them). If you're not printing any checks, you don't need to bother with this field.Cleared CheckMate Plus marks this field during the reconciliation process. Be careful if you mark this field yourself, since the "Date Cleared" should match the statement date on which the check cleared.Date Cleared If the transaction has cleared, this field holds the statement date (from the bank statement that the check appeared on). CheckMate Plus maintains this date so it can completely re-create a statement at any time. You should never have to enter this date manually as CheckMate Plus enters it during the reconciliation process.This is the "primary" data edit screen for transactions.Here are some "special keys" to keep in mind while editingtransactions: F7 Back up one transaction F8 Move forward one transaction F5 Jump to start of transactions (if the "filter" is set, jumps to the first match) F6 Jump to last transaction (if the "filter" is set, jumps to the last match) alt-J "Jump" to a specific date alt-F2 Pop up the menu of "automatic" transactions + , - Increment or decrement the date (cursor must be on "date" field = Set date to "DOS" date (cursor must be on "date" field + , - Increment or decrement the check number (cursor must be on "check number" field F2 Pop up the "utilities" menu F3 "Split" the transaction F4 Edit the check "stub" alt-F4 Edit the "notes" alt-C Pop up the Calculator F9 Delete the transaction F10 Save changes ESC ExitHere are the fields you see while editing checks. Othertransaction types have considerably fewer fields.Check Number Enter the number to print on the check here. Pressing the plus and minus keys will increment and decrement the check number respectively.Date
The date of the transaction. Remember that you can press the plus and minus keys to increment or decrement the date (or you can enter it free format).Amount The next field is the "amount" field (which, of course, is the amount of the check).TO The "TO" field is who you're writing the check for (the Payee).Address If you told CheckMate Plus that you wanted to print addresses on the checks (while you were defining the account), you'll have three lines to enter the Payee's address under the Payee's name.For This is the "memo" or "for" line on the check. You can enter a short note here.Vendor Acct # Many vendors want you to write your account number on the checks you send them so they can properly credit your account. That's what this field is for.Comments You have 67 characters to enter miscellaneous comments about the check in the "comments" field.Tax Ded This is a YES/NO flag you can use to designate checks as tax deductible. Marking checks in this way makes it easy to generate a report of tax deductions at year's end.Marked Like the "Tax Ded" flag, you can "mark" a check with this YES/NO flag. This is a general purpose field, that is, you can use it for whatever you want.Printed If you're using CheckMate Plus to print checks, CheckMate Plus will mark this field for you when you print the check. If you mix writing checks by hand and printing them, be sure and mark this field for the checks you write out (otherwise CheckMate Plus will want to print them). If you're not printing any checks, you don't need to bother with this field.Cleared CheckMate Plus marks this field during the reconciliation process. Be careful if you mark this field yourself, since the "Date Cleared" should match the statement date on which the check cleared.Date Cleared If the transaction has cleared, this field holds the statement date (from the bank statement that the check appeared on). CheckMate Plus maintains this date so it can completely re-create a statement at any time. You should never have to enter this date manually as CheckMate Plus enters it during the reconciliation process.This is the "primary" data entry screen for automatictransactions that will appear "on the menu".Here are some "special keys" to keep in mind while enteringmenu transactions: alt-F2 Pop up the menu of "automatic" transactions F2 Pop up the "utilities" menu F3 "Split" the transaction F4 Edit the check "stub" alt-F4 Edit the "notes" alt-C Pop up the Calculator F10 Save the "menu" transaction ESC ExitHere are some of the fields you see while entering menutransactions. The "Enter Automatic Transactions" form isonly slightly different than the "Enter Transactions" form:Amount This is a special field for "automatic transactions". * TIMESAVER: If the amount for this transaction will routinely change (your utilities bill, for example), leave the amount zero and CheckMate Plus will automatically jump to the amount field when you select this transaction from the menu!Name
At the bottom of the primary data entry screen, you can (and must) enter a "Name" for this automatic transaction. This Name will appear on the menu in alphabetical order. You may not have duplicate names! Important! Each "automatic transaction" is specific to the control account you have selected when you enter it. Each "automatic transaction" is also specific to the "transaction type" you're entering. You can have duplicate names as long as the duplicates are not in the same account and the same transaction type! This means, however, that an "automatic transaction" you put on the menu for one account WILL NOT appear on the menu for any other account. * SPECIAL NOTE: CheckMate Plus orders the "names" alphabetically, but the names are CASE SENSITIVE. This means that "Tom" will appear BEFORE "anna" (since an upper-case "T" is alphabetically before a lower-case "a"). "Anna", however, will come before "Tom" (as long as "Anna" begins with a capital "A").CheckMate Plus also displays a highlighted bar at the bottomof the screen to remind you that you're entering an"automatic transaction" (versus a regular one).Remember you can also predefine the "split" (press F3 ), the"stub" (press F4 ), and the "notes" (press alt-F4 ).* TIMESAVER: You can "pop the menu up" while entering"automatic transactions" (just as you can while entering"regular" transactions). Just press alt-F2 . This can saveyou time if you're entering multiple (but similar) automatictransactions.The "Utilities" menu is available while entering "automatictransactions". Press F2 to pop it up.Press F10 to save the automatic transaction after you'vefinished entering your data. It will now appear "on themenu" for this account and transaction type. Press ESC toabort saving.This is the "primary" data edit screen for automatictransactions that will appear "on the menu".Here are some "special keys" to keep in mind while editingmenu transactions: F7 Back up one transaction F8 Move forward one transaction F5 Jump to first transaction F6 Jump to last transaction alt-F2 Pop up the menu of "automatic" transactions F2 Pop up the "utilities" menu F3 "Split" the transaction F4 Edit the check "stub" alt-F4 Edit the "notes" alt-C Pop up the Calculator F9 Delete the menu transaction F10 Save changes ESC ExitHere are some of the fields you see while editing menutransactions. The "Edit Automatic Transactions" form isonly slightly different than the "Edit Transactions" form:Amount This is a special field for "automatic transactions". * TIMESAVER: If the amount for this transaction will routinely change (your utilities bill, for example), leave the amount zero and CheckMate Plus will automatically jump to the amount field when you select this transaction from the menu!Name
At the bottom of the primary data edit screen, you can (and must) enter a "Name" for this automatic transaction. This Name will appear on the menu in alphabetical order. You may not have duplicate names! Important! Each "automatic transaction" is specific to the control account you have selected when you enter it. Each "automatic transaction" is also specific to the "transaction type" you're entering. You can have duplicate names as long as the duplicates are not in the same account and the same transaction type! This means, however, that an "automatic transaction" you put on the menu for one account WILL NOT appear on the menu for any other account. * SPECIAL NOTE: CheckMate Plus orders the "names" alphabetically, but the names are CASE SENSITIVE. This means that "Tom" will appear BEFORE "anna" (since an upper-case "T" is alphabetically before a lower-case "a"). "Anna", however, will come before "Tom" (as long as "Anna" begins with a capital "A").CheckMate Plus also displays a highlighted bar at the bottomof the screen to remind you that you're entering an"automatic transaction" (versus a regular one).Remember you can also predefine the "split" (press F3 ), the"stub" (press F4 ), and the "notes" (press alt-F4 ).* TIMESAVER: You can "pop the menu up" while entering"automatic transactions" (just as you can while entering"regular" transactions). Just press alt-F2 . This can saveyou time if you're entering multiple (but similar) automatictransactions.The "Utilities" menu is available while entering "automatictransactions". Press F2 to pop it up.Press F10 to save the automatic transaction after you'vefinished entering your data. It will now appear "on themenu" for this account and transaction type. Press ESC toabort saving.This is the "primary" data entry screen for "date activated"automatic transactions. CheckMate Plus will automaticallyinform you when these transactions are "due".Here are some "special keys" to keep in mind while enteringdate transactions: alt-F2 Pop up the menu of "automatic" transactions F2 Pop up the "utilities" menu F3 "Split" the transaction F4 Edit the check "stub" alt-F4 Edit the "notes" alt-C Pop up the Calculator F10 Save the "date" transaction ESC ExitHere are some of the fields you see while entering dateactivated transactions. Other transaction types haveconsiderably fewer fields. The "Enter AutomaticTransactions" form is only slightly different than the"Enter Transactions" form:Amount This is a special field for "automatic transactions". * TIMESAVER: If the amount for this transaction will routinely change (your utilities bill, for example), leave the amount zero and CheckMate Plus will automatically jump to the amount field when you select this transaction from the menu!Repeat At the bottom of the primary data entry screen, you can enter a "repeat option". CheckMate Plus has six "repeat options". They are: o Never (Use once, and then ERASE the automatic transaction) o Monthly (Repeat on the same date every month) o Weekly (Repeat on the day every week) o Bi-Weekly (Repeat on the same day every two weeks) o Quarterly (Repeat on the same date every three months) o Yearly (Repeat on the same date every year) This is a menu field. You can type the option in, or press alt-F10 (or the middle button on the mouse) to pop the menu up. Important! Each "automatic transaction" is specific to the control account you have selected when you enter it. This means a "date activated" transaction will only activate for the account that is the control account when you enter it.ActivationDateCheckMate Plus also displays a highlighted bar at the bottomof the screen to remind you that you're entering an"automatic transaction" (versus a regular one).Remember you can also predefine the "split" (press F3 ), the"stub" (press F4 ), and the "notes" (press alt-F4 ).* TIMESAVER: You can "pop the menu up" while entering"automatic transactions" (just as you can while entering"regular" transactions). Just press alt-F2 . This can saveyou time if you're entering multiple (but similar) automatictransactions.The "Utilities" menu is available while entering "automatictransactions". Press F2 to pop it up.Press F10 to save the automatic transaction after you'vefinished entering your data. It will now appear "on themenu" for this account and transaction type. Press ESC toabort saving.This is the "primary" data edit screen for automatictransactions that will appear "on the menu".Here are some "special keys" to keep in mind while editingmenu transactions: F7 Back up one transaction F8 Move forward one transaction F5 Jump to first transaction F6 Jump to last transaction alt-F2 Pop up the menu of "automatic" transactions F2 Pop up the "utilities" menu F3 "Split" the transaction F4 Edit the check "stub" alt-F4 Edit the "notes" alt-C Pop up the Calculator F9 Delete the menu transaction F10 Save changes ESC ExitHere are the fields you see while editing checks. Othertransaction types have fewer fields. The "Edit AutomaticTransactions" form is only slightly different than the "EditTransactions" form:Amount This is a special field for "automatic transactions". * TIMESAVER: If the amount for this transaction will routinely change (your utilities bill, for example), leave the amount zero and CheckMate Plus will automatically jump to the amount field when you select this transaction from the menu!Name
