The Business Master (3rd Edition)

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Tree Based User's Manual Requirements: IBM based computers. DOS 2.1 or higher. 512 KB RAM Free Version August 1992 Copyright (c) 1989,1990,1991, 1992 Jonathan Berry and Matt Berry, All rights reserved Trigo 1932 Meyer Pl B-2 Costa Mesa, CA 92627 714-642-5387 Trademarks: Quicken is a registered trademark of Intuit. IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. ABOUT TREE BASED FREE VERSION Tree Based Free Version is a fully functional program. It is NOT a crippled working model. It is NOT a demo version. Yet it is completely free! We encourage you to copy it off for your friends, put it on your bulletin boards, collect a distribution fee (not more than $10 please), or bundle it with your hardware or software products. FREE REGISTRATION Registration is Free! That's right, there is no fee! You may register by calling (800) MNY-TREE or by sending your name and address: Trigo, 1932 Meyer Place B-2, Costa Mesa, CA 92627. Registration gives you 5 minutes of free phone support, update information on current and future versions, and a $40 discount on our Version 2.5E if you should ever want to upgrade. UPGRADE TO VERSION 2.5E! Version 2.5E is $89.95. But registered users can upgrade for only $49.95 (plus $4.50 shipping and handling -- CA residents please add $3.87 sales tax). Call now! (800) MNY-TREE. Visa & MasterCard accepted. Or send check to the address above. Outside of USA add $10.05 shipping and handling (total $60). Please use US currency traveler's checks or a check drawn on a US bank. BBS ORDER -- FOR INSTANT UPGRADES You may download the latest Free Version (it's free of course) or you can upgrade to version 2.5E through the BBS (Visa or MasterCard Accepted -- manual and original diskettes sent through the mail). Technical support is also available. Our BBS number is (714) 642-7627. 1200/2400 baud. N,8,1 MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE If for any reason whatsoever you're not completely and totally satisfied with Version 2.5E, you may return it within 60 days for a complete and prompt refund. NO QUESTIONS ASKED! FREE PROGRAM With your order we'll send you a FREE registered version of Hair Trigger. The pop-up keystroke macro utility. Create macros on the fly or create and edit them in your word processor! Works with your DOS based programs. Ask for it! Have fun .... and PLEASE REGISTER NOW! CALL 1 (800) MNY-TREE!! DO IT NOW!!! TABLE OF CONTENTS TRIGO END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT 1 Difference Between Versions 2 How to Install Tree Based 3 How to Install on a Hard Disk 3 Floppy Based Systems 3 Quick Start: Tutorials 4 Building Account Trees 5 Adding a New Account: Siblings 5 Creating Headers: Parents 6 Creating Subaccounts: Children 6 Creating Accounts while in a Voucher 8 Initial State 8 Renaming an Account 8 Deleting an Account 9 Alphabetizing 9 Joining 9 How to Move the Cursor 11 Time Travel 11 Moving Vertically 11 Name Search 11 Expanding and Collapsing Trees 11 How to Use the Menus 13 How to Adjust Time Periods 14 Upper & Lower Windows 15 How to Enter Transactions 16 Transaction Status and Fate 17 Locating Transactions 17 Making Modifications 18 Deleting Transactions 18 Archived Transactions 18 Split Transactions 19 How to Print Checks 20 Printing checks on the Fly 20 Print Checks Register 20 Checkbook-style Registers 22 Balancing an Account 23 AutoEntry Transactions 25 Auto-Entry Screen 25 Fate 25 Type 26 Amount Field 26 Freq (Frequency) 26 Eff Dt/End Dt 27 Generate 27 Memorized Transactions 27 Memorizing Transactions on the Fly 27 Deleting Memorized Transactions 28 Budgeting Feature 29 Working with Files 30 Saving Files 30 Importing Quicken Files 30 Importing Transactions with ASCII Text Files 31 How to Print Reports 35 Setup 37 Altering Work Sheet Titles 37 Data File Settings 37 B-Week Index 37 Fiscal Year 37 Future Margin 38 Default Account 38 Changing the Work Sheet Time Span 38 Program Settings 38 Altering Colors 39 Importing: Free Form & CheckFree (addendum) 40 Free Form Import Rules 40 Examples 40 -- page 1 -- TRIGO END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT NOTICE TO END USER: CAREFULLY READ THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS. USE OF THE SOFTWARE CONTAINED IN THIS PACKAGE CONSTITUTES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND AGREEMENT TO ABIDE BY THEM. If you do not agree with the terms and conditions of this Agreement, return or destroy the diskettes. 1. RIGHTS of JONATHAN BERRY. You acknowledge and agree that Tree Based Free Version is a proprietary product of JONATHAN BERRY, protected under U.S. copyright law, international treaty provisions, and trade secret laws of general applicability. You further acknowledge and agree that all rights, title, and interest in and to Tree Based Free Version are and shall remain with JONATHAN BERRY. 2. OTHER RESTRICTIONS. You may not lease or rent Tree Based Free Version. You may not disassemble, decompile, or reverse engineer Tree Based Free Version. No Registration Fee is required. You may bundle Tree Based Free Version with your product or you may copy the Free Version for another person only if you do so free of charge or for a fee equal to or less than $5 per disk, and only if you include this license agreement, and only if that person accepts all of the terms of this agreement. 3. WARRANTY. TRIGO grants no warranties, expressed or implied, by statute or otherwise, regarding the disks and related materials, their fitness for any purpose, their quality, their merchantability, or otherwise. 4.LIABILITY. Tree Based Free Version is free of charge, and TRIGO has no liability to you or any other party for any loss or damages resulting from any claims, demands, or actions arising out of or relating to this Agreement. -- page 2 -- Difference Between Versions Free 2.5E AutoEntry Yes Yes Budget Feature Yes Yes Memorized Transactions Yes Yes Reports Yes Yes Check printing Yes Yes Quicken Importing Yes Yes Ascii Importing Yes Yes Free Form Importing Yes Yes Transaction Filtering Yes Yes Transaction Registers Yes Yes Information Notes Yes Yes Account Reconciliation Yes Yes Net Worth, Expense, Income Tracking Yes Yes Unit-based Registers Yes Yes Forecasting Yes Yes Financial Simulations Yes Yes Split Transactions Yes Yes Expanded Memory Support No Yes Password Protection No Yes Transaction Search No Yes Invoicing No Yes Statements No Yes Macros No Yes Pop-up Calculator No Yes Exporting No Yes # of Accounts 100 1000 Tree Levels 3 4 To order Version 2.5E call now 1-800-MNY-TREE. $49.95 + s&h -- page 3 -- How to Install Tree Based How to Install on a Hard Disk Compressed Files (TREEBASE.EXE) At the A:> or B:> prompt type TREEBASE C:\TREEBASE and then press Enter. Uncompressed files on floppies 1 For 5.25" drives, insert the Tree Based Install diskette. For 3.5" drives, insert the single 3.5" diskette that comes with your package. 2 At the A:> prompt (or B:> prompt) type INSTALL and press (Enter). 3 The program will ask: Install on drive [C]. If you want to receive the program on drive [C], press Enter now. If you want to receive the program on a different drive, simply type in the letter for that drive and then press Enter. 4 The screen will then display: Target Directory: \TRBASED. (At this time you may alter the target directory if you wish.) Press Enter. You are asked to confirm the creation of the sub-directory: Sub directory: TRBASED not found, create? [y/n]. Press Y to create the sub-directory TRBASED and to begin installation. 5 Place the cursor on the printer most compatible with yours. Press Enter to select. 6 Follow the instructions displayed on screen. At the DOS prompt type TR and then press the Enter key to begin. You might want to store the Tree Based diskettes in case you need them in the future. Floppy Based Systems Two Drive Operation. Use this method if you do not have a hard drive. 1 Insert the Tree Based program diskette in one of your drives. The program will operate from this drive. 2 Insert a formatted floppy disk in the other drive. This drive will store your files. Working with a Single Floppy Disk Use this method if you wish to carry Tree Based and your data file on one diskette. (This only works if you have sufficient room on the diskette.) 1 Insert the Tree Based diskette in drive B. 2 Insert a formatted floppy disk in drive A. 3 Copy the program file by typing COPY B:TR.EXE A: . 4 If you are using a diskette with a storage capacity greater than 360K and would like to use on-line Help, then you should also copy the TR.HLP file. Type COPY B:TR.HLP A: 5 Copy any data file(s) to the diskette in drive A. For example if I had been working with the data file "MY_MONEY," which was stored on drive B, I would type COPY B:MY_MONEY.TRE A: You may now use the diskette in drive A for all your work. Take it anywhere and use it on any IBM DOS based computer. -- page 4 -- Quick Start: Tutorials First: At the DOS prompt, type TR and then press the Enter key. Second: Press the F3 Key ("Quick Start") to view the Tutorial Lesson selections. Third: Press the Enter key or the number 1 key to enter the first Tutorial Lesson. Through the Tutorials, you can have your computer teach you how to use Tree Based. Here are some of the Tree Based tutorials available: TUTOR_1 Basic key commands and transaction entry TUTOR_2 How to customize Tree Based to your individual needs. TUTOR_3 Check Printing TUTOR_4 Multiple Entry Transactions ("Split Vouchers") TUTOR_5 Balancing your accounts TUTOR_6 Budgeting and goal setting TUTOR_7 Automatic Transaction Entry -- page 5 -- Building Account Trees Creating a Tree Structure can be very beneficial. Suppose you had a hundred Income and Expense Accounts. Instead of working with one very long list or with just one account at a time, Tree Based allows you to organize hundreds of Accounts into Tree Structures. Here are some other advantages: Locating a particular Account is simple because the Accounts are organized in a Tree Structure you have created. No more searching through lengthy lists. You can view your entire financial state on one screen. No more flip-flopping from register to register to try to imagine the "big picture." You may use one checkbook for personal and business purposes. Tree Based will keep track of the two balances as though they were separate accounts. To create your own personalized Tree Structure you must first enter the Edit Work Sheet. Do this by calling up the Main Menu (press Alt). Select Edit by pressing E. Adding a New Account: Siblings Because of the tree structuring nature of Tree Based, accounts have "relationships." You might want to compare a tree structure to a family tree. An account can be a parent, a sibling, or a child. Creating a sibling is perhaps the easiest. A sibling account is an account which is at the same level of another account. For example, if you had a parent account called Utilities, and if you had two children to that account called Gas and Water, those two accounts, Gas and Water, would be siblings (brothers and sisters). If you want to create another sibling to Gas and Water you would: 1 First place the cursor on Gas (or Water). Press the Insert key. A blank box will appear just below Gas. You have just added a new account which is at the same level as Gas and Water. 