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Text File | 1993-03-20 | 355KB | 8,455 lines

WinCheck User's Manual Copyright 1991-93 Wilson WindowWare, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, for any purpose without the express written premission of Wilson WindowWare. Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment by Wilson WindowWare. The software described herein is furnished under a license agreement. It is against the law to copy this software under any circumstances except to create a backup of the program for your personal use. Trademarks IBM, PC/XT, PC/AT, and PS/2 are registered trademarks of International Buisiness Machines Corporation. Microsoft Windows and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Barbie is a registered trademark of Mattel, Inc. Word for Windows, Visual BASIC, and Excel are trademarks for Microsoft Corporation. LaserJet is a trademark of Hewlett-Packard. Quicken is a registered trademark of Intuit, Inc. Lotus 1-2-3 is a registered trademark of Lotus Developement Corporation. WinCheck is a trademark of Wilson WindowWare, Inc.. About This Manual This manual is divided into the following sections: Introduction Installation and introductory information. Getting Started A walk through of WinCheck's features with the tutorial account. Starting a New Account Information on starting your first Checking, Checking and Savings or Credit Card account. Configuring Information on WinCheck configuring the WinCheck program to your specifications. Transactions A brief overview of the types of transactions that can be made with WinCheck. The WinCheck Menu A brief run down of the Items and Keys function of each menu item and a listing of the keyboard shortcuts. The Register Information about viewing and using the Register window. The Statement Information about viewing and using the Statement to reconcile your account. Categories and Detailed information on Subcategories creating categories and subcategories in order to classify your transactions. The WinCheck Budget With the use of Manager categories, this section describes setting up a budget for your expenses. Split Transactions Information on splitting a transaction over several categories. Common Transactions Information on setting up Common transactions for transactions made on a regular basis. Printing Checks Everything you need to know about using the Form Designer create template for printing checks. Reports Information on printing standard and custom reports. How To Examples of using WinCheck. Command Files Technical information concerning WinCheck's Command Language. Appendix A Tips and Techniques for using WinCheck Appendix B WinCheck's messages and their meanings. Appendix C List of some common questions and answers about WinCheck. Appendix D Information for those updating from previous versions of WinCheck Appendix E Information on ordering and using computer checks. Introduction WinCheck is a personal finance manager for Microsoft Windows. With WinCheck it is possible to enter and track the following transactions for mulitple checking, checking and savings, or credit card accounts. Transaction Types Interest Accrued Cash Machine Advances Misc Bank Charges Transfers to or from Savings and Checking Debit and Credit Cards WinCheck will manage all of these transactions, making it easy to balance your checkbook, record a savings account's history or a keep track of credit card transactions. System Requirements IBM PC or compatible with a minimum of 12 megabytes of memory Microsoft Windows 3.0 or later Hard disk with >> 1MB space A mouse is also strongly recommended. MS-DOS or PC-DOS version 3.1 or later WinCheck Installation The installation program for WinCheck is a Windows application, so Microsoft Windows will need to be running prior to running the Setup program. To start the Setup program, put the appropriate disk into the floppy drive and from the File menu of the Windows Program Manager choose Run. Beside the text "Command Line:", type the drive that contains the floppy disk followed by the filename WSETUP.EXE (i.e. A:\WSETUP.EXE). This will start the WinCheck setup program. Setup prompts you for a location to install WinCheck and copies over all of the necessary files to this location. Near completion of the Setup program, a Program Group called WinCheck and program icon are created (if your Windows shell is the Program Manager). The default icon for the WinCheck program is a red check mark on a green background. To change the icon, select the icon by clicking on it once with the mouse and choose Properties from the File menu. In the File Properties dialog, click on the Change Icon button. Clicking on the View Next button will thumb through the available icons. Once you have an icon you would like for the program, press Ok to select the icon and Ok again to leave the File Properties dialog. When you first start the WinCheck program the Load Account dialog will contain the intials TUT. This is the account ID for the WinCheck tutorial file. To get up to speed with WinCheck, use this file with the walk through tutorial in the next section. Notes: If you are updating from a previous version of WinCheck, refer to the information in the README.TXT file (the readme file will appear as an icon in the WinCheck window or look to page 180 of this manual. The WinCheck program does not modify your AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS files. You may want to add WinCheck to your path if you will be running the program from the Windows command line. Getting Started with WinCheck The following topics will be discussed in this section: The WinCheck Screen Writing Your First Check Working with the Check Statement and 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 with the tutorial data, do the following: Start WinCheck by double clicking with the mouse on the WinCheck icon in Program Manger. Where is the icon? The WinCheck installation created a group called WinCheck and in this group is the WinCheck icon. To access this group go to the Window menu at top of the Windows Program Manager and choose the WinCheck from the Window menu. Within the WinCheck group is an icon labeled WinCheck (double click on this icon to start the program). 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 and typing WinCheck for the "Command Line:". Otherwise, type the fully qualified name of 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 in the tutorial file. 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 indicated that the Tutorial file is open. 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, the account ID, and whether the open window is a Statement or a Register. 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 use to control the size of the WinCheck program screen and third button below is used to control the size of the Register or Statement window. Click on the third icon 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 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 bring up a blank check transaction. Note: When clicking 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 on 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 or press Enter on the keyboard to record the check transaction. To view the check in the Register window, use the vertical scroll bar to scroll to the end of the month (or use the Page Down key when Num Lock is off). 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. Working with the Check Statement and Register WinCheck is capable of viewing several Statements and Registers from the same or different accounts, all at one time. To view a check Statement, choose Display Check Statement 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 Statement differs from the Register in that the transactions are grouped according to type (Deposits, Checks, etc). Click with the mouse of the Window menu or press ALT+W. At the bottom of the Window menu is a listing of the open Register and Statement windows. The two open windows are listed with a check by number 2, indicating that the Statement window for January, 1991 is the active window.: 1: TUT: Register for March, 1991 2: TUT: Statement 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 January Statement window or the Register for March window. Choose the TUT: Register for March, 1991 from the Window menu to activate the March window. Now, click on the Up arrow to the left of the window title bar to maximize the Regsiter window. The Column Headings for this Register are: 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 and Statement windows 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 for future editing sessions, choose Memorize Heading Columns from the Data menu. To sum a portion of the transactions in the active check Statement, 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, press the + key on the keypad, or choose Sum Highlighted Amts from the Data menu. Any of these actions will bring up a dialog of Sum Transaction totals. 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 Statement window or press the Up arrow on the keyboard (without holding down the Shift key). 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. The colors and fonts that WinCheck is using are totally customizable. For example, to change the Statement screen font, do the following: 1. Choose Fonts from the File menu. 2. In the box labeled "Font Usage" choose the option for the Statement Window (ALT+W). 3. Choose a Typeface such as Helv. 4. Choose 14 for the Size. 5. Click on the Apply button or press ALT+A. to see the changes made to the statement window below. 6. Now, click within the Underline box or press ALT+U. 7. Again click on Apply button or press ALT+A. to see the changes made to the statement window below. 8. Choose OK to exit the dialog once you are satisifed with the font. To change the Statement window background color, do the following: 1. Choose Colors from the File menu. 2. In the Description box, select Statement 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 statement window. 5. Choose OK to exit the dialog once you are satisfied with the colors. Editing and Splitting Transactions Choose Close Active Register/Statement from the Acct menu to close the Statement window. To expand the size of the Register window, click on the Up arrow button to the right of the window text, TUT: Register for March, 1991. To edit a transaction in the Register window, you would 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 the "Model Fees" category for the remaining 1000.00 dollars,and click on Add. When no dollar amount remains in the amount field, all of the transaction has been split to separate categories. Cash Flow Report To print or view the check 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 (report just for the month of January). 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. If the dialog in the lower right corner is obstructing the viewing of the data, click on the title bar labeled "WinCheck Print Preview" and drag the box about the screen. 4. Click Stop 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 Configuring WinCheck chapter 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 as the starting month and February 1991 as the ending date. 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 the list of available sort keys). 7. Deselect 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 the Date option 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 attributes. 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 Stop button or press ALT+S 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 the clicking on the Edit button. Now you are ready to start entering your data. Starting a New Account The following sections will be discussed in this section: How to Open a New Account Account Information Credit Card Accounts How to Open a New Account Once you have gone through the Getting Started section, it is time to start your own account. To start a new account, double click on the WinCheck icon in Program Manager or choose Load Account from the File menu if the program is already running. To open a new account, type a unique (not used before) acronym for the new account (up to 3 characters). For example, you might use your initials if the account will be a personal checking account. If the acronym is one that WinCheck does not recognize a dialog will appear with the following message: Open new Account XXX (where XXX is the three letter account name) Pressing the Yes button will open a new account, No will return you to the open account dialog, and Cancel will exit the WinCheck program or abort the loading of a new account. Choose Yes to open a new account under the acronym name. This will be the Account ID. The Open New Account dialog will appear with the following options for accounts: Jump ahead to page 21 for information on opening a new credit card account. If you select "Checking or cash" or "Checking and Savings", the Account Info dialog will appear. The information in this dialog concerns the newly opened account. Information about the account can be entered in at this time and later edited or changed by choosing Account Info from the Acct menu. Account Information The Description field is helpful in remembering the type or purpose of the account. For example, if you had an account ID of JAE, you might want to add a description such as "The Johnson's Personal Checking Account". The description information is used to further explain the purpose of the account and will appear in the Status Bar at the bottom of the WinCheck screen. In the fields near the bottom of the Account Info dialog, type the starting balances for your Savings and/or Checking accounts. There are two fields for entering dollar amounts, one for "Your Balance" and one for the "Bank's Balance". The value for the Checking Your Balance field would be the current balance from your checkbook. The value for the Checking Bank's opinion, is the balance from your latest bank statement. If you cannot find your last bank statement, just enter the same value for Your Balance and the Bank's. If you selected "Checking or Cash" in the Open New Account dialog, the savings fields will be greyed out. However, if "Checking and Savings" was selected in the Open New Account dialog, the Checking and Savings balance fields will be black. Type in values for Savings Your Balance and Savings Bank's Balance (generally these values would be the same). After pressing OK in the Account Info dialog, the Select Checkbook dialog will appear. This dialog is used to specify the checkbooks that are tied to the new account. With this personal checking account, there may be several checkbooks tied to it. For example, one checkbook for each member of the household and a checkbook for the printer checks (you can have as many checkbooks as you want tied to an account). 1. Beside Checkbook Name, enter the name for one of your checkbooks. For example, enter Shirley Johnson's Personal Checkbook or Printer Checks (if you will be printing checks). 2. Next open your physical checkbook and get the number of the next available check (blank check) and type this number in the field labeled Next Blank Check #. 3. Then type the check number of the first check in your checkbook in the First Check # in Book field and the last check number in your checkbook in the Last Check # in Book field. The First Check # in Book value is usually the same as Next Blank Check if you are starting a new account. The Last Check # in Book might be the last check number in the last book of checks that you presently have for the account. 4. Click in the Endstub check box if this is the type of checks you are using (this will change the tabbing order in the write check dialog). 5. Once the correct check numbers are entered and a checkbook name, press the Add/Modify button to add the checkbook. You can continue adding additional checkbooks at this time or add them later. Press OK to exit this dialog. Note: Like the Account Info dialog, the information in the Select Checkbook dialog is revisable at a later time by choosing Select Checkbook from the Acct menu. After pressing OK the Balances dialog may appear with a listing of the current Savings and Checking balances and the last transaction date. Since this is a new account the Last Transaction date will be the first day of the current month, i.e. 04/01/91 if the new account was started in April (press F2 at any time to obtain the Balances dialog). Both the Balances dialog and the Select Checkbook dialogs are optional startup dialogs indicated in the Account Settings dialog (from the Acct menu). The Register window that results will have two transactions if Checking and Savings was selected: The Register window will have the one transaction is Checking or Cash: To change the starting balances for Checking or Savings, choose Account Info from the Acct menu. Opening a Credit Card Account If the account you are opening is going to be used to track credit card transactions, choose "Credit Card" in the Open New Account dialog. The Account Info dialog will appear with an X in the box labeled "Credit Card Account". In the Description field, type a description for the credit card account such as Business Account - VISA. The "Credit Limit" is the maximum dollar amount that your bank will allow you to spend on your credit card (for example $1,000.00 limit). The balance fields (Your Balance and the Bank's Balance) should both be set to the dollar amount that is charged on your account when this account is started. If you do not know the current balance of your credit card, you can approximate the value until your credit card statement arrives. Once the statement arrives, change the balance figures (Your Balance and the Bank's Balance) so that they match the beginning balance on the credit card statement. After pressing OK the Balances dialog may appear with a listing of the current Balance (amount charged on your credit card) and your Credit Limit. Since this is a new account the "Last Transaction" date will be the first day of the current month (press F2 at any time to view the information in the Balances dialog or look to the information on the Status Bar at the bottom of the screen). The Register window will have the one transaction labeled Starting Balance. To change the starting balances for the Credit Card account, choose Account Info from the Acct menu. Refer to the section on Transactions for information on the types of transactions in WinCheck. Configuring WinCheck The following topics will be discussed in this section: Printer Configuration WinCheck Color Selection Font Selection (Screen and Check Printer) Account Settings Select Checkbook Account Info Backing Up your Data Files Password Protecting your Files Printer Configuration Prior to printing reports and checks, the appropriate printer driver needs to be active and on the correct printing port. If you have been printing from Windows previously, we can assume that the printer driver is installed. Run the Windows Control Panel to ensure that your printer driver is active and configured for a printer port (such as LPT1). Refer to the Windows documentation for additional information on configuring your printer via Control Panel. To access the setup screen for the active printer driver (within WinCheck), choose Windows Printer Setup from the File menu. In the resulting dialog labeled Select Printer to Configure, select a printer and click on the OK button. If the printer you select is active in the Windows Control Panel, then the Windows printer setup screen will result. In contrast, if the selected printer is not active, the following error will result: Unable to access printer driver. Check to make sure the printer is active via the control panel. If this error results, refer to your Windows manual for information on configuring printers using the Windows Control Panel. Select Printer to Configure Dialog This is the dialog that results when selecting Windows Printer Setup from the File menu. With the mouse (or use the up and down arrows to move the selection bar), select the printer to configure. OK Brings up the setup dialog for the selected printer driver. For example, if PCL/HP LaserJet on LPT1: is selected and the OK button is choosen (or Enter is pressed on the keyboard), the setup dialog for the LaserJet driver will display. CANCEL Allows you to exit the dialog without configuring a printer. The OK and Cancel buttons in the resulting Windows printer setup dialog (i.e. LaserJet setup dialog) will accept changes (OK) or not accept changes (CANCEL), before returning you to the WinCheck screen. Select Printing Devices Dialog From this dialog, you can select the printing devices for printing reports and checks. This dialog was implemented with the idea that you may want to print your checks to a different printing device than the device you use for printing your reports. For example, you may be printing your checks on a dot matrix printer on COM1 and the reports on a Laser Printer on LPT1. Choose Select Printer(s) for Checks/Reports from the File menu to access this dialog. The printer drivers listed in the drop down listboxes besides Checks and Reports are the printers currently installed in the Windows Control Panel Printers dialog. Select an active printer for the check printing and the printing of reports. USE DEFAULT Clicking this button will set the Reports and Checks to the printer listed as the defualt printer in this dialog. The default printer selection is an entry within the WIN.INI file. To set the default printer double click on the Printers icon from the Windows Control Panel. Refer to the Windows documentation for information concerning setting the active and defualt printer. PRINTER SETUP... Brings up a window of printer drivers to configure. This window is the same as when choosing Windows Printer Setup from the File menu. Only "active" printers can be configured from the resulting dialog (look to the previous topic; Windows Printer Setup) OK Accepts the changes made in this dialog, i.e. changes to the report and check printing drivers. CANCEL Exits this dialog without recording changes to the printer driver selections. WinCheck Color Selection Many of the colors used in the WinCheck program can be configured by choosing Colors... from the File menu. Select the item to color from the list of description labels (i.e. Statement Window). The selected color in the listbox to the right will change to reflect the selected item. If the description item is currently a dark color, a white box will appear around the dark color; similarly, if the description item is currently a light color, a black box will appear around the color. To change the color, click with the mouse on any other color selection. To see the changes, click on the Apply button or continue to make changes in the color selections. First select the description, then the color, and so, on until all the colors are what you would like. When pressing the Apply button all of the color changes will be visible and recorded. Keyboard users can access the description text by pressing ALT+D and then using the Up and Down arrow keys to select a description item. Then press ALT+C to move the focus to the color dialog. Again use the Up and Down arrow keys to select a color. ALT+D will return you to the description list again to make another selection or type ALT+A to apply the color change. Press Alt+O to exit the dialog without making changes to the WinCheck colors. Apply Applies the color change(s) without leaving the dialog. The screen behind the dialog will refresh to represent the color change. OK Exits the dialog. Be sure to press the Apply button to save the changes before pressing OK. The transactions dialogs appear with various colors. For example, the check dialog has a light blue backgound and the Misc. transactions have a hot pink background. If you are on a color system and would like to have a grey backgound for all of the transaction dialog, deselect the Transaction Wallpaper option in the Account Settings dialog. To access this dialog, choose Account Settings from the Acct menu. Font Selection (Screen and Check Printer) The Select Font dialog allows you to choose fonts for the Register Window, Statement Window, and Check Printer. To access this dialog, choose Fonts... from the File menu. To change a font using the mouse, first select Register Window, Statement Window, or Check Printer from the Font Usage box. Then select the desired typeface by clicking on the font name in the Typeface box. Finally, choose a point size from the Size box of available fonts. Click on the Apply button to see and record the changes. To exit the dialog and not save changes choose the OK button. Keyboard Navigation in the "Select a Font" dialog 1. Press ALT+F to jump to the Font Usage box. 2. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to select an item (Register Window, Statement Window, or Check Printer) from the Font Usage box. 3. Press ALT+T to the focus to the Typeface box. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to select a typeface. 4. Finally, press ALT+S to jump to the Size box. Select a font size (measured in points) for the selected typeface. 5. Press ALT+A to apply the change. Press ALT+O to exit the dialog without applying changes. In addition to the font selection, you can choose from three character formats in the Select Font dialog: Bold, Italic and Underline. Click on the check box to mark a character attribute with the mouse or use the keyboard accelerator keys; ALT+B for Bold, ALT+I for Italic and ALT+U for Underline. APPLY Applies the color change(s) without leaving the dialog. The screen behind the dialog will refresh to represent the font change. OK Exits the dialog. Be sure to press the Apply button to save changes before pressing this button. Account Settings Choosing Account Settings from the Acct menu will allow you to choose preferences for your individual WinCheck account. These settings are not system wide, but rather are based on the active account. The dialog has the name of the current account in the title bar (for example, TUT: Account Settings). Note: Any modifications made in this dialog will only affect the active account. Depending upon the option, the modifications will not take effect until a new Statement/Register window is opened or the account is reloaded. This is the case for items such as Password Protection, Sorting, and Headings. Bank This field contains the day of Statement the month on which your bank Starts on day statement begins. The default of month: for this field is 1. For example, if you were to indicate a 15 in this field, items in the Statement window would start on 15th of the selected month and run to the 14th of the following month. Register Determines how the Register will Sorting be sorted initially. This can be changed for each Register window at any time; by choosing Sort from the Data menu. The register sorting option will be the initial sorting method in a new Register. Refer to page X for a description of the different sorting options available from the Data menu. Statement Determines how the Statement Sorting will be sorted initially. This can be changed for each Statement window at any time, by choosing Sort from the Data menu. Headings If checked, the Headings will be displayed when a Register or Statement window is opened for this account. The Headings are the field items just below the window title for the Statement and Register (i.e. Date, Description, Your Balance...). If you enable or disable this option, the Heading appearance will not take affect on the active window (only when a new window is opened). This option is intended to set the intial setting for the Headings. To change the appearance of the Headings at any time (without affecting the intial status) choose Headings from the Tools menu. Remind/Auto This option is used to indicate Payment the number of days that you advance would like to be reminded in notice advance of making a Common transaction. For example, let's assume you have several Common transactions set up with the Remind option (in the Common Transaction Properties dialog). The value in the Remind/Auto Payment advance notice field can be used to set the number of days notice you would like before being reminded to make the transaction. The default value for this field is 0, meaning that you would be reminded on the date of the transaction (no advance notice). Changing the value to 3 will mean that three days prior to the date of the transaction, you will be reminded to make the transaction upon loading the account. For example, assume the following common transaction appears as follows in the Common Transactions Properties dialog (choose Properties from the Common menu): :05/04 Shorewood Apartments 650.00 Then this means that: This item appears on the Common menu. This item is as a reminder item (WinCheck will Auto Clear When this option is selected (X Deposits, ATM in the box), any Deposits (Savings or Deposits) or Cash Machine (ATM) transactions will automatically be marked as cleared. The Cleared box in either of these transactions will automatically be marked. The cleared box in other transactions will remain blank by default until you reconcile your account or manually check the Cleared box. Remove the X in the cleared box by clicking within the box. Prompt for Select this check box and Checkbook WinCheck will prompt for you to select a checkbook on startup of the program. Deselect this option if you only have one checkbook tied to the active account or do not want to be prompted on startup. Savings Deselect this check box (no X) Account to disable the tracking of a Savings account within the active checking account. Leave this box unchecked and the SavAmt, SavBal, BnkSav columns will not appear on the Check Register/Statement windows. Transaction If checked, the transactions Wallpaper dialogs will appear with various colors (i,e, checks are blue and Misc. transactions are hot pink). Deselect the Transaction Wallpaper option and all of the transaction dialogs will have a gray background. Transaction Wallpaper is only available on Color systems. Toolbox on If checked, the Toolbox appears startup when you start WinCheck (mouse systems only). Turn the Toolbox on or off at anytime by selecting Toolbox from the Tools menu. Balance on If checked, the Balance dialog startup appears when you load an account. Balance can be displayed at any time by pressing F2 or enabling the Status Line at the bottom of the screen (selectable via the Tools menu). Password If checked, the password entered Protection in the edit fields will be required to access the account. The text entered into the Password and Verify fields should be the same. Valid passwords are any string of characters up to 15 characters long. Upon the loading a password protected file, you will be prompted for the password. Refer to page Error! Bookmark not defined. additional information on password protecting your files. OK Saves preference changes made in this dialog. CANCEL Uses previous preferences. Select Checkbook The Select Checkbook feature allows you to tie more than one checkbook to one Checking/Savings account. This might be used if more than one person carries a checkbook for an account or if you have printer checks and hand written checks. The Select Checkbook dialog is a startup option in the Account Settings dialog (from the Acct menu). Edit the following options by choosing Select Checkbook from the Acct menu. Account: Beside this text string will be the Account ID for the active account and the description text for the account. The description for the account is entered in the Account Info dialog from the Acct menu. Checkbook Name: This edit box allows you to assign names and associated check numbers to a particular checkbook name. For example, you might have a checkbook called Printer Checks and one called John's Checkbook. Look to the next page for an example using this field. EndStub This check box indicates the "tabbing order" in the check transaction dialog box. If this box is marked, WinCheck will use the EndStub tab order described below. If the box is not marked, then the conventional check tab order will be used. The Tab order for Conventional checks is as follows: Pay Account Date To: Dollar Amount ($) Check Number (#) Tax Deductible Cleared OK button Cancel button Write Another check button Details button Print current check button. The Tab order for Endstub checks is as follows: Pay Account, Dollar Amount ($) Date To: Check Number (#) Tax Deductible Cleared OK button Cancel button Write Another check button Details button Print current check button. Next Blank Check #: If you open your real checkbook, and look at the next check you are going to write, this is the number that should appear in this field. First Check # in Book: This field should contain the first check number in your checkbook. Last Check # in Book: This field should contain the last check number in your checkbook. Example: You might have a checkbook name of Printer Checks for the checks that you print. Checkbook name: Printer Checks Next Blank Check #: 20234 First Check # in Book: 20000 Last Check # in Book: 25000 Additionally, there is also the checkbook that you carry around with you writing checks on local businesses. This checkbook could have the following settings: Checkbook name: John's Checkbook Next Blank Check #: 534 First Check # in Book: 101 Last Check # in Book: 901 Why enter names and numbers for seperate checkbooks? 