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Text File | 1993-03-08 | 17KB | 354 lines

      WinCheck  User's Guide: Getting Started

                   Getting Started


The following topics will be discussed in this section:

 The WinCheck Screen
 Writing Your First Check
 Working with the Check Register
 Editing and Splitting Transactions
 Printing a Cash Flow Report
 Creating a Custom Report

The tutorial account included with WinCheck is an excellent place
to begin learning to use the program.  The WinCheck tutorial file includes
sample data for January, February and March of 1991.

To start the WinCheck program double click with the mouse on the
WinCheck icon in Program Manger.

Note: If WinCheck is on your path, then it is also possible to
start WinCheck by choosing Run from the File menu of Program Manager.
Type WINCHECK for the "Command Line:".  Otherwise, type the fully
qualified path name for WinCheck (such as C:\WINCHECK\WINCHECK).

Upon startup of the WinCheck program, you will be prompted for the
account to load.  To load the Tutorial account, choose TUT from the
drop down listbox (click on the down arrow).  The keyboard equivalent
to clicking on the down arrow with the mouse is to press ALT+Down Arrow
on the keyboard. Once you have selected TUT, click on the OK button
or press Enter on the keyboard. If you have already started the
WinCheck program and need to load the TUT account, choose Load Account
from the File menu and choose the TUT account from the drop
down listbox.

When loading the Tutorial file, the Balances Dialog will appear with
the balance values for Savings and Checking as well as the date of the
last transaction. Press OK to exit the Balances dialog and view the
account Register for March of 1991.  WinCheck automatically loads the
account Register that is closest to the current date. In the case of the
TUT account, March 1991 is the last month with transactions.

The WinCheck Screen:

There are two visual aids besides the menu at the top of the screen:
The Control Bar of icons across the top of the screen (mouse required)
and the Status Line along the bottom of the WinCheck screen. The Control
Bar allows for quick operation of the program by placing icon buttons
of common operations below the menu.  There are fifteen buttons that
execute common WinCheck operations and an "Acct:" listbox on the far
left that lists open accounts.  The TUT acronym is listed now, to
indicate that the Tutorial file is open.

Left to right the icons do the following actions:

1   Credit Card transactions from credit card account or Debit Card
    transaction from Checking account.
2   Write a check.
3   Check Deposit.
4   Savings Withdrawal.
5   Savings Deposit.
6   Cash machine withdrawal from Checking.
7   Cash machine withdrawal from Savings.
8   Miscellaneous transaction from Checking.
9   Miscellaneous transaction from Savings.
10  Activates the Windows Calculator.
11  Clear selected transaction.
12  Unclear selected transaction.
13  Sum selected transactions in the Register window.
14  Print check(s).
15  Find a transaction.

The Control Bar is fully customizable. You can add additional buttons
and menu commands to the Control Bar. See the "Control Bars" topic
in the Online Help file for more information.

The Status Line displays the description of the account (WinCheck
Tutorial File) and the current balance information.  The caption just
above the menu lists the open month and the account ID. For example:

WinCheck - Current Month 03/91 -[TUT: Register for March, 1991]

The menu bar is just below the description information.  One letter of
each menu item is underlined.  This letter is underlined to indicate
the ALT combination to activate the menu.  In otherwords, to activate
the File menu from the keyboard, you would type ALT+F (for File).  To
activate the File menu using the mouse, click on the word File.

There are three arrow buttons in the upper right corner of the WinCheck
screen.  The top two buttons are used to control the size of the WinCheck
program screen and third button below is used to control the size of
the Register window.

Click on the third button (the Up and Down Arrow) and the Register window
will be reduced in size.  Click on the Down Arrow along the title of the
Register window and the Register will now be reduced to an icon at the
bottom of the screen. Double click on the Checkbook Icon or press Enter
to restore the Register window again.

Finally, click on the Up arrow along the frame of the Register window to
Maximize the window to it's original position.

Controlling the size of the program screen:

Click on the Up and Down arrow in the far upper right corner to reduce
the size of the WinCheck program from a full screen application. Click on
the Down arrow to minimize the WinCheck application. Double click on the
WinCheck icon at the bottom of the screen to switch back to WinCheck.
Finally, click on the Up arrow to maximize the WinCheck program to
full screen.

Writing Your First Check
------------------------
To write a check, click on the check icon button (the tiny blue check)
on the Control Bar, or press F3, or choose Check from the Checking menu.
Any of these actions will bring up a blank check transaction.

