08-22-2007, 10:45 PM
Quicken will not import Excell (that I know of). Intuit uses a propriatary file format called QIF to move accounts from one file to another or Mac<->PC and the process is not very intuitive.
That said, as far as setting up categories, it's pretty easy. You can use their predefined business or personal ones or make up your own. (If you customize and change computers, you'll need to have a copy of your custom categories for the new workflow). Setting up cats is pretty easy. You use common english words for Cats and Sub Cats. For example if you set up an Account for Auto Expenses you can have sub cats for things like gas, insurance, maintenance etc. Or you may choose to set up a Cat for Insurance with sub cats for Life, Home, Auto, Health etc.
The auto fill feature is nice. Once you make an entry for Bill's Shell Station, Category "gas" (or Shell Gas) the next time you make a payment and type in "Bill's" everying else auto fills and all you have to do is adjust the amount. You can set up Cat for Auto Expenses, sub cats Shell gas, Exxon gas, BP gas, Hess gass, on an on if you want to track how much you spent with each brand, but you can also see (do a report) on just GAS and see all your gas expenses listed and sub totaled by brand.
My accountant reduced my tax preperation bill by $25.00 when I started using Quicken years ago because I could generate detailed or summary reports at tax time that made his work easier. :-)
That said, as far as setting up categories, it's pretty easy. You can use their predefined business or personal ones or make up your own. (If you customize and change computers, you'll need to have a copy of your custom categories for the new workflow). Setting up cats is pretty easy. You use common english words for Cats and Sub Cats. For example if you set up an Account for Auto Expenses you can have sub cats for things like gas, insurance, maintenance etc. Or you may choose to set up a Cat for Insurance with sub cats for Life, Home, Auto, Health etc.
The auto fill feature is nice. Once you make an entry for Bill's Shell Station, Category "gas" (or Shell Gas) the next time you make a payment and type in "Bill's" everying else auto fills and all you have to do is adjust the amount. You can set up Cat for Auto Expenses, sub cats Shell gas, Exxon gas, BP gas, Hess gass, on an on if you want to track how much you spent with each brand, but you can also see (do a report) on just GAS and see all your gas expenses listed and sub totaled by brand.
My accountant reduced my tax preperation bill by $25.00 when I started using Quicken years ago because I could generate detailed or summary reports at tax time that made his work easier. :-)