At the bottom of the primary data edit screen, you can (and must) enter a "Name" for this automatic transaction. This Name will appear on the menu in alphabetical order. You may not have duplicate names! Important! Each "automatic transaction" is specific to the control account you have selected when you enter it. Each "automatic transaction" is also specific to the "transaction type" you're entering. You can have duplicate names as long as the duplicates are not in the same account and the same transaction type! This means, however, that an "automatic transaction" you put on the menu for one account WILL NOT appear on the menu for any other account. * SPECIAL NOTE: CheckMate Plus orders the "names" alphabetically, but the names are CASE SENSITIVE. This means that "Tom" will appear BEFORE "anna" (since an upper-case "T" is alphabetically before a lower-case "a"). "Anna", however, will come before "Tom" (as long as "Anna" begins with a capital "A").CheckMate Plus also displays a highlighted bar at the bottomof the screen to remind you that you're entering an"automatic transaction" (versus a regular one).Remember you can also predefine the "split" (press F3 ), the"stub" (press F4 ), and the "notes" (press alt-F4 ).* TIMESAVER: You can "pop the menu up" while entering"automatic transactions" (just as you can while entering"regular" transactions). Just press alt-F2 . This can saveyou time if you're entering multiple (but similar) automatictransactions.The "Utilities" menu is available while entering "automatictransactions". Press F2 to pop it up.Press F10 to save the automatic transaction after you'vefinished entering your data. It will now appear "on themenu" for this account and transaction type. Press ESC toabort saving.You are in the "Split Transaction" window. CheckMate Pluslets you "split" the transaction twelve ways to account forthe flow of money.Here are some "special keys" to keep in mind while you're inthe "split" window: alt-F2 Pop up the menu of "automatic" transactions F2 Pop up the "utilities" menu PgDn "Total" the transaction (see below) alt-F10 Pop up a list of available accounts (the cursor must be on an "account number" field) + , - Increment/decrement account number (the cursor must be on an "account number" field) F3 Pull the "payto" or "memo" into the "description" field (the cursor must be on the description field) alt-C Pop up the Calculator F10 Save the transaction ESC Return to "primary data" windowYou'll notice that CheckMate Plus fills in the first line ofthe transaction for you (in fact, you can't edit the firstline in the "split" window!). CheckMate Plus knows whetherto enter a debit or a credit and positions the cursor on thenext line in the "account number" field.Acct# Enter an account's number here. If you can't remember the number of the account you want, press the local menu key ( alt-F10 ) or press the middle button on the mouse to pop-up a pick list. You can also use the plus and minus keys to scroll through the numbers and search for the right account. The account's name will automatically appear to the right of the number. If you don't enter a valid number, CheckMate Plus will automatically pop up the pick list.Description The "description" field is for you to enter notes to yourself (so that the ledger transaction and activity reports will make sense to you later). CheckMate Plus fills the first description in for you (a check number or the "Memo" from other types of transactions). * TIMESAVER: Many times the "description" that you want to enter will be the payee's name (that you entered on the check). Press F3 while in any "description" field and CheckMate Plus will "paste" the payee's name directly in.Debit/Credit Enter an appropriate debit or credit in the next two fields. You can have either a debit or credit (but not both on the same line).CheckMate Plus totals the transactions as you enter theamounts. When the transaction is in "balance" (i.e. whendebits=credits"), the "Unaccounted For" field will be zero.* TIMESAVER: At ANY time while you're "splitting" thetransaction, you can "force" the transaction to "balance" bypressing PgDn . When you do this, CheckMate Plus will adjustthe debit (or credit) on the line the cursor is on to makethe transaction balance. You'll find this key most usefulwhile entering the "last" line of a transaction.You can return to the primary data entry screen by pressing ESC .You're currently "expensing" transactions... a feature ofCheckMate Plus that searches for unbalanced transactions.This transaction is out of balance for some reason. Press F3 to "split" the transaction and determine why.All the normal "editing keys" exist while you're expensingtransactions, but you cannot "move through" the file (with F7 and F8 ). Pressing either of these keys tells CheckMate Plus to search for the next "unbalanced" transaction.You may press ESC at any time to abort this process.Yes or No, please. CALCULATOR This is CheckMate Plus' pop-up financial calculator.You can scroll through the tape with the up and down arrowkeys, PgUp , and PgDn . The tape holds the last 100 linesentered.If you want to use the printer, make sure it is ready beforeyou press P . The calculator will then echo all output tothe printer.Also, CheckMate Plus automatically asserts the "NUMLOCK"when the calculator is invoked so you may use the numerickeypad on the IBM PC (or compatibles).You can "paste" your calculated results into any data fieldin CheckMate Plus by pressing F2 . (Make sure the cursoris in the field you want to paste to BEFORE you activate thecalculator). You can only paste results after you "total"(i.e. when the "ENTER" block in the calculator is notreverse video).Press ESC to exit the calculator and return to CheckMatePlus.This is a menu of all accounts in your "Chart of Accounts".If the cursor is currently on an "account number" field, youcan select an account by putting the high-lighted bar overit and pressing ENTER . IF the account number of the accountyou select is valid for that field, CheckMate Plus will"paste" the number in.Press ESC to exit the chart without selecting an account.This menu pops up automatically every time CheckMate Plusexpects an account number (within a specific range) and youenter something it doesn't understand.You can also pop this menu up yourself by pressing alt-F10 while you're on an account number field.Select the account you want from the menu (or press ESC toabort). UTILITY MENU Here are some "utilities" available to you while enteringtransactions:Add Account You may find you want to add accounts while "splitting" the transaction. From the "Utilities" menu, select "Add Account" and you'll be able to add as many accounts as you wish.Edit
If you want to "edit" old transactions whileTransactions you're entering a new one, select this option.Memorize Select "Memorize" if you want to add this transaction to the pop-up menu (so you can repeat it later) or if you want to add it to the menu or date activated list.Stub Layout This option applies only to checks, and will determine how to print the stub while printing the check. When you select this option, another menu appears.Print the You can print the check you're entering as youCheck enter it. Just select "Print Check". Be sure that your check is in the printer and ready before you select "Print Check", however, since CheckMate Plus will print the check immediately. UTILITY MENU Here are some "utilities" available to you while editingtransactions:Add Account You may find you want to add accounts while "splitting" the transaction. From the "Utilities" menu, select "Add Account" and you'll be able to add as many accounts as you wish.Set "Search Select this option to enter a "pattern" thatand Filter" each transaction must "match" (to search for specific items).Memorize Select "Memorize" if you want to add this transaction to the pop-up menu (so you can repeat it later) or if you want to add it to the menu or date activated list.Stub Layout This option applies only to checks, and will determine how to print the stub while printing the check. When you select this option, another menu appears.Print the You can print the check you're entering as youCheck enter it. Just select "Print Check". Be sure that your check is in the printer and ready before you select "Print Check", however, since CheckMate Plus will print the check immediately. UTILITY MENU Here are some "utilities" available to you while entering orediting "automatic" transactions:Add Account You may find you want to add accounts while "splitting" the transaction. From the "Utilities" menu, select "Add Account" and you'll be able to add as many accounts as you wish.Memorize Select "Memorize" if you want to add this transaction to the pop-up menu (so you can repeat it later) or if you want to add it to the menu or date activated list.Stub Layout This option applies only to checks, and will determine how to print the stub while printing the check. When you select this option, another menu appears.Automatic transactions can appear "on the menu" or may besetup to "automatically remind" you when they're due (basedon a date you enter). Select the type of automatictransactions you want to define here.You must give this transaction a "name". This name willappear on the menu you can pop-up while entering or editingtransactions.You must specify a date here (so CheckMate Plus will knowwhen to "activate" the transaction). You must also specifyyour "repeat" option:Repeat CheckMate Plus has six "repeat options". They are: o Never (Use once, and then ERASE the automatic transaction) o Monthly (Repeat on the same date every month) o Weekly (Repeat on the day every week) o Bi-Weekly (Repeat on the same day every two weeks) o Quarterly (Repeat on the same date every three months) o Yearly (Repeat on the same date every year) This is a menu field. You can type the option in, or press alt-F10 (or the middle button on the mouse) to pop the menu up.This is the "Stub Layout" menu. This option applies only tochecks, and will determine how to print the stub whileprinting the check.Automatic This is the default stub layout. In theSelect automatic mode, CheckMate Plus determines whether to print the "Accounts Payable" stub (which is a list of accounts that you've split the check across) or the custom stub (which you enter by pressing F4 ). CheckMate Plus looks at the custom stub first. If the first line of the stub is blank, it prints the automatic stub. Otherwise it will print the custom stub.No Stub If you choose "No Stub", CheckMate Plus will not print a stub when you print the check (even if the check layout calls for one). If necessary, CheckMate Plus will print blank lines on the stub (to keep the check alignment correct).Custom Stub This option forces CheckMate Plus to print the custom stub (which you enter when you press F4 ) even if it is empty (in which case CheckMate Plus will print blank lines).Accounts If you choose this option, CheckMate PlusPayable will always print the "Accounts Payable" stub even if the custom stub is filled in. The accounts payable stub looks a lot like the "split transaction" screen (that is, it is a list of the accounts that you're "splitting" the check across).Print the You can print the check you're entering asCheck you enter it. Just select "Print Check" from the "Utilities" menu. Be sure that your check is in the printer and ready before you select "Print Check", however, since CheckMate Plus will print the check immediately.You are editing the "stub". This is a text "pad", and youcan use CheckMate Plus' built in editor to type in text thatyou can print on check stubs later.The "stub" pad has 20 lines and 130 columns. Press ESC toexit the stub.CheckMate Plus has a very simple built-in text editor.The editor is not fancy, but it will get the job done. Manyof the keys you can use while editing are the same you usein any of the data entry fields. Control Key Alternate Key Function Control-D right-arrow move one character right Control-S left-arrow move one character left Control-F move one word right Control-A move one word left Control-QD END move to end of line Control-QS HOME move to start of line Control-QR jump to top line Control-QC jump to bottom line Control-E up-arrow move up one line Control-X down-arrow move down one line Control-G DEL delete character at cursor Control-T delete word right Control-QY delete line right Control-Y delete entire line Control-H BACKSPACE delete character left Control-V INS toggle INSERT/OVERWRITE Control-KR read text file Control-KW write text fileAlthough the editor has many basic editing keys, it doesn'thave "cut and paste" features (yet). You can, however,export the text to a file (press control-KW and enter afilename). You can then use your favorite text editor tomanipulate the data. Control-KR reads a file into the editor. BE CAREFUL! Thefile "overwrites" anything already there.You are editing the "notes". This is a text "pad", and youcan use CheckMate Plus' built in editor to type in any textyou desire.The "notes" pad has 10 lines and 70 columns. Press ESC toexit the notes pad.CheckMate Plus has a very simple built-in text editor.The editor is not fancy, but it will get the job done. Manyof the keys you can use while editing are the same you usein any of the data entry fields. Control Key Alternate Key Function Control-D right-arrow move one character right Control-S left-arrow move one character left Control-F move one word right Control-A move one word left Control-QD END move to end of line Control-QS HOME move to start of line Control-QR jump to top line Control-QC jump to bottom line Control-E up-arrow move up one line Control-X down-arrow move down one line Control-G DEL delete character at cursor Control-T delete word right Control-QY delete line right Control-Y delete entire line Control-H BACKSPACE delete character left Control-V INS toggle INSERT/OVERWRITE Control-KR read text file Control-KW write text fileAlthough the editor has many basic editing keys, it doesn'thave "cut and paste" features (yet). You can, however,export the text to a file (press control-KW and enter afilename). You can then use your favorite text editor tomanipulate the data. Control-KR reads a file into the editor. BE CAREFUL! Thefile "overwrites" anything already there.This is the "jump to" window. Enter a date and press ENTER .CheckMate Plus will jump to that date (or as close as it canget). The cursor jumps to the date field (field integrityis not preserved), and the transaction does not have tomatch the "search and filter" pattern (even if the "filter"is set)!Select an item from this menu by putting the "bar" over yourchoice and pressing ENTER . Press ESC to exit the menuwithout selecting an itemSelect whether you want to process "menu" transactions(those that appear on the "pop up" menu) or "date activated"transactions.Enter the "activation" date here. CheckMate Plus willprocess all transactions due on or before this date.You are in the "Browse Setup" window.You can do two things in this window: set browse dates andthe "search and filter" pattern.Browse Dates You can enter the "starting" and "ending" browse dates before browsing. CheckMate Plus sets up the browse window by searching through the database for "matches" (see below). Setting the date boundaries can significantly reduce the file accesses that CheckMate Plus has to make and speed things up significantly. If you leave the dates blank, CheckMate Plus will search the entire file.Search and Press F2 in the "Browse Setup Window" toFilter activate the "search and filter" window. You can enter a pattern here (every transaction the browser presents must match this pattern). Remember that the "search and filter" pattern is not active unless you turn it on ( alt-F toggles the "filter flag"). While the filter is active, the word "FILT" appears on the "top line" of the screen.Once you've set up for the browse, press F10 . CheckMatePlus will search the database and then open the "BrowseWindow".You're in the "Browse Window".The "Browse Window" lists each transaction on a single line.The following keys will move you around in the window: Up Arrow Move up one transaction. Down Arrow Move down one transaction. PgUp