2 The new account (still unnamed) begins with an up/down arrow character to show you that you can move this account to a new position if you wish. You can do this by using the keys. 3 Type in the name for this new Account, let's call it Electricity. After you've entered your name, press the Enter key. (If you do not enter a name, Tree Based assigns "..." to let you know that an unnamed Account exists at that location.) Continue steps 1, 2, and 3 for each Sibling Account. You may enter as many as 65 in the Upper Window and 35 in the Lower Window. Additional note: In the above example, if you had wished to create a sibling to Utilities, you would have first placed the cursor on the account, Utilities, and then pressed the Insert key. As a rule, in the Edit Work Sheet, pressing the Insert key will always create a sibling to the account at the cursor. -- page 6 -- Creating Headers: Parents Creating a Header is a basic step in forming a Tree Structure. Let's use the following example. Suppose you have 3 Accounts (Electric, Phone, and Gas as shown in the illustration) that you would like to group together under a common Heading of Utilities. Procedure for Making a Header 1 Place the cursor on one of the Accounts. 2 Call up the Edit Menu by pressing Alt (or /). 3 Select Tree by pressing T. 4 Select Header by pressing H. 5 Type in the new Name ("Utilities" for our example). 6 Use the Move feature to move the other Accounts into the new Tree Structure. Note: The Free Version can only handle 3 tree levels. When creating the Tree, remember that it is always changeable. You can always alter a Name and move Accounts to other levels and groups. This means that you can enter transactions without perfect confidence in the existing structure, knowing that you can refine it later. Creating Subaccounts: Children Creating a subaccount is very similar to creating a parent. However, instead of selecting Header from the Tree Menu, select Subcategory or Subaccount. In the following example, let's create two Subcategories to an existing Phone Category. 1. Place the cursor on the Phone Category 2. Tap the Alt key to call up the Edit Menu. 3. Press T to select the Tree feature. 4. Select S to create a subcategory. 5. Type in the name of your subcategory. Let's use the name Local for our example. 6. Press the Enter key when finished entering the name. 7. Now, to create a sibling to Local, press the Insert key and then type in Long distance. Press Enter when finished. Note that we used the Tree feature to create the child, Local, but that we used the insert key to create the sibling to Local, Long Distance. Asset and Liability Subaccounts Grouping Accounts: In the lower window, there is an important distinction between grouping and partitioning accounts. For example you may wish to group a checking and a cash account to form a common group, "Cash Assets," as shown on the next page. This helps you save space and gives you the total balance of Cash Assets. -- page 7 -- Headers are used to group several institutional accounts together. Since the Checking Account has its own bank statement, it must be reconciled independently of the Cash Account. We call this type of account a Registry or Check Registry. In the Edit Work Sheet, off to the right of each account, you'll see an account type. (An Account can either be a Header, a Registry, a Check Registry, a Net Profit or a Sub.) Once again, use a Header to Group Registries. In the above example, Cash Assets is a Header to two Registries, Cash and Checking. Each will have its own Reconcile Work Sheet. The Header's function is to group the accounts neatly together through tree structuring and to provide account totals. The Registry's function is to provide transaction Registers and a Reconcile Work Sheet. Partitioning Accounts: You may also create Sub-levels to your Registries, enabling you to partition one account into separate funds. For example, create two Subaccounts to your checking account, one for personal and another for business. As far as your bank is concerned, you only have one account. As far as Tree Based is concerned, you have two accounts which will be reconciled in a single work sheet. Other applications for Sub-levels in the Asset and Liability are: partitioning Registries for vacation savings, separating His and Hers funds, or using a "money jar" approach to budgeting (setting aside money for food, utilities, entertainment, etc. -- all within one main account). Each subaccount will have its own register. To work in a subaccount register, expand an account group until the subaccount is exposed, place the cursor on the subaccount and hold down the Alt key and press the R key. If you leave the account group collapsed, so that the cursor rests on the 'parent' account, and then hold down Alt and press R, you will enter a register which includes all transactions from each of the subaccounts. CAUTION: Allowing Subaccounts in the Lower Window makes Tree Based extremely flexible. However, it is important to remember which of the Subaccounts represents your Registry. This is the Account level that is reconcilable. Two Subs of one Registry cannot be reconciled independently of each other, so be sure to create all institutional accounts at the Registry level. Here's a good rule to follow, create your institutional account as a Registry first, then organize a Tree Structure around it. Note that the selection of Sub or Header never creates a Registry. To create a Registry, place the cursor on another Registry or Header and press Insert. Here are the four types of Accounts available in the Asset and Liability. HEADER Displays totals and groups Accounts. Create in the Edit Work Sheet (Alt E) by selecting Tree of the Edit Menu (Alt T), then Header (H) of the Tree Menu. -- page 8 -- SUB Subordinate to a Registry, Header or another Sub. Create in the Edit Work Sheet by selecting Tree of the Edit Menu (Alt T), then Sub of the Tree Menu (S). REGISTRY Has a 'checkbook' style register and is reconcilable. Does not track check numbers. Create in the Edit Work Sheet by pressing Insert when on another Registry or Header. CHECK REGISTRY Has a 'checkbook' style register and is reconcilable. Check numbers automatically advance. Create in the Edit Work Sheet by pressing Insert when on another Registry or Header. Then press F4 to toggle to Check Registry. NET PROFIT This is an account which provides a Net Profit total in the lower window. Use this Net Profit account to convert the lower window into a real-time balance sheet. Typically, you would tuck this account away inside a tree devoted to Capital. The total at the bottom of the screen would then represent an imbalance amount (it should always be zero). This Net Profit account bears a total only; there is no register. Also, once converted to a Net Profit account, it cannot be reconverted to a regular Registry or Check Registry. However, you can move it, delete it or recreate it at will. Creating Accounts while in a Voucher You may create and position new accounts while in a voucher. Here's how it works: Enter the Account Selection field (by pressing A while in a voucher) and then type the name of the Account desired. If Tree Based does not find a match, it will create an edit box for you. All you need to do is finish typing the name of your new Account. After typing in the text, hit the key. Position the cursor where you wish to place the new Account. If you press the + key, the new Account will be placed just below the cursor; if you press the - key, it will be placed just above. The process works in reverse as well. Place the cursor above or below the Account you wish to create. Press the + key to position below and the - key to position above. Then type in the new Account. Initial State Create an opening balance to an account by entering a dollar amount in the Initial State field. Press F3 or Enter from the Account to get there. Caution: For institutional accounts, use the ending balance on your bank statement. Enter all transactions from that point on. This will ensure that Tree Based and your financial institution are on the same reconciliation cycle. -- page 9 -- Renaming an Account Change an Account Name by pressing the right arrow key or Delete while the cursor is on the Account. Type over the existing Name. Altering the Name does not change the assignment of transactions to that Account. If you typed "Food" over the existing characters of "Electric," you would then have "Electric" transactions in an Account labeled "Food." Moving an Account You may move Accounts with the Move feature of the Edit Menu: 1 Make way for the destination ahead of time. If you want to move an Account into a collapsed group, first expand (Enter) that group to expose the destination. 