1. If you enter in names and check numbers for each checkbook, then you can switch from checkbook to checkbook and WinCheck will place the correct next blank check number when bringing up a blank check. For example, your printer checks may have a check number range of 20000 to 25000 while your personal hand held checkbook may have a check number range from 1250 to 2250. 2. It is possible to print a seperate report for each checkbook name. This way you can see how much is being spent from each checkbook named. Refer to page X for information on printing a report for each checkbook name. Account Info The Account Info dialog records information about the individual account ID. This dialog appears when starting a new account, but the information can be edited at any time by selecting Account Info from the Acct menu. The leftmost item in the dialog is the account ID of the active account. For example, if you have the April Register for the Tutorial account open, the account ID, TUT, will appear beside Account:. Beside the account ID is a check box to indicate whether or not the current account is a credit card account used to track credit card transactions. The primary differences between a credit card account and a regular Savings or Checkbook account are as follows: 1. The transaction amounts for money you spend with the credit card are added to (instead of subtracted from) the running balance. The transaction amounts for money you deposit/pay into the credit card are subtracted. As you charge more, the balance grows. 2. When the Credit Limit in the Account Info dialog is reached, successive transactions will appear in Red (as long as Register Negative Balance is set to Red in the WinCheck Color Selection dialog. See page Error! Bookmark not defined. When the Credit Card Account box is marked, the balances at the bottom will appear as follows: Your Balance Bank's Balance Balance 0.00 0.00 Credit Limit 0.00 greyed The credit limit is the maximum dollar amount that your bank will allow you to spend on your credit card (such as $1,000.00 limit). If the bank increases (or decreases) your credit limit at any time, change this value and press OK to record it (your balance will update to reflect the modifications). The balance fields (Your Balance and the Bank's Balance) should both be set to the dollar amount that is charged on your account when this account is started. Refer to page 18 for information on starting a new credit card or savings/checking account. When the Credit Card Account box is NOT marked, the bottom of this dialog will appear as follows: Your Balance Bank's Balance Checking 0.00 0.00 Savings 0.00 0.00 When the Savings Account box in Account Settings dialog is not checked (clear) the balance box will appear as below: Your Balance Bank's Balance Checking 0.00 0.00 Savings greyed greyed The Savings Account check box in the Account Settings dialog disables the tracking of a Savings account, so balance figures are greyed. The next item in the Account Info dialog is the description text. This text is used to describe the account (more detail than the account ID). For example the WinCheck tutorial account has an account ID of TUT and a description of WinCheck Tutorial File. It is this description that appears in the Status Line at the bottom of the WinCheck screen. Linking one account to another is also an option in the Account Info dialog. There are two types of account linking in WinCheck: Hot Links, and links that are not so hot, which we will refer to as Cold Links. When you type in an Account ID beside Linked From Account the current account becomes linked (cold link). Check the box labeled Hot Link and the accounts becomes linked dynamically (hot link). Hot Link The type of link where the current account's starting balance depends upon another accounts ending balance in order to calculate its own running balance. With a Hot Link, two accounts are linked dynamically so that changing the balance of the first account affects the balance of the second (current) account at any time. Cold Link When you select cold link, the ending balance of the other account to link from is figured only when you press OK in this dialog. If the other account's balance changes, the balance will not reflect in the new account. You should only use this type of link for completed accounts. For example, if you have a 1990 account that has all of its transactions reconciled, you could cold link the 1991 account to it. If there are still transactions in 1990 that have not cleared, the link should stay hot. Once the cold link has been established, you can move the old account off of your WinCheck directory. If you move a hot linked account off of the WinCheck directory, the Link will turn cold. For more information on linking accounts, please refer to the section of Working with Multiple Accounts and Windows. Backing up your Data Files WinCheck includes a simple way to back up your account data to the A or B drive. Choose Select Backup Drive from the File menu to automate the backups of your WinCheck data files. The Don't make backup option is on by default. To enable the backup of your data files, choose A or B to backup data to the A or B floppy disk drives. OK Accepts the backup preference indicated. The backup preference can be: Backup to drive A: Backup to drive B: Don't make backup. If Don't make Backup is indicated, then WinCheck's backup feature is disabled until A or B is selected at a later time. CANCEL Exits the Select Backup Drive dialog without changing the backup selection. If A or B is selected in this dialog, the user will be prompted to backup files when the account is closed. This could be when exiting the program or when selecting Close Account from the File menu. Insert a disk in drive A or B respectively when prompted to backup the account files. Choose OK when the disk is placed in the drive and the account files will be backed up to the floppy disk. Choosing Cancel will close the account without backing up the data/account files. The Backup feature of WinCheck will backup all of the account files for all open accounts. This is equivalent to copying *.JAE (an example account ID) to a floppy diskette from the DOS prompt. If you have not made changes to your account or do not wish to backup the files when closing an account, choose Cancel when prompted to backup the files. To permanently disable the backup prompt when closing an account, choose Select Backup Drive from the File menu and choose the Don't make Backup option. Backing up data files for a single account 1. Open the account to backup. 2. Choose Select Backup Drive from the File menu and select the A or B drive. Press OK (or <ENTER>). 3. Close the account that you would like to backup by choosing Close Account from the File menu. 4. Select the account that you would like to backup from the Close Account dialog and press OK. WinCheck will prompt for you to insert a backup disk into the drive indicated in the Select Backup Drive dialog. 5. Choose Select Backup Drive from the File menu, select "Don't make Backup" and press OK. Backing up your data files is an important safeguard when using any computer software program. Another good idea is to have multiple backup disks. Cycle through the disks. This way, you can have a "history" of your banking for future reference. Password Protecting your Files WinCheck allows for password protection of account files by choosing Account Settings from the Acct menu. The title bar of the resulting dialog will include the Account ID for the active account (i.e. TUT: Account Settings). To enable Password Protection for the account listed in the title bar, mark the Password Protection box by clicking within the box with the mouse (keyboard users can press ALT+T to mark or unmark the box). Once marked, the Password and Verify fields will not longer be greyed. Press the Tab key once to advance to the Password field or click with the mouse within the Password field. Type a maximum of 15 characters into the Password and Verify fields. As you type the characters, asterisk characters will appear within the fields. Type the same password for the Password and Verify fields. For your safety, Wilson WindowWare will not assist users in recovering data due to forgotten or lost passwords. Transactions The following topics will be discussed in this section: Transaction Dialogs Transaction Details Checking Deposit/Payment Savings Deposit Savings Withdrawal Cash Machine (ATM) Miscellaneous Credit/Debit Card Transfers Between Accounts TRANSACTION DIALOGS The transaction dialogs are the dialogs used to record such things as the writing of checks, making of deposits, and the withdrawaling of money from a cash machine. Below is a the transaction dialog that you would use to record a check written from your checking account: Use the TAB key to move between fields, buttons and check boxes. Check or uncheck the boxes in a dialog by clicking in the box with mouse or by using the keyboard accelerator. For example the l for the Cleared check box is underlined indicating that ALT+L will toggle an X in and out of the Cleared check box. Additionally, there are keyboard accelators for the following buttons: ENTER or OK ALT+o ESC or CANCEL ALT+C ALT + A ANOTHER ALT + D DETAILS ALT + P PRINT (only available in check transaction) F5 Decrements the current date by a day when the cursor is in the Date field. F6 Increments the current date by a day when the cursor is in the Date field.. Following is a description of the different buttons in the transaction dialogs. Add Adds the transaction information entered into the transaction dialog box. Cancel Does not add the transaction and returns you to the active Register or Statement window. Another Adds the transaction and clears the edit fields so that another transaction of the same type can be made (i.e. another check can be written). Details Brings up the Transaction Details dialog that allows you to enter additional information about the transaction. Print This button will only appear if the transaction is a check. Press the Print button and WinCheck will print the information in the dialog to a Check. Before printing a check for the first time, refer to the chapter on printing checks. Note: A maximum of 4 transaction dialogs can be displayed at any one time. Only one blank or new transaction dialog of the same type can be displayed at one time. For example, you can bring up four written checks from the Register or Statement windows, but only one blank check can be displayed at a time. The category listbox (box with a down arrow beside it) located in the upper left of the transaction dialogs allows you to specify the transaction category. By default, all transactions are Personal. To add a new category, simply type the new category into the edit field of the drop down list box. If the category has previously been added/entered, select the category from the listbox by clicking on the down arrow (or press ALT+Down Arrow from the keyboard). You can add, modify or delete categories, by choosing Edit Categories from the Acct menu. Refer to the chaper on Categories and Subcategories for more information. The following message will result if one or more of the items in a transaction are left blank: This transaction has blank fields(s). Please select an option: Discard Choose this option to close the transaction dialog without entering the transaction into your account. Accept Accepts the transaction with the incomplete data. Fill in Blanks Returns you to the transaction dialog so that you can complete the transaction. If the date or the check number are left blank WinCheck will automatically insert the current date or next check number. The next check number is determined when you select a checkbook. See the chapter on pooping cats for more information on setting up checkbooks. TRANSACTION DETAILS This dialog allows you to enter additional information about a transaction. To access this dialog, choose the Details button in any transaction dialog or press ALT+D. Information entered in the Memo Line field(s), Mail To, Address, City/State, and Zip fields can be printed on checks (use the WinCheck Form Designer to indicate the placement and inclucion of these fields). Text entered into the Comments box cannot be printed on checks. The comment information is meant to further describe the transaction with up to 128 characters. If typing more than one line of comment text, press Enter near the end of the line (no automatic word wrap). Checking Deposit/Payment: If you are in a Checking/Savings account, then this dialog is used to make checking deposits to the active account. If the active account is a Credit Card account, use this dialog to make a payment to your credit card account (refer to the chapter on Working With Multiple Account and Windows for additional information on transferring money between accounts). There are three ways to make a deposit to your checking account or payment to your credit card account: 1. Choose Deposit/Payment from the Checking menu 2. Click with the mouse on the icon button that appears 3. Press F4 It is also possible to use Misc from the Checking menu to indicated a Deposit/Payment. If you choose Misc, you can describe the type of deposit in the Description field (i.e. "Direct Deposit", or "Bank Credit"). This is most helpful when adding direct deposits and paychecks to the Common menu (refer to the section on Common Transactions for additional information). If you are using the Misc Checking dialog to indicate a deposit, be sure to check the Credit Account box (press ALT+R to mark the Credit Account box). If Credit Account is not marked, the amount will be deducted from your balance instead of credited (or added instead of substract in the case of a credit card account). Savings Deposit: If you are in a Checking/Savings account, then this dialog is used to make Savings deposits to the active account. If the active account is a Credit Card account, the items below the Savings menu will be greyed and the Control Bar buttons for Savings transactions will be greyed as well. To make a Savings deposit, choose Deposit from the Savings menu or click on the icon on the Control Bar. If the Savings deposit is really just a transfer of money from your Checking account, use the Checking to Savings transfer dialog (choose Within Same Account from the Xfers menu). Note: Deposit transactions can be automatically flagged as "Cleared" in the Account Settings dialog (Auto Clear Deposits, ATM). Click with the mouse in the box labeled Cleared to clear or unclear a transaction. To clear a transaction from the keyboard, tab to the Cleared field and then use the Spacebar key to toggle the X in the box. It is also possible to clear and unclear a transaction later in the the Register or Statement windows (refer to the sections of the Register and the Statement). Savings Withdrawal Use the Savings Withdrawal dialog to record withdrawals from your Savings account. If the active account is a Credit Card account, the items below the Savings menu will be greyed and the Control Bar buttons for Savings transactions will be greyed as well. To withdrawal money from your Savings account, choose Withdrawal from the Savings menu or click once on the icon on the Control Bar. If the withdrawal from Savings is really just a transfer of money from your Savings to Checking, use the Saving to Checking transfer dialog (choose Within Same Account from the Xfers menu). Cash Machine (ATM): The Savings and Checking ATM dialogs allow you to indicate cash machine withdrawals from either your Savings or Checking account. Choose Cash Machine (ATM) from the Checking or Savings menu respectively. Both options are also available from the Control Bar: Cash Machine (ATM) withdrawal from Checking. Cash Machine (ATM) withdrawal from Savings. In the Savings and Checking ATM dialogs, choose from a list of common withdrawal amounts of cash (20, 40, 60, 80 or 100 dollars) or type in any other amount in the field marked as Other. Before typing a value into the Other field, click with the mouse in the circle to the left of the word Other or use the Down Arrow key on the keyboard to move the selection to the Other field. Note: These transactions can be automatically flagged as "Cleared" in the Account Settings dialog (Auto Clear Deposits, ATM). Click with the mouse in the box labeled Cleared to clear or unclear a transaction. To clear a transaction from the keyboard, tab to the Cleared field and then use the Spacebar key to toggle the X in the box. It is also possible to clear and unclear a transaction later in the the Register or Statement windows (refer to the sections of the Register and the Statement). As with any of the transaction dialogs, pressing F5 or F6 while in the Date field will decrement or increment the date by a day. Interest Accreued/Charged: If you are in a Checking/Savings account, then this dialog can be used to track the interest earned. If the active account is a Credit Card account, use this dialog to track interest charged to your Credit Card account. The Credit Account box will automatically be checked if the active account is a Checking/Savings account and unchecked if the active account is a Credit Card account. You could enter Checking or Saving Charges with this dialog and uncheck the box labeled Credit Account, but this is more fitting of a Miscellaneous transaction (see below). Miscellaneous Use this transaction type when the others do not fit your needs or you want to use a description field. As noted above, it is possible to use the Savings or Checking Interest dialogs for debits (charages) by deseleting the box marked Credit Account. The reason you might not want to do this is because the transaction will appear with a description of Interest Checking or Interest Savings in the Register and Statement windows. If these transactions were made as Misc transactions, you could enter text such as Bank Charges for the description text. Type the description of the transaction into the Description field, change the date if necessary and enter an amount. If the transaction adds money to your account/balance, check the Credit Account box. By default, Credit Account is not checked meaning the amount will be subtracted from your balance. Credit/Debit Card This dialog is used to debit money from a Checking/Savings account or a Credit Card account. In a Credit Card account you can record a credit card transaction by clicking on the credit card icon on the Control Bar or by choose Credit/Debit Card from the Checking menu. In a Checking/Savings account, use this dialog to subtract money from your account when you use your ATM card. For example, most supermarkets and some gas stations allow you to use your ATM card as a debit card to pay for the goods. Transfer Between Accounts WinCheck is capable of transferring money from Savings to Checking (or vice versa) in the same account or different accounts. When selecting Winthin Same Account -> from the Xfers menu there are two options: Savings to Checking Checking to Savings Select either item and a dialog will appear. Indicate the amount to transfer and change the date if necessary. Note that the Cleared box is not marked by default. The Transfer Between Account dialog is used to transfer money from one account to another. The transfer options are pictured below. The active account is listed in the From field. Type the destination account ID in the To field and the amount to transfer in the Amount field. Adjust the Date if necessary and press OK to make the transfer. It is also possible to transfer money using the Pay Account option in the Check and Misc dialogs. Refer to the section on Working with Multiple Account and Windows for more information. The WinCheck Menu Items and Keys The following topics will be discussed in this section: WinCheck Menus and Menu Items Keyboard Shortcuts Menus and Menu Items The following is the menu bar for the WinCheck window: FILE ACCT DATA CHECKING SAVINGS XFERS TOOLS WINDOW COMMON HELP The following is the menu bar for the WinCheck Form Designer Window: FILE HELP The underlined character indicates the ALT key combination for keyboard usage, i.e. ALT+F to activate the File menu from the keyboard. FILE (WinCheck Window) Load Account Brings up the Load dialog to load a different or new account. Close Current Brings up a list box of open Account accounts. Select the account to close and choose Ok (Cancel to leave the dialog without closing an account). Select Backup Choose to backup data files to Drive... drive A or B when closing the account file. Check Form Brings up the WinCheck Form Printer Designer. With this Designer you Setup... can create templates for printing checks to any type of check form, landscape or portrait. Select Brings up a dialog to select Printer(s) printing devices. With this for dialog it is possible to set a Checks/Reports particular printer driver for the printing reports and another for the check printing (printer drivers need to be active and on separate ports, i.e. COM1 and LPT1). Windows Allows you to configure an active Printer Setup printer by bringing up the Windows Printer Setup dialog for the printer driver selected. Colors... Customize the colors used for statement and register items, i.e. (Register Negative Balance or Statement Slider Bar Text). Fonts... Select fonts for the display of the Register and Statement windows or for the printing of checks (i.e. Choose Helvetica 12 point for the display of the Register and Courier 12 point for the printing of checks). Exit Choose this to exit the program. WinCheck Account information is automatically saved upon exiting the program. ACCT Account Brings up a dialog with Info... information about the active account. Account Brings up a dialog of settings Settings... for the active account. The name of the active account is listed in the Account Settings dialog box, i.e. TUT: Account Settings for the tutorial account settings. Display Check Brings up the "Pick a Month to Register... View" dialog where you can select a Register to view for a particular month, i.e. January 1991. Display Check Brings up the "Pick a Month to Statement... View" dialog where you can select a Register to view for a particular month, i.e. January 1991. Display Displays the current balances for Current the active account (check and Balance savings balances, both your opinion and the banks opinion based on cleared transactions). Close Active Closes the active Statement or Register/Stat Register Window. The active ement Statement or Register can also be closed by double clicking on the "close bar" in the upper left corner of the window. Note: This will close the window, but not the account (use Close Account from the File menu). It is also possible to close the Statement or Register windows by pressing ALT+ - (hyphen) and then press C for Close. Select With this menu item you can Checkbook select a checkbook that is tied to the active account. For example you may have two checkbooks attached to your personal account, one for yourself and one for your spouse. With this dialog you can select an alternative checkbook or add another to your account (each checkbook has an option to set the first, last and next blank in the checkbook).. Find Brings up the Find Transaction dialog to find transactions based on a criteria (i.e. amount or keyword) and display the resulting transactions in a dialog box. Edit Brings up the Edit Categories Categories... dialog where you can edit existing categories (i.e. change expense to bills) or add a new category or subcategory such as Personal:Food) Budgeting... With the WinCheck Budget Manager you can set up budgeting amounts for each of your categories. For example you can set a budget amount of $100.00 for Personal:Food expenses and $50.00 for Utilities. Report The WinCheck Report Generator Generator... allows you to print your data with any of the predefined reports (i..e. Cash Flow) or design your own custom report. Export Exports the data from the active Register Register to a tab delimited text file. Run/Edit Brings up the WinCheck WinCheck Commander to edit or run a WinCheck Command File Command file. DATA Print Checks Prints the selected check(s) from the active register using the form loaded with the Check Form Printer Setup command from the File menu. Sum Sums the selected transactions Highlighted from the active register or Amts statement, and displays the amount. Clear Tags selected transaction(s) in the Check Register or Statement as cleared by the bank. When the transactions have been cleared, they appear with an asterisk (*) beside the date and a check mark beside the dollar value. The BnkChk and BnkSav columns in the Check Register indicate the "Banks opinion" of your account balance based on the cleared status of transactions. UnClear Toggles "cleared transactions" to uncleared (no asterisk or check mark). Delete Deletes selected transaction(s) from the Check Statement or Register (deleting a transaction from either the Statement or the Register will also delete the transaction from the corresponding Statement or Register. The Register and Statement are just different format for looking at the same data). Calculator... Brings up the Windows Calculator program over the top of WinCheck. Recalc When Recalc is checked, WinCheck will recalculate the running balance each time a change is made that would affect the balance (i.e. write a check or make a deposit). When recalc is not checked, WinCheck will not recalculate the balance until Recalc is selected again from the Data menu. This makes the entry of multiple transactions quicker as a recalculation of the balance is not performed after each transaction is made. Display When checked, only the Uncleared transactions that have been marked as "cleared" will display in the Check Statement. This menu item does not appear when the active window is a Check Register. Sort (for Check Register) By Date Sorts transactions in the active Check Register by date. By Number Sorts transactions in the active Check Register by check number. All of the checks will appear below transactions such as Checking Deposits, Savings ATM, Savings Deposits, Savings Withdrawals, etc.... Date, Number Sorts the contents of the active Check Register by date and then by check number if more than one check was written on a particular day. Number,Date Sorts the contents of the active Check Register by check number, then date. This means that transactions without a check number (i.e. checking deposits) will be sorted by date, and transactions with a check number will be sorted by check number. Amount Sort transactions by amount, from the smallest amount to the largest. Original Order Sorts the Register transactions into the original data entry order (the order that the transactions were entered). Sort (for Check Statement) Checks by Date Sorts the check section of the active Check Statement by date. Checks by Sorts the check section of the Number active Check Statement by number. CHECKING Check F3 Activates the Check dialog for writing a new check. Deposit/ Activates the Deposit dialog for Payment F4 recording a deposit transaction into your checking account. or Payment. Use this item to record "deposits" in a Checking/Savings account or "payments" in a credit card account. Cash Machine Activates the Cash Machine dialog (ATM) for recording a cash machine withdrawal from your checking account. Credit/Debit Activates the Credit/Debit Card Card Savings for If your current account is a credit card than this transaction is a credit card transaction and the amount will be Added to your balance. If the active account is a Checking/Savings account, then this transaction will Subtract money from your account your account. Misc Activates the Misc dialog for recording miscellaneous charges or credits to your checking account. Mark the check box labeled "Credit account" if the amount is to be credited to your checking account instead of deducted. Interest Activates the Checking Interest accrued/ dialog, in order to record charged interest on your checking account or charges to your checking account. The Credit box is marked by default for interest accrued or you can deselect the Credit box to indicate a charge to your checking account. SAVINGS Withdrawal Activates the Savings Withdrawal dialog for interest accrued or you can deselect for recording withdrawals from your the Credit box to indicate a charge to savings account. Deposit/ Activates the Savings Deposit Payment dialog for recording deposits into your savings account. Cash Machine Activates the Savings ATM dialog (ATM) for recording a cash machine (ATM) withdrawal from your savings account. Credit/Debit Activates the Credit/Debit Card Card Savings dialog for credit or debits from your savings account. Misc Activates the Misc dialog for recording miscellaneous charges or credits to your savings account. Mark the check box labeled "Credit account" if the amount is to be credited to your savings account instead of deducted. Interest Activates the Savings Interest accrued/ dialog, in order to record charged interest on your checking account or charges to your savings account. The Credit is marked by default for interest accrued or you can deselect the Credit box to indicate a charge to your savings account. TOOLS Under the Tools menu there are four visual options for the WinCheck program: Control Bar Status Line Headings Toolbox All of the tools toggle on and off. When a check mark appears beside an item such as the Control Bar, it means that the Control Bar is in use. To turn off the display of the Control Bar, select the Control Bar item from the Tools menu so that there is not a check mark beside the item. What is the "Control Bar"? The Control Bar is a row of icon buttons placed just below the menu bar (mouse required). Each of the icon buttons performs a different WinCheck function. All of the functions are also available with the keyboard, by selecting the item from the menu with an ALT key combination. For example to use the calculator from the keyboard type ALT+D to drop down the Data menu and then press L for the Calculator menu item. Note: Click on the icon buttons once with the mouse to bring up the dialogs. Clicking twice will bring up a message advising you not to make multiple transactions. The first item on the Control Bar is the Acct box, allows you to open accounts and view a listing of open accounts. Click on the down arrow to view a listing of open accounts or type an account ID into the box to load an account (i.e. TUT). It is also possible to load an account from the File menu with the Load Account. The remaining items on the Control Bar are all icon buttons for various functions for WinCheck. Refer to the table below for a explanation of each icon button. 