Move up on screen. PgDn
Move down one screen. Home
Move to first transaction. End Move to last transaction.The mouse will also move you through the transaction list.You can press the SPACE BAR while browsing to "mark"transactions. CheckMate Plus actually sets the "marked"flag to YES when you do this. This is useful if you want tomark transactions for a report (using the "search andfilter" to only print "marked" transactions).If you press ESC in the "Browse Window" CheckMate Pluswill return you to the "Transactions" menu.Editing while BrowsingAt any time while you're browsing, you can press ENTER (orthe left button on the mouse) to edit the currentlyhighlighted transaction. The "Edit Transaction Window" willappear. Press ESC to return to the browser.This is the "Close Transactions" window.CheckMate Plus lets you maintain active transactionsindefinitely. Over time, however, CheckMate Plus'performance will decrease as it constantly has to search anever larger database.As the necessity to maintain "old data" decreases (the datamay be several years old, you may want to "close" the oldertransactions.You have a single option here (the PURGE date). Enter adate here and press F10 . Since you can't reverse thisprocedure, CheckMate Plus won't accept a default date (youmust enter a valid date) and will prompt you to confirm yourintentions before proceeding.The purge will erase all transactions prior to the "purgedate". CheckMate Plus then updates the opening balance andopening dates of all accounts. If you have "closing"accounts (for REVENUE and EXPENSES) specified (see "FiscalYear Information" in the User's Guide). CheckMate Plus willtransfer all REVENUE and EXPENSE balances to them as itpurges the transactions.This procedure affects ALL accounts, not just the controlaccount! It would be a good idea to make a backup beforeyou proceed!Select the type of account you want to create.Checking AccountsChecking accounts are assets (since they represent money youhave). They are also detail accounts (which means you candirectly transfer money to and from them). Therefore, theycan have account numbers between 10000 and 19999.CheckMate Plus treats checking accounts in a special waysince you'll be doing much of your day to day businessdirectly with them.CheckMate Plus builds in the capability to print checks(including addressing them for window envelopes), reconcile(with you bank statement), and track other types oftransactions (such as deposits, services charges, and ATMtransactions).Other Accounts Detail AccountsYou'll also be able to setup accounts to track your otherassets, liabilities, equity, revenue, and expenses. Theseaccounts are also "detail" accounts and will have five digitaccount numbers (as described above).These accounts are more general, however, and you won't have(or need) as many options as you have with checkingaccounts. Summary AccountsYou'll find "summary" accounts useful for assemblingaccounts together in logical groups. You may, for example,want to list accounts 10000 (Checking Account), 10001(Savings Account), and 10008 (Petty Cash) under summaryaccount 1000 (Cash Assets). 1000 Cash Assets 10000 Checking Account 10001 Savings Account 10008 Petty CashYou can direct CheckMate Plus to report the summaries (withcustomized reports) for a more general analysis of yourfinancial condition.This is the "Enter Checking Account" window.Here are some "special keys" to keep in mind while enteringaccounts: + , - Increment or decrement the date (cursor must be on "date" field = Set date to "DOS" date (cursor must be on "date" field F3 Edit "Budget" information alt-C Pop up the Calculator F10 Save the account ESC ExitHere are the fields you see in this window:Account Name The name for the account (such as "United Bank", "Mortgage", or "Utilities Expense". This name will appear on all account menus, account fields, and reports.Opening Enter the "balance" of the account on theBalance date you want to start tracking it. This may or may not be its current balance. It is a good idea to start an accounting system on January 1st, so you may want to "back enter" the data back to the first of the year (or whenever your accounting year begins). After you enter the opening balance, you must tell CheckMate Plus on which date the balance applied. Remember you may enter the date in any format you choose.Next Check Enter the next check number you'll enter inNumber CheckMate Plus.Address on Enter "YES" if you want addresses to appearChecks in the check entry form (and on the checks you print).Account CheckMate Plus fills this number in for youNumber (but you may change it if you wish). This is the general ledger account number for the account you're entering. Remember that detail accounts must always have five digits. You may press the plus or minus keys in this field to increment or decrement the number. You may not have two accounts with the same number.Check Layout This is a "menu field", so you may either type in a defined check layout or press alt-F10 to pop the menu up. CheckMate Plus comes with three predefined layouts, but you may also enter your own (discussed in this User's Guide).After you set up the account, press F10 to save theinformation and add the account to your Chart of Accounts.The window will clear and you can enter more accounts (orpress ESC to return to the Accounts Menu).This is the "Enter Account" window.Here are some "special keys" to keep in mind while enteringaccounts: + , - Increment or decrement the date (cursor must be on "date" field = Set date to "DOS" date (cursor must be on "date" field F3 Edit "Budget" information alt-C Pop up the Calculator F10 Save the account ESC ExitHere are the fields you see in this window:Account Name The name for the account (such as "United Bank", "Mortgage", or "Utilities Expense". This name will appear on all account menus, account fields, and reports.Opening Enter the "balance" of the account on theBalance date you want to start tracking it. This may or may not be its current balance. It is a good idea to start an accounting system on January 1st, so you may want to "back enter" the data back to the first of the year (or whenever your accounting year begins). After you enter the opening balance, you must tell CheckMate Plus on which date the balance applied. Remember you may enter the date in any format you choose.Account CheckMate Plus fills this number in for youNumber (but you may change it if you wish). This is the general ledger account number for the account you're entering. Remember that detail accounts must always have five digits. You may press the plus or minus keys in this field to increment or decrement the number. You may not have two accounts with the same number.Contra This field applies to all account typesAccount except checking. Contra accounts are special in accounting. If you don't know what contra accounts are, then leave this field "NO" (the default). If you do know, the field is self explanatory.After you set up the account, press F10 to save theinformation and add the account to your Chart of Accounts.The window will clear and you can enter more accounts (orpress ESC to return to the Accounts Menu).This is the "Enter Summary Account" window.Here are some "special keys" to keep in mind while enteringsummary accounts: F3 Review "Budget" information alt-C Pop up the Calculator F10 Save the account ESC ExitHere are the fields you see in this window:Account Name The name for the account (such as "United Bank", "Mortgage", or "Utilities Expense". This name will appear on all account menus, account fields, and reports.Account CheckMate Plus fills this number in for youNumber (but you may change it if you wish). This is the general ledger account number for the account you're entering. Remember that summary accounts must less than have five digits. You may press the plus or minus keys in this field to increment or decrement the number. You may not have two accounts with the same number.Contra This field applies to all account typesAccount except checking. Contra accounts are special in accounting. If you don't know what contra accounts are, then leave this field "NO" (the default). If you do know, the field is self explanatory.After you set up the account, press F10 to save theinformation and add the account to your Chart of Accounts.The window will clear and you can enter more accounts (orpress ESC to return to the Accounts Menu).This is the "Edit Checking Account" window.Here are some "special keys" to keep in mind while editingaccounts: + , - Increment or decrement the date (cursor must be on "date" field = Set date to "DOS" date (cursor must be on "date" field F3 Edit "Budget" information alt-C Pop up the Calculator F9 Delete the account F10 Save changes ESC ExitHere are the fields you see in this window:Account Name The name for the account (such as "United Bank", "Mortgage", or "Utilities Expense". This name will appear on all account menus, account fields, and reports.Opening Enter the "balance" of the account on theBalance date you want to start tracking it. You must tell CheckMate Plus on which date the balance applied. Remember you may enter the date in any format you choose.Next Check Enter the next check number you'll enter inNumber CheckMate Plus.Address on Enter "YES" if you want addresses to appearChecks in the check entry form (and on the checks you print).Account This is the general ledger account number forNumber the account you're editing. Remember that detail accounts must always have five digits. You may press the plus or minus keys in this field to increment or decrement the number. You may not have two accounts with the same number.Check Layout This is a "menu field", so you may either type in a defined check layout or press alt-F10 to pop the menu up. CheckMate Plus comes with three predefined layouts, but you may also enter your own (discussed in this User's Guide).After you set up the account, press F10 to save theinformation and update your Chart of Accounts. Press F9 todelete the account. Press ESC to return to the AccountsMenu.This is the "Edit Account" window.Here are some "special keys" to keep in mind while editingaccounts: + , - Increment or decrement the date (cursor must be on "date" field = Set date to "DOS" date (cursor must be on "date" field F3 Edit "Budget" information alt-C Pop up the Calculator F9 Delete the account F10 Save changes ESC ExitHere are the fields you see in this window:Account Name The name for the account (such as "United Bank", "Mortgage", or "Utilities Expense". This name will appear on all account menus, account fields, and reports.Opening Enter the "balance" of the account on theBalance date you want to start tracking it. You must tell CheckMate Plus on which date the balance applied. Remember you may enter the date in any format you choose.Account This is the general ledger account number forNumber the account you're editing. Remember that detail accounts must always have five digits. You may press the plus or minus keys in this field to increment or decrement the number. You may not have two accounts with the same number.Contra This field applies to all account typesAccount except checking. Contra accounts are special in accounting. If you don't know what contra accounts are, then leave this field "NO" (the default). If you do know, the field is self explanatory.After you set up the account, press F10 to save theinformation and update your Chart of Accounts. Press F9 todelete the account. Press ESC to return to the AccountsMenu.This is the "Edit Summary Account" window.Here are some "special keys" to keep in mind while editing summary accounts: F3 Review "Budget" information alt-C Pop up the Calculator F9 Delete the account F10 Save changes ESC ExitHere are the fields you see in this window:Account Name The name for the account (such as "United Bank", "Mortgage", or "Utilities Expense". This name will appear on all account menus, account fields, and reports.Account This is the general ledger account number forNumber the account you're editing. Remember that summary accounts must less than have five digits. You may press the plus or minus keys in this field to increment or decrement the number. You may not have two accounts with the same number.Contra This field applies to all account typesAccount except checking. Contra accounts are special in accounting. If you don't know what contra accounts are, then leave this field "NO" (the default). If you do know, the field is self explanatory.After you set up the account, press F10 to save theinformation and update your Chart of Accounts. Press F9 todelete the account. Press ESC to return to the AccountsMenu.Select the type of account you want to enter."Summary" accounts are accounts that "sum" accounts togetherin logical groups. All the other account types are "detail"accounts.This is the "Account Budget Setup" window.Here you can enter budgeting data that CheckMate Plus usesin preparing reports. ESC returns you to the Account Entry(or Edit) Window.The "quarters" in the budget window are based on the startof your fiscal year (see "Fiscal Year Setup" under the"Setup" menu). You can, for instance, choose to start youraccounting year on October 1st (rather than January 1st).In this case, The 1st Quarter would include October,November, and December (instead of January, February, andMarch).CheckMate Plus is transaction oriented, and you'll spendmost of your time entering transactions.You can select which account CheckMate Plus will treat asthe control account here. Pick the account you want totreat as the default for transaction entry/edit, reports,printing checks, etc. The control account's name andnumber appear in the lower right hand corner of the screen.CheckMate Plus remembers your control account and willautomatically select it the next time you run the program.We anticipate you'll spend most of the time with yourprimary checking account as the default.