2 Place the cursor on the Account you wish to move. 3 Call up the Edit Menu by pressing Alt (or /). 4 Select Move by pressing M or by pressing Enter with the cursor on Move. 5 When you see the up/down arrow sign, use the up and down arrow keys to move the Account. 6 Press Enter to complete the Move. Special Considerations Moving a Header will also move all of the subaccounts. The program will not allow moving from the Upper Window window to the Lower Window window or vice versa. Deleting an Account Delete an Account with the Delete option from the Edit Menu: 1 Place the cursor on the Account you wish to delete. 2 Call up the Edit Menu by pressing Alt (or /). 3 Select Delete by pressing D. Special Consideration The program will not allow you to delete an Account that has transactions assigned to it. If you are sure that you want to delete such an Account, you need to delete or reassign its transactions first, and then you will be able to delete the Account itself. As an alternative, consider Joining two Accounts together. Alphabetizing Press the Alt key to pull up the Edit Menu and then select L or press Enter while the cursor is on the Alphabetize selection. Tree Based will alphabetize one level of one group (determined by the position of the cursor when you call up the menu). Other groups and lower levels are not affected. -- page 10 -- Joining The Join feature allows you to merge Accounts of the Income and Expense window or Registry Subaccounts within the Asset and Liability window. Any transactions from the former Account which did not have Labels will receive the former Account Name as the label. 1 Both Accounts must be pre-exposed. If one of the Accounts is embedded in a Tree Structure, use the key to expand it. 2 Place the cursor on the Account you wish to Join. (Select the Account that will be engulfed by the other.) 3 Call up the Edit Menu by pressing Alt (or /). 4 Select Join by pressing J. 5 Use the arrows to position the Account next to the target Account. 6 When the Joining Arrow points to the target Account in question, press Enter. (You will need to be either directly above or below the target Account to position the Joining Arrow correctly.) Caution: Joining accounts is irreversible. It is a good idea to backup your file before Joining accounts. -- page 11 -- How to Move the Cursor Tree Based is more flexible and powerful than a two-dimensional spreadsheet or checkbook program. The Tree Structure, combined with the adjustability of the Time Periods, plus the ability to switch to Year-To-Date, makes the Main Work Sheet multi-dimensional. And the Main Work Sheet, Edit, Auto-Entry, Budget, and Output features all share the same Tree Structure, so most of them share the same maneuvering commands as well. That means fewer commands to learn! Time Travel The keys move the cursor to different Time Periods, past and future. If you want to move faster, combine the arrow key with the key. If you have a long way to travel, you might consider altering the Time Periods first. (For example, put the work sheet in Yearly Mode (Control Y); when you tap one of the arrow keys, the cursor will move one year.) Here are a few extra time traveling commands that you may find useful: Home Places you on the current Time Period. Ctrl Home Will take you to the beginning of the Fiscal year. End Will take you to the end of the Fiscal year. Hitting End again will take you to the end of the next Fiscal year. Moving Vertically The up and down keys move the cursor from one Account to another. PgUp moves the cursor up one screen, and PgDn, conversely, moves the cursor down one screen. Ctrl PgUp and Ctrl PgDn move the cursor to the most recently used Account in the opposite window. Name Search Perhaps the quickest way to move from Account to Account is by using the Name Search feature. Simply type the first character of the Account you are trying to locate and the cursor will appear on an Account which begins with that letter. Nine times out of ten it will be the Account you are looking for. If not, simply press the next letter and the cursor will jump again, locating the Account beginning with those two letters. Even if Accounts have identical names, you can usually locate your Account on the first or second stroke since the cursor will jump from one identical Account to the other as you press the keys. (If you make a mistake, Backspace and try again.) Expanding and Collapsing Trees If you see a box just before an Account, then you know that you may expand this Account into Sub-categories. Simply place the cursor on the Account in question and press Enter. If you see one of the Sub-categories with a box in front of it, you may also expand this level by pressing the Enter key again. If you press Enter while on an Account which does not have a box in front of it, it will expand and show you all of the transactions within the Account for one Time Period. If you wish to collapse a tree structure, place the cursor within the tree in question and press Escape or Backspace. You may hold down Control and press Enter to expand all of the tree structures in one window, upper or lower. Holding down the Control and -- page 12 -- pressing Escape or Backspace will collapse all of the trees in one window. Expanding and Collapsing tree structures gives you the ability to zoom in for detail and zoom out for the big picture. For example, in a collapsed state you may scan your entire expense total in one glance -- and still have the ability to expand and zoom in to see how much of that expense went to utilities -- and then zoom in even further to see how much of the utilities' expense went to long distance phone calls. Pressing Escape would collapse the entire tree back to its root and give you an overall view of your financial state. Add this flexibility to the adjustability of the Time Periods and you have a multi-dimensional work sheet you may interact with, not just look at. -- page 13 -- How to Use the Menus To move from one feature to another, press and release the Alt key to pull up the Main Menu. From the Main Menu press the highlighted letter of the desired feature or move the cursor and press Enter. Notice that the menu system, like the work sheet, is tree structured. This allows you to access just about any feature or tool and thus gives you more control over the program. As you press highlighted letters, some selections will expand into sub-selections or collapse into main selections. The box in front of a menu selection, tells you that it is expandable, and a box around a group of selections tells you that it is collapsible. You may expand a selection into sub-selections manually by placing the cursor on the selection and pressing the Enter key. Conversely, you may collapse a group of selections by pressing the Escape key. As expected, the key commands for working with the menu system and the work sheet are basically the same. In addition to selecting directly from the menu, you may move from one feature to another even more quickly by holding down the Alt key and then pressing the first letter of that feature's name. For example, if you want to look at a Register, press Alt R while the cursor is on the account you wish to view. If you want to print a report, press Alt O (for Output). If you're in Edit, press Alt B and you move to Budget instantly. If you wish to return to the Main Work Sheet, press F10 (or Escape, if you are not inside a Tree Structure). It's as simple as that. -- page 14 -- How to Adjust Time Periods The Main Work Sheet displays three consecutive Time Periods, which may be adjusted to Daily, Weekly, Bi-Weekly, Semi-Monthly, Monthly, Quarterly, Twice Yearly, or Yearly. By adjusting the Time Periods you may: - Move through time faster. - Examine the balance of an account, day by day. - Inspect the Weekly expenses of an Account. - Display Yearly totals. - Enter a Quarterly Budget for an Account. Period Adjustment There are three ways to adjust the Time Periods. The easiest is to press the two quick keys listed below. F7 - decreases the time span. F8 - increases the time span. The Time Period may also be adjusted by selecting Time Period from the Various Tools Menu (Alt V). As you would expect, all totals on the Work Sheet are recalculated to reflect the change. These commands are active in the Main Work Sheet, Budget, and Output. You can also use this feature in the Main Work Sheet to generate a list of all transactions that fall within a given Time Period. This is done by adjusting the period while currently viewing transactions. To adjust the Time Periods instantaneously, press the Alt key and the first letter of the Time Period you desire: Daily Weekly Bi-weekly Semi-monthly Monthly Quarterly Twice Yearly Yearly Year-To-Date and Entire-To-Date Display Sub-categories and Headers display totals and subtotals for each Time Period. These totals can also be expressed as Year-to-date (Ytd) by pressing the F6 key once. Return to your normal Time Period totals by pressing the F6 key again. The current status is displayed in the upper left corner of the screen. In the Ytd mode, Tree Based adds up all amounts from the beginning of the Fiscal Year to the end of each Time Period. January 1st is the default start for each Fiscal year. You may redefine the Fiscal Year starting date in Setup. Ytd is active in the Main Work Sheet, Budget, and Output features of the program. You may also view Entire-To-Date totals by holding down Alt and then pressing F6. Tree Based will use the entire time span of your file to calculate the work sheet totals. Return to your normal Time Period totals by pressing Alt F6 again. -- page 15 -- Upper & Lower Windows Tree Based actually employs two work