1. Brings up the Credit/Debit Card dialog. 2. Brings up the check writing dialog. 3. Brings up the Checking Deposit/Payment dialog. 4. Activates the Savings Withdrawal dialog. 5. Activates the Savings Deposit/Payment dialog. 6. Brings up the Checking ATM dialog for cash machine withdrawals from your checking account. 7. Brings up the Savings ATM dialog for cash machine withdrawals from your savings account. 8. Brings up the Misc Checking transaction dialog. 9. Brings up the Misc Savings transaction dialog. 10. Brings up the Windows 3.0 Calculator program. 11. Clears selected transaction items. 12. Unclears selected transaction items. 13. Displays the total amount for selected transactions in the register or statement. 14. Prints Checks for selected transaction items. 15. Brings up the Find Transaction dialog. The Status Line is the grey bar of information at the very bottom of the WinCheck screen. When this option is selected from the Tools menu, the description of the account as it is specified in the Description field is displayed at the bottom left of the screen. To change the description of the account, choose Account Info from Acct menu. The other two items on the status line (Chk: and Sav:) are the running balances or dollar amounts for savings and checking. Both of these values are "Your Opinion" of the balance versus the "Bank's Opinion", which is based only on cleared transactions. If the open account is a credit card account (as indicated in the Account Info dialog from the Acct menu), then the status line will indicate the balance (Bal:) and the credit limit (Limit:) for the credit card account. When Headings is selected from the Tools menu, the headings will appear above the columns of data in the Register and Statement windows. The Headings appear just below the window title for the Statement and Register and are such things as Date, Description, Your Balance etc.... Finally, there is the Toolbox option (mouse required) also under the Tools menu. This option will bring up a box of icons that perform tasks similar to the Control Bar. You can write checks, make withdrawals, and record Misc, ATM and Deposit transactions. Additionally, you can transfer money to or from Savings to Checking within the same account. To transfer money between different accounts choose Between Different Accounts from the Xfers menu (you can also transfer "Within Same Account" from the Xfers menu). The Toolbox can be moved about the screen by clicking on the bar containing the word "Toolbox" (at the top of the box) and dragging the mouse. Select Toolbox from the Tools menu to activated and deactivate the Toolbox or press ALT+SPACEBAR and then C to deactivate/close the Toolbox. WINDOW Cascade Cascades the open Register/Statement windows (all of windows appear in a staggered stack). Tile Tiles the Register/Statement windows horizontally (left to right) so that all open Register/Statement windows can be viewed at once. Arrange Icons Arranges any minimized Register/Statement icons at the bottom of the screen left to right. Edit Open This item will bring up a listbox Transaction... of open transaction windows. It is possible to have four transaction windows open at one time and change the focus (change the active transaction window) by selecting a transaction from Select Transaction to Activate dialog. This is the keyboard equivalent to clicking with the mouse on the dialog frame of an open transaction. It is possible to have four completed checks open, but it is not possible to open four blank checks at one. Only one empty transaction dialog of each type is allowed at one time (i.e. one new/blank check and one checking deposit). The numbered items that may appear at the bottom the Window menu are the names of the open Register and Statement windows. For example, 1 TUT: Register for March, 1991 means that the Register windows for the month of March is open. A check mark indicates the active window. So that if there is a check mark before 1 TUT: Register for March, 1991, it means that this window is currently the active window. Select any of the numbered items to switch to the another open Register or Statement window. Look to page 154 of this manual for additional information on managing multiple windows. Common Add -> Allows for the creation of common transactions: Check, Checking Deposit/Payment, Checking Misc., Checking Interest accrued/charged, Savings Withdrawal, Savings Deposit, Savings Misc., Savings Interest accrued/charged. A common transaction is a transaction that is made on a regular basis, such as a car payment. Common Transactions are added to the bottom of Common menu by default. Indicate whether you want an item to appear on a menu or not with the Common Transaction Properties dialog to avoid cluttering up this menu. Edit/Delete... Allows you to change or delete Common Transactions. Properties... From the Common Transaction Properties dialog, set up properties such as Automatic Pay and Print to make and print the transaction (check) on a certain date or Remind to remind you to make a transaction on a particular date. With each common transaction you can select from a list of properties (see page x for more information). Acct These menu items represent the ID/Date/ common transactions created with Transaction/ the Add menu choice. When you $$ select a common transaction, the appropriate transaction dialog may appear or the check may be printed depending upon the properties for the transaction. For example: JAE: 05/24 Shorewood Apartments $580.00 JAE: 05/15 Seattle City Light: Varies JAE: 05/16 Ford Motor Company: $346.90 JAE: 05/18 Piano Rentals R' Us: $36.00 JAE: 05/01 Paycheck: $1000.00 Refer to page 116 for additional information on Common Transactions. Also refer to the pages listed in the index under the "Categories" topic. HELP Index Displays the Index of the OnLine help information. Overview Displays Overview information for WinCheck. Keyboard Displays the Keyboard Controls for WinCheck. Commands Displays information about the WinCheck Menu Commands. Help on Help Activates the Microsoft Windows Index to Using Help. About Displays the WinCheck About dialog which includes the version number of the WinCheck product. Keyboard short cuts General Shortcut Keys Key Function F1 Activates the OnLine Help Index. F2 Displays Current Balance. F3 Activates the Check dialog for writing a check. F4 Activates the Checking Deposit/Payment dialog for recording a checking deposit (or payment?). F5 While in a Transaction Dialog, F5 will increment the date in the date field (each time F5 is pressed the date will increase by a day). F6 While in a Transaction Dialog, F6 will decrement the date in the date field (each time F6 is pressed the date will decrease by a day). F7 Activates the Cash machine withdrawl from Checking transaction dialog. F8 Brings up the Find Transaction dialog. F9 Brings up the Windows Calculator. DEL Deletes the selected transaction(s) from the Register or Statement window (Num Lock Off). + Sums the selected transaction(s) from the Register or Statement window. CTRL+U Select transactions or a single transaction and use CTRL+U to unclear the selected transactions. CTRL+C Select transactions or a single transaction and use CTRL+C to clear the selected transactions. CTRL+R Same as selecting Display Check Register from the Acct menu. The "Pick a Month to View" dialog will pop up with a selection of months to open for the active account. CTRL+S Same as selecting Display Check Statement from the Acct menu. The "Pick a Month to View" dialog will pop up with a selection of months to open for the active account. CTRL+F6 When multiple windows are open, use CTRL+F6 to rotate through the open windows (see page . CTRL+F4 Closes the active Register or Statement window. SHIFT+F5 Arranges the open Register and Statement windows into a staggered stack of windows (Cascades the windows). SHIFT+F6 Tiles the open Register and Statement windows horizontally left to right. Keys for Scrolling Through the Register or Statement Windows KEYS: ACTION: Up or Down Move up or arrows (Num down one Lock off) transaction at a time Page Up or Move up or Page Down (Num down a screen Lock off) of data at a time Home Move to the beginning of theRegister End Move to the end of the Register ALT+E Jumps to the Date field. ALT+M Jumps to the Amount field. ALT+T Jumps to the To: field. ALT+Y Jumps to the Pay Account field. ALT+R Toggles the Credit check box on and off. ALT+L Toggles the Cleared check box on and off. ALT+X Toggles the Tax Deductible check box on and off. ALT+A Presses the Another Button ALT+D Presses the Details Button ALT+P Presses the Print Button ENTER Presses the OK Button ESC Presses the Cancel Button The Register The following topics will be discussed in this section: The Register Appearance Sort Options for the Register Window Reconciliation of Transactions Deletion of Transactions Modifications of Transactions Changing Transactions from one Date to Another Viewing your Running Balance Printing the Register Window Data Exporting the Register Window Data Adding Transactions to the Register Scrolling Through the Register Finding Transactions The Register: The Check Register can be used for many different operations: 1.Reconciliation of transactions. 2.Deletion of transactions. 3.Modification of transactions. 4.Moving transactions from one date to another. 5.Viewing your running balance. 6.Finding Transactions (although you can also use the Find function from the Acct menu). The Register Appearance The Register is a window with a caption (header) and a list box of transactions. The Headings provide labels to identify the information in each column. The Headings will, however, only appear if Headings is checked under the Tools menu. The Register window displays your Checking and Savings transactions, as well as your running balance and the bank's running balance. The bank's running balance differs from your running balance in that only "cleared" transactions are considered in determining the running balance. If an asterisk appears by the date and a check mark beside the dollar amount of the transaction, this indicates that the transaction has been cleared by the bank. To clear a transaction, select the transaction and press CTRL+C, or choose Clear from the Data menu, or click with the mouse on the check mark icon button on the Control Bar. To change a cleared transaction to "uncleared", press CTRL+U, or choose Unclear from the Data menu, or click with the mouse on the check mark icon with a slash through it on the Control Bar. The following columns are the first three to appear in the Register window: Date The date the transaction was made. To change the date, double click on the transaction, edit the Date field, and choose OK. # The check number when applicable (blank if transaction is not a check). Description If the transaction is a check, then the description column text will contain the check recipient (i.e. Ted's Auto Repair). If the transaction is anything other than a check, then the description field will describe the type of transaction, i.e. Checking Deposit, Savings Withdrawal, or Checking ATM. Misc Checking and Savings transactions will display the transaction description text in this column. The next six columns will appear if the active account is not a Register window for a credit card account (the credit card account option is indicated upon startup and within the Account Info dialog from the Acct menu) and savings account tracking is indicated by marking the Savings Account box in the Account Settings dialog (from the Acct menu). ChkAmt The values below this column indicate the amount of the Checking transaction. ChkBal Your running balance of the entered transactions regardless of the cleared status. BnkChk The bank's running balance of your account based upon cleared transactions. SavAmt The values of the Savings account transactions (i.e. deposits and withdrawals). SavBal Your running Savings account balance regardless of the cleared status. BnkSav The bank's running balance of your Savings account, based upon cleared transactions. The Bank's running balance is based on cleared transactions only, so it may rarely match your balance. ChkBal indicates your balance. This is updated with every transaction you make. In a idealistic system where all transactions instantly clear the bank, this would be your true running balance. However, banks are usually a few days behind in clearing transactions, hence the need for a "BnkChk" column. Only those transactions that have been marked as "cleared" will show up in this column. Generally, you only clear transactions when you reconcile your bank statement. If the active account is a credit card account or a Checking account with the Savings Account selection unmarked in Account Settings, the following column headings will be displayed (after Date, # and Description): Amount Amount of the transaction. Your Balance Your running balance for the credit card or checking account based upon the entered transactions. Bank Balance The running balance based upon the cleared transactions. The Register list box is a Multiple Selection list box meaning that more than one item can be selected at a time. To select one item, click on it (or use the arrow keys to move to it). To select a block of items, press and hold the SHIFT key while using the Up and Down arrow keys, or click and drag the mouse. This could be helpful to clear a group of checks at one time when your bank statement arrives. To select non-contiguous transactions (transactions not listed one right after another), press and hold the CTRL key and click with the mouse on the transactions you would like to select. After selecting a group of checks, press the Up or Down once or click anywhere within the Register window to remove the selection(s). You can select up to four transactions in the Register and press the Enter key to bring up all four of the transaction dialogs at one time. You might do this to view or edit a group of transactions at one time. Also, you can use the Sum Highlighted Amts command when a group of transactions is selected. Choose Sum Highlighted Amts from the Data menu or press the + key on the numeric keypad. Finally, you might select a group of transactions and press the Del key on the keyboard (num lock off) or choose Delete from the Data menu. When doing this you will be prompted to delete selected transactions (Answer Yes or No). In Summary, select multiple transactions to do the following: 1. Clear and Unclear transactions by selecting Clear or Unclear from the Data menu or press CTRL+C to clear the selected transaction(s) and CTRL+U to unclear the selected transaction(s). 2. Bring up the original transaction dialogs for editing/viewing purposes (maximum of four). 3. Sum the selected transactions with the Sum Highlighted Amts command from the Data menu. 4. Delete selected transactions by pressing the Del key or by choosing Delete from the Data menu. Multiple Registers and Statements from different months and different accounts can be open at once. For example you could open the May 1991 Register window for your credit card account, the June 1991 Register window for your checking account, and the June 1991 Statement window for your checking account. If you were to view the Window menu by clicking on the word "Window" or by pressing ALT+W, you can see a listing of all of the open windows. For example: CCC: Register for May, 1991 JAE: Register for June, 1991 JAE: Statement for June, 1991 This might be helpful when you are balancing your checkbook and need to look at the transactions for the past two months. Or you may want to switch back and forth from Statement windows of your Personal and Business account. Refer to the section on Working With Multiple Accounts and Windows for additonal information. Note: It is not possible to have multiple Register or Statement windows open for the same month and account. For example, it is not possible to have the July Register for the JAE account open more than once. Your computer's memory and menu space are the only limitations to the number of different windows you can have open at one time. Sorting Options for the Register Window When selecting Sort from the Data menu, the following sorting options are available for the Register window: By Date Sorts transactions in the active Check Register by the date of the transaction. By Number Sorts transactions in the active Check Register by check number. All of the transactions without a check number, such as Checking Deposits, Savings ATM, Savings Deposits, Savings Withdrawals, will appear above the listed of sorted checks (ascending order from smallest check number to the largest). Date, Number Sorts the contents of the active Check Register by date and then by check number if more than one check was written on a particular day. Number,Date Sorts the contents of the active Check Register by check number, then date. This means that transactions without a check number (i.e. checking deposits) will be sorted by date, and transactions with a check number will be sorted by check number. Amount Sort transactions by amount, from the smallest amount to the largest. Original Order Sorts the Register transactions into the original data entry order (the order that the transactions were entered). NOTE: Each window has it's own sort options. Changing the sorting option will change the sorting method for the active window only. The default sorting methods for the Statement and Register windows is indicated in the Account Settings dialog from the Acct menu. The sort option indicate in Account Settings will be the sort option used when initially opening a Statement or Register window. Reconciliation of Transactions: To reconcile (clear) a transaction(s), select the transaction and choose Clear from the Data menu (or press CTRL+C). Once cleared, these transactions will now have an asterisk by the date and a check mark beside the amount. The "BnkChk" column will also update to reflect the change in the Bank's balance. When you have reconciled every transaction that your bank knows about (those that appear on your monthly bank statement), compare the "BnkChk" balance with the Bank's balance on the printed bank statement. If they match up, you have a balanced account! Pressing the F2 key will bring up the current balances of your account at any time or view the balance on the Status Bar at the bottom of the WinCheck screen. Deletion of Transactions: To delete a transaction, select it, and then choose Delete from the Data menu or press the Del key on the keyboard. The following warning message will appear: Are you sure you want to Delete the selected Transaction(s)? Choose Yes to delete and No to leave the transaction as is (no deletion). If you choose to delete a transaction, be certain you mean to do this as the data must be reentered if you change your mind. Modification of Transactions: To modify a transaction(s), select the transaction(s), and double click the mouse, or press the Enter key. The transaction(s) will appear on the screen in their respective dialogs so the information can be edited. You can have a maximum of 4 transaction dialogs open at any one time. ChangingTransactions from one Date to Another: Bring up the transaction dialog by double clicking on it in the Register window, and change the date. When bringing up a transaction to modify the cursor is already placed in the date field. Press F5 to decrement the date by a day or F6 to increment the date by a day. You can press the F5 or F6 keys repeatedly or manually type in the new date. Click on the OK button or press Enter to record the change. If the Register window is sorted by date, then WinCheck will automatically move the transaction to the new place in the register. If you change the month or year, the transaction will dissapear from the current register and appear in the destination register (if it is open). Viewing your Running Balance: For the most accurate reflection of your running balance, set the sorting to be by Date. This can be done by selecting the by Sort-> By Date option from the Data menu. This will track your transactions in a chronological way. Keep in mind that your running balance will almost always be different than the bank's, this is due to uncleared transactions. As long as you keep your running balance (ChkBal) above zero, and none of the checks you deposited bounced, you should never get "Fan Mail" from your bank. Printing the Register Window Data To print the Register data, choose the Report Generator from the Acct menu. Select the month or months that you wish to print. Then, select a report. Most likely you will want Register Sorted by Date, Number. Print or preview the report as you desire. If you select a transaction or multiple transactions from the Register window, and then press the Print button on the Control Bar (Or choose "Print Checks" from the Data menu), the checks you selected will be printed. If you selected transactions that are not checks, WinCheck will automatically skip over them in the printing process. Exporting the Register Window Data To export the Register data, choose Export Register from the Acct menu when a Register window is open and active. The export function will allow you to export the data from the Register window to a Tab or Comma delimited text file. A tab or comma delimited text file is compatible with most any spreadsheet, word processor or database program. The Export Filename dialog will prompt for the column delimiter (Tab or Comma) and a filename. Unless otherwise specified, the file is exported to the WinCheck program directory. To specify another location you will need to indicate the full path. For example, C:\EXCEL\FEBREG.XLS to export the Februrary register window data to the Excel program directory. When you export the data from a register window to a file, the category field will be used to separate transactions. The amount values are listed below the category columns. CHECKING DEBITS Pets Utilities 11/01/91#103 Phil's Cat Cabana 45.96 11/02/01#104 Pacfic Power Company 23.33 The exported transactions are grouped into the following groups when exported with the Export function. CHECKING CREDITS CHECKING DEBITS SAVINGS CREDITS SAVINGS DEBITS If the information from the Export Register function is not exactly what you are looking for, it is possible to export data based upon a custom report. The custom report can have the following columns of data in any order that you would like: (Blank), Date, Check #, Description, Amount, Category, Sub- Category, Cleared, Memo 1, Memo 1, Checkbook Name, Your Balance, Bank's Balance. Refer to the section on Reports for additional information on exporting custom report data. Adding Transactions to the Register To add a transaction to the Register you can: 1.Select a transaction button from the Control Bar. 2.Select a transaction from the Checking or Savings menu. 3.Use a Function key. F3 to write a check, F4 to make a Checking deposit and F7 to make a Cash Machine withdrawal from Checking. 4.Select a Common transaction from the Common menu. 5.Run a WinCheck Command File to add transactions. See page xx for a listing of the WinCheck Command File functions. Note: Transactions that you make when the Register window will automatically appear in the appropriate Statement window. The Statement and Register windows display the same data, just in different formats. Scrolling Through the Register ACTION: KEYS: Move up or down one Up or Down arrows (Num Lock transaction at a time off) Move up or down a screen of Page Up or Page Down (Num data at a time Lock off) Move to the beginning of Home theRegister Move to the end of the End Register Finding Transactions (F8) To find a transaction, choose the Find... option from the Acct menu or click on the magnifying glass button on the Control Bar. In the Find Transaction dialog you can fill in search keys in order to find transactions. You can make the key as detailed or vague as you wish. Generally, the more detailed the search keys are, the quicker the search process becomes. You can also specify the search range to be either the current month, all months with data for the active account, or a range of months such a 01/91 to 10/91. FIND Transaction Dialog Search Range Determines the dates/months to search. Possible selections: Search Current Month Only Search ALL months Search from: (fill in month/year i.e. 1/91 3/91). Trans: Allows you to search for a particular type of transaction such as Checking Deposit or Check. Leave the Trans field to All* to search through all transaction types. Category: Allows you to search for a transactions with a particular category such as Pets or Business. Leave the Category field at All* to search through all transactions regardless of category. Amount: Indicate the transaction amount that you are looking for, such as 34.00. This field can be helpful during reconciliation of your checkbook. Say your checkbook is off by $2.54, you can search for transactions with an amount of 2.54. If the Amount field is left blank, then the WinCheck will consider any amount (wildcard). Check #: If "Check" is selected as the transaction type above, then this field will appear in black (instead of greyed out). Indicate the number for a check if you know the number. If the Check field is left blank, then the search will consider any check number (wildcard). Keyword: The Keyword field is for Checks and Miscellaneous transactions only. For example, choose Check in the Trans field and type Texaco in the Keyword field to checks written to Texaco (checks with the word Texaco in the To: field of the check). Another example for Miscellaneous transactions might be a search for monthly bank fees. In the Find Transaction dialog choose Misc Checking and type Fee in the Keyword field. Click the Search button and all Misc Checking transactions with the word Fee in the Description field will be displayed. If the Keyword field is left blank, the search will consider all descriptions (wildcard). Search Starts the search process. The speed of the search is effected by the number of "wildcards" and the range of months selected. For example, a search for a specific check number will take less time then a search for any transaction with an amount of 45.00 dollars. Also a search in the current month only will take less time then a search from 01/91 to 10/91. Cancel Leaves the Find Transaction dialog without searching. Once you have entered a search criteria and pressed the Search button, WinCheck will display all of the transactions that meet the criteria in a list box. Double clicking on the transaction item or select the View button when a item is highlighted to display the original transaction dialog. The "original transaction dialog" is the dialog that was used to make the transaction. For example, if the item found is a check, double clicking on this item will bring up a Check transaction dialog with the information originally typed in for the transaction. Pressing the View & Register button when a transaction is selected will display the original transaction dialog and open the appropriate Register or bring the Register to the front if already opened. If no transactions are found, the list box will be empty. Press Cancel to leave the Select Transaction dialog and return to the WinCheck screen. Sample Search If you would like to find all bank fees that you have recorded to your Checking account, you would do the following: 1. With a Register or Statement window for the account open before you on the screen, choose Find from the Acct menu, press F8 or click with the mouse on the magnifying glass icon on the Control Bar. 2. Choose "Search ALL Months" as the Search Range. 3. Choose Misc Checking from the Trans field (click on the down arrow to select Misc Checking from the list of possible transactions). 4. Type the word fee in the Keyword field. 5. Click on the Search button. WinCheck will now search all of the Misc Checking transactions (for the active account) for the word "fee" in the Description field. Sample Search In order to add a comment to a checking deposit In March 1991, you could do the following: 1. With a Register or Statement window for the account open before you on the screen, choose Find from the Acct menu, press F8 or click with the mouse on the magnifying glass icon on the Control Bar. 2. Choose "Search From," as the Search Range and type 03/91 in both boxes to the right. 3. Choose Checking Deposit from the Trans field (click on the down arrow to select Checking Deposit from the list of possible transactions). 4. Click on the Search button for a list of checking deposits for the month of March. 5. Select a transaction item and click on the View button. 6. Click on the Details button for the Checking Deposit/Payment dialog. 7. Type a comment such as Deposit made from Birthday checks in Comments box in the resulting Transaction Details dialog. 