* NOTE: Although "summary" accounts will appear on thismenu, CheckMate Plus will reject attempts to select them asthe control account (since you can't post transactionsdirectly to summary accounts)!You'll automatically return to the "Accounts" menu when youselect your control account. You can also press ESC toexit the "Select Control Account Menu" without changing thecontrol account.This is the "Account Status" window. This window displayscritical information about the selected account.This is the "Search and Filter" WindowYou specify the items you want to match by setting up"equations". The "search and filter" window has six lines,each with five fields:Variable This first field is where you specify the particular variable you're trying to match. You can type the variable in yourself, or press alt-F10 (the local menu key) or the middle mouse button to pop-up a menu of variables.OP In the second field, enter the "operator". For instance, if you want to exactly match the variable, enter a "=" here. This is also a menu field (and alt-F10 will pop-up a menu of choices). Here are the operators and what they do: = Exact Match * "Any" Match > Greater Than < Less Than >= Greater Than or Equal To <= Less Than or Equal To <> Not Equal To Search and Filter Operators Most of the operators are self-explanatory, but the "*" deserves more detail. You'll use this primarily when searching for text. Suppose, for instance, you want to find all checks written to "El Paso County". You could use the "=" sign and search for "PayTo = El Paso County", but you could also use the "*" and search for "Payto * County". In other words, when you use "*" instead of "=", CheckMate Plus will match any check with the word "county" in the payto field. When you use "=", you must type in the text to match EXACTLY. Note that "Payto * County" will match any check written to "El Paso County", but it will also match checks written to "Denver County", "County Line Barbecue", or any check with the word "county" in the payto field.Match #1 How this field behaves depends on the "variable" you choose (in the "Variable" field). In most cases you'll just enter text here. Some variables, however, require numbers, "YES/NO", or dates.And/Or You can "compound" the search for data with the And/Or field. As you may have guessed, you can enter either "AND", "OR", or nothing in the field. Here's how it works. Suppose you want to find all transactions between $100 and $200. You'd enter: Amount >= 100.00 And <= 200.00 See how you've specified a "range" of amounts? Similarly, suppose you wanted to find all checks with check numbers less than 500 and greater than 1000? You'd enter: Check Number < 500 Or > 1000 You can use these operators and specify "ranges" for virtually any variable (including straight text). If you leave the "And/Or" field blank, CheckMate Plus will ignore the second half of the match operation.OP This second OP field works like the first one above (but it's for the second half of the operation).Match #2 This second "Match" field works like the first one above (but it's for the second half of the operation).You can enter up to six operations. In order for atransaction to match, it must satisfy all of the lines youenter!Press ESC after you've entered your "filter definition" toreturn to your work.* IMPORTANT: Even though you've set the filter definition,it has no effect until you turn it "on". The alt-F keytoggles the filter state on and off. When you see the word"FILT" on the top line of the screen, the filter definitionis active. You can toggle it on and off at any time!Saving Filter DefinitionsAs you can see, you can get quite detailed in specifyingmatch criteria. If you've entered a complicated sequence(and want to save it to use again later), press F10 (whileyou're in the "Search and Filter Window") and CheckMate Pluswill store it on disk. You'll have to enter a name for the"Filter Definition" so you can pick the one you want later.You can have as many as forty definitions saved at one time.Retrieving Filter DefinitionsTo retrieve a definition you've saved, enter the "Search andFilter Window" and press F9 . CheckMate Plus will pop-up amenu of definitions previously saved. Pick the one you wantfrom the menu.Deleting Filter DefinitionsTo delete a definition (from the disk), pick the one youwant to get rid of (as described above). Then press F8 .CheckMate Plus will prompt you to confirm before actuallydeleting the definition.You're in the "Reconcile Account" window.Checking account reconciliation is a multi-step process. Inthis window, you need to enter the "statement" date fromyour bank statement. This is the date your bank printed onyour statement (it may also be called the "ending date").This is important! CheckMate Plus will "modify" thetransactions you mark as "cleared" by setting their "DateCleared" field to the statement date you enter here!This is the "Beginning Balance" window (of thereconciliation process).CheckMate Plus scans your data file to determine what the"beginning balance" on your bank statement should be. Ifyou use CheckMate Plus to regularly reconcile your accountsand are up to date, this number should match your bankstatement.If it doesn't match, you have two options. You can go backand fix the problem, or you may enter the number from yourstatement and continue.The number may not match for a number of reasons. If yourbalance is "way off", try running the "Rebuild Accounts"option (under "Rebuild the Database" under the "Maintenance"menu). It's also possible that you haven't reconciledprevious statements.This is the "Ending Balance" window (of the reconciliationprocess).You should enter the "ending balance" from your bankstatement here. This is the balance your bank says you haveafter all the checks, deposits, debits, and credits listedon your statement have been added (or subtracted) from your"beginning balance".CheckMate Plus will compute what it believes your endingbalance should be (as you mark transactions as "cleared").Hopefully, the number you enter here will match CheckMatePlus' answer. If so, your account will be successfullyreconciled.You're in the "Account Reconciliation" window.CheckMate Plus has searched through your data file looking fortransactions that have not cleared (dated before thestatement date) and transactions that have already clearedon the statement date. Keep in mind that you may havetransactions from long ago that have either not cleared (orhave cleared on this date). CheckMate Plus will only lookback as far as it's told to (under the "General" window inthe "Setup" menu). For instance, if you tell CheckMate Plusto search back three months (the default), it will only lookthat far back for uncleared transactions. If you havetransactions older than that, you'll need to change the"Uncleared Transaction Search" field (under the "Setup"menu). This window is very similar to the "Browse Window". Eachtransaction takes one line. Transactions that have"cleared" are marked with "arrows" at each end. Thefollowing keys will move you around in the window: Up Arrow Move up one transaction. Down Arrow Move down one transaction. PgUp
Move up on screen. PgDn
Move down one screen. Home
Move to first transaction. End Move to last transaction.The mouse will also move you through the transaction list.You can press the SPACE BAR to mark a transaction as"cleared". CheckMate Plus actually sets the "cleared"flag to YES when you do this. CheckMate Plus also sets the"cleared date" of the transaction to the "statement date".Pressing the SPACE BAR on a transaction that is alreadymarked as "cleared" will cause CheckMate Plus to "un-clear"the transaction.Entering New Transactions while ReconcilingYou may find you need to enter new transactions while youreconcile. These could be "monthly events" (thosetransactions that appear on your statement every month, suchas interest earned or service charges) or just transactionsyou forgot to enter.To enter transactions, press F3 . CheckMate Plus pops upthe familiar "enter transactions" form for you. You haveall the features normally available (including the "pop-upmenu" and "utilities").* IMPORTANT: Be sure and enter the correct date for thesetransactions! The date must be on or before the "statementdate" or the transactions won't appear for you to "clear".Editing while ReconcilingAt any time while you're reconciling, you can press ENTER (or the left button on the mouse) to edit the currentlyhighlighted transaction. The "Edit Transaction Window" willappear. Press ESC to return to the Reconcile window.Reconcile ReportAfter you've marked every "cleared" transaction, you'reready to print the "Reconciliation Report". BecauseCheckMate Plus records the "date cleared" for everytransaction, this report should have exactly the sameinformation as your bank statement.Press F10 to print the report.The report should list all transactions that cleared onthis bank statement. At the bottom of the report,CheckMate Plus list six additional items: Balance Last Statement Balance This Statement Number of Checks and Debits Number of Deposits and Credits Total of Checks and Debits Total of Deposits and CreditsMost bank statements also include these lines. If all iswell, the numbers on the report should match you statementexactly. If not, carefully compare the report to thestatement to track down the error.This is the "Reconciliation Status Window". It displayspertinent information about your current bank statement (andyour attempt to reconcile your records with the bank).This is the Reconciliation Report window.Date
The "Report Date" is the date CheckMate Plus will print on the title line of the report. It has nothing to do with the data in the report! It is simply meant to show when the report was generated.Print To CheckMate Plus lets you print your reports to the screen, your printer, or to a disk file. To select your printing option, move the cursor to the "Print To" field and type "Screen", Printer", or "Text File". This is a "menu field", so you can also press alt-F10 (or the center button on the mouse) to pop the menu up.Title The report "Title" appears on the title line (just below company/personal information and on the same line as the report date).Footer The report "Footer" appears at the bottom of every page (on the same line as the page number).The "Utility" MenuWhile you're setting your report options (before you printthe report), you can pop a "utility" menu up by pressing F2 .This is the "Report Parameters" window.Here you can you set items such as margins, line lengths,the printer port, and any setup or exit control strings youwant to send to your printer.Margins You can set the "margins" (top, bottom, left, and right). Express the top and bottom margins as a number of lines, and the left and right margins as a number of characters.Paper Sizes Paper size is a function of the number of lines per page you can print and the number of characters on each line. These numbers are absolute (i.e. they include margins). The number of characters per line you print will usually be determined by either the width of the paper (most paper is 8.5" wide) or by the "pitch" of the print.Page Control You can tell CheckMate Plus to "pause" after each page to let you feed paper (if you're not using a laser printer or continuous feed paper).Printer Port CheckMate Plus lets you direct your printed reports to LPT1, LPT2, COM1, or COM2. Set your printer port in the "Printer Port for Reports" field. (This is a "menu field", so press alt-F10 or the center mouse button to "pop" the menu up).Setup Strings CheckMate Plus lets you define printer "setup" and "exit" strings to control such things as margins, character pitch, attributes, etc. CheckMate Plus sends the "setup" strings to your printer before it starts the report and the "exit" strings after the report is completed. You'll probably want to use the "exit" strings to reset your printer (for normal operation). The printer control codes can be found in your printer manual. The format for entry is \<decimal code>\<decimal code>\.... The back-slashes delimit the codes. Here is an example: \27\85 This string represents an <ESC> 'U'. (That's an escape-capital-U). This is a popular means of defining printer codes.Saving Report ParametersPress F10 while in the "Report Parameters Setup Window"to save your setups for later use. CheckMate Plus will askyou for a name (to associate with the setups).Retrieving Report ParametersTo retrieve a set of previously defined parameters, press F9 while in the "Report Parameters Setup Window". Ifyou've previously saved any setups, CheckMate Plus willpresent you with a menu to select from.Deleting Report Parameters from DiskTo delete a setup you've previously saved, first "retrieve"the desired setup (as described above). Then press F8 .You are viewing this report with CheckMate Plus' "virtual paper".One problem with printing reports to the screen is that thescreen is often too narrow to show the complete report.CheckMate Plus uses virtual paper to display reports on thescreen. The report is formatted exactly as if you wereprinting to the printer (including titles, footers, andmargins).Virtual paper displays as much of the report as it can (inthe window). If each line is longer than you can see onscreen, you can scroll the window (with the left/right arrowkeys, the TAB keys, or the mouse).You can also scroll the window up and down with the up/downarrow keys, PgUp , PgDn , Home , End , or the mouse.CheckMate Plus presents the "highlighted bar" as a straightedge for your use while viewing the report.Press ESC to exit "virtual paper".Select the "range of dates" that you want this report toreflect.Month Select "Month" to limit the report to a specific month and year. You can specify a particular month before printing.Year