Note: When clicking on an icon button, you only need to click on it once.
Double clicking will bring up a message stating that only one new open
transaction may be open at a time.  If this message box appears, press
the OK button and continue.

In the resulting check, click on the down arrow to view current transaction
categories.  Categories are a means to classify your transactions into
certain groups such as "Entertainment" or "Business". The keyboard
equivalent to clicking on the down arrow with the mouse is to press
ALT+<Down Arrow> from the keyboard.

Steps for completing the check:

 1.  Select the "Health Club" category from the drop-down listbox
     (click on down arrow).

 2.  Press the Tab key twice to jump to the Date field and type
     03/30/91. (For the purpose of this tutorial, we have
     changed the date to be within the month of March to match
     the other tutorial data. Normally, you would leave the current
     date that is automatically inserted with a new transaction.)

 3.  Press the Tab key again to advance to the "To:" field.

 4.  Type "NorthWest Fitness".

 5.  Press the Tab key once to advance to the dollar amount field
     and type 23.34. The check is now complete.

 6.  Click on the OK button or press Enter on the keyboard to record
     the check transaction.

The Register window scrolls to show the new transaction in the Register
window.

Sorting the Register Data
-------------------------
The default sorting routine for the Register is to sort by Date, so the
transaction will appear near the end of the Register window data.
From the Data menu choose Sort-> and pull to the right with the mouse to
view the sorting options. The current sorting option is by Date, as
indicated by the check mark.  Choose by Number as the sorting method for
the data in the Register window.

When the Register is sorted by number, all of the transactions without
check numbers (such as deposits) will appear at the top of the Register
window with the checks below in ascending order.

WinCheck is capable of viewing several Registers from the same or different
accounts at one time. Press Ctrl+PgUp and Ctrl+PgDn to quickly open the
Register windows for the previous or next month. Otherwise you can choose
Display Check Register from the Acct menu.  In the resulting dialog,
WinCheck displays the available months (in this case January 1991-March 1991).
"Available months" are those months that actually contain data.  For example,
April will appear in the "Pick a month to view" dialog once a transaction
has been made with an April date. Choose January 1991 and press Enter or
click on the OK button.

The open register windows are listed under the Window menu with a check
beside the active register:

  1: TUT: Register for March, 1991
  2: TUT: Register for January, 1991

Choose Tile (from the Window menu) and view both windows at the same time.
Switch back and forth between windows by clicking with the mouse anywhere
in the window. Click on the Up arrow to the left of the window title bar
to maximize a Register window.

The Column Headings for this Register are as follows:

  ChkAmt:    The amount of the Checking transaction.
  ChkBal:    Your running balance for Checking.
  BnkChk:    "The Bank's Opinion" on your running balance.
  SavAmt:    The amount of the Savings transaction.
  SavBal:    Your running balance for Savings.
  BnkSav:    "The Bank's Opinion" on your running balance.

The column widths for the Register window can be adjusted with the mouse.
To adjust the width of the columns, position the mouse between the two
columns (such as ChkAmt and ChkBal) columns so that the mouse cursor
changes to a line with arrows on either side.  Now, click and drag the
mouse to the right to expand the width of the ChkAmt column. Expand the
width of the ChkBal column, by clicking on the right edge of the column
and dragging to the right with the mouse.

To save these changes to the column widths, choose Memorize Heading
Columns from the Data menu.

Summing Transactions
--------------------
To sum a portion of the transactions in the active Register, click
with the mouse on check number 3287 to Safeway and drag the mouse through
check number 3291 to Cellular One.  Once all five transactions are
selected click on the sigma icon button from the Control Bar, or press
the + key on the keypad, or choose Sum Highlighted Amts from the Data menu.

Selecting items in the Register
-------------------------------
The keyboard method for selecting transactions is to press and hold the
Shift key while using the Up and Down arrow keys on the keyboard to
extended the selection.  To remove the selection click anywhere in the
Register window or press the Up arrow on the keyboard without holding
down the Shift key.

Calculator
----------
If you need to manipulate numbers not necessarily within transactions,
click on the calculator icon located on the Control Bar (it's the 6th
icon button from the right) or choose Calculator from the Data menu.
To close the Calculator, press ALT+F4 or click twice on the close bar in
the upper left corner.

Colors and Fonts
----------------
The colors and fonts that WinCheck is currently using are totally
customizable.  For example, to change the screen font, do the
following:

 1.    Choose Fonts from the File menu.
 2.    Select "Register Window" (ALT+R).
 3.    Click the Define button and select a typeface such as Helv.
 4.    Choose 14 for the Size and choose the OK button.
 5.    Click on the Apply button or press ALT+A to see the changes made
        to the Register window below.
 6.    Choose Exit to leave the dialog once you are satisifed with the font.