8. Press OK to exit and save changes made in the Transaction Details dialog. Press OK to return to exit the Select Transaction dialog or choose to view another transaction (Checking Deposit) in the list. If more than 100 matches are found for a search criteria, the following message will appear: More than 100 items matched the search key. The total dollar amount is still correct, but only the first 100 are displayed. Anytime your search key finds more than 100 items, you might want to consider including additional search keys (for example, a specific amount or transaction type). Also, it is possible to create a report and Print or Preview the report with the WinCheck Report Generator. The Statement The following topics will be discussed in this section: The Statement The Statement Appearance Reconciliation of Transactions Sort Options for the Statement Window Deletion of Transactions Modifications of Transactions Changing Transactions from one Date to Another Printing the Statement Window Data Adding Transactions to the Statement Scrolling Through the Statement Finding Transactions The Statement: The Check Statement can be used for many different operations: 1.Reconciliation of transactions. 2.Deletion of transactions. 3.Modification of transactions. 4.Changing transactions from one date to another. 5.Finding Transactions in the Statement Window of by using the Find function. The Statement Appearance: The major difference between the Register and the Statement is the range of items displayed. The Register displays the items as they would be in your physical check register. The Statement displays items as they would appear on a Bank statement. Transactions are seperated out according to type such as checks and deposits. Register Windows display transactions for a month. Statement windows display transactions for a month long cycle (i.e. Jan 15 through Feb 15). Choose Account Settings from the Acct menu to specify the start of the bank cycle in the Bank Statement Starts on day of month: field. The Statement is a window with a column headings and a list box or transactions seperated by type. The Headings are labels for the columns below. Choose Headings from the Tools menu to toggle the Headings on and off. The five Statement window headings are as follows: Date The date the transaction was made. To change the date, double click on the transaction, edit the Date field, and choose OK. # The check number when applicable (blank if transaction is not a check). Description If the transaction is a check, then the description column text will contain the check recipient (i.e. Fred's Bar and Grill). If the transaction is anything other than a check, then the description field will describe the type of transaction, i.e. Checking Deposit, Savings Withdrawal, or Checking ATM. Misc Checking and Savings transactions will display the transaction description text in this column. ChkAmt The values below this column detail the amount of the Checking transaction. SavAmt The values below this column detail the amount of the Savings transaction. The Statement list box is a Multiple Selection list box meaning that more than one item can be selected at a time. To select one item, click on it (or use the arrow keys to move to it). To select a block of items, press and hold the SHIFT key while using the Up and Down arrow keys, or click and drag the mouse. This could be helpful to clear a group of checks at one time when your bank statement arrives. To select non-contiguous transactions (transactions not listed one right after another), press and hold the CTRL key and click with the mouse on the transactions you would like to select. After selecting a group of checks, press the Up or Down once or click anywhere within the Statement window to remove the selection(s). You can select up to four transactions in the Statement and press the Enter key to bring up all four of the transaction dialogs at one time. You might do this to view or edit a group of transactions at one time. Also, you can use the Sum Highlighted Amts command when a group of transactions is selected. Choose Sum Highlighted Amts from the Data menu or press the + key on the numeric keypad. Finally, you might select a group of transactions and press the Del key on the keyboard (num lock off) or choose Delete from the Data menu. When doing this you will be prompted to delete the selected transactions (answer Yes or No). In Summary, select multiple transactions to do the following: 1. Clear and Unclear transactions by selecting Clear or Unclear from the Data menu or press CTRL+C to clear the selected transaction(s) and CTRL+U to unclear the selected transaction(s). 2. Bring up the original transaction dialogs for editing/viewing purposes (maximum of four). 3. Sum the selected transactions with the Sum Highlighted Amts command from the Data menu. 4. Delete selected transactions by pressing the Del key or by choosing Delete from the Data menu. Multiple Registers and Statements from different months and different accounts can be open at once. For example you could open the May 1991 Register window for your credit card account, the June 1991 Register window for your checking account, and the June 1991 Statement window for your checking account. If you were to view the Window menu by clicking on the word "Window" or by pressing ALT+W, you can see a listing of all of the open windows. For example: CCC: Register for May, 1991 JAE: Register for June, 1991 JAE: Statement for June, 1991 This might be helpful when you are balancing your checkbook and need to look at the transactions for the past two months. Or you may want to switch back and forth from Statement windows of your Personal and Business account. Refer to the section on Working With Multiple Accounts and Windows for additonal information. Note: It is not possible to have multiple Register or Statement windows open for the same month and account. For example, it is not possible to have the July Register for the JAE account open more than once. Your computer's memory and menu space are the only limitations to the number of different windows you can have open at one time. Reconciliation of Transactions: An asterisk beside the date and a check mark beside the dollar amount indicates that the transaction in the Statement window has cleared the bank. To reconcile (clear) a transaction, select the tranaction in the Statement window and choose Clear from the Data menu, or press CTRL+C, or click on the check mark icon on the Control Bar. To Unclear a transaction, select the transaction an choose Unclear from the Data menu, or press CTRL+U, or click on the check mark with a slash through in on the Control Bar. When reconciling your checkbook once your bank statement arrives, choose Display Uncleared Only from the Data Menu. When doing this, only those transactions that have yet to clear the bank will appear. As you clear transactions they will disappear from the Statement window because only uncleared transactions are listed. This can be helpful in determining when all the checks have cleared or or in finding those transactions that have not yet cleared the bank. To print a listing of the uncleared transactions for the month or group of month, use the Report Generator and select the Checking or Savings Statement Sorted by Number, Date - Uncleared. Look ahead in this section to Printing the Statement Window Data for more information. Sorting Options for the Statement Window When selecting Sort from the Data menu, the following sorting options are available for the Statement window: Checks by Date Sorts the check section of the active Statement window by date. Checks by Number Sorts the check section of the active Statement window by number. NOTE: Each window has it's own sort options. Changing the sorting option will change the sorting method for the active window only. The default sorting methods for the Statement and Register windows is indicated in the Account Settings dialog from the Acct menu. The sort option indicate in Account Settings will be the sort option used when initially opening a Statement or Register window. Deletion of Transactions: To delete a transaction, select it, and then choose Delete from the Data menu or press the Del key on the keyboard. The following warning message will appear: Are you sure you want to Delete the selected Transaction(s)? Choose Yes to delete and No to leave the transaction as is (no deletion). If you choose to delete a transaction, be certain you mean to do this as the data must be reentered if you change your mind. Modification of Transactions: To modify a transaction(s), select the transaction(s), and double click the mouse, or press the Enter key on the keyboard. The transaction(s) will appear on the screen in their respective dialogs so the information can be edited. You can have a maximum of 4 transaction dialogs open at any one time. Changing Transactions from one Date to Another: Bring up the transaction dialog by double clicking on it in the Statement window, and change the date. When bringing up a transaction to modify, the cursor is already placed in the date field. Press F5 to decrement the date by a day or F6 to increment the date by a day. You can press the F5 or F6 keys repeatedly or manually type in the new date. Click on the OK button or press Enter to record the change. If the Statement window is sorted with Checks by Date, then WinCheck will automatically move the transaction to a new location in the Statement window. If you change the month or year, the transaction will dissapear from the current Statement and appear in the destination Statement (if it is open). Printing the Statement Window Data To print the Statement, enter the Report Generator from the Acct menu. Select the month or months that you wish to print. Then, select a report. There are four Statement reports to choose from in the Choose a report type box: Checking: Statement Sorted by Number, Date Checking: Statement Sorted by Number, Date - Uncleared Savings: Statement Sorted by Number, Date Savings: Statement Sorted by Number, Date - Uncleared Click on the Preview button to view the report or click on the Print button to print the report. Adding Transactions to the Statement To add a transaction to the Statement you can: 1. Select a transaction button from the Control Bar. 2. Select a transaction from the Checking or Savings menu. 3. Use a Function key. F3 to write a check, F4 to make a Checking deposit and F7 to make a Cash Machine withdrawal from Checking. 4. Select a Common transaction from the Common menu. Note: Transactions that you make when the Statement window is visible will automatically appear in the appropriate Statement window. The Statement and Register windows display the same data just in different formats. Scrolling Through the Statement Window ACTION: KEYS: Move up or down one Up or Down arrows (Num Lock Off) transaction at a time Move up or down a screen of Page Up or Page Down (Num Lock Off) data at a time Move to the beginning of the Home Statement Move to the end of the End Statement Finding Transactions (F8) To find a transaction, choose the Find... option from the Acct menu or click on the magnifying glass button on the Control Bar. In the Find Transaction dialog you can fill in search keys in order to find transactions. You can make the key as detailed or vague as you wish. Generally, the more detailed the search keys are, the quicker the search process becomes. You can also specify the search range to be either the current month, all months with data for the active account, or a range of months such a 01/91 to 10/91. FIND Transaction Dialog Search Range Determines the dates/months to search. Possible selections: Search Current Month Only Search ALL months Search from: (fill in month/year i.e. 1/91 3/91). Trans: Allows you to search for a particular type of transaction such as Checking Deposit or Check. Leave the Trans field to All* to search through all transaction types. Category: Allows you to search for a transactions with a particular category such as Pets or Business. Leave the Category field at All* to search through all transactions regardless of category. Amount: Indicate the transaction amount that you are looking for, such as 34.00. This field can be helpful during reconciliation of your checkbook. Say your checkbook is off by $2.54, you can search for transactions with an amount of 2.54. If the Amount field is left blank, then the WinCheck will consider any amount (wildcard). Check #: If "Check" is selected as the transaction type above, then this field will appear in black (instead of greyed out). Indicate the number for a check if you know the number. If the Check field is left blank, then the search will consider any check number (wildcard). Keyword: The Keyword field is for Checks and Miscellaneous transactions only. For example, choose Check in the Trans field and type Texaco in the Keyword field to checks written to Texaco (checks with the word Texaco in the To: field of the check). Another example for Miscellaneous transactions might be a search for monthly bank fees. In the Find Transaction dialog choose Misc Checking and type Fee in the Keyword field. Click the Search button and all Misc Checking transactions with the word Fee in the Description field will be displayed. If the Keyword field is left blank, the search will consider all descriptions (wildcard). Search Starts the search process. The speed of the search is effected by the number of "wildcards" and the range of months selected. For example, a search for a specific check number will take less time then a search for any transaction with an amount of 45.00 dollars. Also a search in the current month only will take less time then a search from 01/91 to 10/91. Cancel Leaves the Find Transaction dialog without searching. Once you have entered a search criteria and pressed the Search button, WinCheck will display all of the transactions that meet the criteria in a list box. Double clicking on the transaction item or select the View button when a item is highlighted to display the original transaction dialog. The "original transaction dialog" is the dialog that was used to make the transaction. For example, if the item found is a check, double clicking on this item will bring up a Check transaction dialog with the information originally typed in for the transaction. Clicking on the View & Register button when a transaction is selected will display the original transaction dialog and open the appropriate Register or bring the Register to the front if already opened. If no transactions are found, the list box will be empty. Press Cancel to leave the Select Transaction dialog and return to the WinCheck screen. Sample Statement Search If you are reconciling your checkbook and need to find all of your $20.00 cash machine withdrawals, you would do the following: 1. With a the Statement window for the account open before you on the screen, choose Find from the Acct menu, press F8 or click with the mouse on the magnifying glass icon on the Control Bar. 2. Choose "Search Current Month Only" as the Search Range (the default). 3. Choose Checking ATM from the Trans field (click on the Down Arrow to beside the Trans field or press ALT+N and use the Up and Down arrow keys on the keyboard). 4. Press ALT+M to jump to the Amount field or click in the field with the mouse. Type 20.00 for the search amount. 5. Click on the Search button or press ALT+S. WinCheck will now search the active Statement window data for ATM Checking transactions (cash machine withdrawals) of $20.00. In the resulting dialog, WinCheck lists the Date, transaction type or description field text, and the transaction amount. The c just to the right of the value indicated the cleared status. This is helpful when reconciling the Checking ATM transactions for the month in that you can use the Find function to find all of the Checking ATM transactions. Select a Checking ATM transaction without a c beside the amount, and choose View. Now mark the box labeled "Cleared" if the cash machine withdrawal ha cleared the bank. Sample Statement Search If you are near the end of balancing your checkbook and your balance and the bank's balance are off by $34.52, you might do the following in order to find a transaction: 1. With a Register or Statement window for the account open before you on the screen, choose Find from the Acct menu, press F8 or click with the mouse on the magnifying glass icon on the Control Bar. 2. Choose Search Current Month Only or Search ALL Months as the Search Range. 3. Leave the Trans and Category fields as ALL*, so that all transaction and categories are considered in the search. 4. Press ALT+M to jump to the Amount field or click in the field with the mouse. Type 34.52 for the search amount. 5. Click on the Search button or press ALT+S for a list of all transactions for $34.52. All $34.52 transactions will be listed in the resulting dialog. Cleared transactions will appear with a small c to the right of the amount. 6. Any transactions without a c(cleared status) that appear on your physical bank statement as cleared, should be selected and Viewed (click on the View button or press ALT+V). 7. Now, mark the box labeled "Cleared" if the transaction has cleared the bank (appears on your physical bank statement). If more than 100 matches are found for a search criteria, the following message will appear: More than 100 items matched the search key. The total dollar amount is still correct, but only the first 100 are displayed. Anytime your search key finds more than 100 items, you might want to consider including additional search keys (for example, a specific amount or transaction type). Also, it is possible to create a report and Print or Preview the report with the WinCheck Report Generator. Categories and Subcategories The following topics will be discussed in this section: What are Categories and Subcategories? Adding/Creating Categories and Subcategories Viewing Existing Categories/Subcategories Deleting a Category or Subcategory Modifying a Category or Subcategory Moving a Category to a Subcategory Printing a List of Existing Categories/Subcategories If You Use Subcategories What are Categories and Subcategories? Categories and Subcategories are a means to classify your financial transactions into groups such as Personal and Business. This is helpful in creating a budget with the WinCheck Budget Manager or when printing reports with the Report Generator (refer to page X of Getting Started for a custom category report). You can set up your categories in the Edit Categories dialog or add the categories as needed when making transactions. In addition to categories such as Entertainment and Utilities, you can set up subcategories for the categories. For example, you might want to use the default Personal category with subcategories. In other words, instead of having a category called Personal and one called Food, or you could indicate that Food is a subcategory of Personal. To indicate a subcategory, type the name of the category followed by a colon (:) and then the name of the subcategory: Personal:Food There is not a practical limit to the number of categories or subcategories. Below are two possible scenarios for setting up categories: Personal:Food Personal Personal:Utilities Food Personal:Rent Utilities Personal:Phone Rent Phone The advantage to setting up subcategories for a major category such as Personal is that you can generate a report for all of your Personal expenses and then separate reports for Personal:Food and Personal:Utilities. This way you could determine how much you were spending on Personal expenses and then how much was spent on Personal:Utilities, Personal:Food, Personal:Pets.... If Personal and Utilities were separate categories then you could generate a report for Personal and Utilities. In this case, the expenses made towards Utilities would not be included in the total Personal amount. For example, let's say you spent $200.00 on Utilities for 1991 and $1000.00 on Personal expenses. If Personal and Utilities are separate categories, then the $1000.00 value does not reflect the $200.00 spent on Utilities. Example Categories: Rent or Entertainme Pets Mortgage nt Utilities Software Sports Business Clothing Necessities of Life Hobbies Travel Books Music Fun Medical Insurance Personal Lunch Money Maintenance Example Categories/Subcategories: Mortgage Pets Franklin Cats Home Fish Other Home Snails Rental House Insurance Entertainment Life Movies Car Plays Medical Pool If you are using WinCheck to track business expenses, then the subcategories are especially helpful. At the end of a given year you can print a report listing the total dollar amount of Business expenses and then separate reports for each subcategory. The subcategory reports would lists the individual transactions and a total for the subcategory (monthly and or yearly total). Business:Advertising Business:Demo Disks Business:Postage Business:Payroll The following is an Account Register Report Sorted by Category (for March 1991): Account Register Sorted by Category Date # Description Amount Sub-Category 04/02/91 3484 Postmaster 12.05s Postage 04/24/91 3544 Postmaster 5.08 s Postage 04/27/91 3547 PostMaster 38.86s Postage $55.99 The above report lists all of the Business:Postage expenses for the month of March 1991. If you do not want to print a report, but want to view all transactions for a particular category, you can: 1. Create a custom report and choose to Preview the report. 2. Use the Find feature of WinCheck (with 100 or fewer transactions). For this example, we want a listing of all Personal:Gifts transactions so that we can make sure that we remembered all the gifts we needed to purchase for the month. Method 1: 1. Choose Report Generator from the Acct menu. 2. Select the current month from the list boxes labeled Starting Month and Ending Month. Choosing the same month for the starting and ending month will allow you to print/preview data from one month only. 3. Select the Checking: Account Register Sorted by Category from the box labeled Choose a report type. 4. Click on the Edit button, or press ALT+E. 5. Check the box labeled Show Only One Category. Then choose Personal:Gifts from the drop down listbox to the right. If you do not have this category in your account, select a category you wish to view. 6. Click on the Preview button or press ALT+P. Method 2: 1. Choose Find from the Acct menu, or press F8, or click with the mouse on the magnifying glass icon on the Control Bar. 2. In the Find Transaction dialog, leave the default Search Range at Search Current Month Only. Select Check from the drop down listbox beside the Trans field. Select Personal:Gifts from the drop down listbox beside the Category field. The above selections will result in a search through the current month (the month of active Register or Statement window) for check transactions that have a category of Personal:Gifts. 3. Choose OK to start the search. At the bottom of the dialog is the Total Dollar Amount for the transactions listed in the box. This is a quick means for seeing how much was spent on this category for the month. To print a listing of the transactions and the total dollar amount, use the WinCheck Report Generator and the report entitled Account Register Sorted by Category. 4. The search results will appear in a dialog box with the option to View the selected transaction. Selecting an item in the box and clicking on View button (ALT+V) will bring up the original check dialog (similar to double clicking on the item from the Register or Statement windows). Adding/Creating Categories and Subcategories There are two ways to create/add new categories: 1. Type the unique (new) category name into the drop down list box or category names. Personal is the default category for new transactions, but you can select a category from the drop down listbox or type in a new category name. 2. Choose Edit Categories from the Acct menu. In the Edit Categories dialog you can add new categories as well as delete and modify (rename) categories/subcategories (see below). Viewing Existing Categories/Subcategories To view the existing categories or subcategories choose Edit Categories from the Acct menu. The top edit box in the Edit Categories dialog lists all of your current categories in the order that they were entered (i.e. Personal, Business, Cats...). Click with your mouse on the down arrow to view a listing of all the current categories (the keyboard equivalent is to press ALT+<Down Arrow> to drop the listbox down or CTRL+Down Arrow to cycle through the categories one at a time). It is also possible to view the existing categories by bringing up a new or existing transaction. The transaction dialog will have a listing of the available categories and subcategories in a drop down listbox (click on the down arrow). Categories are limited to 32 characters and can contain spaces (such as Band Income). Each category can have any number of subcategories. It is not possible to have a subcategory of a subcategory. For example, Pets:Cats:Food is not valid. WinCheck will change this to Pets:Cats-Food. The colon character is used to indicate a subcategory and thus cannot to used within a category name. For example, entering Pets:Cats:Dogs will result in an error message and Cats-Dogs will be recorded as a subcategory to Pets. Adding a Category or Subcategory To add a category to the current account using the Edit Categories dialog, do the following: 1. Choose Edit Categories from the Acct menu. 2. Press the Tab key once to advance to the New Description box, or click in the box with the mouse. 3. Type a Category name such as Mortgage or Business:Postage. 4. Click with the mouse on the Add button or press ALT+A. Deleting a Category or Subcategory To delete a category from the list of categories in the top listbox, do the following: 1. Choose Edit Categories from the Acct menu. 2. Choose the category that you would like to delete from the drop down listbox (click on the down arrow or press <ALT>+<Down Arrow>). Pressing <CTRL>+<Down Arrow> on the keyboard will cycle through the items in the listbox one at a time. 3. Once the category is displayed in the listbox and edit box below, click with the mouse on the Delete button or press <ALT>+<D> on the keyboard. When deleting a category, you will see the message warning: Warning: Deleting a category can leave transactions with unresolved categories. Continue? This message is meant to make sure that you intend to delete the category. Deleting a category is a permanent decision. Transactions that were defined as the deleted category will revert to the default category Personal. In other words, if you have a check with a category of Pets and you delete the Pets category, then the check's category will become Personal. It is not possible to delete or modify the category Personal. You can, however, add subcategories to the Personal category. The following error will result when trying to delete or modify the Personal category: Cannot Edit or Delete Category 'Personal'. The Personal category is the default category for WinCheck and it is not editable. Modifying a Category or Subcategory If you later decided that Mortgage should really be Mortgages, you can modify the category with the following steps: 1. Choose Edit Categories from the Acct menu. 2. Choose the category that you would like to modify from the drop down listbox (click on the down arrow or press <ALT>+<Down Arrow>). Pressing <CTRL>+<Down Arrow> on the keyboard will cycle through the items in the listbox one at a time. 3. Press the Tab key once to advance to the New Description field. 4. Type a new name for the category list above the New Description text. 5. Click with the mouse on the Modify button or press <ALT>+<M> on the keyboard. Modifying a category will change that category description throughout your entire register. For example, changing Business to Pleasure will affect every Business transaction in your account. Moving a Category to a Subcategory 1. Choose Edit Categories from the Acct menu. 2. Choose the category that you would like to move from the drop down listbox (click on the down arrow or press <ALT>+<Down Arrow>). Pressing <CTRL>+<Down Arrow> on the keyboard will cycle through the items in the listbox one at a time. 3. Press the Tab key once to advance to the New Description field. 4. Move the cursor to the beginning of the field by clicking with the mouse at the beginning or using the Left Arrow key. 5. Once at the beginning if the field, type a category name (either existing or new). For example, if you wanted to move the category Cat Toys to be a subcategory of Pets, you would change the field from Cat Toys to Pets:Cat Toys. 6. Click with the mouse on the Modify button or press <ALT>+<M> on the keyboard. You will then be prompted with a variation of the following message: Move category 'Utilities' to subcategory 'Personal:Utilities'? Choose Yes if you mean to move the category to a subcategory status. Another possible message: This category already has subcategories. It is not possible to move this category to a subcategory. This message will result if you try to move a category that has subcategories to a subcategories status. For example, if you have a category named Food:Grocery and you try to move this to the Personal category, the above error will result. This occurs, because it is not possible to have a category named Personal:Food:Grocery. It is not possible to move a Subcategory to a Category status by using the Modify command. If you wanted to change Personal:Food to just Food, you would need to delete Personal:Food and add the category Food. When deleting a category, all transactions that were using the category will revert to WinCheck's default category, Personal. Note: The OK button in the Edit Categories dialog is used to exit the dialog. If you want to Add, Modify or Delete a category, choose the corresponding button. Pressing OK only exits the dialog. Printing a List of Existing Categories/Subcategories From the WinCheck Report Generator, choose the Categories and Budget Information report. WinCheck will print a list of the Categories and subcategories, along with budgeting information for each category when applicable. Please refer to page xx for information on Budgeting. If You Use Subcategories If you use subcategories, WinCheck will automatically create a subcategory called Miscellaneous for each category. For example, consider the following list of subcategories: Pets Cats Fish Snails If you enter a check like: WinCheck will categorize this as Pets:Miscellaneous. For this reason, you should not create a specific subcategory called Miscellaneous. Doing so will produce two Miscellaneous subcategories in your reports. Budgeting The following topics will be discussed in this section: WinCheck Budget Manager Setting a Budget Amount Using the Report Generator to Print a Budget Report WinCheck Budget Manager The WinCheck Budget Manager dialog appears when you select Budgeting... from the Acct menu. In this dialog you can set a budget value for each of your categories. For example, you can set an estimated budget value of $200.00 for Personal:Food per month. After setting a budget value for each of your expense categories such as Food or Utilities, you can use the Report Generator to print a report of your budgeted values compared to the actual values spent. The large listbox in the Budget Manager dialog lists all of the categories for the active account. Subcategories are listed below the category name. For example, Personal, Utilities and Mortgage are all categories, while Food and Charity are subcategories of the Personal category. Setting a Budget Amount 1. Select a category or subcategory from the box on the left. 2. Press the Tab key once to jump to the Budget field or click with the mouse in the field labeled Budget. 