This option will print all transactions within an accounting (or fiscal) year. You set the fiscal year in the "Fiscal Year Setup Window" under the "Setups" menu. You can change the year before you print.1st-4th Select any of the four quarters to limit theQuarter report to a specific three month period within the current fiscal year. You set the fiscal year in the "Fiscal Year Setup Window" under the "Setups" menu.Between Any Select this option if you want to specify theTwo Dates range of dates that will appear on the report. This is the most flexible option.Select the "range of dates" that you want this report toreflect.Month Select "Month" to limit the report to a specific month and year. You can specify a particular month before printing.Year
This option will print all transactions within an accounting (or fiscal) year. You set the fiscal year in the "Fiscal Year Setup Window" under the "Setups" menu. You can change the year before you print.1st-4th Select any of the four quarters to limit theQuarter report to a specific three month period within the current fiscal year. You set the fiscal year in the "Fiscal Year Setup Window" under the "Setups" menu.Select the "range of dates" that you want this report toreflect.Month Select "Month" to limit the report to a specific month and year. You can specify a particular month before printing.Year
This option will print all transactions within an accounting (or fiscal) year. You set the fiscal year in the "Fiscal Year Setup Window" under the "Setups" menu. You can change the year before you print.1st-4th Select any of the four quarters to limit theQuarter report to a specific three month period within the current fiscal year. You set the fiscal year in the "Fiscal Year Setup Window" under the "Setups" menu.Between Any Select this option if you want to specify theTwo Dates range of dates that will appear on the report. This is the most flexible option.Month & YTD This option causes two columns to be displayed. One shows activity for the selected month, while the other totals activity for the year (to date).Month & QTD Select this option to display activity for the selected month and the corresponding quarter (to date).Three Use this option to display three columnsConsecutive (listing three consecutive months, startingMonths with the selected month).You can set report parameters (margins, paper sizes, etc)here. You can also set the "search and filter" pattern(since many reports search the transaction database).The "Transaction Report" is account specific. This is whatyou'd call your checkbook ledger (for checking accounts...you can print this report for other accounts as well).This report acts on the control account only. Select theaccount you want to report on (from the "Accounts" menu)before printing.Press F10 to start printing.Date
The "Report Date" is the date CheckMate Plus will print on the title line of the report. It has nothing to do with the data in the report! It is simply meant to show when the report was generated. You also have varying date options to set, depending upon the "date range" you selected.Print To CheckMate Plus lets you print your reports to the screen, your printer, a text file (on disk), or a "WKS" spreadsheet file (also on disk). To select your printing option, move the cursor to the "Print To" field and type "Screen", Printer", "Text File", or "WKS File". This is a "menu field", so you can also press alt-F10 (or the center button on the mouse) to pop the menu up.Title The report "Title" appears on the title line (just below company/personal information and on the same line as the report date).Footer The report "Footer" appears at the bottom of every page (on the same line as the page number).The "Utility" MenuWhile you're setting your report options (before you printthe report), you can pop a "utility" menu up by pressing F2 .The "Ledger Activity" report lists each account and itsactivity for the specified period.Press F10 to start printing.Date
The "Report Date" is the date CheckMate Plus will print on the title line of the report. It has nothing to do with the data in the report! It is simply meant to show when the report was generated. You also have varying date options to set, depending upon the "date range" you selected.Account You can specify "starting" and "ending"Numbers account numbers (which can significantly reduce report generation time).Print To CheckMate Plus lets you print your reports to the screen, your printer, a text file (on disk), or a "WKS" spreadsheet file (also on disk). To select your printing option, move the cursor to the "Print To" field and type "Screen", Printer", "Text File", or "WKS File". This is a "menu field", so you can also press alt-F10 (or the center button on the mouse) to pop the menu up.Title The report "Title" appears on the title line (just below company/personal information and on the same line as the report date).Footer The report "Footer" appears at the bottom of every page (on the same line as the page number).The "Utility" MenuWhile you're setting your report options (before you printthe report), you can pop a "utility" menu up by pressing F2 .The "Ledger Transaction" report displays each transaction inledger form (much like the "Split" window you see whileentering transactions).Press F10 to start printing.Date
The "Report Date" is the date CheckMate Plus will print on the title line of the report. It has nothing to do with the data in the report! It is simply meant to show when the report was generated. You also have varying date options to set, depending upon the "date range" you selected.Print To CheckMate Plus lets you print your reports to the screen, your printer, a text file (on disk), or a "WKS" spreadsheet file (also on disk). To select your printing option, move the cursor to the "Print To" field and type "Screen", Printer", "Text File", or "WKS File". This is a "menu field", so you can also press alt-F10 (or the center button on the mouse) to pop the menu up.Title The report "Title" appears on the title line (just below company/personal information and on the same line as the report date).Footer The report "Footer" appears at the bottom of every page (on the same line as the page number).The "Utility" MenuWhile you're setting your report options (before you printthe report), you can pop a "utility" menu up by pressing F2 .The "Chart of Accounts" report is simply a listing of allyour ledger accounts (in logical order).Press F10 to start printing.Date
The "Report Date" is the date CheckMate Plus will print on the title line of the report. It has nothing to do with the data in the report! It is simply meant to show when the report was generated.Print To CheckMate Plus lets you print your reports to the screen, your printer, or to a disk file. To select your printing option, move the cursor to the "Print To" field and type "Screen", Printer", or "Text File". This is a "menu field", so you can also press alt-F10 (or the center button on the mouse) to pop the menu up.Title The report "Title" appears on the title line (just below company/personal information and on the same line as the report date).Footer The report "Footer" appears at the bottom of every page (on the same line as the page number).The "Utility" MenuWhile you're setting your report options (before you printthe report), you can pop a "utility" menu up by pressing F2 .CheckMate Plus lets you "customize" the Transaction reportto some degree.Here you can specify the fields you want to appear on eachline and how much space each field will take. If you don'twant a particular field to appear, set its length to "zero".Amounts are "right-justified" in their fields.CheckMate Plus computes the characters per line you'll needfor the report. Make sure you set the "Report Parameters"correctly (see next chapter, "Report Printing Options").Press F10 to save your customizations to disk. ESC takesyou back to the "Transaction Report Window".CheckMate Plus lets you "customize" the Reconciliationreport to some degree.Here you can specify the fields you want to appear on eachline and how much space each field will take. If you don'twant a particular field to appear, set its length to "zero".Amounts are "right-justified" in their fields.CheckMate Plus computes the characters per line you'll needfor the report. Make sure you set the "Report Parameters"correctly (see next chapter, "Report Printing Options").Press F10 to save your customizations to disk. ESC takesyou back to the "Reconciliation Report Window".Select the "ledger" report you want to print.The "Ledger Activity" report lists each account and itsactivity for the specified period.The "Ledger Transaction" report displays each transaction inledger form (much like the "Split" window you see whileentering transactions).The "Chart of Accounts" report is simply a listing of allyour ledger accounts (in logical order).Select the "summary" report you want to print."Summary" reports "summarize" the activity of all youraccounts into two specific reports: o Balance Sheets o Income Statements o Budget Reports"Balance Sheets" are like a "snapshot" of your accountbalances on a specific date."Income Statements" (also called "Profit/Loss Statements")show the change in your account balances between two dates.Income statements are generally only concerned with REVENUEand EXPENSE accounts."Budget Reports" are a special type of income statement.They show income or expenses (and compare them to budgetedvalues that you set under the "Accounts" menu).Select the type of "Balance Sheet" you want to print.The "standard" balance sheet is a textbook report that willmeet most people's needs.The "custom" balance sheet lets you print the report in aformat you design (under the "maintenance" menu).The "trial balance" is a standard accountant's report usedto help find unbalanced transactions.Select the type of "Income Statement" you want to print.The "standard" income statement is a textbook report thatwill meet most people's needs.The "custom" income statement lets you print the report in aformat you design (under the "maintenance" menu).Select the type of "Budget Report" you want to print.The "expense" budget report lists all your expense accountsand compares them with your budgeted values.The "income" budget report lists all your revenue accountsand compares them with your expected (budgeted) values.* SPECIAL NOTE: Your "date range" choices are limited inbudget reports because you enter "budget information" in amonth-by-month form. Also, remember that CheckMate Plusonly stores the current year's budget information.Select the custom report you want to print.CheckMate Plus will generate a "textbook" balance sheetfrom this window.Press F10 to start printing.Date
The "Report Date" is the date CheckMate Plus will print on the title line of the report. It has nothing to do with the data in the report! It is simply meant to show when the report was generated.Balance Sheet You must specify the date for which you wantDate
the balances reported (remember, a balance sheet is a "snapshot" of account balances on that date!).Account You can also direct CheckMate Plus to printNumbers account numbers on the report.Print To CheckMate Plus lets you print your reports to the screen, your printer, a text file (on disk), or a "WKS" spreadsheet file (also on disk). To select your printing option, move the cursor to the "Print To" field and type "Screen", Printer", "Text File", or "WKS File". This is a "menu field", so you can also press alt-F10 (or the center button on the mouse) to pop the menu up.Title The report "Title" appears on the title line (just below company/personal information and on the same line as the report date).Footer The report "Footer" appears at the bottom of every page (on the same line as the page number).The "Utility" MenuWhile you're setting your report options (before you printthe report), you can pop a "utility" menu up by pressing F2 .From this window, you direct CheckMate Plus to print abalance sheet that you have designed yourself (under the"maintenance" menu).Press F10 to start printing.Date
The "Report Date" is the date CheckMate Plus will print on the title line of the report. It has nothing to do with the data in the report! It is simply meant to show when the report was generated.Balance Sheet You must specify the date for which you wantDate the balances reported (remember, a balance sheet is a "snapshot" of account balances on that date!).Print To CheckMate Plus lets you print your reports to the screen, your printer, a text file (on disk), or a "WKS" spreadsheet file (also on disk). To select your printing option, move the cursor to the "Print To" field and type "Screen", Printer", "Text File", or "WKS File". This is a "menu field", so you can also press alt-F10 (or the center button on the mouse) to pop the menu up.Title The report "Title" appears on the title line (just below company/personal information and on the same line as the report date).Footer The report "Footer" appears at the bottom of every page (on the same line as the page number).The "Utility" MenuWhile you're setting your report options (before you printthe report), you can pop a "utility" menu up by pressing F2 .From this window, you direct CheckMate Plus to print atrial balance sheet. The trial balance simply lists ALL(detail) accounts and their balance (as of the date youenter).Since the purpose of the trial balance is to make sure thatdebits=credits for all accounts, CheckMate Plus omitsaccount number 39999 (Non-Accounted for Funds) from thisreport.Press F10 to start printing.Date
The "Report Date" is the date CheckMate Plus will print on the title line of the report. It has nothing to do with the data in the report! It is simply meant to show when the report was generated.Balance Sheet You must specify the date for which you wantDate
the balances reported (remember, a balance sheet is a "snapshot" of account balances on that date!).Print To CheckMate Plus lets you print your reports to the screen, your printer, a text file (on disk), or a "WKS" spreadsheet file (also on disk). To select your printing option, move the cursor to the "Print To" field and type "Screen", Printer", "Text File", or "WKS File". This is a "menu field", so you can also press alt-F10 (or the center button on the mouse) to pop the menu up.Title The report "Title" appears on the title line (just below company/personal information and on the same line as the report date).Footer The report "Footer" appears at the bottom of every page (on the same line as the page number).The "Utility" MenuWhile you're setting your report options (before you printthe report), you can pop a "utility" menu up by pressing F2 .CheckMate Plus will generate a "textbook" expense budgetreport from this window.Press F10 to start printing.Date