sheets, both displayed on one screen called the Main Work Sheet. We call the upper portion of the Main Work Sheet the Income and Expense window. Create an Account in this window to track gains and losses to your net worth. The lower portion is called the Asset and Liability window (Asset and Liability of Accounts). Create an Account in this window to keep track of all assets and liabilities. (You may select other names for these windows in Setup if you prefer.) Income and Expense Window The upper window tracks gains and losses to your net worth. If a transaction increases or decreases your total net worth, assign it to a Income and Expense Account in the upper window. Here are some transactions which belong to a Income and Expense Account: Paying the electric bill Paying mortgage interest Receiving interest Depositing a paycheck Asset and Liability Window The lower window shows your net worth at the end of each Time Period. The Asset and Liability of Accounts will properly reflect your true net worth if you include all assets and liabilities. If the transaction does not change your net worth (for example, if it is a transfer from one account to another), then assign the transaction to a Asset and Liability Account. Here are some transactions which belong in a Asset and Liability Account: Transferring from a savings to a checking account Buying gold coins Making a cash advance on a credit card Paying off mortgage principal Category Test Ask yourself this question before executing a transaction: WILL MY NET WORTH CHANGE? IF YES, THE TRANSACTION BELONGS IN A Income and Expense CATEGORY. IF NO, THE TRANSACTION BELONGS IN A Asset and Liability Account. -- page 16 -- How to Enter Transactions You may enter a transaction while in the Main Work Sheet, Register, or Reconcile. Here's how to record a Tree Based Voucher: 1 Press - to call up a Withdrawal Voucher or + to call up a Deposit Voucher. If you prefer to use the regular keyboard instead of the numeric key pad, press - for a Withdrawal Voucher or = for a Deposit Voucher. (If you use the shift key, it will pull up a Split Voucher. At any point you may change the Withdrawal/Deposit status of the Voucher by pressing the + and - keys while the cursor is in the Dollar field. Note how the bottom left corner changes from "Draw from Acct:" to "Deposit to Acct:" (or vice versa) and how the "To Category:" in the upper left corner changes to "From Category:." Note: you may also press Insert to call up a voucher. The last transaction within the assigned Category determines the Withdrawal/Deposit status of the Voucher. 2 Enter the dollar amount. Type in a decimal point to enter the cents. Press Enter to complete the entry. 3 To move the cursor to the Date field, press D. Modify the month and year by using the left and right arrow keys. Use the number keys or the keys to change the day. Press Enter when the date is correct. Note: pressing the Home key from the Dollar or Date field automatically sets the Voucher to the current date. 4 To select a Category, press C. Locate the desired Category using Name Search (typing the first letters of the Category name) or by pressing the up and down keys. Press Enter to expand Sub-levels or to complete your selection. To make an Account transfer, select a Asset and Liability Account. 5 To change the Account, press A to move to the Account field. Use Name Search or the up and down keys to locate the Account. Press Enter to complete the selection. 6 If you wish to identify the transaction with a check number, press N to move the cursor to the Num field. Then type a check number or any two non-numeric characters. Type in "**" (double asterisk) to print a check. Press to return to the Dollar field. Future check numbers will automatically advance. You may also press the * key from the Dollar field to automatically adjust the number field to "**." 7 To Label the transaction (not required), press the L key. Then type in the text and press Enter to return to the Dollar field. Tree Based uses the Label for the payee of a check. 8 To add a Memo, press M and type in the text. Press Enter for a carriage return and Control Enter to return to the Dollar field. 9 With "**" in the Number field you may enter an Address on the Voucher. Press A to move to the Address field and enter your text. Press Control Enter to return to the Dollar field from any position in the Address field. 10 Press F10 to record the voucher. If you press Escape while in the Dollar field, you will exit the Voucher without recording. -- page 17 -- Transaction Status and Fate Vouchers can have a Fate and a Status. Fate shows whether or not the transaction exists in the past (Real) it will disappear when it falls into the past (Fade) it will become Real when it falls into the past (Stay) it is ready to be printed it has been printed. Status shows whether or not the transaction has cleared the bank (CLEARED) it can be modified (ARCHIVED) it is a future transaction (FORECAST). The Voucher may be any one of the following. Fate Status Description Real Delete manually. Tree Based assigns this Fate if the Voucher is a past or present entry or has characters entered in the Num field. Real CLEARED The transaction has cleared the bank or other institution (performed in Reconcile). Real ARCHIVED Tree Based protects the amount, Account, and deposit or withdrawal status from alteration (performed in Reconcile). Fade FORECAST Tree Based will automatically delete this Voucher when it falls into the past. Stay FORECAST Tree Based will make the Voucher REAL when it falls into the past. To Print The Voucher is ready to be printed. Printed The Voucher has been printed. (Note: "Printed" transactions will become Real they are removed from the Print Register or when the program is exited and re-entered. At any time you may change the Fate of a Voucher by using the Voucher Menu (press Alt after calling up the Voucher). Locating Transactions Find Feature Use Ctrl-F to search for a transaction by label, dollar amount, or transaction number. Press Enter or F10 to start the search. All 'matching' transactions will be sorted into the "Find" window. Place the cursor on the desired transaction and press Enter to call it up. Modify the transaction, if necessary, and then execute with Enter or F10. To exit the Find window, press Esc. Note that in the Main Work Sheet Tree Based will search all categories (in both the Gain/Loss and αPool accounts) to locate transactions. It will also only search for component totals, not Split totals. However, in a Register, -- page 18 -- Tree Based will look for both component and split totals, and it will streamline its search into that one register only ... this greatly increases the speed of the search process. Main Work Sheet To locate the transaction in the Main Work Sheet, you'll need to find the appropriate Time Period. If necessary, extend the Time Period to a larger time span, such as Yearly. Expose all the transactions in that Time Period by pressing Enter. The three column work sheet collapses to one column to make room for the Work Sheet Register. Transactions are listed according to Date, along with the Check Numbers, Labels and transaction Amounts. The Income and Expense window also displays the Account of each transaction, while the Asset and Liability displays the running Balance. You may scroll to other Time Periods by using the keys. Press Escape or Backspace to collapse the Work Sheet Register and return to the three period status. To call up an existing transaction, simply place the cursor on the transaction in question and press the Enter key. Make any changes you feel are necessary. Register (Alt R) Transactions in the Register are sorted by Date. However, knowing the Check Number, Label, or Amount will also help you find it. The Reconcile screen may help if you wish to see transactions sorted into Deposit, Debit, and Check Number groups. Making Modifications Once the cursor rests on the transaction in question press Enter. The Voucher will appear with the cursor in the Dollar field. A transaction is always changeable. Modify the Date, Label, Memo, Account, or Check Number anytime. Even if it was recorded years ago! Deleting Transactions Delete a transaction by selecting Delete from the Voucher Menu. Delete Split Vouchers Component by Component or Entirely. (If you can't delete a Voucher, it's probably because the Voucher has been Archived. See Archived Transactions below.) Archived Transactions Tree Based protects Reconciled Vouchers, transactions declared "balanced with the account." Tree Based labels these Vouchers "ARCHIVED." You may modify the Date or Category of an ARCHIVED Voucher, but to delete the Voucher or modify the Amount, Account, or deposit/withdrawal status, you must first De-archive the Voucher: 1 Go to the Main Register (not a Sub) of the Account of the transaction (Alt R). 2 Position the cursor on the transaction. 3 Press D (for De-archive). 4 If the transaction was ARCHIVED, you will receive a prompt asking if you are sure you want to De-archive. If you answer Yes, the transaction will return to "De-archived" and "Un-cleared" status and -- page 19 -- the Previous Statement balance of your Reconcile Work Sheet will be adjusted by the amount of the transaction. If you answer No, nothing will happen to the transaction. 5 If the transaction was an Account transfer, you may also need to De- archive from within the other Account Register. 