Before printing checks and reports, set your font selections in this dialog.

To change the background color of the Register window, do the following:

 1.    Choose Colors from the File menu.
 2.    In the Description box, select "Register Window".
 3.    Click with the mouse on an alternative color such as light blue
        (from the keyboard press ALT+C and use the Up and Down arrows
        on the keyboard to select a color).
 4.    Click on the Apply button or press ALT+A to see the changes to
        the check Register window.
 5.    Choose OK to exit the dialog once you are satisfied with the colors.

Editing and Splitting Transactions
----------------------------------
To edit a transaction in the Register window, double click with the mouse
on the item to edit (or press Enter when the selection bar is on the item).

Double click on the checking deposit dated 03/14 to bring up the checking
deposit information.  Any of the items in this dialog can be changed.
As a primer to the categories feature of WinCheck, choose Split... from
the list of categories in the upper left corner (click on the down arrow).
Split is the first item in the drop down list box, followed by all of
the custom categories for the tutorial account.  After selecting Split,
click on the OK button to bring up the Split Transaction dialog.
Within the following dialog, change the amount from 3100.00 to 1000.00
and then click on the down arrow to select "Royalty" as the category.
Click on the Add button to add this split. Next, change the amount
field to 1100.00 and select "Band Income" for the category. Again,
click on Add to add this split to the checking deposit transaction.
Finally, choose Model Fees for the remaining 1000.00 dollars, and click
on Add.  When no dollar amount remains in the amount field (0.00), all
of the transaction has been split to separate categories.  Press OK to
enter the split information for the transaction.

To print or view the Register information in a Report format, choose
Report Generator from the Acct menu.

1.  In the WinCheck Report Generator dialog, select January 1991 for
    the starting and ending date (this will be a report for the month of
    January only).

2.  Below the Choose a Report Type label select Checking: Cash Flow.

3.  Click on the Preview button or press ALT+V.

This allows you to preview the cash flow report for January before printing.

4.  Click the Exit button to return to the Report Generator Dialog.

Click on the Print button to print a Cash Flow report for January 1991 or
Exit to return to the WinCheck Register window (refer to the "Printing
Checks and Reports" topic in the Online Help file for information on
configuring WinCheck for printing checks and reports).

Creating a Custom Report
------------------------
There are several reports included with the WinCheck program (such as
Checking:Cash Flow), and it is also possible to create your own custom
reports.  To create a custom WinCheck report for the tutorial data:

1.  Choose Report Generator from the Acct menu.

2.  Select January 1991 for the starting month and February 1991 for
    the ending month.

3.  Click on the Add button to design a custom report.

4.  In the following dialog type in Credits for the filename of the
    upcoming custom report, and press OK.

5.  In the Report Description field you can type text to better
    describe your custom reports. For this example, type Barbie's
    Credit Report as the description.

6. Set the 1st Sorting method to Date, the 2nd to Amount, and the
   3rd to Original Order (click on the down arrow and select from a
   list of available sort keys).

7. Uncheck the box labeled Debits or press ALT+B from the keyboard.

A gray segmented bar appears below the report description field.  This
bar is used to indicate the data and width of each column.  Double click
within the first segment of the bar (to the far left) to bring up the
Column Attributes dialog. In this dialog you can choose the type of data
that will be displayed in the column.  Choose Date and click on the OK
button. Place the mouse cursor on the line between the first two columns
so that the cursor changes to a line with an arrow on either side.  When
the mouse cursor has changed to the double arrow, click the mouse and
drag to the left.  This will shorten the width of the "Date" column.
Now, double click within the second column and choose Amount for the
column attribute. Next double click within the third column, choose
Description from the column attributes dialog and click on the OK
button. To preview the report with data from January and February,
click on the Preview button.  The resulting report will display only
those transactions which added money to Barbie's account (credits).
Click on the Exit button to return to the previous dialog.

Once returned to the WinCheck Custom Report Maker screen, click on the
OK button.  The custom report will now appear in the list of reports as
"Barbie's Credit Report". This report can be printed at any time by
selecting a starting and ending month and then clicking on the Print
button.  Additionally, the report can be edited at any time by selecting
Barbie's Category Report and clicking on the Edit button.

Now you are ready to start entering your data.  If you are converting
from a Quicken(R) account, please read the QUICKEN.TXT file included with
WinCheck.