The "Report Date" is the date CheckMate Plus will print on the title line of the report. It has nothing to do with the data in the report! It is simply meant to show when the report was generated. You also have varying date options to set, depending upon the "date range" you selected.Account You may direct CheckMate Plus to include eachNumbers account's number on the report (alongside its name).Print To CheckMate Plus lets you print your reports to the screen, your printer, a text file (on disk), or a "WKS" spreadsheet file (also on disk). To select your printing option, move the cursor to the "Print To" field and type "Screen", Printer", "Text File", or "WKS File". This is a "menu field", so you can also press alt-F10 (or the center button on the mouse) to pop the menu up.Title The report "Title" appears on the title line (just below company/personal information and on the same line as the report date).Footer The report "Footer" appears at the bottom of every page (on the same line as the page number).The "Utility" MenuWhile you're setting your report options (before you printthe report), you can pop a "utility" menu up by pressing F2 .CheckMate Plus will generate a "textbook" income budgetreport from this window.Press F10 to start printing.Date
The "Report Date" is the date CheckMate Plus will print on the title line of the report. It has nothing to do with the data in the report! It is simply meant to show when the report was generated. You also have varying date options to set, depending upon the "date range" you selected.Account You may direct CheckMate Plus to include eachNumbers account's number on the report (alongside its name).Print To CheckMate Plus lets you print your reports to the screen, your printer, a text file (on disk), or a "WKS" spreadsheet file (also on disk). To select your printing option, move the cursor to the "Print To" field and type "Screen", Printer", "Text File", or "WKS File". This is a "menu field", so you can also press alt-F10 (or the center button on the mouse) to pop the menu up.Title The report "Title" appears on the title line (just below company/personal information and on the same line as the report date).Footer The report "Footer" appears at the bottom of every page (on the same line as the page number).The "Utility" MenuWhile you're setting your report options (before you printthe report), you can pop a "utility" menu up by pressing F2 .CheckMate Plus will generate a "textbook" income statementfrom this window.Press F10 to start printing.Date
The "Report Date" is the date CheckMate Plus will print on the title line of the report. It has nothing to do with the data in the report! It is simply meant to show when the report was generated. You also have varying date options to set, depending upon the "date range" you selected.Account You may direct CheckMate Plus to include eachNumbers account's number on the report (alongside its name).Budget You can direct CheckMate Plus to print "budgetInformation information" for each account. The information is displayed as a percentage of actual value to budgeted value. "Budget information" is not available when you select "between any two dates" as your date range. (If you want to view actual budget values, print the appropriate "Budget Report" instead of an "Income Statement").Print To CheckMate Plus lets you print your reports to the screen, your printer, a text file (on disk), or a "WKS" spreadsheet file (also on disk). To select your printing option, move the cursor to the "Print To" field and type "Screen", Printer", "Text File", or "WKS File". This is a "menu field", so you can also press alt-F10 (or the center button on the mouse) to pop the menu up.Title The report "Title" appears on the title line (just below company/personal information and on the same line as the report date).Footer The report "Footer" appears at the bottom of every page (on the same line as the page number).The "Utility" MenuWhile you're setting your report options (before you printthe report), you can pop a "utility" menu up by pressing F2 .From this window, you direct CheckMate Plus to print aincome statement that you have designed yourself (under the"maintenance" menu).Press F10 to start printing.Date
The "Report Date" is the date CheckMate Plus will print on the title line of the report. It has nothing to do with the data in the report! It is simply meant to show when the report was generated. You also have varying date options to set, depending upon the "date range" you selected.Print To CheckMate Plus lets you print your reports to the screen, your printer, a text file (on disk), or a "WKS" spreadsheet file (also on disk). To select your printing option, move the cursor to the "Print To" field and type "Screen", Printer", "Text File", or "WKS File". This is a "menu field", so you can also press alt-F10 (or the center button on the mouse) to pop the menu up.Title The report "Title" appears on the title line (just below company/personal information and on the same line as the report date).Footer The report "Footer" appears at the bottom of every page (on the same line as the page number).The "Utility" MenuWhile you're setting your report options (before you printthe report), you can pop a "utility" menu up by pressing F2 .Select whether you want to print to the printer, the screen,or a text file (and in some cases, a "WKS" spreadsheetfile).Here you tell CheckMate Plus which "port" your printer isconnected to.Select "One Account" to display graphs that zero in on asingle account. The "Ledger" option lets you display graphsthat detail your entire chart of accounts.Select the graph you desire to view.The "Account Activity" graph shows all "activity" (in thecurrent control account only) over a range of months.The "Budget Analysis" graph displays the "actual" activityof the control account next to the "budgeted" activity ofthe control account.Select the graph you desire to view.Expenses vs IncomeThis graph displays the total "revenue" next to the total"expenses" of each month you specify (for ALL accounts inyour chart of accounts).Expenses by MonthThis graph displays the total "expenses" for each month youspecify (for ALL accounts in your chart of accounts).Income by MonthThis graph displays the total "revenue" for each month youspecify (for ALL accounts in your chart of accounts).Detailed ExpenseThis graph displays each expense account for the month youspecify (up to 32).Detailed IncomeThis graph displays each revenue account for the month youspecify (up to 32).Debt to EquityThis graph displays your total debt ("liabilities") next toyour total "equity" for each month you specify (for ALLaccounts in your chart of accounts).Debt to AssetsThis graph displays your total debt ("liabilities") next toyour total "assets" for each month you specify (for ALLaccounts in your chart of accounts).Select the type of graph you want to display.The "Account Activity" graph shows all "activity" (in thecurrent control account only) over a range of months.Press F10 to display the graph, ESC to exit.Graph Title Enter a title here (that will appear on the graph). CheckMate Plus fills in a "default" value.Starting The "first" month in your report.MonthNumber of The total number of months that CheckMate PlusMonths will display.The "Budget Analysis" graph displays the "actual" activityof the control account next to the "budgeted" activity ofthe control account.Press F10 to display the graph, ESC to exit.Graph Title Enter a title here (that will appear on the graph). CheckMate Plus fills in a "default" value.Starting The "first" month in your report.MonthNumber of The total number of months that CheckMate PlusMonths will display.This graph displays the total "revenue" next to the total"expenses" of each month you specify (for ALL accounts inyour chart of accounts).Press F10 to display the graph, ESC to exit.Graph Title Enter a title here (that will appear on the graph). CheckMate Plus fills in a "default" value.Starting The "first" month in your report.MonthNumber of The total number of months that CheckMate PlusMonths will display.This graph displays the total "expenses" for each month youspecify (for ALL accounts in your chart of accounts).Press F10 to display the graph, ESC to exit.Graph Title Enter a title here (that will appear on the graph). CheckMate Plus fills in a "default" value.Starting The "first" month in your report.MonthNumber of The total number of months that CheckMate PlusMonths will display.This graph displays the total "revenue" for each month youspecify (for ALL accounts in your chart of accounts).Press F10 to display the graph, ESC to exit.Graph Title Enter a title here (that will appear on the graph). CheckMate Plus fills in a "default" value.Starting The "first" month in your report.MonthNumber of The total number of months that CheckMate PlusMonths will display.This graph displays your total debt ("liabilities") next toyour total "equity" for each month you specify (for ALLaccounts in your chart of accounts).Press F10 to display the graph, ESC to exit.Graph Title Enter a title here (that will appear on the graph). CheckMate Plus fills in a "default" value.Starting The "first" month in your report.MonthNumber of The total number of months that CheckMate PlusMonths will display.This graph displays your total debt ("liabilities") next toyour total "assets" for each month you specify (for ALLaccounts in your chart of accounts).Press F10 to display the graph, ESC to exit.Graph Title Enter a title here (that will appear on the graph). CheckMate Plus fills in a "default" value.Starting The "first" month in your report.MonthNumber of The total number of months that CheckMate PlusMonths will display.This graph displays each expense account for the month youspecify (up to 32).Press F10 to display the graph, ESC to exit.Graph Title Enter a title here (that will appear on the graph). CheckMate Plus fills in a "default" value.Month The "month" that CheckMate Plus will display. CheckMate Plus can display up to 32 accounts on this graph.This graph displays each revenue account for the month youspecify (up to 32).Press F10 to display the graph, ESC to exit.Graph Title Enter a title here (that will appear on the graph). CheckMate Plus fills in a "default" value.Month The "month" that CheckMate Plus will display. CheckMate Plus can display up to 32 accounts on this graph.In this window, you can specify several options concerningthe graph you selected.Print To CheckMate Plus lets you print your graph to the screen, your printer, or a file (on disk). (This is a "menu field", so press alt-F10 or the center mouse button to "pop" the menu up).If you select "Screen", you're ready to print your graph.Just press F10 . If you selected "Printer" or "File", youhave additional options to set:Printer Select the printer definition here (for your specific printer). You need to specify a printer if you are printing to a file as well (so CheckMate Plus knows what format to use while creating the file). (This is a "menu field", so press alt-F10 or the center mouse button to "pop" the menu up).Orientation Enter the "orientation" you desire here (either "portrait" or "landscape"). (This is a "menu field", so press alt-F10 or the center mouse button to "pop" the menu up).Resolution Choose the "resolution" of the graph you want to print. Your options are "low" (prints the fastest), "medium", and "high" (looks the best but prints the slowest). (This is a "menu field", so press alt-F10 or the center mouse button to "pop" the menu up).If you're printing to a printer, you must set this option:Printer Port CheckMate Plus lets you direct your graphs to LPT1, LPT2, COM1, or COM2. (This is a "menu field", so press alt-F10 or the center mouse button to "pop" the menu up).If you're printing to a file, you must set this option:File Name If you're printing your graph to a file, you must enter a valid DOS file name here. The name may contain drive and path information. If the file already exists, CheckMate Plus will overwrite it, so BE CAREFUL! (Do NOT name the file CMPLUS.DAT, or you will overwrite your own data file!).Press F10 to display (or print) the graph, ESC to exit. Tosave your choices to disk, press F5 .You're in the "Check Printing" window.At this point, you have some options. You may print eachcheck (one at a time) by pressing the SPACE BAR . CheckMatePlus will pause between each one. (This is the way you'llwant to print checks if you're feeding them into yourprinter one at a time).If you want to print all the checks one after another(without pausing between each one), press F10 . You canpress F10 anytime, even if you've already printed somechecks with the SPACE BAR .If you discover you've already written a check that's to beprinted, you can press F2 to have CheckMate Plus mark it asprinted without actually printing it! We added this featurein case you're mixing writing checks by hand and printingthem. We suggest you manually mark the check as printedwhile you enter it. But if you forget, you can correct ithere.Before CheckMate Plus can print any checks, it must "parse"the check layout and make sure there are no "syntax" errors.CheckMate Plus' check writing language is by far the mostpowerful in the industry, with many features and maximumflexibility. (See "Designing Your Own Check Layout" in theUser's Guide for more information).If CheckMate Plus finds an error in your check layout, the"Error in Check Layout" window appears (with an errormessage and error location). At this point you have twooptions. Press F2 to immediately enter the "Editing Check Layout" window. CheckMate Plus will jump to the error.Make your corrections, press F10 to save them, and CheckMatePlus returns to the task of printing your checks. You canrepeat this "loop" as many times as necessary to perfectyour layout.Pressing any other key in the "Error in Check Layout"window causes CheckMate Plus to abort printing checks andreturn to the menu.Press