6 You may now modify the Voucher in any way, even delete it. Split Transactions You may break up a transaction into several Components. Here are a few examples for Split transactions: One check with items belonging to separate Accounts. A payroll deposit, with deductions for Federal Tax, Social Security, Disability, and State and Local tax. An itemized purchase (even if all are of the same Account). Initiate a Split transaction by pressing Shift - (draw from account) or (deposit to Account). If you wish to use the regular keyboard instead of the numeric key pad, follow these key assignments: Shift _ .........Split Withdrawal Voucher Shift + .........Split Deposit Voucher. You may also "convert" a regular Voucher into a Split through the Voucher Menu ( while viewing a Voucher and then ). The illustration below is an example of a Split transaction. One check is used to draw $10,000 from Checking Account, and the money is allocated to three separate Accounts: Gold Coins, Commission, Shipping, and $245.90 cash back. When you first call up a Split Voucher, the cursor appears in the Dollar field in the upper left corner. If you know the total amount of the transaction, enter it right away. If you want the computer to keep a running total as you enter each Component, then keep this amount at zero. Press Enter. Enter each Split Component separately. The Enter key will always move the cursor in a zigzag fashion from Dollar field to Category to Dollar field. While in the Dollar field, pressing L, M, or N will call up the Detailed version of the Component. The cursor will automatically land in the Label (L), Memo (M), or Number (N) field. Fill in the appropriate information. When you press Enter, the Detailed Component will collapse and the cursor will return to the Dollar field of the regular Component. Of course, the Label, Memo, and Number fields are only options and don't have to be filled out. With "**" in the Number field you may enter an Address on a component of the Split Voucher. Press A to move to the Address field and enter your text. Press Control Enter to return to the Dollar field from any position in the Address field. Pressing F10 will execute the entire Split Voucher. -- page 20 -- How to Print Checks Printing checks on the Fly Print a check while viewing a voucher simply by pressing Control P. You may select different check styles in the Print Checks Register (Below). If you press the * key, from the Dollar field, Tree Based places ** in the Number field and gives you the opportunity to enter an address. You can then press A while in a Dollar field to move to the address field. Also, if you have assigned an address in the Info Note, that address will automatically appear on the printed check; the "**" would not be necessary. Placing ** in the Number field also 'tags' the voucher so that it can be sorted into the special Print Checks Register. Print Checks Register The Print Checks Register groups checks, allowing you to work with Vouchers prepared for print exclusively and lets you choose your check printing options. (A Voucher prepared for print is a Voucher with a "**" in the Num field.) Holding down the Alt key and then pressing the P key will take you directly to the check printing register. To use the Menu, press the menu key (Alt or /). Then select Register and then Print Checks. Use the Print Checks Register when you need to print up several checks at a time or when you need to select a new check style. Next Num Use this setting to assign a check number to the Voucher Number field. Note: your checks already have the number printed on them, so the Next Num setting defines the numbers on the Tree Based vouchers not the numbers on the checks themselves. Groups of # This setting determines the number of checks to be printed per print job (that is, how many checks will be printed every time you press P for print). Tree Based places the printed checks above the horizontal bar, "To Print." Only the unprinted checks remain below the bar -- with the next batch to be printed in queue. (You can always tell which set of checks is in queue by the thickness of the vertical bars. If the transaction fields (such as Amount and Status) are separated by a thin bar, then the transaction is not in queue. If the transaction fields are separated by a thick grey bar, then the transaction is in queue.) Prepared This is not a setting, but a monitor. This box will let you know how many checks have been prepared for printing. (Note: when working with Forms, this becomes a setting titled "Copies," which allows you to duplicate the Forms you print. For example, you may create one copy for your customer and another for you own records.) Feed This setting is only applicable to Laser Forms. It allows you to print checks "normally" (that is, feeding the checks head first, just as you would a -- page 21 -- standard page) or "sideways" (landscape). Selecting sideways can be useful if you wish to print checks one at a time. Print Pressing P starts a print job. Select Printer and Form (Includes Check Styles) If necessary, press S to select your printer or form and then press Enter to complete the selection. As soon as you have selected your printer, Tree Based gives you the opportunity to choose your form. Only those forms compatible with the selected printer will appear. Place the cursor on the desired form and press Enter. -- page 22 -- Checkbook-style Registers Every account in the lower window has a Register, which is much like a typical check register -- showing check numbers, dates, amounts, labels, categories, and running balances. You can enter or change transactions while in these registers. In this way, you can use Tree Based just as you would use one of the popular "Checkbook Programs." Or flip back and forth from the Register to the Work Sheet -- since a transaction entered in one working environment is automatically updated in the other. (Tree Based also has a Register which keeps track of inventory and investment units.) Enter the regular Register by having the cursor on the Account in question, holding down Alt and then pressing R -- or by tapping the menu key, selecting Registers and then selecting Normal. Enter the Unit-based Register by selecting from the Registers menu or by pressing Alt U simultaneously. While in a Register, pressing Alt will call up the Register Menu. Here are some of the options available on this menu. Normal: This is the selection which brought you to the Register. Make this selection again if you wish to move to another register. Note that, outside of the menu, you may press A while in the Register to move to another Register. Clear Transactions: This selection will take you to a work sheet where you may balance your account against a statement, referred to as Reconciling. Print Checks: This selection takes you to a special register which sorts transactions which are ready to be printed (usually checks or invoices). Unit Based: This selection will take you to a Unit Based Register, where you may track prices and units as well as transaction amounts. Typically, one would use this Register for Inventories or Investment transactions. Once in a Register, use the Left, Right, PgUp, PgDn, Home, and End keys to get around. PgUp Moves the cursor up one screen. PgDn Moves the cursor down one screen. Home Moves the cursor to the current or most recent End transaction. Ctrl Home Moves the cursor to the last transaction of the Register, including forecasted entries. Moves the cursor to the first transaction (ie., the oldest) of the Register. From within the Register you may: Call up new Vouchers: +,-, or Insert. Modify/Delete existing transactions: Enter Alt D. De-Archive transactions: D . -- page 23 -- Balancing an Account Press Alt C to enter the Reconcile screen. There are a few differences between the Reconcile screen and the Register screen. In Reconcile ... Only Real transactions are displayed (not Forecasted transactions). Only non-reconciled (Non-Archived) transactions are displayed. Transactions are sorted into three groups: Deposits, Debits, and Checks. Deposits and Debits are sorted by date, Checks by number. There is a header at the top of the screen showing the current Account, Statement, and balancing formula. Here you may Clear and Un-clear transactions. You may view the Reconcile screen without performing any of the Reconcile operations. You are free to insert new or modify/delete existing transactions in the Reconcile screen. Refer to Chapter 4 for information about transaction operations. Reconciling an Account The main purpose of the Reconcile screen is to help you balance your account against a statement. Here's how to do it. 1 Press S to move the cursor to the Statement field at the top of the screen. Enter the target balance (or ending balance) of your statement. (Note: If you are reconciling a charge account, you may have to make the dollar amount negative.) Press F10 to return to the Work Sheet. 2 Press C (Clear), X, or Y (yes) to identify those transactions which have Cleared the bank (or other institution). After pressing C, the cursor will move one row down to the next transaction. Pressing X and Y will Clear the transaction and leave the cursor on the same row. If you make a mistake and need to Un-clear a transaction, press U (Un-clear) or (No). When an item is Cleared, the mid vertical bars widen. Toggle a transaction Cleared/Un-cleared (/) to watch this happen. The state of the vertical bars will remain in the Register screen and will help you keep track of Cleared transactions without having to be in the Reconcile Work Sheet. As each transaction is Cleared, the Total Cleared value is updated at the top of the screen. This in turn updates the Cleared Balance field. When the Cleared Balance matches the Statement balance, the Imbalance shows zero and you have balanced the Account. 