3. Type the budget amount. such as 200.00. A currency symbol such as a dollar symbol ($) is not needed. 4. To set the value, click on the Set Budget to this Amt button or press ALT+S. 5. Once the budget values are set, click on the Exit button to leave the dialog or press ALT+E on the keyboard. If there are Personal transactions that you make that do not have a subcategory indicated, then these values will be recorded as Personal:Miscellaneous transactions. This being the case, Miscellaneous will appear as a subcategory in the Budget Manager dialog, like: Personal Groceries 1000.00 Espresso/Lunch Money 2343.00 Entertainment 250.00 Miscellaneous 100.00 TOTAL: 3693.00 Categories with subcategories can have budget values for each subcategory only. In the example above, the Miscellaneous subcategory is used to set a budget value for transactions with a Personal category (no subcategory was used). NOTE: It is not necessary to set a budget amount for categories that are not expenses, such as a Paycheck category. If the income categories are not given budget values, they will be omitted from the budget report. All categories with a budget value of 0.00 are excluded from the budget report (explained in the next section). Using the Report Generator to Print a Budget Report Before reading this section on the WinCheck Report Generator, walk through the step by step guide on using the report generator, starting in the Getting Started section. Once you have set budget values for all of your expenditure categories like Food and Utilities, choose Report Generator from the Acct menu. In the WinCheck Report Generator dialog, choose a starting and ending month. If you wanted to print a report for one month, the starting and ending months would be the same (for example: Starting Month May 1991 and Ending Month May 1991). To generate a report for all of your data, choose the earliest month in the "Starting Month" box and the latest month in the "Ending Month". Choose the Checking: Budget Report from the dialog of available reports . Click on the Preview button or press ALT + V to view the report data. The data will preview on the screen as it will be printed, along with a dialog box in the lower right. NOTE: If you click on the title bar of the dialog in the lower right (the text that reads "WinCheck Print Preview"), you can move the box in the lower right around the screen. Click with the mouse and drag the mouse to move the box. This may be necessary to see the data in the lower right section of the screen. The Budget Report below lists the money spent in the column labeled Flow and the amount budgeted in the Column labeled Budgeted. The final column details the difference between the budgeted amount and the amount spent. If the amount in the Difference column is a positive number, then the amount spent is below the amount budgeted. If the amount is a negative number, then the amount spent is over the budgeted value. For example: In the report below the Personal expenses are $170.25 under the budgeted value and the Food expenses are $292.23 over the budgeted value. Page 1 June 2, 1991 Checking Cash Flow Report for January, 1991 to February 1991 INFLOWS Flow Budgeted Difference Personal -729.75 900.00 170.25 Food -692.23 400.00 -292.23 Newspaper -9.50 10.00 0.50 Utilities -449.50 500.00 50.00 Mortgage -2,245.85 2,3000.00 54.15 Garden -145.56 250.00 104.44 Services Totals: -$4,272.39 $4,360.00 $87.61 Splitting Transactions The following topics will be discussed in this section: What is Splitting a Transaction? The Split Dialog Examples of Splitting a Transaction Translations From Other Software Packages What is Splitting a Transaction? Splitting a transaction allows you to classify where certain amounts of a transaction are spent/received. Here are some examples of when you would want to split a transaction: 1. You make a deposit of many checks. Some of these checks are Personal, and some are Business. You can specify the source of the income for this deposit by splitting it across personal and business categories. 2. You want to itemize the deductions on your paycheck. You could enter a separate transaction for each deduction, or you could enter one transaction consisting of all of the deductions, and then itemize them by splitting the dollar amounts across categories. 3. You write a check that covers multiple categories. For example, you might go to a large store and make a few personal purchases, a gift purchase, and a business transaction. You can split the amount across all of the categories. Note: In some other software packages, splits are entered as positive and negative numbers. There are cases where you would enter positive amounts and negative amounts in the same transaction, with the transaction amount equaling 0.00. Please refer to the Translations From Other Software Packages section. You may want to walk through the Getting Started section which includes an example of splitting a transaction. The Split Dialog To split a transaction, make sure the category is indicating Split.... Verify that the dollar amount of the transaction is correct. Once all of the information for the transaction is correct, enter the transaction by pressing OK, Another, or Print (checks only). The Split Dialog will appear on the screen. When in the split dialog, the following fields will be displayed: Amount This is the amount you wish to assign to a category. Amount This is the amount you have already assigned to a Accounted category For Amount This is the amount you still need to assign to a remaining category Note: The OK button will not function until you have accounted for all of the transaction. When splitting a transaction, you will do the following steps: 1. Indicate a dollar amount for a category. 2. Indicate the category/subcategory. 3. Press the Add button to add this category to the Summary of Splits. 4. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until all money has been accounted for. It is possible to modify one of the entries in the Summary by following these steps: 1. Select the entry to modify in the Summary List. 2. Type the new amount or change the category/subcategory. 3. Press the Modify button to make the change. It is possible to delete one of the entries in the Summary by following these steps: 1. Select the entry to delete in the Summary List 2. Press the Delete button. Examples of Splitting a Transaction You have written a check to your stockbroker for $1000.00. Of the thousand dollars $500 is for a stock purchase, $250.00 is to deposited into your money market, and $250.00 is for a margin call. 1. Write a check for $1000.00 and choose Split... from the drop down list box in the upper left of the check. The Split... category is a WinCheck category that when used will allow you to split a transaction among several categories. 2. Once the check is completed and Split... is selected as the category, choose OK or press Enter to bring up the Split Transaction dialog. 3. The initial value in the Amount field will be the amount of the transaction ($1000.00 in this case). Remove 1000.00 and type 500.00 into the Amount field. 4. Press the Tab key to jump to the category list box and select Stock from the drop down list box of categories. If Stock is not listed as a category, type the word Stock into the field. This will add Stock as a category. It is also possible to Edit, Delete, and Add new categories and subcategories by choosing Edit Categories from the Acct menu. Refer to page Error! Bookmark not defined. categories. 5. Click on the Add button or press ALT + A. Notice how the Amount Accounted for and Account Remaining fields have changed. 6. Now type 250.00 into the Amount field, select Money Market for the category (or type it if necessary), and press Add. 7. Finally, set the remaining $250.00 in the Amount field to a category called Margin. 8. Press OK to accept the split information. Your paycheck is for $1000, and you had $147.23 deducted for Fed, $78.23 for State, and $74.34 for FICA taxes withheld. Your net pay was $700.20, the deductions were $299.80. 1. Add a Checking Deposit for $700.20, and select a category such as Payroll:Net. Press OK to enter this deposit. 2. Add a Checking Misc transaction. For the description, type Payroll Deductions: Accounting Amount. Type 299.80 for the amount. Check the Credit checkbox. Choose a category such as Payroll:Gross minus Net. Check the Cleared checkbox. Press OK to accept the transaction. 3. Add a Checking Misc transaction. For the description, type Payroll Deductions. Bring up the Calculator by pressing F9. Add 147.23+78.23+74.34 to get 299.80. From the Edit menu of Calculator, select Copy. Close Calculator (or press the down arrow button at the upper right). Position the blinking caret on the Amount field. Press <Shift>+<Ins> to paste the amount into the field. Select Split... as the category. 4. Once the transaction is completed and Split... is selected as the category, choose OK or press Enter to bring up the Split Transaction dialog. 5. The initial value in the Amount field will be the amount of the transaction ($299.80 in this case). Remove 299.80 and type 147.23 into the Amount field. 6. Press the Tab key to jump to the category list box and select your federal category (such as Taxes:FED) from the drop down list box of categories. If Taxes:FED is not listed as a category, type the word Taxes:FED into the field. This will add Taxes:FED as a category. It is also possible to Edit, Delete, and Add new categories and subcategories by choosing Edit Categories from the Acct menu. Refer to page Error! Bookmark not defined. 7. Click on the Add button or press ALT + A. 8. Now type 78.23 into the Amount field, select Taxes:State for the category (or type it if necessary), and press Add. 9. Finally, set the remaining $74.34 in the Amount field to a category called Taxes:FICA. 10. Press OK to accept the split information. Translations From Other Software Packages In some other software packages, it is possible to enter a transaction for the amount 0.00, and then split the transaction as follows: 100.00 Consulting -100.00 Cash This example indicates how you cashed a consulting check. WinCheck takes a different approach to this scenario. The above example would actually be two different transactions in WinCheck: a Deposit and a Withdrawal. Here is how you would do this type of transaction in WinCheck: 1. Make a deposit for 100.00. Set the category to Consulting. 2. Make a Checking Misc for 100.00. Set the category to Cash. Common Transactions The following topics will be discussed in this section: What are Common Transactions? Adding a Common Transaction (Memorizing) Using a Common Transaction (Recalling) Editing a Common Transaction Deleting a Common Transaction Common Transaction Properties Automatic Automatic & Print Delete Menu Menu Pay Menu Pay & Print Remind Adding or Changing Common Transaction Properties Examples of using Common Transactions Common Transactions: What are Common Transactions? Common Transactions are those transactions that you make on a regular basis. For example Common Transactions could be the monthly car payment, the monthly mortgage payment, or the bi- monthly paycheck deposit. Transactions that you make on a regular basis can be automated by making them "Common Transactions" and adding them to a menu labeled Common. The following is an example of transactions added to the Common menu: JAE: 05/01 First of the month paycheck: $1000.00 JAE: 05/01 Paycheck Deductions $299.80 JAE: 05/15 Seattle City Light: Varies JAE: 05/16 Ford Motor Company: $346.90 JAE: 05/18 Piano Rentals 'R' Us: $36.00 JAE: 05/24 Shorewood Apartments $580.00 The check to Seattle City Light is for a different amount each time you write the check. WinCheck will prompt you for the amount when you select this transaction. If multiple accounts are loaded into WinCheck, or if there are more common transactions than can fit on the Common menu, WinCheck will group the common transactions and place them on pop-out menus: Hint: If you have a number of Common transactions under the Common menu, consider removing transactions that are automatically made from the menu. This can be done by removing all of the Menu properties from the transaction. Please see page xx for more information on Common transaction properties. Adding a Common Transaction (Memorizing) To add/create a Common Transaction, choose Add from the Common menu. A list of transaction types will pop out to the side of the main Common menu. Possible transaction types: Check Checking Deposit/Payment Checking Misc Checking Interest accrued/charged Savings Withdrawal Savings Deposit/Payment Savings Misc Savings Interest accrued/charged Note: The Savings options will be greyed if the active account is a credit card account as indicated in the Account Info dialog from the Acct menu. The Savings options will also be greyed if Savings Account is not selected in the Account Settings dialog (from the Acct menu). After selecting the type of transaction, fill in as many or as few fields as you wish. Leave the Amount or the $ field blank if the transaction has a variable amount (i.e. the electricity bill varies from month to month). Do fill in the date of the transaction. The year and month are not important as these will automatically reflect the current month and year when you actually recall the transaction. When adding Common Transactions, just use the current month and year and change the day if necessary. The date of the transaction is used to determine the placement on the Common menu and the day for automatic transactions. The list of common transactions are sorted by date under the Common menu. If you have a group of transactions that you wish to be adjacent to each other under the Common menu, give them all the same Day. When you actually recall one of these common transactions, the current date will be filled in the date field. For example if you chose JAE: 05/16 Ford Motor Company: $346.90 on May 21st, the transaction date will appear as 05/21/91. This date can however be edited prior to pressing Enter or click on the OK button to record the transaction. Also, be sure to add details to the transaction if you want them to be included every time you make this transaction. For example, if you are using WinCheck to print checks, you might want to put the address of the recipient in the Transaction Details dialog or your account number for the Memo line (both the Memo line and Address can be printed on the check). Now, the next time you need to make the transaction, choose it from the Common menu instead of typing in the information again. Using a Common Transaction (Recalling) Recalling a transaction will actually record a copy of the Common transaction in your Register and affect your balance. This is usually done on the dreaded "Day of Bills" or on the cherished "Payday". Example listing of items added to the Common menu: JAE: 05/15 Seattle City Light Varies JAE: 05/16 Ford Motor Company $346.90 JAE: 05/18 Piano Rentals 'R' Us $36.00 Two of the common transactions listed above have a set amount that is paid each month. However, the payment to Seattle City Light varies depending upon how much electricity is used during the month. This being the case, the Amount field was left blank when creating the Common transaction. When "Seattle City Light" is selected from the Common menu, the check dialog will appear with: The current date The next blank check number The category type The Description or "To:" field text 0.00 for the amount. To make the transaction, fill in the correct value in the amount field, and press the OK or Print button to complete the transaction. When defining a dollar amount in the Common transactions, you will still be able to change the dollar amount "on the fly" when actually recalling these transactions. For example, your may wish to make a double payment to Ford Motor Company. If the transaction does not have the Menu Pay or Menu Pay and Print option enabled (see page xx for Common Transaction Properties), you will still have an opportunity to change the amount (or any of the information on the check) before completing the transaction. When the list of common transactions is visible in the common menu, and you have one of your common transactions selected, the next check number will be displayed in the status line. This is helpful for the Menu Pay and Menu Pay and Print properties. Editing a Common Transaction 1. Choose Edit/Delete... from the Common menu. 2. Select the transaction to edit from the list of Common Transactions. Do this by pressing the down arrow or by clicking with the mouse on the transaction name. 3. Click on the Edit button or press ALT+E to bring up the transaction dialog for editing purposes. Double clicking with the mouse on a Common Transaction entry will also bring up the transaction for editing purposes. 4. Edit the items in the transaction dialog. For example, change the Transaction Details by clicking on the Details button and edit or add detail information. Once edited press OK to record the changes. 5. Press OK to exit the Common Transactions dialog. Deleting a Common Transaction 1. Choose Edit/Delete... from the Common menu. 2. Select the transaction to delete from the list of Common Transactions. Do this by pressing the Down Arrow on the keyboard or by clicking with the mouse on the transaction name. 3. Once selected, click on the Delete button or press ALT+D to delete the common transaction. A message box will then appear asking: Delete Common Transaction JAE: 05/16 Ford Motor Company $346.90 ?" 4. Choose Yes to delete the transaction and No to return to the Common Transaction dialog without deleting a common transaction. 5. Press OK to exit the Common Transactions dialog. Common Transaction Properties Once you have added Common Transactions to the menu, you can change the properties or attributes for the transaction. For example, if you choose Properties from the Common menu, you will notice that your Common transactions have a M to the left of them. For example: M :05/03 Cellular One 50.00 M :05/10 Pets Are People Too 24.00 M :05/23 Gifts for the PlentyVaries This "M" option for the common transactions is the default for WinCheck and simply means that the transaction will appear on the Common menu. When you select an item with a "M" beside it, there will be an X in the "M: Menu" check box below. The Menu option is the WinCheck default, but can be removed from a transaction by selecting the transaction and clicking in the Menu check box to remove the X (or press ALT+M from the keyboard). Other properties for common transactions include: A: Automatic. Transaction occurs on indicated date. AP: Automatic & Print. Check written on date and printed. D: Delete this from the common list once paid. M: Menu. This transaction is on the Common menu (default). MP: Menu Pay. When selected pays w/o interaction. MPP: Menu Pay & Print. When selected, pays and writes check. R: Remind. Reminds you to make this transaction. The above options are broken into groups indicated by the lines across the screen. For each group you can have one option selected. For example, you can select Automatic , Automatic & Print, but not both . It is ok to have neither option set in a group, as long as at least one option is checked. You can, combine options from the different grouped properties. For example, you can set a transaction for both Menu Pay and Automatic (by indicating both), or Remind and Automatic. With Menu Pay and Automatic indicated, you could make the transaction by selecting it from the menu, or by letting WinCheck make it for you (see Automatic below). With Remind and Delete selected, you can be reminded to make the transaction that will be deleted from the menu once completed. A:Automatic Use this option when you would like transactions to occur automatically on a set date. An example for this might be a direct deposit. When you load an account that has an Automatic transaction, you will be prompted with the following prompt: About to make these Automatic Transactions. There are three options for the above prompt: Skip Skips making this transaction until next month. Continue Makes/completes the transaction. Postpone Postpones the transaction until the next time you load the account. AP: Automatic & Print This transaction property is identical to the Automatic transaction with one exception. When you load an account that has an Automatic & Print transaction, you will be prompted to make the transaction. If you choose to make the transaction, the check will be printed. If the item is not a check and this property is applied, the transaction will be made but nothing will be printed. D: Delete This transaction property is designed for one time transactions. Transactions that need to be made once (possibly with a reminder) and then removed from the menu. An example for this property type might be the check you write to the IRS. The IRS check should have the Delete and Remind properties (D,R). M: Menu This transaction property is automatically added to each new common transaction that is added by choosing Add from the Common menu. When this option is selected, the common transaction will appear on the menu. There is no practical limit to the number of common transactions. This property must be used for transactions with a variable amount. This transaction must have a dollar amount to use these properties. This message will appear if the transaction amount is variable and a property other than (or in addition to) Menu is indicated for a property. For example, if you have the following common transaction: JAE: 05/15 Seattle City Light Varies you will not be able to apply the Menu Pay or Automatic properties as these properties require a fixed dollar amount. MP: Menu Pay The Menu Pay transaction property is for complete transactions (including the amount) that can be made when the item is selected from the Common menu. For example, you may be taking piano lessons. Every time you have a lesson, you pay your teacher $30.00. However, because of your time consuming project of writing Windows programs, your lessons are sporadic. Every time you take a lesson, you could choose the check to your piano teacher from the Common menu. MPP: Menu Pay & Print The Menu Pay & Print transaction property is exactly like the Menu Pay property, except that it will also print the check. If this transaction is not a check, then the transaction will still be made, but nothing will be printed. R.: Remind The Remind transaction property is for common transactions that you would like WinCheck to remind you on. When you load an account that has a Remind transaction, you will be prompted with: The following transactions need to be made. There are five options for the above prompt: Pay Selected Pays any of the selected transactions. Pay All Pays all of the listed transactions. Pay and Pays and Prints the selected Print transactions (checks will be Selected printed). Pay and Pays and Prints checks for Print All all of the listed transactions (transactions that are not checks will not be printed). Cancel Loads the account without making any of the reminder transactions. In addition to the remind option you can indicate the number of days in advance that you would like to be reminded. Choose Account Settings from the Acct menu to indicate the advance notice. Remind/Auto Payment 0 advance notice For example, if you have several Common transactions set up with the Remind option (in the Common Transaction Properties dialog), then the value in the Remind/Auto Payment advance notice field can be used to set the number of days notice you would like before being reminded to make the transaction. The default value for this field is 0, meaning that you would be reminded on the date of the transaction (no advance notice). Changing the value to three will mean that three days prior to the date of the transaction, you will be reminded to make the transaction upon loading the account. For example, consider the following common transaction (Viewed from the Properties Dialog): M,R :05/04 Shorewood Apartments 650.00 M This item appears on the Common menu. R This item is as a reminder item (WinCheck will remind you to make this transaction). If you run WinCheck on the first, second, third, or fourth of the month, you will be reminded if the "Remind/Auto Payment advance notice" field is set to 3. If you did not run WinCheck anytime between the first and the fourth of the month, you will be reminded the next time you run WinCheck. Adding or Changing Common Transaction Properties 1. Choose Properties from the Common menu. 2. In the listbox at the top of the resulting dialog, choose the transaction to add or change properties. Do this by using the Up or Down Arrows on the keyboard or by clicking with the mouse on the transaction name. 3. Select or deselect a property by clicking in the check box with the mouse. The keyboard equivalent would be to use the ALT key with the underlined character. For example, ALT+A toggles the X in and out of the Automatic properties check box. 4. Click with the mouse on the Apply button or press ALT+Y to apply the property addition or change. 5. Repeat steps 2-4 for each common transaction you wish to modify. 6. Press OK to exit the Common Transactions Properties dialog. Examples of Using Common Transactions Bills paid by check For each bill, add a common transaction of type Check. Fill in the fields and the details. Be sure to specify the category if it is not Personal. If the bill is the same amount every time, you may consider changing the properties to Menu Pay or Menu Pay & Print for speedier bill processing (the faster the better when it comes to bills). Payday! Your paycheck is for $1000, and you had $147.23 deducted for Fed, $78.23 for State, and $74.34 for FICA taxes withheld. Your net pay was $700.20, the deductions were $299.80. You want your Cash Flow Report to look like this: Checking Cash Flow Report for June, 1991 to June, 1991 INFLOWS Payroll Net 700.20 Gross minus Net 299.80 =============== $1,000.00 ------------------------------------------------------- Total $1,000.00 OUTFLOWS Taxes FED 147.23 State 78.23 FICA 74.34 =============== $299.80 ------------------------------------------------------- Total $299.80 ======================================================= Difference $700.20 This method involves three separate transactions. The first transaction is the actual amount deposited into your account. This will show up on your bank statement, and you can find it on your WinCheck Register or Statement for easy reconciliation. The second and third transactions are "invisible" to your bank: your bank will not place these on your register, since they never got to see the money that Uncle Sam held back. For this reason, we cleared these transactions. This way, you will not have to worry about clearing them during reconciliation. The second transaction is the amount of money that you earned before Uncle Sam. The third transaction gives it back to Uncle Sam. Although this may seem like a lot of work, there are many advantages to this method: 1. Since these transactions are memorized, you only have to go through this ordeal once. WinCheck will do all of the work for you when you select the Common Transactions from the menu. 2. Reconciliation will be consistent, because the only uncleared transaction is the one that you need to worry about during reconciliation. 3. Reports will be accurate. Since the first and second transactions are crediting your account, you will be able to determine how much money you earned. A Cash Flow report will show you how much money you actually got (Payroll:Net), how much money you gave to Uncle Sam (Payroll:Gross minus Net), and total up both the amounts so you can see how much your Gross income was. Also, your deductions will be itemized accordingly. Here are the steps to record payday in this fashion: 1. Add a common transaction as a Checking Deposit for $700.20, and select a category such as Payroll:Net. Press OK to enter this common transaction. 2. Add a common Checking Misc transaction. For the description, type Payroll Deductions: Accounting Amount. Type 299.80 for the amount. Check the Credit checkbox. Choose a category such as Payroll:Gross minus Net. Check the Cleared checkbox. Press OK to accept the transaction. 3. Add another common Checking Misc transaction. For the description, type Payroll Deductions. Type 299.80 into the amount field. Select Split... as the category. Be sure the Credit checkbox is not checked. Check the Cleared checkbox. 4. Once the transaction is completed and Split... is selected as the category, choose OK or press Enter to bring up the Split Transaction dialog. 5. The initial value in the Amount field will be the amount of the transaction ($299.80 in this case). Remove 299.80 and type 147.23 into the Amount field. 6. Press the Tab key to jump to the category list box and select your federal category (such as Taxes:FED) from the drop down list box of categories. If Taxes:FED is not listed as a category, type the word Taxes:FED into the field. This will add Taxes:FED as a category. It is also possible to Edit, Delete, and Add new categories and subcategories by choosing Edit Categories from the Acct menu. Refer to page Error! Bookmark not defined. 7. Press the Add button or press ALT + A. 8. Now type 78.23 into the Amount field, select Taxes:State for the category (or type it if necessary), and press Add. 9. Finally, set the remaining $74.34 in the Amount field to a category called Taxes:FICA. 10. Press the OK button to accept the split information. Direct Deposits Direct deposits are just like your normal paycheck, except that they happen automatically. There are two types of ways your pay period is determined: Weekly or Bi-Monthly. Weekly paychecks usually happen every other week. Therefore, the date of the payday is not consistent month to month. Bi-Monthly paychecks are usually deposited on the 15th and last day of the month. Here are the steps for each type of paycheck. Weekly 1-10. Please follow Steps 1-10 from above. Add the three items only once. Pick an arbitrary date, such as the 1st of the month. 11. Select Properties from the Common Menu. You should see the payroll deposit and the payroll deductions. 12. Select the payroll deposit. Check the Menu Pay checkbox by clicking on it. Press the Apply button. 13. Do the same for both of the payroll deductions. 14. When you get paid, select the three items from the Common menu, one at a time. The current data will automatically be used instead of the first of the month. Bi-Monthly 1-10. Please follow Steps 1-10 from above twice. For the first set, use the 15th of the month (or the day you get paid) as the date of the transactions. For the second set, use the 28th of the month. Even though some months have 31 days in them, one particularly month has 28. By tagging your second payday to happen on the 28th, you will be sure of the transaction. If you desire, you can Edit the common transaction each month to reflect the new date. 11. Select Properties from the Common Menu. You should see the payroll deposit and the payroll deductions. 12. Select the payroll deposit. Check the Automatic checkbox by clicking on it. Uncheck the Menu checkbox. Press the Apply button. 