ESC to abort printing checks. After CheckMate Plushas printed all your checks, you automatically return tothe "Reports" menu.CheckMate Plus has encountered an error in your checklayout.At this point you have two options. Press F2 to immediatelyenter the "Editing Check Layout" window. CheckMate Pluswill jump to the error.Make your corrections, press F10 to save them, and CheckMatePlus returns to the task of printing your checks. You canrepeat this "loop" as many times as necessary to perfectyour layout.Pressing any other key in the "Error in Check Layout"window causes CheckMate Plus to abort printing checks andreturn to the menu.You're in the "Rebuild" menu.One of the three options under the "rebuild menu" should fix99% of the problems you may encounter. If you still havedifficulties, contact CTech directly.Rebuilding the DatabaseThe "Complete Rebuilt" option is the most robust rebuildfeature available. This function actually creates a wholenew file by scanning the original file from start to finish.It then generates a completely new index file.Rebuilding the Index FileCheckMate Plus also lets you rebuild your "index" file atany time. This rebuild is less robust but much faster thanthe "complete rebuild" (and requires far less disk space).Rebuilding AccountsThe "Rebuild Accounts" option works on the account values(rather than the data file structure). This procedurecomputes the running balance, the last cleared transaction,and some other account specific values for all accounts inyour data file.The "Complete Rebuilt" option is the most robust rebuildfeature available. This function actually creates a wholenew file by scanning the original file from start to finish.It then generates a completely new index file.CheckMate Plus does this by first creating an empty"working" file and writing "active" records to it one byone. You can specify where this "working" file will be. (Ifyou have a RAM disk, specify it for the "working" disk togreatly speed things up). In any case, you must havesufficient free space in your "working" directory tocompletely copy the data file. Once the "working" file iscomplete, CheckMate Plus erases the original file and copiesthe "working" file back to the original drive and directory.After the original file has been replaced, CheckMate Plusproceeds to regenerate every index key.* NOTE: This method of rebuilding, although somewhat slow,offers maximum safety in the event of an error, unexpectedpower loss, or lack of space.You'll want to use this procedure if you data file becomescorrupted for any reason. (DOS is a funny animal, and younever know what strange combination of events may cause youproblems). This procedure also "compacts" the file (sinceit doesn't copy deleted records). If you've closedtransactions or deleted a lot of records, this couldsignificantly reduce the disk space you data file consumes.* NOTE: CheckMate Plus reuses deleted records before itexpands its data file size, so you don't necessarily need torun this procedure after you delete or close transactions.After you've entered the "working" file path, press F10 tobegin the rebuild.CheckMate Plus also lets you rebuild your "index" file atany time. This rebuild is less robust but much faster thanthe "complete rebuild" (and requires far less disk space).What CheckMate Plus does here is erase the index file andscan the data base, adding an index entry for each record.Use this procedure if transactions seem to appear more thanonce while editing, browsing, or printing reports. It mayalso find transactions that appear to be missing.Press F10 to start the procedure.The "Rebuild Accounts" option works on the account values(rather than the data file structure). This procedurecomputes the running balance, the last cleared transaction,and some other account specific values for all accounts inyour data file.CheckMate Plus will automatically ask to run this routineany time it thinks it needs to, but you run it manuallyhere. You'll usually need to run this procedure if you add,delete, or modify transactions out of date sequence.Press F10 to start the rebuild. Remember this procedureaffects all accounts, not just the current control account.Specify whether you want to define a new check layout oredit a previously defined one.Specify whether you want to define a new report definitionor edit a previously defined one.Select the check layout you want to edit.Select the report definition you want to edit.You're entering (or editing) a "check layout" with CheckMatePlus' built-in editor. Refer to the User's Guide forcomplete information on the check layout language.Press F10 to save your layout, ESC to exit.CheckMate Plus has a very simple built-in text editor.The editor is not fancy, but it will get the job done. Manyof the keys you can use while editing are the same you usein any of the data entry fields. Control Key Alternate Key Function Control-D right-arrow move one character right Control-S left-arrow move one character left Control-F move one word right Control-A move one word left Control-QD END move to end of line Control-QS HOME move to start of line Control-QR jump to top line Control-QC jump to bottom line Control-E up-arrow move up one line Control-X down-arrow move down one line Control-G DEL delete character at cursor Control-T delete word right Control-QY delete line right Control-Y delete entire line Control-H BACKSPACE delete character left Control-V INS toggle INSERT/OVERWRITE Control-KR read text file Control-KW write text fileAlthough the editor has many basic editing keys, it doesn'thave "cut and paste" features (yet). You can, however,export the text to a file (press control-KW and enter afilename). You can then use your favorite text editor tomanipulate the data. Control-KR reads a file into the editor. BE CAREFUL! Thefile "overwrites" anything already there.You're entering (or editing) a "report definition" withCheckMate Plus' built-in editor. Refer to the User's Guidefor complete information on how to define your customreports.Press F10 to save your definition, ESC to exit.CheckMate Plus has a very simple built-in text editor.The editor is not fancy, but it will get the job done. Manyof the keys you can use while editing are the same you usein any of the data entry fields. Control Key Alternate Key Function Control-D right-arrow move one character right Control-S left-arrow move one character left Control-F move one word right Control-A move one word left Control-QD END move to end of line Control-QS HOME move to start of line Control-QR jump to top line Control-QC jump to bottom line Control-E up-arrow move up one line Control-X down-arrow move down one line Control-G DEL delete character at cursor Control-T delete word right Control-QY delete line right Control-Y delete entire line Control-H BACKSPACE delete character left Control-V INS toggle INSERT/OVERWRITE Control-KR read text file Control-KW write text fileAlthough the editor has many basic editing keys, it doesn'thave "cut and paste" features (yet). You can, however,export the text to a file (press control-KW and enter afilename). You can then use your favorite text editor tomanipulate the data. Control-KR reads a file into the editor. BE CAREFUL! Thefile "overwrites" anything already there.Enter a name to associate with this layout.Enter a name to associate with this report definition.This is the "Backup the Database" window. From here you canmake a backup of your valuable financial data (just in caseyou have hardware and/or file problems). CheckMate Pluswill even compress the file (so you can backup very largefiles on floppy disks).First, put a FORMATTED diskette in one of your floppydrives. Then tell CheckMate Plus which floppy drive hasthe disk, and press F10 to start the procedure.When you're done, press ESC to return to the menu.This is the "Restore the Database" window. You can"restore" your data here (provided you have previously madea backup with CheckMate Plus' "Backup" procedure).First, put your "Backup" diskette in one of your floppydrives. Then tell CheckMate Plus which floppy drive hasthe disk, and press F10 to start the procedure.CheckMate Plus will look for the backup. If it finds it,CheckMate Plus will warn you of the consequences ofrestoring from a backup. Specifically, all work you've doneafter the last backup date will be lost!When you're done, press ESC to return to the menu.You're in the "Loan Calculation" window. Enter all but oneof the of the "numbered" fields and press F4 to calculatethe last one.Press F5 to open the "Loan Amortization Report Window". (Youhave the same formatting options here that you have for anyreport in CheckMate Plus).* NOTE: The "total Interest paid" value in the amortizationreport may differ slightly from the "Loan CalculationsWindow". This is because the amortization report can"adjust" the final payment slightly to exactly "pay off" theloan.This is the "Loan Amortization" report window.* NOTE: The "total Interest paid" value in the amortizationreport may differ slightly from the "Loan CalculationsWindow". This is because the amortization report can"adjust" the final payment slightly to exactly "pay off" theloan.Press F10 to start printing.Date
The "Report Date" is the date CheckMate Plus will print on the title line of the report. It has nothing to do with the data in the report! It is simply meant to show when the report was generated.Range You can also specify the "payment range" you want to print.Print To CheckMate Plus lets you print your reports to the screen, your printer, or to a disk file. To select your printing option, move the cursor to the "Print To" field and type "Screen", Printer", or "Text File". This is a "menu field", so you can also press alt-F10 (or the center button on the mouse) to pop the menu up.Title The report "Title" appears on the title line (just below company/personal information and on the same line as the report date).Footer The report "Footer" appears at the bottom of every page (on the same line as the page number).The "Utility" MenuWhile you're setting your report options (before you printthe report), you can pop a "utility" menu up by pressing F2 ."Regular Deposits" are savings accounts, regular bondpurchases, or any savings program where you deposit a setamount of money at set intervals. For instance, you may becontributing $100 per month for 30 years as a retirementplan.Enter all but one of the of the "numbered" fields and press F4 to calculate the last one.Press F5 to open the "Deposits Amortization Report Window".(You have the same formatting options here that you have forany report in CheckMate Plus).This is the "Deposit Amortization" report window.Press F10 to start printing.Date
The "Report Date" is the date CheckMate Plus will print on the title line of the report. It has nothing to do with the data in the report! It is simply meant to show when the report was generated.Range You can also specify the "deposits range" you want to print.Print To CheckMate Plus lets you print your reports to the screen, your printer, or to a disk file. To select your printing option, move the cursor to the "Print To" field and type "Screen", Printer", or "Text File". This is a "menu field", so you can also press alt-F10 (or the center button on the mouse) to pop the menu up.Title The report "Title" appears on the title line (just below company/personal information and on the same line as the report date).Footer The report "Footer" appears at the bottom of every page (on the same line as the page number).The "Utility" MenuWhile you're setting your report options (before you printthe report), you can pop a "utility" menu up by pressing F2 ."Compounding a fixed sum" means depositing a lump of moneyonce and letting it "grow" over time.Enter all but one of the of the "numbered" fields and press F4 to calculate the last one.Press F5 to open the "Compounding Amortization ReportWindow". (You have the same formatting options here thatyou have for any report in CheckMate Plus).* NOTE: Daily compounding (i.e. compounding 365 times peryear) is fairly common, but will result in a huge report.Compounding daily for twenty years, for instance, generates7,300 lines! In these cases, CheckMate Plus willselectively print "intervals" (say, every fifth line).This is the "Compounding Amortization" report window.* NOTE: Daily compounding (i.e. compounding 365 times peryear) is fairly common, but will result in a huge report.Compounding daily for twenty years, for instance, generates7,300 lines! In these cases, CheckMate Plus willselectively print "intervals" (say, every fifth line).Press F10 to start printing.Date
The "Report Date" is the date CheckMate Plus will print on the title line of the report. It has nothing to do with the data in the report! It is simply meant to show when the report was generated.Range You can also specify the "compounding ranges" you want to print.Print To CheckMate Plus lets you print your reports to the screen, your printer, or to a disk file. To select your printing option, move the cursor to the "Print To" field and type "Screen", Printer", or "Text File". This is a "menu field", so you can also press alt-F10 (or the center button on the mouse) to pop the menu up.Title The report "Title" appears on the title line (just below company/personal information and on the same line as the report date).Footer The report "Footer" appears at the bottom of every page (on the same line as the page number).The "Utility" MenuWhile you're setting your report options (before you printthe report), you can pop a "utility" menu up by pressing F2 .This report analyzes your General Ledger. It first checksto see if the opening balances of all your accounts sum tozero. Next, it scans the entire database to determinewhether or not you have unbalanced transactions.If your books are out of balance, this report will suggest amethod for correcting the errors.Press F10 to start printing.Date