3 When you balance the Account (Imbalance = 0), a menu appears giving you three options: Archive the Cleared transactions, Print up a report, or Continue. Select Archive if you would like to declare all Cleared transactions as Reconciled. The Cleared transactions will no longer be displayed in the Reconcile screen. However, they will still be easily accessible through the Main Work Sheet or Register. As mentioned above, when -- page 24 -- a transaction becomes Archived (and therefore Cleared) the texture of the vertical bars thickens in the Register. In the Voucher, the Amount, Account, and Deposit/Withdrawal status can only be changed by first De-archiving the Voucher. You may De-archive a transaction by locating it in the Register and pressing D. Select Print_Report if you would like to create a record of the Reconciliation on your printer, screen, or file. -- page 25 -- AutoEntry Transactions Many transactions are routine in Frequency and/or Amount. Tree Based can automatically place these transactions into the Main Work Sheet for you. An Auto-Entry transaction is a little different from a "Memorized Transaction." There is no need to recall a "memorized transaction" because each transaction has already been created and entered. The Auto-Entry feature also provides a means for you to simulate your financial future, allowing you to "anticipate" transactions, and answer "what if" questions. Auto-Entry enables you to estimate your net worth years into the future. You will also be able to know when accounts are likely to become overdrawn. You can evaluate all your important year end information, such as tax withholdings, interest earned, etc. All this information will be available in the Main Work Sheet for your inspection. Transactions that are generated by the Auto-Entry are "not Real," but may be assigned the potential to become Real -- or they may be assigned the potential to vanish as they fall into the past. The process is also reversible; you may change an Auto-Entry Voucher at any stage of the game. When you re-generate, all changes will be made for you. Your new Auto-Entry transactions will replace the old ones and will become part of your total financial picture. Auto-Entry Screen Enter the Auto-Entry Work Sheet by pressing Alt A from any feature. Exit Auto-Entry with the F10 key. Commands to maneuver through the category tree are identical to those of the Main Work Sheet. The following page illustrates an Auto-Entry Work Sheet. The Auto-Entry process involves vouchers which are templates of the transactions to be generated. Some of the vital information of each Voucher is displayed on the Auto-Entry Work Sheet. These Auto-Entry Vouchers are created and modified just as those on the Main Work Sheet. Initiate an Auto-Entry transaction by pulling up a Voucher: - or + . Manipulate the Auto-Entry Voucher just as you would in the Main Work Sheet. However, there are a couple of important additions to the Auto-Entry Voucher. Fate Select the Fate from the Voucher Menu (Alt). Stay Transactions that become "Real" when they fall into the past. Minimal changes (if any) are necessary because Vouchers have already been created with the essential details. If no Fate is selected, Stay is automatically assigned. Fade Transactions which "Fade away" as they fall into the past. Select this for uncertain expenditures or deposits. This is also an excellent vehicle for simulations, goal setting and budgeting -- since all transactions -- page 26 -- created will never interfere with your current (Real) financial state. Select the Fate from the Voucher Menu (Alt). ** Transaction which is ready to be printed. Type In addition to the Fate of a transaction, a Type may also be selected from the Voucher Menu (Alt). $ FIXED: Each generated transaction is of a Fixed dollar amount. If no Type is selected, the Voucher will default to Fixed. A AVERAGE: Generates a Fixed, Average dollar amount based on the history of that category. L LOAN: Generates the Principal/Interest portions of a Loan payment based on the current Principal balance and the assigned interest rate. This choice is only available in a Split Voucher. The amount is generated according to the following equation: Principal portion of payment = total Loan payment - (Interest x Balance). % INTEREST: Generates Interest paid or earned. The amount is generated according to the following equation: Interest paid/earned = Interest x Balance. Amount Field For Fixed Types, the amount represents the amount for each transaction generated. For Interest Types, the amount represents the annual interest rate (APR). The Interest is automatically adjusted according to the frequency selected. For Loan Types, the amount represents the total required payment in the first Component. You must work with a Split Voucher in order to provide an Interest Type Component with the Loan Component. If you are paying beyond the required Principal, simply add to the Loan amount. After completing the Loan Component, the second Component is automatically set to Interest. For Average Types, leave the Dollar field blank, the amount will be generated automatically for you. Freq (Frequency) There are eight frequencies to choose from: Daily, Weekly, Bi-weekly, Semi- monthly, Monthly, Quarterly, Twice Yearly, and Yearly. Press F to move to the Frequency field. Then press the first character of the frequency you wish to use (eg., press D for Daily, M for Monthly, etc.) If you select Semi- monthly, you will need to enter the two days of the month that the transactions will fall on. For all other selections the Effective date entry will decide the day of month or week the transactions will be generated. -- page 27 -- Eff Dt/End Dt (Beginning Date/Ending Date) This specifies the confining time span of the Auto-Entry generation. If the End-Dt shows "xx-xx-xx," the generation will continue until the end of your data span is reached. The Effective Date also determines the day of month or week of each transaction (except Semi-monthly). All Effective Dates that fall into the past will be given a future date when you reload the program. Generate When your Auto-Entry inputs are completed, generate the transactions by pressing the F9 key. Generation may take some time (depending on the size of your Tree Structure and length of time designated). If after viewing the Main Work Sheet you find that a mistake has been made, simply go back to Auto-Entry, make the correction and re-generate. All the Auto-Entry transactions will be replaced for that particular Voucher. Delete Auto-Entry Vouchers if you wish to delete transactions previously generated. If you wish to exit out of Auto-Entry without generating, press F10. Memorized Transactions Use the Auto-entry feature to create or modify Memorized transactions. To create a Memorized transactions press - or + to call up a Voucher. Next, tap Alt to call up the Voucher menu and select Memorized. (You may also select Memorized from the Frequency menu. Press F and then E.) Modify an existing Memorized transaction IN THE AUTOENTRY WORK SHEET, place the cursor on the transaction in question and press Enter. Make whatever changes you feel necessary and execute the voucher by pressing F10 Memorizing Transactions on the Fly You may create a Memorized transaction in the Main Work Sheet by pressing Control M while viewing a voucher. Retrieve a memorized transaction by hitting Alt M. Note, instead of a long list of memorized transactions, Tree Based sorts them according to the tree structure you have created. So locating a memorized transaction is much quicker. Place the cursor on either the account or category in question and press Alt M. Next, place the cursor on the desired transaction and press Enter. You may now modify the voucher or simply press F10 to execute. (In a Register, will streamline its search of memorized transactions to that one Register only.) You may also create or modify a memorized voucher in the Auto-Entry feature by selecting Memorized in the Frequency field or Menu of an Auto-Entry voucher. -- page 28 -- Deleting Memorized Transactions Memorized Transactions are stored in the AutoEntry Work Sheet. Go there by holding down the Alt key and then pressing the A key. Place the cursor on any of the accounts associated with the Memorized Transaction and press Enter until the transaction "pops up." Call up the menu (Alt or /) and select Delete. -- page 29 -- Budgeting Feature Tree Based will help you keep track of your Budget, help you set goals, and tell you whether or not you are reaching those goals. You may set goals on a Daily, Weekly, or Monthly basis -- or whatever Time Period you choose, then analyze all of your goals with the Comparison Mode. Budget Entries Enter the Budget feature by pressing Alt B. Type amounts directly onto the Budget Work Sheet. Change any of the Time Periods -- Daily, Weekly, Bi-Weekly, Semi-Monthly, Monthly, Quarterly, Twice Yearly, or Yearly -- by pressing the f7 and f8 keys. You may enter a Budget amount at any level of the Tree Structure. A Budget that is entered at a high level (a Header for example), disables the Budgets of lower levels (displayed as "xxxx"). A Budget that is entered at a lower level defines the Budgets at higher levels, the higher level being the sum of the lower levels. If you wish to fix an amount periodically, use the extrapolation key F9, which will automatically set the amount to each future period. Budget/Actual Comparisons Call up the Budget Vs Actual Comparison feature by pressing the f2 key. The vertical column on the right shows the difference between the Actual and the Budgeted amount. ACTUALS - BUDGETED = DIFFERENCE Positive differences mean you are within the Budgeted amount. Negative differences mean you have exceeded your Budget. -- page 30 -- Working with Files Tree Based gives you the flexibility and freedom to create and save separate files within any directory. File Operations are selected from the Files Menu (,), which is shown on the right. Saving Files Files are saved with the ".TRE" extension. Saving a file will overwrite an existing file with the same filename unless the File-Backup switch is on (refer to Setup in Chapter 12). If the File-Backup switch is on, the old ".BAK" file is deleted, the existing file is renamed with the ".BAK" extension, and the current file is saved with the ".TRE" extension. Save Saves the complete version of the current file under the existing (original) name. If the file was newly created, you are prompted to create a