13. Do the same for the payroll deductions. 14. WinCheck will automatically make these payments for you. Automatic Payments Some bills are automatically paid by the bank. These could include automatic mortgage payments, or other loan payments. 1. Add a common Checking Misc transaction. For the description, type something like Automatic Mortgage. Type the amount of the mortgage. Fill in the other fields as necessary. Press OK to accept the transaction. 2. Select Properties from the Common Menu. You should see the automatic payment. 3. Select the automatic payment. Check the Automatic checkbox by clicking on it. Uncheck the Menu checkbox. Press the Apply button. Printing Checks The following Topics will be discussed in this section: Overview The Form Designer Menu Steps for printing Your First Check Fine Tuning the Check Form Template Form Attributes Inserting the Check Field Attributes Editing, Deleting, and Moving Template Fields Printing Checks Check Printing Queue Printing Previously Entered Checks Printing a Group of Checks Indicating the Printer Font for the Checks Overview Why Print Checks? Writing checks with the WinCheck program will save you time. Instead of writing your checks by hand and entering them into WinCheck, you can enter and print checks in one step. Additionally printed checks present a clean, professional appearance. WinCheck can print checks to any blank check form that fits in your printer. This is possible through the use of the WinCheck Print Form Designer. The Form Designer allows you to create, edit and save templates for printing on your check forms. Once you have created a template form, checking writing is a very simple process. However, designing check templates can also be simplified if you purchase check forms that match those supplied with this program. The Standard Dot Matrix Template was designed to print on checks that are compatible with the Quicken software package. NEBS a manufacturer of checks forms, and can be reached at 1-800-225-9550. Be sure to have the correct account numbers imprinted on any checks you order. For detailed information concerning ordering checks, please refer to Appendix E: Ordering and Using Computer Checks at the back of this manual. If you have check forms other than those explained above, you might print a test check with the Standard Dot Matrix Template or Standard LaserJet Template (depending upon whether you have a dot matrix or laser style printer) and then make minor adjustments to the template as needed. Look to the section entitled "Steps for Printing your First Check". Form Designer Menu The WinCheck form designer allows you to create or edit forms to print checks. There are several options you use from the Form Designer Window: New Form This option will save the Template... active template and clear it from the screen so that a new template can be created. Load Form Choose Load Form Template Template... to load one of your previously created templates. This will also define your default printing template. Save Form Saves the active form Template.. template to it's current filename. Save Form Template Saves the active form As... template by prompting you for a filename and description. This allows you to save the active template to new/different name and description. Descriptions are helpful when loading templates. Instead of knowing that EPSN9 is the filename for your Epson dot matrix 2543 template form, a description can contain additional information about the template like the order number and type of printer (Epson FX-100 Blue 2543 Checks) Form Attributes Change the form attributes for the active template. This is the same as double clicking with the left mouse button on the form designer window. Print Test Form Prints a test form of the placement of the check attributes. Use this option to print the field to a blank piece of paper and then compare this to actual check (if you hold the printed test form and the blank to a light source, you can determining if your template is printing correctly). Go Back to Exits the Form Designer WinCheck and returns you to the WinCheck screen. Steps for Printing your First Check: 1. Purchase computer check forms from Financial Registers (see the enclosed Computer Forms Catalog) or from your favorite dealer. If you use or order the forms included with the WinCheck product, then you will not need to design check templates. Check templates for the Financial Register check forms are included with WinCheck. 2. Start up the WinCheck program, but do not put the check forms in your printer just yet. 3. Choose Check Form Printer Setup from the File menu. The resulting screen is the WinCheck Check Form Designer window. It is here that you will design your template for printing checks from the main WinCheck program. 4. If you will be using one of the sample checks included with WinCheck, choose Load Form Template from the File Menu. Select the Standard Dot Matrix Template from the list of templates. Click on the OK button or press Enter on the keyboard. Skip ahead to step number 10. If you are printing to a Laser printer check form with the check in the middle of the page, select Standard LaserJet Template and skip ahead to step number 10. 5. If you are using a form other than those mentioned above, choose Form Attributes from the File menu and indicate the size information for of your checks. Look to the following section on "Fine Tuning the Check Form Template" for information on all the items in the Form Attributes dialog. 6. Insert, delete or move fields as needed. Refer to page X for information on doing all of these actions. 7. Choose Print Test Form from the File menu with plain paper loaded in you printer. Once the field names are printed onto a piece of paper, hold this sheet up against the Financial Register check forms or your check form. Check that the fields are printing in the correct locations. To do this, hold both papers up to a light source such as a lamp To move a field to a new position on the template window, move the cursor over the field (the cursor will change from an arrow to a hand), click and hold the left mouse button while moving the mouse. 8. Repeat step 7 until the template fields line up with the proper locations on the blank check. 9. Save the template by choosing Save From Template from the File menu. Indicate a description for the template such as My first neato nifty template with WinCheck and a filename (maximum of 8 characters with no file extension needed as WinCheck will automatically add .WCT). 10. Load the printer with the your check forms. 11. Now you are ready to print checks! Choose "Go Back to WinCheck" from the File menu and jump ahead in this section to the Printing Checks heading. Fine Tuning the Check Form Template Double click with the left mouse button on the blue background of the form designer window or choose Form Attributes from the File menu. This will bring up the Form Attributes dialog box for describing size information about the form. Form Attributes Description: In addition to a 8 letter filename such as EPSON.WCT, this optional field provides additional information about the form. For example, you could type the order information for the check form or a description of the template usage. Examples might include: 9025 Multipurpose Check Epson FX-100 Blue Checks Dot Matrix IC 120-VL Checks The maximum number of characters for this field is 128. Lines per inch This defines the number of lines per inch your form is designed for. Almost every form is designed for 6 lines per inch which is the default value in WinCheck. Characters per inch This defines the number of characters per inch your form is designed for. Almost every form is designed for 10 characters per inch which is the default value in WinCheck. Form Vertical Size This defines the number (lines): of lines for a single check. With a ruler measure the height of your check in inches. Now take the number of inches and multiply this number by the number of lines per inch. For example, if you have a check that are 3.5 inches tall/deep, and you are printing at 6 lines per inch, then your vertical size would be 21 lines (3 x 6 +3). Note: If you are printing laser checks that have one check in the middle of the page, measure from the top of the page to the bottom on the check to determine the vertical size. If you are using a dot-matrix printer, calculate one check height in lines. If three checks fit on a page, you indicate this in the "Forms per page" field. Form Horizontal This value describes the Size (inches): horizontal printable area left to right. The default value for this field is 8, figuring a left and right unprintable area of a quarter inch (.25). The value, 8, is correct for most laser printers printing portrait checks, but if you are using a printer with a different unprintable area or printing landscape you will need to change this value. Forms per page This defines the number of checks that fit on a single printer page (8.5 X11). The valid range for this field is 1-5. The "Forms per page" value is important in determining the size check queue that WinCheck will use when printing checks. As you print checks, this queue will fill up. If your form per page value is set to 1, than a check will physically print after choosing to print a check. If your form per page value is set to 3, than a check will not physically print until you choose to print 3 separate checks. When the queue is full (or when you exit WinCheck), the contents of the print queue will print. The WinCheck print queue is designed to allow laser printer forms with three checks per page to print all three checks at once (on the same page). Also without the print queue (forms per page) users of dot matrix printers would need to "wind the printer back" because there is an automatic form feed after each print job. This form feed or page eject after each print job is a limitation of Windows. Therefore, by specifying a number of checks per page, you can print a page full of checks at a time. Overall Horizontal This field is used for Offset in 1/8 ultra fine tuning of the chars: printed output. The WinCheck form designer allows you to move the items on the printer template by full character increments. For further fine tuning of the text on the printed check, this field can be used to shift all of the text horizontally by eighths of character increments. For example, typing a 3 in this field will shift all of the text on the printed check horizontally by 3/8ths of a character. The default value for this field is 0. Overall Vertical This field is used for Offset in 1/8 ultra fine tuning of the chars: printed output. The WinCheck form designer allows you to move the items on the printer template by full character increments. For further fine tuning of the text on the printed check, this field can be used to shift all of the text vertically by eighths of character increments. For example, the printed amount on the check is not quite printing on the amount line. Instead, the value is hovering over the amount line. To bring the text down so that it is printing exactly on the line, use this field to adjust the vertical placement of the text on the check. The default value for this field is 0. Landscape Check the box labeled "Landscape" if you check forms should be printed in Landscape orientation instead of portrait. Inserting the Check Field Attributes If you are using one of the supplied templates, then you will see that there are several fields that have been inserted onto the check form. To insert fields for a check template, double click the right button on the mouse on the form designer window or press the Insert key on the keyboard. This will bring up the Check Field Attributes dialog. Available fields include: Field Example Date 05/13/91 Day 13 Month 05 Year 91 Amount (dd.cc) ****$65.47 Memo Line 1 Telephone Bill for 555-1212 (note about check the transaction) Memo Line 2 Account# 8593-435 (payment to credit card company might include the your account number on the memo line). Recipient 123 Main Street Address Anytown, USA 123456 (Don't you wish you lived there?) Pay to the U.S. West Communications Order of: (contents of To: field in the check transaction dialog) Check Number 8909 Amount (dd Sixty-Five and 47/100 Dollars and cc Cents) Text Your Company Name (text that you want to appear on every check printed). Choose Text in the Check Field Attributes dialog and type characters in the edit box. These characters are part of the "text field" and will appear on each check. In addition to the Check Field type, the width and height of the fields is indicated in this dialog. This is done by inserting values into the "Chars Wide:" and "Lines Deep" fields. For example, you will probably want to indicate 3 or 4 lines deep for the Recipient Address field and 1 line for the Memo Line field(s). The lines deep field can be any value between 1 and 11. The Chars Wide field can be any value between 1 and 112. The field can also be resized with the mouse by grabbing an edge (Color systems only). Editing, Deleting, and Moving Template Fields You can edit the form on the workspace with the mouse only. To edit a field that has been inserted onto the template, position the cursor over the field (the cursor will change from an arrow to a hand) and double click the left mouse button. This will bring up the Check Field Attributes dialog so that you can change the number of characters wide (Chars Wide), the number of lines (Lines Deep), or the Field Type. For example, double click on the date field (which appears as MM/DD/YY on the screen) and change the field type to the Check Number field with a Character width of 6 and a height of 1 line. To remove a field from the template, position the mouse cursor over the field (the cursor will change from an arrow to a hand) and press the Delete key on the keyboard. To move a field to a new position on the template window, move the cursor over the field (the cursor will change from an arrow to a hand), click and hold the left mouse button while moving the mouse. Printing Checks Once the check form template is designed, you are ready to begin check printing. Choose Check from the Checking menu, or press F3, or click on the tiny blue check icon from the Control Bar. This will bring up an empty check dialog. Complete the check amount and To: field information and then click on the Details button with the mouse (ALT + D from the keyboard). If your template includes Memo field(s) and a Recipient Address field, then be sure to add information in this dialog that you like printed on the check. Information from the Comments field in the Transaction Details dialog will not be printed on the check. Press OK to exit the Transaction Details dialog (with the information entered saved). Now press the Print button or press ALT + P from the keyboard. Note: If your check form page has more than one check per page (as indicated in the Form Attributes dialog of the WinCheck Form Designer), then the check will be entered into the check printing queue. When the queue is full, all of the checks in the queue will be printed. Pressing Print saves the check into the data file just as pressing the OK button. Check Printing Queue: Windows expects an entire page to be printed at a time. To overcome this limitation, WinCheck has a check queue. As you print checks, WinCheck will add them to the check queue. When the check queue is full (i.e. a page is full), then the entire page of checks will print. On some printers it is possible to change the page size within the printer driver. Check with Windows Control Panel to see if your printer supports this. If your printer can accept a page size change, then you can change the size of the page to reflect the size of the check. In this case, it is possible to leave Forms per page at 1 and have each check print individually. As long as Forms per page is greater than 1, the print queue will be employed. Printing Previously Entered Checks If you want to print a previously entered check, select the check entry from the check Register and choose Print Checks from the Data menu (or press CTRL + P). It is also possible to bring up a previously entered check (press Enter or double click with the mouse when selected) and choose the Print button from the Check transaction dialog. Printing a Group of Checks To select a range of transactions that appear together on the Register, hold down the SHIFT key and use the Up or Down arrow keys. A discontinuous selection cannot be made without a mouse. To make a discontinuous selection with the use of a mouse, press and hold the CTRL key while click on transactions in the Register window with the mouse. Once selected choose Print Checks from the Data menu or press CTRL + P on the keyboard. Indicating the Printer Font for the Checks The font used for the printed checks is indicated by choosing Fonts from the File menu (outside of the Form Designer window). Choose Go Back to WinCheck from the File menu to exit the Form Designer. 1. Choose Fonts from the File menu. 2. Select "Check Printer" in the box labeled Font Usage. Do this by clicking in the circle with the mouse or Tab to the Font Usage box and then use the Up and Down arrows on the keyboard. 3. Now select the Typeface and Size by clicking with the mouse on the name and point size desired. The keyboard equivalent would be to press ALT + T or ALT + S to switch the focus to the Typeface of Size box. Use the Up and Down arrows to select an item in the box. 4. Choose from Bold (ALT + B), Italic (ALT + I) or Underline (ALT + U) for text attributes. These attributes will be applied to all of the text on the printed checks. To apply the changes made in the above steps, click on the Apply button or press ALT + A. Choose OK to exit the dialog without changing the font selection. Note: The font selection and attribute (i.e. Bold) will be applied to all of the text on the printed check. WinCheck does not support the seperate font formatting of items on the printed check. Selecting the Check Printer To change the printer you are printing your checks to, you must first close the WinCheck Form Designer. Choose Go Back To WinCheck from the File Menu. Refer to page xx for complete information on printer selection. 1. Choose Select Printer(s) for Checks/Reports from the File Menu. 2. Change the printer in the Checks: field to the printer you wish to use. 3. Press OK to accept the printer. Printing Reports The Following Topics will be discussed in the section: Overview Standard Reports The WinCheck Report Generator Custom Reports Exporting Data Sample Reports Overview The WinCheck Report Generator allows you to print and created many different reports for your financial data. Possible reports include a report of the transactions in your check Register for perhaps a Budget or Cash Flow report. Additionally, if none of the supplied reports suit your needs, WinCheck provides a means to creating your own custom reports. Standard Reports WinCheck includes a group of standard reports. Some of these reports are internal to the program (such as the Cash Flow reports) and others are custom reports that were created with the Report Generator and included with the product. The Reports included with WinCheck, are as follows: Cash Flow Budget Report Profit/Loss Register Sorted by Date, then Number Register Sorted by Category Register- Credits Register- Debits Register Separated by Checkbook Statement Sorted by Date, Checks sorted by Check Number Statement- Uncleared Transactions Only Statement- Cleared Transactions Only Please refer to the Sample Reports for an example of each of these types of reports. The WinCheck Report Generator WinCheck's Reports are created, edited, printed, previewed, and exported from the WinCheck Report Generator. Select Report Generator from the Acct menu. The Report Generator dialogs includes a range of months to report, a list of available reports, the number of rows and columns per page, and buttons to do various functions. Starting Month This is the starting month from which you want to include data from for the report. Ending Month This is the last month from which you want to include data from. To print only one month, select the same month in the starting and ending month. Choose a Report Type The list of available Internal and Custom reports is displayed in the box below this text. Custom reports are those reports that list a group of letters to left of the Edit button. In the picture of the Report Generator dialog above, the letters RSBC indicate that the selected report is a custom report (filename RSBC.RPT). Custom reports are fully editable. The Edit,Delete, and Export buttons are available for custom reports only. Internal reports are those reports that do not have an external RPT file. Rows When printing reports, this is the number of lines per page. Columns When printing reports, this is the number of characters across the page. Preview Previews the report on the screen. Print Prints the report to the selected report printer (refer to the section on Configuring WinCheck for information on configuring your printer). Export If the selected report is a custom report, this button will export the report to a file. Exit Returns to WinCheck. Edit... If the selected report is a custom report, this button will bring up the Custom Report Maker dialog so that the report can be modified. Delete If the selected report is a custom report, this button will delete the report. Add... Activates the Custom Report Maker to create a new report. Walk through the report examples within the Getting Started section or read ahead in this section. Memorize This allows the values in Rows and Columns fields to be used as default in the future. Custom Reports The Custom Report Maker allows you to view/print your data according to your specifications. For example, you may want to print out a list of transactions with Auto as the category in order to determine the amount spent on car expenses. Or, you may want to print your account Register or Statement window data sorted by the transaction amount. WinCheck's Custom Report Maker will create unique reports tailored to your account(s). Using the Tutorial account, the following steps will walk you through creating a report with all of the transactions separated and subtotaled by category. To load the TUT account (the Tutorial account), choose Load Account from the file menu and choose TUT. 1. Choose Report Generator from the Acct menu. 2. Select January 1991 for the starting month, and March 1991 for the ending Month. 3. Press the Add... button to create a custom report. 4. For the Filename field, type BARBIE. 5. The Based On list will list all of the other custom reports. We will create this report from scratch. Select ***Don't Base New Report on anything***. 6. Press OK to enter the WinCheck Custom Report Maker 7. Type Category Report into the Description field. This will be the description listed in the previous dialog. 8. The Sorting Method has three levels of sorting. The 1st sorting method is the most important method. Usually this is Date or Number. However, if you want to separate your transactions by categories (such as in this report), you would specify this to be Category. 9. In order to have a subtotal for each category, check the Subtotal box. 10. Set the 2nd sorting method to be Date. A subtotal after each date change is not needed, so leave this box unchecked. 11. Set the 3rd sorting method to be Check Number. A subtotal after each check number is not needed, so leave this box unchecked. 12. The Filters section is where you specify the type of transactions you wish to view/print. There are five types of filters available: Credits/Debits/Both Cleared/Uncleared/Both Tax Deductible/Not Tax Deductible/Both One Category/All Categories One Checkbook/All Checkbooks 13. For this report, we want to view every transaction. Therefor, we will leave the Credits, Debits, Cleared, Uncleared, Tax Deductible, and Not Tax Deductible boxes all checked. This means that any transaction that is cleared, uncleared, etc will appear in the report. If a filter box is checked, then transactions that have that filter attributes will be printed. In addition to the above filters, you can also view one particular category, or all categories. If the Show Only One Category box is checked, then the selected category in the field to the right will be the only one printed. The same theory applies for the Show Only One Checkbook filter. This is helpful for printing a list of the checks that you (or your spouse) wrote. The checkbook names and check ranges are indicated in the Select Checkbook dialog (from the Acct menu). The Date Options gives you two choices of how you want to print your report. Print Each Month will keep the sorting options for each month separate. If you select Group All Months, then WinCheck will combine all months and then sort all of the data. The latter sort option is the slower of the two. Speed of printing and viewing will depend upon the number of transactions within the range and the speed of the computer. You may want to fine tune your report with a small range of months before selecting a large number of months and the Group All Months option. 14. To define six columns for the report type 6 in the Number of Columns field and press the Apply button. The slider is now divided into six sections. 15. Using the mouse, double click on the first segment of the slider. A list of possible column headings will be displayed. Select Date and press the OK button. 16. Double Click on the second segment of the slider, set it to Check #, and press OK. Repeat this for the third segment, Description. 17. For the fourth segment choose Amount and check the Total Column box (press ALT+T from the keyboard). This will give you a subtotal amount underneath the amount column. 18. For the fifth and sixth columns, set them to Category and Subcategory respectively. 19. Now, use the mouse to adjust the widths of the columns. Click and drag on the vertical line between the columns to adjust the width. Be sure to take advantage of the entire length of the slider bar. 20. Press the Preview button to take a peek at the report. The Continue button will allow you to view the second page of the report (when applicable) and Stop will return you the previous dialog. 21. Once you have fine-tuned your report (for example, the column widths), press OK to save the report and the description to list of available reports. Exporting Data WinCheck can export the custom reports to an ASCII file, delimited by tabs or commas. All major spreadsheet programs, word processors, and databases can read in plain ASCII text. Exporting a custom report 1. Select a custom report name from the list of reports. Custom reports will display a filename to the left of the Edit button when selected and the Export button will not be greyed. 2, Press the Export button in the Report Generator dialog. 