The "Report Date" is the date CheckMate Plus will print on the title line of the report. It has nothing to do with the data in the report! It is simply meant to show when the report was generated.Print To CheckMate Plus lets you print your reports to the screen, your printer, or to a disk file. To select your printing option, move the cursor to the "Print To" field and type "Screen", Printer", or "Text File". This is a "menu field", so you can also press alt-F10 (or the center button on the mouse) to pop the menu up.Title The report "Title" appears on the title line (just below company/personal information and on the same line as the report date).Footer The report "Footer" appears at the bottom of every page (on the same line as the page number).The "Utility" MenuWhile you're setting your report options (before you printthe report), you can pop a "utility" menu up by pressing F2 .This is the "Fiscal Year Setup Window". Here you can setyour current and past fiscal year(s).The first option you have is "Current Fiscal Year Start".You may start your "fiscal year" on the first day of anymonth and year. The month you enter here is important asCheckMate Plus uses this date while generating reports. Youmay change this date at any time without corrupting yourdata in any way, so you may change the date (and even goback to re-create past reports).One standard practice in accounting is to clear expense andrevenue accounts at the end of each year (so you can start anew fiscal year with a clean slate). The balances of theexpense and revenue accounts are transferred to an "equity"account, often called "Profit/Loss 1989", "Retained Earnings1990", or the like. Once you choose to close a year, youcan't go back and modify the numbers without making "reverseentries". You can do this with CheckMate Plus (see "CloseTransactions" under the "Transactions" menu) or you can haveCheckMate Plus "simulate" closing past years.The "Fiscal Year Setup Window" has space for 10 "pastyears". For each year you enter, CheckMate Plus lets youassign an "equity" account to clear all expenses andrevenues to. IMPORTANT! CheckMate Plus only "simulates"clearing the values! This way, you can keep yourtransaction detail and the ability to modify pasttransactions for over ten years! The only time you'll seethe balances transferred is when you print accountingreports (such as balance sheets and income statements). Youwon't see them transferred when you look at account balancesin the "enter" or "edit" features of CheckMate Plus.You enter "Past Years" as "years" only ("1989" for example).The starting and ending months depend upon the startingmonth of your "Current Fiscal Year Start". After you entereach year, you can specify the account you want to cleareach year to. This must be an "equity account" (accountnumbers will range from 30000 to 39999). You must createthese accounts before you can specify them here, and theymust be detail accounts.* NOTE: You don't have to specify past years if you don'twant to! CheckMate Plus will simply carry balances forwardfor any years not specified. What we've given you ismaximum flexibility unparalleled in the industry.Also remember you can make the assignments permanent whenyou "Close Transactions" under the "Transactions" menu. Whenyou do this, you'll no longer be able to view or edit thosepast transactions (since CheckMate Plus will erase them) butyou will see the accumulated balances appear in the correctequity accounts.Press F10 to save your "Current Fiscal Year Start" and all"past year" data.Because CheckMate Plus allows you to retain many years worthof information, we included an "audit trail lock" which letsyou assign a "password" to your audit trail. If you chooseto activate the "audit lock", CheckMate Plus won't let youedit or delete any transactions or accounts entered beforethe current system date (unless you know the "audit lock"password).You have three options here.First, you have a YES/NO question asking you whether or notyou want to lock data edit capability. The default is "NO".Next, you'll see the "Last Date Run". CheckMate Plusautomatically updates this each time you run. You can't"fool" CheckMate Plus, however, because CheckMate Plus willnever set this date "back" (so changing the DOS date won'thelp). We included the date here so you can manually set itback for a single session.The last item you can enter is the "audit lock password".You'll have to enter this password each time you try to editor delete a transaction or account that was entered beforethe "Last Date Run". Once you enter this password and turnthe "audit lock" on (by answering "YES" to the abovequestion), press F10 to save the configuration.* IMPORTANT!: Once you've turned the "audit lock" on, youwon't be able to get back into the "Audit Lock Setup Window"unless you know the "audit lock" password!If you forget your password, you'll need to send your datafiles to CTech and we will manually change it for you. Wecharge a nominal fee for this service.This is the "Screen-Save Setup" window. In this window, youcan enable or disable the screen saver feature. You can alsoindicate how long that you want CheckMate Plus to waitbefore it will blank the screen, and customize the messagethat CheckMate Plus displays while the screen saver isactive. Remember that the screen will only go blank if nokeyboard activity is detected for the indicated length oftime.* NOTE: Delay times are approximate, and can vary based onCPU speed.You must press F10 to save your setup to the disk.After the screen blanks, CheckMate Plus will display a slow-scrolling message indicating that the screen save feature isactive. Press any character key to restore the screen tonormal operation.If you have a color monitor, you can customize the screencolors in this window.Notice that CheckMate Plus displays a "sample" window (soyou can see what your color choices will look like). Thecursor will be in the "window colors to customize" field.When you first enter the "color setup window", the windowcolors to customize will be the "Main Colors". If you wantto change, say, the MENU colors, press alt-F10 to pop-up the"window select" menu. Pick "Menu Colors" (and the "samplewindow" will change to reflect the current menu colors).You can modify each window's foreground (bright characters),midground (dim characters), background color, and "reverse"color.For example, to modify a window's background color, press F5 (and CheckMate Plus will "toggle" the color). Keep pressing F5 until you find the color you want.Here are the color toggle keys:
F3 Toggle Foreground Color
F4 Toggle Midground Color
F5 Toggle Background Color
F6 Toggle "Reverse" ColorOnce you've setup all the colors (in all the windows thatyou want to), press F10 to save your choices to disk. ESC returns you to the "Setup" menu.Select the window whose colors you want to modify.CheckMate Plus has a lot of "bells and whistles" which arefun to watch and pleasing to use. Some people, however,would prefer to modify or turn off their operation.You can modify the way CheckMate Plus opens and closes"windows" in this window.If you don't want CheckMate Plus to give an audible "openingwindow" click, then set the "do you want sound effects"field to "NO".If you want the windows to "explode" and "implode", thenleave the "do you want exploding windows" field "YES".Otherwise mark it "NO".You can even set the speed for the exploding and implodingin the "speed for exploding windows". Set this field to"zero" for the fastest windows. Numbers 1 through 9 willgradually decrease the exploding speed. This field willhave no effect if you have exploding windows turned off!Remember to press F10 if you want to save your setups todisk.CheckMate Plus can display some nice graphical reports (ifyou have a graphics display card in your computer).The seven options you have correspond to the followingdisplay types:
No Graphics (no graphics card installed)
Hercules 720 x 350 dots, 1 color (monochrome)
CGA 640 x 200 dots, 1 color
EGA 640 x 350 dots, 16 colors
VGA 640 x 480 dots, 16 colors
VESA SVGA 800 x 600 dots, 16 colors
VESA SVGA 1024 x 768 dots, 16 colorsSelect your display type here, and press F10 to save yourchoice. Press ESC to return to the "Setup" menu.For security, you may password protect each CheckMate Plusdata file you create.Enter the "password" you want in the "Password" field. Itcan be up to eight characters long and is not casesensitive.CheckMate Plus won't require a password unless you set the"Require Password at Program Start" to "YES" (and save yourchanges with F10 ). Once you do this, CheckMate Plus willask for your password before it will let you into theprogram.You'll also not be able to enter the "Password Setup Window"unless you know the password.* NOTE: CheckMate Plus associates the password with thedata file, so reinstalling CheckMate Plus or erasingCMPLUS.OPT (the options file) WILL NOT defeat the security!If you forget your password, you'll need to send your datafiles to CTech and we will manually change your password foryou. We charge a nominal fee for this service.This window simply displays the currently active program anddata file directories (you can't modify them here).The program file directory is the directory you were in whenyou started CheckMate Plus. You entered the data filedirectory on the command line when you started CheckMatePlus: cmplus <data file directory> <ENTER> This is the "General Setup" window. You have severaloptions here:Date Format You can pick from a variety of "date formats". CheckMate Plus will display all dates in this form. This is a "menu field", so you can press alt-F10 or the middle button on the mouse to pop-up a menu of choices. You can enter free-format no matter which format you choose. CheckMate Plus will rearrange the date to match your format.Separator Some of the date formats have "separators". For instance, 7/05/90 uses a "/" for a separator. You can change that separator here. * NOTE: If you choose the minus sign ("-") as a separator, you won't be able to use the minus sign to "decrement" the date while you're entering or editing.Currency You may set CheckMate Plus' currency symbolSymbol here. You must enter this symbol as an ASCII decimal value. The value for a dollar sign ($) is 36.Check You can specify how CheckMate Plus spells theSpelling word "check".Comma/ You may also specify how CheckMate Plus ordersDecimal "commas" and "decimal points" in numbers.Point Numbers can appear like this:Order 1,343.42 or like this: 1.343,42Numeric Accountants tend to avoid using the minusFormat sign to represent negative numbers. They prefer to enclose the number in parentheses. CheckMate Plus let's you choose how you want to display negatives. The parentheses appear only on the reports (and not while entering data).After you've set the options, press F10 to make your changespermanent. ESC returns you to the "Setup" menu.CheckMate Plus has many options for controlling the outputand format of printed reports. You can set these options atprint time, but you can also define default settings (so youdon't have to change them every time you print a report).Margins You can set the "margins" (top, bottom, left, and right). Express the top and bottom margins as a number of lines, and the left and right margins as a number of characters. * NOTE: CheckMate Plus assumes that you're using "fixed width" fonts for your reports (rather than proportionally spaced fonts). Most printers do use (or at least have the option to use) fixed width fonts. CheckMate Plus does not support "postscript" printers at this time.Paper Sizes Paper size is a function of the number of lines per page you can print and the number of characters on each line. These numbers are absolute (i.e. they include margins). Most printers put 66 lines on a page. Many laser printers, however, require built-in top and bottom margins. The Hewlett Packard LaserJet, for example, can only print 60 lines per page. The number of characters per line you print will usually be determined by either the width of the paper (most paper is 8.5" wide) or by the "pitch" of the print. For instance, if your printer has a "compressed" mode (17 characters per inch), you can print 132 characters on a standard letter-sized sheet of paper. * NOTE: You can use the "Printer Setup Strings" (discussed below) to "command" your printer into compressed mode.Page Control You can tell CheckMate Plus to "pause" after each page to let you feed paper (if you're not using a laser printer or continuous feed paper).Printer Port CheckMate Plus lets you direct your printed reports to LPT1, LPT2, COM1, or COM2. Set your printer port in the "Printer Port for Reports" field. (This is a "menu field", so press alt-F10 or the center mouse button to "pop" the menu up).Setup Strings CheckMate Plus lets you define printer "setup" and "exit" strings to control such things as margins, character pitch, attributes, etc. CheckMate Plus sends the "setup" strings to your printer before it starts the report and the "exit" strings after the report is completed. For instance, you may want to "command" your printer to print 17 characters per inch for some of the reports. You would enter the proper "control codes" in the "Printer Setup Strings" field. You'll probably want to use the "exit" strings to reset your printer (for normal operation). The printer control codes can be found in your printer manual. The format for entry is \<decimal code>\<decimal code>\.... The back-slashes delimit the codes. Here is an example: \27\85 This string represents an <ESC> 'U'. (That's an escape-capital-U). This is a popular means of defining printer codes.To save you default options to disk, press F10 . ESC returnsyou to the "Setup" menu.This is the "Report Heading Setup Window".You can enter up to ten lines of information (and CheckMatePlus will center each line as you go).CheckMate Plus prints these lines at the top of the firstpage of each report (except for blank lines at the bottom).Press F10 to save your headings, and then ESC to return tothe "Setup" menu. Press ESC without pressing F10 to abortthe changes you've made.Select the "date format" you want CheckMate Plus to use asits default.From this menu, you can select whether youwant information on registering CheckMatePlus or information on ordering computerform checks (from NEBS Computer Forms).This window gives information on howto order computer form checks.This window produces a form onyour printer that you can use toorder registered copies ofCheckMate Plus.Thank you for your support!-- Tim Bougan Author of CheckMate Plus