filename. Save_As Use to make floppy backups, among other tasks. Allows you to save the complete file under a new or different filename. This does not rename the current file; it creates an additional file under a new name. For example, if you open an existing file named MYFILE, and later you Save_As with the filename of MYNEW, then if you were to Save MYFILE again, you would have two files with the same data. You may also provide a different drive and path along with the filename. Save_Portion This allows you to save one continuous portion of your data to a separate file. You specify the time span (from one month to another) of the portion to be saved. This is handy for storing yearly backups or saving older portions of your data. Save_Skeleton This works like Save_As but saves only the Tree Structure of the current file. The text and organization of the Main Work Sheet is saved without any dollar amounts or transactions. You may use this feature to make a fresh start without having to re-create the structure. For example, it will give you immediate access to a familiar Tree Structure when taking on new clients. Opening Files You can open new or existing files without exiting Tree Based (Alt, F, O). Be sure to save the current file before making this selection. -- page 31 -- Importing Quicken Files Use this feature to transfer transactions from Quicken. All categories, sub- categories, accounts, and transactions will be imported. The procedure is to export each account from Quicken to a separate file and then import each file back into Tree Based. Export from Quicken. 1 Call up the Quicken Program. 2 Select an Account and enter that Registry.. 3 From the Quicken Register select F2, then Export. Be sure to export the entire time period desired. If you are planning to transfer all Quicken data then be sure that the beginning date selected includes the "Opening Balance". (This is usually the first transaction in the Quicken Registry). 4 Repeat steps 2 and 3 for as many accounts as desired giving each a separate filename. (Make note of the destination path of the export.) Do not leave out any accounts that have transfers to other accounts. 5 Exit Quicken. Import into Tree Based 1 Call up Tree Based (Type TR and press Enter). 2 If you wish to start with a fresh file, then select * New * from the file directory. Then enter the Edit mode (Alt E) and rename the "Checking Account" to the name of your most used account. Pressing the delete key lets you start renaming an account. Enter the account name exactly as it appears in Quicken (it is not case Sensitive). Exit the Edit mode (press F10). 3 Select Files from the Main Menu. Then select Import and enter one of the files exported from Quicken. It will be necessary to include the path that you specified during the Quicken export process. If you are not sure what the path was, it will probably work if you entered: \QUICKEN5\filename . The order of importing files is not important. 4 Repeat step 3 for each file exported by Quicken. Import all your accounts from Quicken to be sure that all account transfers are received. 5 If you get the "Not enough time spread." error, it will be necessary to increase the number of months allocated. This condition occurs when you have specified a lengthy time span in the Quicken export process. The allocation must be increased to the number of months representing the export time span. Enter the number in the command line as follows: TR filename number (No Ext on filename). -- page 32 -- Importing Transactions with ASCII Text Files You may import transactions into Tree Based from a standard ascii text file. To prepare a transaction for importing, begin each line of the text file with one of the following assignments: .C Conditional (default). Tree Based ignores transfers with positive amounts. This comes in handy when importing two accounts at the same time. For example, a transfer from a savings to a checking account will have two records, one for each account. If imported Unconditionally, Tree Based will create two transactions for each transfer between checking and savings. However, by using .C, one of the two will be ignored. .U Unconditional. Accepts all transactions unconditionally. .[Account Name] Destination Account D Date T Total Amount of the transaction. C* Cleared Status CX Cleared and Reconciled N Check Number (0-99999 or 2 ASCII Characters) P Label (Non-Split) M Memo (Up to 3 Lines) L Category for a regular Voucher (non-Split). Use brackets for Categories which belong in the Asset and Liability: L[Account Name] S Category for a Split Voucher. Use brackets for Categories which belong in the Asset and Liability: S[Account Name] E Split Label $ Split Amount End of Transaction To Import the "Transaction File," select Import from the Files menu of the Main Menu (Alt F and then I). Then type in the name of the transaction file and press Enter. Tree Based will automatically assign the transactions to the Category you have specified in the ascii file. If Tree Based does not find a particular Category, it will create it and build the tree structure according to your specifications (see next section, Importing Tree Structures with ASCII Text). Original Balance If you need to establish the Original Balance of an Account, be sure that the first transaction has a Label of "Opening Balance." The date should be one month prior to that of any other transactions. Also, make sure that the Category of this first transaction is also your Destination Account (that is, the Account which will receive all of the imported transactions). -- page 33 -- Example of a complete import file for "Checking Account" with an "Opening Balance": D12/31/90 T1000.00 CX POpening Balance L[Checking Account] D1/ 2/91 T-93.73 CX N2183 SLiving Expenses:Groceries:Food EJoe's Market $-70.00 SHome:Maintenance EHardware Unlimited $-23.73 Splits For Splits repeat S (Category), E (Label), and $ (Dollar Amount) for each split component of the transaction. Destination Account If there is no Opening Balance transaction as described above, then inform Tree Based of the Destination Account by typing in the name of the account, enclosing it with brackets, and placing a period in front. Example: .[Checking Account] Precede each group of transactions with a new Account Destination. NOTE: If this Destination Account is not found in the Main Work Sheet and there is no Opening Balance transaction, then Tree Based will ask you which Account the file should be imported into. Example of a complete import file for "Visa" without an "Opening Balance": .[Liabilities:Visa\Business] D1/ 2/91 T-48.00 LBusiness Expenses:Entertainment PThe Food Place MLunch with Big Corp Client -- page 34 -- Importing Tree Structures with ASCII Text Files The import process evaluates every "L" symbol it encounters to verify the existence of the Category or Account. If Tree Based does not find a character match in the Main Work Sheet, then it creates a new Category or Account. It also assigns the Category or Account to its proper position in the tree. You can build a library of tree structures outside of Tree Based and then import them into your work sheets. For example, keep tree structures on disk for each of the tax forms: 1040.TXT, 1065.TXT, SCHDLE.TXT, etc. You could then import any or all of these branches as needed for each client. In another example, importing the following file will create a tree structure which could be used in a home purchase situation. Filename: HOME.TXT LHome Expenses:Mortgage Interest Lhome Expenses:Maintenance Lhome Expenses:Insurance Lhome Expenses:Other L[Home Equity:Value] L[Home Equity:Mortgage] Importing HOME.TXT will create a Income and Expense tree of "Home Expenses" and a Asset and Liability tree of "Home Equity" along with the Sub-levels. Note that there are no other symbols (like )in the file. Sub-Registries In HOME.TXT note how Tree Based uses the colon ( ":" ) to recognize Sub- levels. If you wish to work with Sub-Registries (for account partitioning), separate Categories with the slash symbol ( "\" ). Examples: L[Liabilities:Visa\Hers] or L[Assets:Checking\Personal\Hers] | | +--------- Subs | +------- Registry +------ Header Importing: Free Form & CheckFree Free Form Import Rules 1. The file must be a standard text file. 2. The file must have a .PRN extension. 3. The first row must be a field-defining Header (for example, "Amount", "Category", "Label", "Date"). 4. The fields can be in any order. 5. Enclose text entries with DOUBLE QUOTES. 6. Do NOT enclose dollar amounts with DOUBLE QUOTES. 