Datasheet

Now I need to explain something here. The Quicken Express Setup assumes

that you’re going to set up almost everything you need or will ever need in

Quicken all at once and in the beginning. You can do that if you want, but

that’s not my suggestion (er, obviously). I say, heck, keep it simple. You can

easily add stuff later, when you want it. Sound okay? (I do explain how to set

up this stuff in other chapters.)

My reasoning for this suggestion is that I’d like you to have some experience

working with Quicken before you go hog-wild. Focus first on those personal

accounting tasks that you absolutely will want to perform. This approach gets

you started working with Quicken — happily, productively, and successfully —

from day one. If you want to do more in a week or a month or a year, great. You

can easily do more tasks, and by then, you’ll know so much more about

Quicken that adding these other tasks will be a snap.

Steve’s Overview

You don’t need to know much about the mechanics of the Quicken interface —

the way its windows work — to begin working with Quicken, especially in any

chapters in this book in which I cover the basics. I provide plenty of detailed

instructions, but I have a couple of quick comments now.

Starting Quicken for the second time

The second time you start Quicken — and every subsequent time — things

work pretty much the same way as the first time. Double-click the Quicken

icon on your desktop. Or, if you like doing things the hard way, click Start and

then choose All Programs➪Quicken 2008➪Quicken 2008.

Using Quicken document windows

Quicken doesn’t use document windows the way that some other Windows

applications do. Quicken basically turns document windows into pages that

you leaf through by clicking the window buttons that appear in an Account

Bar along the left edge of the program window. In Figure 1-8, for example,

you see buttons for Cash Flow center, Investing center, and Property & Debt

center. Go ahead and turn to that page. I’ll just wait here for you until you

get back.

Chapter 1: Setting Up Shop

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