3. You will then be prompted for a filename. Indicate the name of the file you wish to export your report to, and whether you want tab or comma delimited files. Once you are ready to export, press the OK button. If a filename only is indicated, then the export file will be placed in the WinCheck program directory. It is also possible to indicate a full path for the exported file. For example, C:\EXCEL\JANREP.TXT. Sample Reports Account Register Sorted by Date, Number (Pre-fab Custom Report) Account Register Sorted by Date, Number Date # Description Amount C ---------------------------------------------------------- 01/04/91 Checking Deposit 2,783.93 C 01/05/91 3287 Safeway 143.87 C 01/08/91 3288 George Kilroy 9.50 C 01/08/91 3289 Seattle City Light 127.43 C 01/08/91 3290 U.S. West Communications 64.25 C 01/08/91 3291 Cellular One 97.85 C 01/08/91 3292 Wells Fargo Mortgage Co 2,245.85 C 01/08/91 3293 Metro Utilities 64.97 C 01/08/91 3294 Smith Lawn and Garden Care 145.56 C 01/10/91 3295 Safeway 97.34 C 01/10/91 3296 A&J Pharmacy 34.45 C 01/11/91 Checking ATM 100.00 C 01/14/91 Checking Deposit 3,100.00 C 01/15/91 3297 West Seattle YMCA Health Club 45.00 C 01/15/91 3298 Laura's Hair Studio 65.00 C 01/17/91 3299 Barker Plumbing and Supplies 95.00 C 01/18/91 Checking ATM 100.00 C 01/18/91 3300 Safeway 195.45 C 01/18/91 3301 Hi-Yu Arts and Crafts 27.34 C 01/22/91 Bank Dings 22.45 C 01/22/91 Checking to Savings 2,000.00 C 01/22/91 3302 Security Pacific Bank - Visa 645.37 C 01/22/91 3303 American Express 325.23 C 01/22/91 3304 Garrett's Ferraris 1,847.45 C 01/22/91 3305 Texaco 47.45 C 01/22/91 3306 Sally's Salon 69.99 C 01/22/91 3310 Safeway 159.45 C 01/23/91 3307 Safeway 96.12 C 01/23/91 3308 Newsweek 53.01 C 01/28/91 Checking Deposit 3,545.00 C ========================================================== $533.59 Account Register Sorted by Date, Number (Pre-fab Custom Report) Statement Sorted by Number, Date Date # Description Amount C Memo 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------ 01/04/91 Checking Deposit 2,783.93 C Royalties from M 01/14/91 Checking Deposit 3,100.00 C Band Income 01/28/91 Checking Deposit 3,545.00 C Modeling Income ------------------------------------------------------------------ $9,428.93 01/05/91 3287 Safeway 143.87 C 01/08/91 3288 George Kilroy 9.50 C Newspaper 01/08/91 3289 Seattle City Ligh 127.43 C Acct:342-39-A-2 01/08/91 3290 U.S. West Communi 64.25 C Acct:(206) 555- 01/08/91 3291 Cellular One 97.85 C Acct:101030045 01/08/91 3292 Wells Fargo Mortg 2,245.85 C Acct:345-56-222 01/08/91 3293 Metro Utilities 64.97 C Acct 33-9823 01/08/91 3294 Smith Lawn and Gae 145.56 C GardenService 01/10/91 3295 Safeway 97.34 C 01/10/91 3296 A&J Pharmacy 34.45 C 01/15/91 3297 West Seattle YWCA Club 45.00 C HealthClub 01/15/91 3298 Laura's Hair Stud 65.00 C 01/17/91 3299 Barker Plumbing aies 95.00 C Fix Frozen pipes 01/18/91 3300 Safeway 195.45 C 01/18/91 3301 Hi-Yu Arts and Cr 27.34 C 01/22/91 3302 Security Pacific isa 645.37 C Acct 4111-2222-3 01/22/91 3306 Sally's Salon 69.99 C 01/23/91 3307 Safeway 96.12 C 01/22/91 3303 American Express 325.23 C Acct: 3703-111222 01/23/91 3308 Newsweek 53.01 C Newsweek 18 months ----------------------------------------------------------------- -$6,782.89 01/11/91 Checking ATM 100.00 C ---------------------------------------------------------- -$400.00 01/22/91 Bank Dings 22.45 C ---------------------------------------------------------- -$22.45 01/22/91 Checking to Savin 2,000.00 C ---------------------------------------------------------- -$2,000.00 =========================================================== $223.59 Cash Flow Report (Standard Report) Checking Cash Flow Report for J1991 to March, 1991 INFLOWS Personal 3,000.00 Royalty 9,351.79 Band Income 7,300.00 Model Fees 11,635.00 ---------------------------------------------------------- Total $31,286.79 OUTFLOWS Personal Food 1,620.73 Health Club 135.00 Credit Cards 4,946.66 Computer 823.67 Charity 3,500.00 Miscelleneous 8,418.37 =============== $19,444.43 Utilities 1,280.46 Car Pymt 5,542.35 Bank Fees 67.92 Home Mortgage 6,737.55 Garden Svc 436.68 =============== $7,174.23 ---------------------------------------------------------- Total $33,509.30 =========================================================== Difference -$2,222.51 Working with Multiple Accounts and Windows The following topics will be discussed in this section: Opening/Loading Accounts Closing Accounts Working with Multiple Register and Statement Windows Transferring Money Between Accounts Opening/Loading Accounts WinCheck allows you to open several accounts at one time and switch back and forth form account to account. For example, you can have your business account, you personal checking account, and your credit card account all open at one time. You can have a maximum of six accounts open at one time. You are prompted on startup of the WinCheck program for an Account ID to open. Additionally, you can open other accounts by choosing Load Account from the File menu. When you select Load Account, you will see the familiar Load Account dialog that appears on startup of WinCheck. Click on the down arrow with the mouse or press ALT+Down Arrow to drop down the selection of account to open. WinCheck will search the program directory for account files and pose the account ID's in this list box. Type in an account ID or select one from the list. If you type an account ID for an account that has not been previously opened, WinCheck will prompt you to open a new account? Choose the Yes button to open a new account, No to return to the Load Account dialog and Cancel to return to the WinCheck program without loading an account. It is also possible to load an account from the Control Bar by clicking on the down arrow beside the "Acct:" text and typing an account ID into the box. The Acct box lists all of the open accounts and does not list all available accounts. However, the Load Account dialog (from the File menu) does list all available account IDs. LOAD ACCOUNT DIALOG OK Loads the account listed or typed into the drop down listbox of the Load Account dialog. If the account ID has not been used previously, WinCheck will ask if you would like to open a new account? (Yes/No/Cancel). CANCEL Does not load new account. HELP Brings up the Overview of the WinCheck Online help system. Note: If the account is password protected, you will be prompted for a password upon loading an account file. Refer to the section on Configuring WinCheck for information on password protecting your files. Closing Accounts After opening several accounts you may want to close one or more accounts. To view a listing of all open accounts click on the down arrow beside the "Acct:" text on the Control Bar. To close an account, choose Close Account from the File menu. The resulting dialog will contain a listing of all open accounts. The accounts are listed according to the account ID's and descriptions for the open accounts. For example: TUT: Tutorial Account GAK: Greg's Visa Card Account The account description is indicated in the Account Info dialog from the Acct menu and can be changed at any time. When exiting the WinCheck program, by choosing Exit WinCheck from the File menu, all of the account files and windows will automatically be closed and saved. CLOSE ACCOUNT DIALOG OK Closes the selected account in the listbox of open accounts. CANCEL Exits the Close Account dialog without closing an account. Working with Multiple Register and Statement Windows In addition to opening several accounts at a time, you can open Register and Statement windows for different months for each of the open accounts. The number of Register and Statement windows has no practical limit. However, it is not possible to open two Register or Statement windows for the same month within the same account. To open a Register window press CTRL+R or choose Display Check Register from the Acct menu. The "Pick a Month to View" dialog will result with a list of all months that contain data. Choose any of the listed months and choose OK. The active account is listed in the drop down list box at the top of the dialog. To open a Register window from another open account, select the account ID from the list. Note: It is not possible to open a Register or Statement window for an account that is not already open. Open the account first with the Load Account command and then the account will appear in the Pick a Month to View list box. To open a Statement window press CTRL+S or choose Display Check Statement from the Acct menu. The "Pick a Month to View" dialog will result with a list of all months that contain data. Choose any of the listed months or accounts and choose OK to a Statement window. PICK A MONTH DIALOG Select the month and year to open (i.e. April 1991) as well as the Account ID. The Account ID's of the open accounts are listed in the drop down listbox at the top of the dialog. Choosing a different account ID (if more than account is open), will change the listing of available months/years. The list of available months is determined by the data files found within the WinCheck program directory. For example, MAY91.TUT is the data file for May 1991 of the Tutorial account. OK Opens a Register or Statement window for the specified month/year and account ID. CANCEL Does not open a Register or Statement window. Note: The icons above the OK button in this dialog do not perform a particular function. They are for your visual enjoyment only. WinCheck reads your account files from the directory in which the WinCheck program is installed, i.e. C:\WinCheck. Switching Between Open Windows Once you have several windows open, you can view a list of the open windows and switch from account Statement/Register to account Statement/Register with the numbered items listed at the bottom of the Window menu. Below is a sample listing of open windows from the KAE and TUT accounts: 1 KAE: Statement for April, 1991 2 TUT: Register for March, 1991 3 TUT: Statement for September, 1990 4 KAE: Statement for May, 1991 The above information indicates the open Register and Statement windows for the KAE and TUT accounts. Again, there is no practical limit to the number of windows that can be opened at one time. However, depending upon the resolution of your display, only so many window names can be listed under the Window menu. The active menu under the Window menu is indicated by a check mark before the number of the window. Choose any of the numbered window listings to change the active window. This can be done via the keyboard by pressing ALT+W to drop down the Window menu, and then typing the number of the window to switch to. With the mouse, select the window to change to as you would with other menu items. Additionally Tile and Cascade are available from the Window menu to change the placement of your open windows. Choose Cascade to arrange all of the open windows in a stack. When this is done the title bar for each window is visible so that the window can be made active by clicking on the title bar (i.e. TUT: Register for July, 1991) with the mouse. With multiple windows open, use CTRL+F6 to rotate through the open windows (CTRL+F6 will switch the focus to the next window and bring the window to the front). Choose Tile from the Window menu to tile all of the open windows on the screen, left to right. The tile option allows you to see a portion of each window horizontally. Each window has a title bar that describes the data in the window (KAE: Register for October, 1991) and a scroll bar for scrolling through the data. Click with the mouse on the Up and Down arrows on the scroll bar or press Page Up/Page Down on the keyboard (Num Lock off) to scroll Register or Statement window. Closing Open Register and Statement Windows After opening several windows you may want to close one or more of the Statement or Register windows. A listing of all open windows is listed at the bottom of the Window menu. There are several ways to close a Register or Statement window with each described below. With the Register or Statement window to close before you on the screen, do one of the following: 1. Choose Close Active Register/Statement from the Acct menu. 2. Double click on the close bar in the upper left corner of the window frame. 3. Press CTRL+F4. Transferring Money Between Accounts With WinCheck it is possible to transfer money from account to account, or from Savings to Checking (or vice versa) in the same account. Additionally you can set up links between accounts with the Links Between Accounts command. From the menu item labeled Xfers, you have the following options for transfers: Xfers Within Same Account Savings to Checking Checking to Savings Choosing either of these options, will result in a transaction dialog with the name of the account you are working with (i.e.TUT) and the transfer type (i.e. Savings to Checking) in the title bar at the top of the dialog. Type in a value to transfer and mark the "Cleared" box if the transfer has cleared the bank (i.e. the bank knows of the transfer). Between Different Accounts Checking to Checking Savings to Savings Checking to Savings Savings to Checking Choose any of the transfer options to transfer money between the open account and any other account. When selecting any of the transfer types listed about, the "Transfers Between Accounts" dialog will appear. In this dialog the current account ID is inserted into the "From:" field. Press the Tab key to advance to the "To:" field. In this field type the account ID for the account that you are transferring money into. Press the Tab key again to type in a transfer Amount and again to change the date if necessary. Choose the OK button to make the transfer. Links Between Accounts Linking one account to another is an option in the Account Info dialog or by choosing Links Between accounts from the Xfers menu. This option allows you to link the beginning balance of one account to running or ending balance of another account. There are types of account linking in WinCheck: "Hot Links" and links that are not hot, which we will refer to as "Cold Links". Hot Link Cold Link Hot Link The type of link where one account depends upon another accounts balance in order to calculate its own running balance. With a Hot Link, two accounts are link dynamically so that the balance of the first account affects the balance of the second (linked) account. For example: KEB is (Hot ) "Linked from Account" GER in the Account Info dialog. This means the Account Info dialog appears with the following information: Account KEB Linked from Account: GER There is an X in the Hot Link check box The starting balance for account KEB is set to the current balance of account GER. If the balance of the GER account changes, the starting balance of the KEB account will update/change to reflect the change made in the GER account.. Cold Link A link where the starting balance of one account is linked to the balance of another account. The cold link differs from the hot link in that the link is not dynamic. The starting balance of the linked account is based on another account, but the starting balance does not change to reflect changes in the other account. For example: KEB is "Linked from Account" GER in the Account Info dialog. This means the Account Info dialog appears with the following information: Account KEB Linked from Account: GER The starting balance for account KEB is set to the current balance of account GER. If the balance of the GER account changes, the starting balance of the KEB account will not update/change. For example, a cold link will base the starting balance of the current account on another account, but this value (starting balance) will not change when the balance of the other account changes. To unlink an account from another, select the account ID in the "Linked from Account" field and press the delete (Del) key on the keyboard. The balance figures at the bottom of the screen should appear in black to indicate that the account is not linked. Choose OK to unlink the account or Cancel to cancel the changes made and leave the link intact. Transferring Money From Checking to Credit Card Account If you need to transfer money from a checking account to a credit card account (i.e. a payment), use the "Pay Account" item in the check transaction dialog. Open a blank check (press F3) with your checking account active, and in the Pay Account field type the Account ID of your credit card account. This will write a check to the credit card account. In other words, X amount of money will be subtracted from your checking account and X amount of money will be deposited into your credit card account. Since transactions in the credit card account are added to the balance, writing a check to a credit card account works like a deposit and will be subtracted from the balance. For example, your checking balance is currently $1,000.00 and your credit card account balance is $346.00. It's the end of the month and it's time to pay off you credit card. To do this open the checking account and write a check. In the Pay Account field for the check, type the Account ID for your credit card account. When you press OK, $346.00 dollars will be subtracted from you checking account and your credit card balance will be $0.00 (paid in full). How To? This section will cover some of the How To issues of using WinCheck Complete the steps using the tutorial account (TUT) or just read through the steps outlined below. Daily Activities Once you have started your account with WinCheck, there are a few activities you may do quite often: 1. Enter checks you wrote while away from your computer. This can be done by pressing F3, or by choosing the Check icon on the Control Bar, or by choosing Check from the Checking Menu. 2. Enter checks written at home or the office. This can include bill paying, or other expenses. WinCheck can print the checks on any available blank check that will fit in your printer. WinCheck can keep track of an endless number of Common Transactions that occur on a rather regular basis. For example, payday can be entered as a common transaction, allowing you to make your payroll deposit with a single menu choice. Also, regular bills such as mortgage and car payments can be automatically paid. Refer the section on Common Transactions for more information. 3. Enter deposits, transfers, ATM (cash machine) withdrawals, or Misc transactions. Less Common Activities There are some other activities that you may not do as often: 1. Reconcile and Balance your account(s). When your bank statment arrives you can mark all of your banking transactions that have cleared your bank. Afterwards, you can compare your balance to the bank's balance, and as long as they match, your account is balanced. 2. Create Common Transactions. Here you can define a transaction that will happen on a repeat basis (i.e. Car Payment, etc). 3. Create Check Form Templates, or load templates. The WinCheck Form Designer allows you to create a template to print on any form. 4. Print reports. WinCheck's Report Generator Dialog has a list of available reports and the ability to create custom reports. Refer to the section on Reports for more information. 5. Change WinCheck settings. Refer the section on Configuring WinCheck. 6. Design a budget and print budget reports. Refer the section on Budgeting. Writing Checks: To write a check from the active account do ONE of the following: Click on the second icon button from the left (the tiny blue check) Press F3 Choose Check from the Checking menu WinCheck has two dialogs for entering checks: Endstub and not Endstub (conventional). The only difference between the two types of checks is the tab ordering of the fields and the title bar for the dialog. To select Endstub tab ordering as described on page X, choose Select Checkbook from the Acct menu and mark the box labeled Endstub. If the box is clear, than you are using conventional tabbing order. The check dialogs will have the following text in the title bar of the transaction dialog if they are the Endstub type: TUT: Endstub Check #101 Where TUT is the account ID and #101 is the next blank check number. Checks that are not defined as Endstub in the Select Checkbook dialog will have a title bar as follows: TUT: Check #101 Where TUT is the account ID and #101 is the next blank check number. 1. In the check dialog, click on the down arrow to drop down a list of available categories (the keyboard equivalent would be to Tab to the list box and press ALT+down arrow). 2. Select a category from the list or type in a category not listed to create a new category. 3. Next, press the Tab key twice to jump to the Date field. You can leave the current date that is automatically inserted with a new transaction or manually change the date (F5 moves the date back a day and F6 advances the date forward a day). If you enter an invalid date, WinCheck will prompt with the following error message: The date is incorrect. Please use MM/DD/YY format. 4. Press the Tab key to advance to the "To:" field and type the name of the check recipient, such as Safeway. 5. Press the Tab key once to advance to the dollar amount field ($) and type the transaction amount, such as 34.00. The check is now complete. Choose OK to record the check transaction, Another to record the transaction and write another check, or Print to print the check to your printer. Choosing Details will bring up the Transaction details dialog as explained on page x. If you enter an invalid dollar amount such as 6g5.78, WinCheck will inform you of it's interpretation of the number in a dialog titled Amount Verification. In this dialog WinCheck will list the Original Entry (6g5.78) and it's Corrected Amount (65.78). Type in the correct value for the transaction and press Enter or click on the OK button. Entering Checks written while away from home Example:You go shopping at the grocery store, pick up some videos at the video rental outlet, and have an espresso at the coffee shop. 1. Select "Check" from the Checking menu, or press F3, or click on the tiny blue check icon on the Control Bar. 2. Select a category from the drop down list box of categories. You might want to add a category called Groceries or make groceries be a subcategory of Personal, Personal:Groceries. Refer to the section on Categories and Subcategories for more information. 3. Let's say that you wrote the check for groceries two days ago. So, with the focus on the date field (click on the date field or press the Tab key until the date field is selected) press the F5 key twice to decrement the current date by two days (F6 will increment the date). 4. Type in the name of the grocery store in the "To:" field and the amount of the check beside the dollar sign ($). 5. When the fields are complete, click on the Another button or press ALT + A from the keyboard. 6. Repeat steps 2-5 for the check written to the video store except choose a category such as Personal:Videos, Personal, or Video Rentals. 7. Repeat steps 2-5 for the check written to the coffee shop, except press the OK button instead of Another. Setting up WinCheck for Bill Paying Bill paying is quickest and easiest if you add periodical bills (i.e. monthly and/or weekly bills) to the Common menu. The following steps describe the steps needed to add your monthly mortgage or rent payment to the Common menu: 1. Choose Add-> from the Common menu and select Check as the transaction type. 2. In the resulting check, choose a category for the transaction such as: Category:Subc Personal Personal:M ategory :Rent ortage Category Rent Mortgage 3. The day of the month in the Date field is normally the day that the bill is paid (the check is written). So if your rent or mortage is due leave the month and year as is and change the day to 1 (or 06/01/91). 4. Fill in the check recipient in the To: field (for example. the name of the mortgage company or apartment complex). 5. In the $ field type the transaction amount. If the dollar amount varies for each time you get the bill, fill in a dollar amount of 0.00 or leave it blank. 6. Press OK and the transaction will be added to the Common menu. The following steps describe the steps needed to add a monthly checking account service fee to the Common menu: 1. Choose Add-> from the Common menu and select Checking Misc as the transaction type. 2. The day of the month in the Date field would be the approximate date your bank statement arrives. So if your bank statement arrives on the 13th of the month, leave the month and year as is and change the day to 13 (or 06/13/91). 3: In the Description field type Service Fees or Monthly Checking Fees. 4. In the amount field, type the set rate that you are charged each month or leave the field blank to indicate that the amount varies from month to month. 5. Choose a category for the transaction such as Service Fees or Bank Fees. 6. Press OK and the transaction will be added to the Common menu. 7. Press ALT+O or click on the Common menu see the items below the Common menu. The Common menu should now have a transaction with the date indicated in the steps above and the description entered above (Service Fees). The following steps describe the steps needed to add a monthly Visa payment from your Checking account to your Credit Card account: 1. Choose Add-> from the Common menu and select either Checking Misc or Check depending upon whether you pay the credit card bill by check or by transferring money from one account to another. 2. The day of the month in the Date field would be the approximate date your Credit Card payment is due or mailed. So if your bill is normally due on the on the 20th of the month, leave the month and year as is and change the day to 20 (or 06/20/91). 3: In the Description field type Visa Card Payment or Credit Card Payment. 4. Since the amount paid towards your credit card usually varies from month to month, leave the amount field blank or type 0.00. 5. If you are tracking your credit card transactions, Tab to the Pay Account: field and type the account ID for your credit card account (such as TUT or JAS) 6. Choose a category for the transaction such as Visa or MasterCharge. 7. Press OK and the transaction will be added to the Common menu. To make any of the Common Transactions made in the steps above, simply select the transaction from the Common menu. In addition to the adding transactions to the Menu (by default) there are several other Common Transaction Properties such as Remind and Automatic. Look to the section on Common Transactions for information on the Common Transaction Properties. Your Bank Statement Arrives Note the beginning date for your Statement and choose Account Settings from the Acct menu. In the field labeled Bank Statement Starts on may of month: type the starting day for your bank statement (1-31). 1. Open up a Statement window for the month of the bank statement. If you have transactions from the previous month that did not clear, you may need to open last month's Statement window as well. Choose "Display Check Statement" from the Acct menu and pick a month to view. 2. Choose Display Uncleared Only from the Data menu for each of the open Statement windows. The top line in the Statement window will now list the open month and the text UNCLEARED CHECKS. If your Bank Statement Starts on may of month: is something other than 1, than there will be two headings for Uncleared Checks. For example: May, 1991 UNCLEARED CHECKS and June, 1991 UNCLEARED CHECKS. The result is a list of the transactions that have not yet cleared the bank. In the Statement window you have two options for sorting the checks; Checks by Date or Checks by Number. Both of these sorting options are available by selecting Sort-> from the Data menu. Other items such as Checking Deposits, Transfers, and Savings Misc items are sorted by date in the Statement window. 3. Compare the transaction amounts on the bank's statement with your statement to make sure the amounts agree. For example, make sure that check number 234 is recorded as a debit of $34.00 on the bank's statement as well as your WinCheck check statement. If the amounts disagree, either contact your bank or change your transaction amounts to reflect the bank's statement (afterall the bank is never wrong). 4. Once the transaction amounts agree (checks, deposits, transfers...), clear the transactions that are listed on the bank's statement. To do this select an item to clear and click with the mouse on the check mark icon on the Control Bar or press CTRL + C. You can select multiple continuous transactions by holding down the SHIFT key while using the arrow keys on the keyboard. Discontinuous selections are made by holding down the CTRL key and clicking on transactions with the mouse. Continue to clear items until all of the items on the bank statement are marked as "cleared" in the WinCheck program. 5. Enter in any bank service fees (if any) by using the Misc Checking transaction dialog. Choose Misc from the Checking menu or click on the icon that appears as a Question mark with a C to the side. 6. Check your balance by pressing F2 or choose Display Current Balance from the Acct menu. The Bank's Balance should match Your Balance if you have not made any transactions that do not appear on the bank statement. If you have made deposits or written checks that do not yet appear on the bank statement, then your balance will not match with the banks. Open the month's Register to examine the "Bank's Balance" figure on the closing day of your bank statement. Payday! Add your paycheck(s) to the Common menu so that once payday finally arrives you can select an item from the Common and the transaction is made. Additionally, the common transaction can to marked for "Automatic" meaning that once payday arrives the transaction is made automatically. A more detail means of setting up paychecks can be found in the section on Common Transactions. To set up your paycheck as an Common Transaction, do the following: 1. Choose Add from the Common menu and then choose Checking Misc. 2. Change the day in the date field to be the day of the month on which you get paid (i.e. the first = 09/01/91, or the fifteenth = 09/15/91). Leave the year and month as they are currently. 3. Press the Tab key and type Description text such as First of Month Paycheck, End of Month Paycheck, or Royalty Paycheck. 4. Tab to the Amount field and type the amount of your paycheck. If this value varies leave the Amount field blank and fill in the amount when you select the Common Transaction from the Common menu. If you would like to track the deduction of taxes, refer to the section on Common Transactions for a step by step guide. 5. Click with the mouse in the Credit Account box or press ALT+R. Note: If the Misc transaction is not marked as "Credit Account" the amount entered will be subtracted instead or added to your account. 6. Click on the OK button and the transaction will be added to the Common menu. Press ALT+O or click on the Common menu see the items below the Common menu. The Common menu should now have a transaction with the date indicated in the steps above and the description entered above. Items under the Common menu are sorted by date. Now next time you need to make the paycheck deposit, you will choose the item from the Common menu and the transaction dialog will pop up. Press OK to make the deposit or Cancel to not make the deposit. In addition to making your paycheck deposit a common transaction you can assign an "Automatic" property for the transaction. 1. To do this choose Properties from the Common menu. 2. In the list box at the top of the Common Transaction Properties dialog, select the description for your paycheck deposit (i.e. "First of Month Paycheck"). 3. Once selected, mark the box labeled A: Automatic. Transaction occurs on indicated date. 4. Click on the Apply button or press ALT + A. A Night on the Town Example:Let's say you head downtown, withdraw $50 from the cash machine, charge dinner to your credit card, and write a check to the local convenience store. 1. The cash machine withdrawal was from your checking account, so select Cash Machine from the Checking menu, or press F7, or click on the icon button on Control bar that appears as a cash machine with a C. Indicate the dollar amount and press OK Note that the Cleared box is marked automatically if "Auto Clear Deposits , ATM" is selected in the Account Settings dialog. If the Cleared box is marked, then your bank's balance is updated immediately after making the transaction. 2. Press F3, or choose Check from the Checking menu, or click with the mouse on the Control Bar icon that appears as a tiny blue check. Complete the information in the check dialog and press OK. 3. To record the credit card transaction, load your credit card account by choosing Load Account from the File menu. If have not already opened an account to track your credit card transactions refer to page the section on Starting a New Account for information on starting a new credit card account. 4. Choose Credit/Debit from the Checking menu or click on the blue, white, and red icon from the Control Bar. Choose a category for the transaction such as Personal or Entertainment (or you could create a subcategory for Personal, such as Personal:Dining Out or Personal:Entertainment). Enter the name or the restaurant in the "To:" field and the amount of the charge in the "Amount:" field. Click with the mouse inside the box labeled Cleared or press (ALT+L) to mark the transaction as cleared. If the transaction is marked as cleared, then the transaction will be reflected in both Your Balance and the Bank's Balance for the Register. Transferring Money from Checking to Savings Example:It's near the end of the month and there is an incredible sum of money still remaining in your Checking acocunt. You decide to transfer $200.00 from Checking to Savings. 1. Open the TUT account if not already open (choose Load Account from the File menu). 2. Choose Within Same Account from the Xfers menu. 3. From the Pop out menu, choose Checking to Savings. 4. Change the date if necessary and type 200.00 for the transfer amount in the Amount field. 5. The bank knows of the transfer, so mark the box labeled Cleared by clicking the mouse in the Cleared box (or press ALT+L from the keyboard). 6. Click on the OK button or press Enter to record the transfer. If the month of the tranfer transaction was July, you will need to open the July Register to view the transaction. The transfer will appear as a Checking to Savings transaction for $200.00. Additionally, there will be a $200.00 credit in the SavAmt column (+200.00). WinCheck Commander The following topics will be discussed in this section: The WinCheck Commander The Command File Language Sample Command Files WinCheck Commander The WinCheck Commander is used to Edit and Run run WinCheck Command files. WinCheck command files are ASCII files with a series of commands to automate functions within the WinCheck program. To create a new command file choose Run/Edit WinCheck Command File... from the Acct menu. Type in a filename with a WCB extension in the filename box and click on the New button. To run a WinCheck Command file, select the filename and click on the Run button. To edit a WinCheck Command file, select the filename and choose Edit. This will bring up the contents of the command file into a Windows Notepad window. The Command File Language Keyword Action Syntax Example ADDBEGIN Begin to ADDBEGIN ADDBEGIN Add Transaction Resets all fields to default values. AMOUNT Specify AMOUNT=dddd.cc AMOUNT=432.82 Amount of transaction If not specified, default value is 0.00. CATEGORY Specify CATEGORY=ccc:sss CATEGORY=Fun:Games Category/ Subcategory of transaction If not specified, the default category is Personal. CHECK# Specify CHECK#=nnn CHECK#=1234 Check # of transaction Default check # is 0. CLEARED Specify CLEARED=(Y|N) CLEARED=Y Cleared Status of transaction If not specified, the default is CLEARED=N. CREDIT Specify CREDIT=(Y|N) CREDIT=N Credit Status of transaction If not specified, the default depends on the type of the transaction For example, checks will default to CREDIT=N, while deposits will default to CREDIT=Y. DATE Specify DATE=(intlfmt) DATE=03/09/9 Date of transaction If no (United date is States specified, example) the current date is used. MONTH Specify MONTH=mm MONTH=01 Month. Default is current month. YEAR Specify YEAR=yy YEAR=91 Year. Default is current year. DESCCRIPTION Specify DESCRIPTION=ddd DESCRIPTION=Safeway Description Default depends on transaction For example, the default description for a check is to leave this field blank, while the default for a checking deposit is Checking Deposit. DELETE Delete the DELETE DELETE "Key" Transaction END! End of END!