7. We recommend that you separate the fields with commas. -- page 35 -- Here are the characters used to define fields: AC Account AD Address A Amount CH Check Number CL Cleared C Category DA Date D Label L Label M Memo P Label N?T Memo N CheckNo R Cleared T Memo X Cleared # CheckNo Here's a listing of the defining characters grouped in fields. Account AC... Address AD... Amount A... CheckNo CH..., N..., #... Cleared CL..., R..., X... Category C... Date DA... Label D..., L..., P... Memo M..., N?T..., T... Examples Both examples produce equivalent results Example 1: "DATE" "CHECK NO." "CATEGORY" "DESCRIPTION" "AMOUNT" "RECONCILED" "MEMO" "ACCOUNT" "1992/04/28" "100" "CCS" "AMERICAN EXPRESS" -100.00 "C" "AMEX PAYMENT COMPUTER SHOW" "Checking" "1992/04/28" "101" "EXX" "EXXON" -101.00 "X" "GAS FOR SHOW" "Visa" "01/02/92" "102" "CCS" "AMERICAN EXPRESS" -102.00 "" "MDMD" "Visa" "1992/04/28" "123" "UTL" "US SPRINT" -123.00 "" "PHONE BILL" "Checking" -- page 36 -- Example2: (with recommended COMMA separations). "DATE","CHECK NO.","CATEGORY","DESCRIPTION","AMOUNT","RECONCILED","MEMO","ACCOUNT" "1992/04/28","100","CCS","AMERICAN EXPRESS",-100.00,"C","AMEX PAYMENT COMPUTER SHOW","Checking" "1992/04/28","101","EXX","EXXON",-101.00,"X","GAS FOR SHOW" "Visa" "01/02/92","102","CCS","AMERICAN EXPRESS",-102.00,"","MDMD" "Visa" "1992/04/28","123","UTL","US SPRINT",-123.00,"","PHONE BILL","Checking" -- page 37 -- How to Print Reports To get to the Output feature, select Output from the Main Menu (or hold down Alt and press O). Tree Based allows you to customize your reports. Simply expand the sub-levels that you want shown, specify the Time Period, choose the time span, and select the Categories you want included. You may choose from several Report Types: Totals, Budgets, Budget/Actual Comparisons, or Transactions. You may also produce Year-To-Date reports. You may output to a printer, file, or screen. When you're ready, press P (for "Print/Send") to start printing or sending data. 1. Organize your Tree: What you see is what you get. Expand or collapse the tree structure to suit your needs. If necessary, go to Edit to rearrange your tree structure or Rename Categories. Press F3 to assign (and unassign) the Categories you'd like to print. (Control F3 toggles all at once.) If you do not select a Category, it will not be included in the total of its group. If you want only Lower window totals, then press Control F3 in the Upper window to unassign all Categories. Then go to the Lower window and assign the accounts you would like to print. Press F6 if you wish to display Year-to-date amounts. Tree Based assigns Soft Page Breaks automatically to prevent the report from spilling over to the next page. The Soft Page Breaks determine top of a new page and are designated the symbols: "SPg". Sometimes these Soft Page Breaks do not occur at desirable locations. For this reason, Hard Page Breaks (HPg) are available. Press F4 while on the category that you would like to be at the top of a new page. The other Soft Page Breaks are automatically re-assigned. 2. Control Box Time Period: Press T to change the Time Period used to calculate column totals: Daily, Weekly, Bi-weekly, Semi-monthly, Monthly, Quarterly, Twice Yearly, and Yearly. (Press F6 for Year-to-date reports.) Report Type Press R (Report Type) to change the Output to either Totals, Budget, Comparison, Balance sheet, Trial Balance, or Transactions. Totals will give you totals for the Categories and Time Periods selected. Budget will print up your planned budget (as entered in the Budget feature). Comparison will print up an analysis of your budget. Tree Based compares actual expenses and incomes to the planned budget. Balance sheet will print up a traditional Balance sheet. Trial balance will print up a traditional Trial Balance. Transactions will print up all the transactions in the assigned Category within the Time Period specified. -- page 38 -- There are four options: - One line per transaction - Include Memo - Split Detail - Memo and Split Detail Beginning Press B to change the Beginning Date. This date determines the date of the first column of the printout. When printing out transactions, it determines the date from which to begin printing transactions. Use the arrows to alter the date. Ending Press E to change the Ending Date of the last column. This date determines the date of the last column of the printout. When printing out transactions, it determines the date from which to end printing transactions. Use the left and right arrows to alter the date. Device Press D to change the Output Device. Selections are Printer, Screen, and File. If you print "Screen" the display resembles the actual report when printed out. Options There are several Output options provided to assist you in creating personalized reports. Get, Save Formats: This feature saves a particular print format for retrieval at any time. Saving the Output state of the report "memorizes" it for later reference, preventing you from having to re-create it every time. The format includes the visual state of the Tree Structure along with those categories selected as "Print". The Page Breaks, Report Type, and Titles are also saved. Retrieve a previously saved format by selecting Get_Format. This feature is handy when you frequently generate the same report month after month. Title: This feature allows you to create your own report titles. -- page 39 -- Setup The Setup feature allows you to customize Tree Based to suit your individual needs. To use this feature, select Setup from the Main Menu (Alt S). SetUp has an Info Note attached to it which may be used when printing Multi- purpose Forms. Press Alt I to call up the Info Note. The upper window displays the settings of the current file. When these settings are changed, they are saved with the file. The Enter, Up, and Down keys move you from item to item. Press PgUp/PgDn to move the cursor from one window to another. The second window displays the current program settings. Changes to these settings are only saved if you press F10 and select "Yes" as you exit. These settings are not stored within the data file and affect all Tree Based files. You may return to the original settings by deleting the configuration file TR.CFG. The Enter, Up, and Down keys move you from item to item. The and keys will change the colors. The third window displays the system characteristics. Tree Based automatically adjusts to fit the display adapter attached to your computer. If a CGA adapter is active a "" symbol is displayed to signal that the anti-snow routines are active. Altering Work Sheet Titles You may change the titles of the Main Work Sheet. For example, instead of "Asset and Liability," your Lower Header could be titled "Assets and Liabilities." Simply type over the existing Lower Header to change it. When you save the file, all text changes will be preserved. You may also name your work sheet. The Name shows up in the upper left corner of the screen in most of the program features. It will also appear in the Output reports. Data File Settings Week Start This is the beginning day of the week for Weekly analysis. Example: "Sun" indicates that the Weekly display will begin Sunday and end Saturday. B-Week Index This command will alternate Bi-Weekly starting points. Example: If the B- Week Index is A and the Bi-Weekly dates are "8-10-90/8-24-90," then changing the index to B will alter the Bi-Weekly dates to "8-17-90/8-31-90." Fiscal Year This defines the Fiscal Year starting date for the file. Any month is a valid entry. This will affect the Year-To-Date amounts displayed in the Main Work Sheet. -- page 40 -- Future Margin When you open the file, this feature sets the number of future months accessible in the Main Work Sheet. Your Endpoint will adjust to maintain your specified number of future months. If you wish to extend the Future Margin manually, then set this number at zero. Default Account The Account field of the Voucher defaults to this Account when a Income and Expense Category is new and has no transactions (otherwise the most frequently used Account is the default). If the cursor is in the Income and Expense window and the Asset and Liability display is reduced to its minimum size, this Account will be the one displayed. Changing the Work Sheet Time Span Beginning This defines the beginning month of your data. You may go backward or forward any number of months using the and keys. Time extension is limited by the amount of memory available. If you cannot achieve the desired beginning, exit with a save and try again. Moving the beginning forward in time will delete the data which is prior to the new Beginning date, so be sure to save that portion first. Ending This defines the ending month of your data. You may extend backward or forward any number of months using the and keys. Your extension is limited by the amount of memory available. If you cannot achieve the desired ending, exit with a save and try again. Moving the ending backward will delete all data beyond the new ending point, so be sure to save that portion first. Program Settings Orig File Backup This feature creates a backup of your data each time you save. If this option is used, the original file extension is renamed to .BAK and the current file is saved under the original name. This feature preserves the last two versions of your data. Auto-Decimal Pt. This is for dollar entry preference: No -- User types in decimal point or to signify the end of dollar entry. Faster if entering whole dollars. Yes -- User types in numbers only. Faster if entering cents. /-Menu Key Allows you to use the key to pull up the menu (instead of ). -- page 41 -- Select Printer Press Y to select a port and printer. Place the cursor on the port you wish to use and press Enter. A new menu appears, giving you a selection of printers. Place the cursor on the printer you wish to use and press Enter. You may select more than one port and printer. For example, for LPT1 you might select Panasonic and for LPT2 you might select HP Laserjet. This will allow you to dedicate one printer to check printing and another to invoicing. If you need to adjust the Reset or Compressed codes (used in Output for Compressed mode), select "User Defined" instead of a specific printer. Place the cursor on Reset or Compressed and press Enter. Then enter your printer code and press Enter. If you select a COM port, Tree Based provides menus for selecting Baud Rate, Parity, Data Bits and Stop Bits. Below the COM port selections, you'll see "Null." "Null" isn't a selection in Setup; it's a selection in the Print Register, which uses the same menu. Press Escape or F10 to exit the menu. Altering Colors Tree Based allows you to modify the colors of the display. Each color set represents a standard feature of the program. The top row of each set represents the background color. The other rows (with "xx") represent the foreground colors. Make changes by pressing the - or + keys. Changes are saved by pressing F10. **** With Free Registration you are entitled to 5 minutes User Support Before calling our user support line, please consult this manual, context sensitive help (F1) and/or the tutorial. If you are unable to find an answer to your question or resolve your problem, please call (714) 642-5387 for product support.