=(A|K) END!=A Specificati on. Perform the action (Add or locate transaction from Key). KEYBEGIN Start to KEYBEGIN KEYBEGIN define Search Key. Set all fields of search key to the default values. MODIFY Modify MODIFY MODIFY transaction found with the search key. SPLITAMOUNT Specify SPLITAMOUNT=n,dd.cc SPLITAMOUNT=1,32,12 split amount for transaction No default. SPLITCATEGORY Specify SPLITCATEGORY=n,cc SPLITCATEGORY=1,Fun:Games split category for transaction No default. TYPE Specify TYPE=tt TYPE=302 transaction type. See the table below for type values. Default is Checking Misc. MEMO1 Specify MEMO1=mmmm MEMO1=Acct#123-456-789 Memo1 for transaction Default is blank. MEMO2 Specify MEMO2=mmmm MEMO2=Power Bill Memo2 for transaction Default is blank. COMMENT Specify COMMENT=ccccc COMMENT=Cold Samp Comment. Default is blank. MAILTO Specify MAILTO=mmmm MAILTO=Puget Power Postal Recipient Default is blank. ADDRESS Specify ADDRESS=aaa ADDRESS=One Electric Way Address. Default is blank. CITYSTATE Specify CITYSTATE=ccc,ss CITYSTATE=Seattle, WA City, State. Default is blank. ZIP Specify Zip ZIP=zzzzz-xxxx ZIP=98000-1234 Default is blank. ; Comment ; Comment ; Hi, Mom! Note: All command files must end with BATCHEOF Transaction Type Table (TYPE=tt): Transaction Type Value Checking Deposit 100 Endstub Check 200 Normal Check 300 Checking ATM 301 Checking Misc 302 Checking Interest 303 Checking Credit/Debit 304 Card Savings Deposit 320 Savings Withdrawal 321 Savings ATM 322 Savings Misc 323 Savings Interest 324 Savings Credit/Debit 325 Card Example Command Files Here is a Command File to Specify some categories. CATEGORY=Personal:Groceries CATEGORY=Personal:Credit Cards CATEGORY=Personal:Bus Passes CATEGORY=Personal:Bills CATEGORY=Business:Postage CATEGORY=Business:Hardware CATEGORY=Business:Advertising BATCHEOF Here is a Command file to add check #2092. It was written to Johnson Apartments for 580.00. Its category is Rent. It has not cleared. The address has also been specified, along with a memo line for the Transaction Details dialog. ADDBEGIN AMOUNT=580.00 CATEGORY=Rent CHECK#=2092 CLEARED=N DATE=05/09/91 DESCRIPTION=Johnson Apartments MEMO1=Apt #584 MAILTO=Johnson Real Estate, Inc ADDRESS=One Capitalist Way CITYSTATE=Bellevue, WA ZIP=98100-0000 TYPE=300 END!=A BATCHEOF Here is a Command File to Clear check #2092. ; ; First, find the check by specifying the search key ; KEYBEGIN MONTH=05 YEAR=91 CHECK#=2092 END!=K ; ; Now, change the cleared flag ; CLEARED=Y ; ; And update the transaction ; MODIFY BATCHEOF Here is Command File to make a deposit, split two ways. ADDBEGIN AMOUNT=1000.00 CREDIT=Y DATE=05/19/91 TYPE=100 ; ; Specify first split ; SPLITAMOUNT=1,750.00 SPLITCATEGORY=1,Personal:Gift ; ; Specify second split ; SPLITAMOUNT=2,250.00 SPLITCATEGORY=1,Royalties END!=A BATCHEOF Here is Command File to Delete a checking ATM for 20.00 made on 05/14/91 ; ; First, find the ATM ; KEYBEGIN MONTH=05 YEAR=91 AMOUNT=20.00 TYPE=301 END!=K ; ; Now, Delete it ; DELETE BATCHEOF The Appendix Appendix A: Tips & Techniques Use the Misc transactions for such items as Direct Deposits, automatic withdrawals, and service fees. This way you can type a description line for the transaction, such as Checking Fees and this will appear in the Register and Statement windows. Take advantage of Categories and Subcategories in the Transaction dialogs. This way you can accurately and carefully track your finances. For example, you can break transactions out to be Personal or Business, or into subcategories such as Personal:Pets (Pets being a subcategory of Personal). Other categories could include such things as Personal:Rent, Personal:Entertainment, Computers:Software, Sports:Soccer, etc.... Additionally, if you use categories/subcategories you can take advantage of the WinCheck Budget Manager and Report Generator. Refer to the section on Categories and Subcategories for more information. Double click with the right mouse button over the Amount or $ field in a transaction to bring up the Windows calculator over the top of the transaction. Press CTRL+INS or choose Copy from the Edit menu to copy the calculated value into the Windows Clipboard. Press ALT+F4 or double click with the mouse on the close bar in the upper left to close the Calculator. Move the cursor to the amount field and press SHIFT+INS to paste in the value from the Clipboard. Disable Recalc when entering a slew of transactions with a Register window active. Select Recalc from the Data menu so that a check mark does not appear beside Recalc. No check mark means that Recalc is disabled. When the recalculation is disabled, WinCheck will not need to recalculate the balance after each transaction making the entering of transactions significantly faster. Select Recalc from the Data menu again to enable the recalculation feature of WinCheck. The Recalc option will be greyed if any Statement windows are open. Use the Common Transactions to the fullest! Bill paying can be just a few keystrokes or mouse clicks away. By using the Misc transaction for everything except checks, you can have detailed descriptions listed under the Common menu (instead of Checking Deposit you can have First of Month Paycheck). Setting up periodical bills as common transactions is especially important if you are using WinCheck to print your checks. Check Details such as account numbers in the memo line and recipient information such as "Mail To:" and "Address:", can be saved as a Common transaction. Without common transactions, you would be typing the recipient address or memo line information with each check you print/write. Refer to the section on Common Transactions for more information. Use the Reminder property for your Common Transactions and never miss a payment again. Set the Statement and Register windows to have different colors so that it is easy to tell from a glance which window you have open, a Register or Statement. To set the window color, choose Colors from the File menu. In the list of descriptions there is an option for the Statement Window and Register Windows. Refer to the section on Configuring WinCheck for more information. Use the Display Uncleared option from the Data menu of the Statement window when reconciling your checkbook. Once no transactions appear, you should be done balancing (everything has cleared the bank). Use the summation feature to sum a group of transaction, either discontinuous or continuous. The following information are examples of the information posted when using the summation feature with a group of transactions: Selected Items Check# 100 10.00 Check# 101 24.00 Check# 104 5.00 Savings Withdrawal 100.00 Result: All Amounts Added: $139.00 Checking amount change: $39.00 Debited Savings amount change: $100.00 Debited Selected Items Check# 1045 30.00 Check# 1046 10.00 Check# 1052 5.00 Savings Deposit 234.32 Result: All Amounts Added: $279.32 Checking amount change: $45.00 Debited Savings amount change: $234.32 Credited Take advantage of the Transaction Details. You can put account numbers or other important information on the memo line for added security. If you purchase envelopes with windows, you can have the recipients address printed on your check so that it views through the window. Take advantage of the Comments section to make notes about transactions. When you create form templates, please feel free to distribute them everywhere. Many other users would love to have pre-defined forms. A good description would be the form inventory number and manufacturer. Use WinCheck's backup feature to make backup copies of your data when closing account files. Backups can be made to floppy drives A or B. Refer to the section on Configuring WinCheck for more information. Use the Find command to find transactions for a particular amount ($20.00 Checking ATM transactions) or to a particular recipient (i.e. Pet World). Use the Find command to locate all transactions with a particular category such as Charity or Gifts. Are you spending to much on these categories or too little? Print a Cash Flow report for a break down of amount spent in each category for one month or a range of months. Refer to page 15 for information on creating a cash flow report for your account data. Refer to the sections on the Register and the Statement for examples of using the Find Transaction function. Forms are device independent as long as you leave the lines per inch and characters per inch settings at their defaults (6 LPI and 10 CPI). Register this product! By registering this product, you will keep informed about future updates to WinCheck. Appendix B: WinCheck Messages The following is a list of WinCheck messages and their meanings. <xxx> is an invalid filename. When typing the name of an export file, the filename must adhere to the DOS file naming conventions. Those being a maximum of three characters, a period (.) and a three letter file extension. Added Check to Check Print Queue When indicating more than 1 form per page in the WinCheck Form Designer, this message will appear to indicate that the check has be queued up checks for printing. Checks will print it when the queue is full, or when exiting WinCheck. Refer to the section on Printing Checks for additional information. Are you sure the year is correct? If you type in a questionable date such as 05/23/01, WinCheck will prompt before accepting the value. Choose No if the date is incorrect and Yes if the date is correct. At least one of the two filters (Cleared/UnCleared) must be checked. Checking both ignores this filter At least one of the two filters (Credit/Debit) must be checked. Checking both ignores this filter At least one of the two filters (Tax Deductible/Not Tax Deductible) must be checked. Checking both ignores this filter. When creating or modifying a report, it is not possible to not have both of the filters deselected (Debits/Credits, Tax Deductible/Not Tax Deductible, Cleared/Uncleared). To indicate that you are looking for both Cleared and Uncleared checks, place an X in both the Cleared and UnCleared box. The underlined character of each filter indicated the keyboard accelerator. For example, ALT+R toggles the X in and out of the Credits box. Cannot Edit or Delete Category 'Personal'. The Personal category is the default category for all new transactions and cannot be deleted. Cannot find Help file; run Setup again to install Help file. Run the WinCheck Setup program to install WinCheck's Help Files. If receiving this error when selecting "Help on Help" from the Help menu, make sure that WINHELP.HLP is in your Windows directory and/or on your DOS path. WinCheck's On-Line help file is name WinCheck.HLP and should be located in the WinCheck program directory. Converting Data... Please wait When open an account file from a previous version of WinCheck, this message will appear to let you know that WinCheck is converting the data to the new data format. If the checkbook filter is activated, the 'Show Debits' filter must also be activated If Show Only One Checkbook is selected in the Custom Report Maker, then the Debits filter must be selected. Click in the box labeled Debits or press ALT+B from the keyboard. Incorrect Password WinCheck does not recognize the password you entered when loading a password protected file. Invalid Filename(s). Please use 0-9, A-Z only This message can occur when assigning a name to a custom report. The custom report will automatically be assigned a RPT extension. Type a maximum of 8 characters (no file extension) for the report filename. Invalid ID- Please use characters and numbers only. This message will occur when trying to create an account with an ID other than letters and/or number. For example, entering er+ will result in the above message. More than 100 items matched the search key. The total dollar amount is still correct, but only the first 100 are displayed. WinCheck can display up to 100 matches with the Find option from the Acct menu. Matches over 100 are not displayed. The "total" figure, however, is accurate. Move category '<xxx>' to subcategory '<xxx:yyy>'? If you have chosen to modify a category such as Utilities to Personal:Utilities, this message will appear to ensure that you intended to move a category to a subcategory. Choose Yes to approve the move and No to not move the category. Refer to the section on Categories and Subcategories for more information. Negative Sign Unnecessary. WinCheck automatically adds or subtracts the amount from the register. In the case of Miscellaneous transactions, use the "Credit" checkbox to indicate deposits to your account. No template loaded. This message will appear if you attempt to print a check without a check template open. When this occurs, you will be brought into the WinCheck Form Designer to create or load a template. Number must be less than or equal to amount available. This message will appear if the amount entered into the Amount field is greater than value beside the Amount Remaining while in the Split Dialog. Offset must be between 0 and 7. The printer offset must be between 0 and 7 characters. Only one new transaction of each type (Check, Deposit, etc.) allowed at a time. WinCheck allows only one new transaction to be entered at a time. For example, one new (blank) Check or Checking Deposit. Password and Verify Fields do not match. You need to type the same password in the Password and Verify fields. Your password is not case sensitive. Please do not enter a file extension. WinCheck will automatically add .WCT to the filename. When saving a Check template in the Save Check Printing Form dialog, type 1 to 8 characters without a file extension. WinCheck will automatically add a WCT field extension to the check template files. Please Insert Backup Disk for account <xxx> in Drive <drive>: If a backup drive (A or B) is selected in the Select Backup Drive dialog (from the File menu), then this message will appear when closing the account or the program. Please type the subcategory name only. When modifying a subcategory name, type the new subcategory name only (not the category name as well). For example, if the top category in the Edit Categories dialog is Cats:Pogo, then the bottom field will display Pogo. To change the subcategory name, change Pogo to Hanna and click on the Modify button. Prepare Printer for Printing Checks When starting the WinCheck program and you have Automatic Pay and Print transactions, this message will appear to allow you to prepare the printer. Press OK once the printer is ready to print checks. Program .EXE File Damaged WinCheck checks the size of the EXE file on startup of the program. If this size has changed, the message will result. Try reinstalling the program from the master disks. Recalc must be on when a Statement window is open. Turning Recalc back on If you have disabled Recalc for a Register window and then open a Statement window, this message will appear. It is not possible have Recalc disabled when a Statement window is open, so WinCheck lets you know that recalculation has been enabled. Setting Recalc Back on for Deletion If you have Recalc off in the Register window (Recalc is an option from the Data menu) and you delete a transaction, this message appears to let you know that Recalc was turned back on to make the deletion possible. Deselect Recalc (no check mark) from the Data menu to disable recalculation of the Register window data. Subcategories cannot have subcategories. '<xxx:yyy>' changed to '<xxx-yyy>' This message will appear if there is more than one colon (:) in the category name. For example, Cats:Dog:Pogo will result in the following category: Cats:Dog-Pogo The date is incorrect. Please use MM/DD/YY format. If an invalid date is entered into the date field (3/r/91), the program will post a message and not allow the transaction to be complete until a valid date is entered. There are no open transactions at this time. This message will appear after selection Edit Open Transaction from the Window menu if no transaction dialogs are open. There was a problem reading the WinCheck.EXE file WinCheck checks the size of the EXE file on startup of the program. If this size has changed, the message will result. Try reinstalling the program from the write protected master disks. This category already has subcategories. It is not possible to move this category to a subcategory. Every category can have any number of subcategories. Once a category is assigned subcategories (Utilities:Phone), it is not possible to assign the category to be a subcategory of another category (Personal:Utilities). Before adding Personal:Utilities, Utilities:Phone will be to be renamed (modified) or deleted. Refer to the section on Categories for more information. This transaction must have a dollar amount to use these properties. Many of the transaction properties require a dollar amount for the transaction. For example, Automatic transaction require a specified amount. Common transactions with variable amounts can use the Menu property only. Refer to the section on Common Transactions for additional information. Too many open Transactions. WinCheck can display up to 4 transaction dialogs simultaneously. However, only one new transaction is allowed for each type of transaction. For example, you can have 4 completed check transactions open, but only one new check (blank) transaction dialog open at a time. Be careful to click only once with the mouse on the Control Bar icons. Unable to access printer driver. Check to make sure the printer is active via Control Panel. When selecting a printer driver after choosing Windows Printer Setup or Select Printer(s) for Checks/Reports from the File menu, the printer driver must to set to a printer port (LPT1, COM1, or File...) and be active in the Windows Control Panel. Refer to your Windows documentation for information on setting a printer driver to active (in Windows Control Panel Printers). Look also to the section on Configuring WinCheck for additional information on printer setup. WARNING: Deleting a category can leave transactions with unresolved categories. Deleting a category with subcategories will delete all of the subcategories. Continue? WinCheck wants to make sure that you mean to delete the transaction category. If you delete a category, transactions that were using the category will revert to Personal (the default category). WinCheck requires at least 200K of free disk space on <drive>: When there is less than 200K of free disk space on the drive that WinCheck is installed on WinCheck will save your data and shut down. Free up additional disk space before starting up again. Windows has less than 5% System Resources. WinCheck will save all data and then exit. After receiving this message of low Windows System Resources, WinCheck will shut down after saving all open account files. Choose About Program Manager from the Help menu of Program Manager to view available memory and resources. WinCheck will not operate with less than 5% available before or after the WinCheck program is started. Appendix C: Common Questions and Answers Question: When viewing the Statement or Register windows, there are some columns in which the data appears as ##### and the data does is clipped when printed (not all of the text prints). Answer: Change the width of the column by positioning the mouse between the two columns so that the cursor changes to a bar with a left and right arrow. Now click and drag the mouse to increase the width of the column. Once adjusted to the correct width, choose Memorize Heading Columns from the Data menu. Question: Why is the OK button in the Split Transaction dialog greyed? Answer: Until all of the transaction amount is accounted for within the split, you will not be able to Exit the dialog by pressing OK. The amount in the Amount field must be 0.00 (no money remaining that has not been accounted for), before pressing OK. Refer to the section on Split Transactions for more information. Question: How can I set up a Savings only account? Answer: WinCheck is currently able to create the following types of accounts: Checking or Cash Checking and Savings Credit Card If you would like to set up a Savings only account, choose to start a Checking and Savings account when opening a new account. This option will enable the Savings Account tracking in the Account Settings dialog. The Register will now have the following headings as a result (choose Headings from the Tools menu if the column headings are not currently on the Register window): Date, #, Description, ChkAmt, ChkBal, BnkChk, SavAmt, SavBal, BnkSav. To make is so that only the Savings columns appear on the Register window, minimize the Chk columns so that no data appears. Position the cursor between ChkAmt and ChkBal so that the cursor changes to a double sided arrow. Now, click the left mouse button and drag the column separator to the left until you cannot see heading label ChkAmt. Position the cursor between ChkBal and BnkChk. Click and drag again to the left until the data and column headings disappear. Finally, position the cursor between the BnkChk and SavAmt columns and click and drag the mouse to the left. By doing this we are "hiding" the checking columns so that this account displays Savings Transactions only. Use the same procedure to minimize the ChkAmt column in the Statement window. Note: After adjusting the column widths, choose Memorize Heading Columns from the Data menu to save the column widths for the next session. Question: After creating a custom report with the WinCheck Report Generator, the report views and prints without data or headings. Answer: If the custom report has a title, but no headings or data when printed or viewed, ensure that there are "Column Attributes" set for the columns of data. By default, WinCheck will create a custom report with 3 columns below the Report Description field. Click on each column and set a column attribute such as Date or Description. If this terminology seems foreign to you, refer to the report examples in the Getting Started section and also to the Printing Reports section. If the report has headings but the wrong data, change the starting and ending month selection in the WinCheck Report Generator dialog. Choose Report Generator from the Acct menu and in the resulting dialog indicate a starting and ending month. Next, choose the report from the list box and click on Preview or Print. To change the report or view the report settings, select the report name and then click on the Edit button (this will bring up the WinCheck Custom Report Maker dialog box). Refer to the section on Printing Reports for additional information. Question: How do I open a Register or Statement for a month not listed in the "Pick A Month" dialog (after selecting Display Check Statement or Register from the Acct menu)? Answer: It is not possible to open a Register or Statement window unless there is data for that month. If you would like to open a Register or Statement window for March, write a transaction with a March date (03/XX/91); where XX is the day number. Question: Is there any way to change the colors of the transaction dialogs? Answer: The colors for the transaction dialogs are not editable with the File Colors command. You can however change the colors for most other items in WinCheck, but not the background colors for the transaction dialogs, i.e. Misc transactions are hot pink. If you would like all of the transactions to have a gray background (no flashy colors), turn off the Transaction Wallpaper in the Account Settings dialog (from the Acct menu). Question: The Balance figures in the Register window as well as the Status Line are missing/blank. Answer: Recalc is currently not enabled. Select Recalc from the Data menu so that a check mark appears beside Recalc. Note: Turning Recalc off is helpful when entering a series of transactions. Because WinCheck does not need to recalculate the balance after each transaction, the entering of transactions is significantly faster. Question: How do I print a check that I have already entered into the Register or Statement windows? Answer: If the active window is a Register window, select the check transaction to print and choose Print Checks from the Data menu (or press CTRL+P from the keyboard). If the active window is a Statement or Register window, double click on the transaction (or press Enter from the keyboard) and click on the Print button in the check dialog (or press ALT+P from the keyboard). Question: Why is Recalc greyed out under the Data menu? Answer: Recalc is greyed if any Statement windows are open. In order to disable Recalc, only Register windows can be open. Question: Why does miscellaneous appear in my category report? Answer: As soon as you designate a subcategory for a category such as Utilities:Phone, any Utilities transactions without a subcategory will be referred to as Miscellaneous in your reports. See the section on Categories and Subcategories for more detailed information. Appendix D: Updating from Previous Version As with any software setup program, it is always a good idea to backup all of your account files prior to installing and running the updated version of WinCheck. The file extension for your checking/savings account(s) files are the same as your account ID. So if your account ID is "JAS", you can backup your JAS account by copying *.JAS to another subdirectory on your hard disk or to a floppy diskette. If you are updating from a previous version of WinCheck, run the Setup program and choose to install the new version in the same subdirectory as WinCheck is currently installed. For example, if your previous version of WinCheck was installed on the C drive in a subdirectory called WinCheck (C:\WinCheck), choose the same subdirectory name when installing the new version of WinCheck. When starting the new version of WinCheck for the first time, you will be prompted for an Account ID as in previous versions of WinCheck. After selecting an Account ID from the drop down listbox, your data will be converted to the new WinCheck file format. The process of converting your previous version data files may take some time depending upon the size of your files and the speed of your computer. Once converted, the Account Info dialog will display. In this dialog, type a description for the account such as Personal Checking Account or Home Business Account. Note: Normally if you were starting a new account, starting balances would be indicated in this dialog as well. But, since this is a converted file with a starting balance already indicated (WinCheck handled starting balances differently in previous versions), leave the balances at 0.00 and click the OK button. The next dialog to appear is the Select Checkbook dialog. 1. Beside "Checkbook Name", enter the name for one of your checkbooks. For example, enter Shirley Johnson's Personal Checkbook or Printer Checks (if you will be printing checks). 2. Next open your physical checkbook and get the number of the next available check (blank check) and type this number in the field labeled Next Blank Check #. 3. Then type the check number of the first check in your checkbook in the First Check # in Book field and the last check number in your checkbook in the Last Check # in Book field. The value for the First Check # in Book would be the first check number that you entered with the WinCheck program. If you do not know this number off hand, leave the default value in the box and edit the value once you view your account information to find the first entered check number. The Last Check # in Book is usually the last check number in the last book of checks that you presently have for the account. 4. Click in the Endstub check box if this is the type of checks you are using (this will change the tabbing order in the write check dialog). 5. Once the correct check numbers are entered and a checkbook name, press the Add/Modify button to add the checkbook. You can continue adding additional checkbooks at this time or add them later. Press OK to exit this dialog and view the new WinCheck Register window. Both the Balances dialog and the Select Checkbook dialogs are optional startup dialogs indicated in the Account Settings dialog (from the Acct menu). Choose Select Checkbook from the Acct menu at any time to change the information in the Select Checkbook dialog (the First Check # in Book). Appendix E: Ordering and Using Computer Checks In order to fully realize the productivity, convienience and time saving benefits of using WinCheck, we recommend that you use WinCheck to print check forms. If you have never ordered checks for computer use before, here are a few of the most commonly asked questions when deciding to order and write checks with the WinCheck program. What are the benefits of printing checks? Printing checks with the WinCheck program will save you time. Instead of writing your checks by hand and then entering them into WinCheck, you can enter and print checks in one step. Additionally printed checks present a clean, professional appearance. How can I write checks when I am out shopping and away from the computer? Continue to write checks away from computer as you have in the past with checks from your pocket checkbook. Simply enter these transactions into the WinCheck Register the next time you use WinCheck. Should I try to fit my computer check numbers to the sequence of numbers in my pocket checkbook? No. In order to prevent duplication of check numbers in the same checking account, order computer checks with a higher series of numbers than those on your pocket checks. You can do this by indicating the starting check number when ordering printer checks. WinCheck includes an option called Select Checkbook specifically for this situation. In the Select Checkbook dialog (from the Acct) menu you can indicate starting and ending number for each of your checkbooks, your printer checks and pocket checkbook. Refer to the section on Configuring WinCheck for more information. If I order checks from someone other than my bank. are they safe to use? ABSOLUTELY SAFE. In fact some banks order checks for their customers from some of the same computer check companies as individual computer users do.