The Checkbook Accountant Main Screen is where all functions available to checkbooks, budget lists, and description lists are selected. The center of the Main Screen is occupied by the Transaction List, a scrollable list of the currently viewable transactions in the current checkbook. Transactions entered into the checkbook are shown here. Any viewable transaction can be edited by double-clicking its entry in the Transaction List. For more information about the editing functions available on transactions, consult the Transaction Help Screen after double-clicking a transaction in the Transaction List. The bottom-left side of the Main Screen displays the three types of account balances: RUNNING BALANCE the checking account's balance up to and including the currently highlighted transaction (only shown if a transaction is highlighted); CHECKBOOK BALANCE the checking account's current balance, or equally, the running balance after the last entered transaction; STATEMENT BALANCE the checking account's balance as a result of only calculating the cleared transactions (those that your bank statements show as being cleared/posted). As a visual aid, positive balances are displayed in BLACK text and negative balances in RED (a negative sign is also displayed). The bottom-right side of the Main Screen contains the Running Balance Tracker, a graphical bar chart representation of the 20 transactions currently viewable in the Transaction List. The top-right side of the Main Screen, known as the Show Area, is used by the Show indicators (from the Program Prefs Requester). The mouse pointer is rendered as a usable pencil when the program can accept commands. It changes to a broken pencil when it has to finish some work before continuing, such as loading or saving a file or doing a calculation. When a file requester is shown, your usual pointer is used. This is the only place in the program where the pencil/broken pencil/move pencil pointers are not used. ---------------------------------------------------- The following list describes the functions available in the Main Screen. The order of these functions corresponds to the order they appear in the Main Screen's menu bar. You can select any function using either the keyboard (shown as "Keyboard:") or mouse ("Mouse:"). Project Menu New Define and record a new checkbook. If a checkbook is currently being worked on, the program will ask if any changes made to the checkbook should be saved before continuing with the definition of a new checkbook. If no changes were made to the current checkbook since the last time it was saved the program will immediately ask for the new checkbook's information. The default budget list, saved under the name "CAdefault.CAb" in the CA: defined directory, can be loaded immediately after the definition process. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA N Mouse: Menu Item Open Retrieve from disk a previously saved checkbook and display it as the current checkbook. If a checkbook is currently being edited, the program will ask if any changes made to the current checkbook should be saved before continuing with the loading of the selected checkbook. If no changes were made to the current checkbook since the last time it was saved the program will immediately load the new checkbook. The file name of the new checkbook is selected from the displayed file requester. Files with an extension of ".CAc" (signifying a Checkbook Accountant checkbook file) will be displayed. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA O Mouse: Menu Item Save Store to disk the current checkbook under its current file name. If the checkbook has never been saved, the program will ask for a file name to describe the current checkbook and save the checkbook--its checkbook information, all the transactions, and the current budget list. If the checkbook has been previously saved, the program will ask if the checkbook on disk should be replaced with the current checkbook version. The file name to attach to the current checkbook is entered from the displayed file requester. Checkbook files are saved with a ".CAc" extension (signifying a Checkbook Accountant checkbook file). An icon file will be created to accompany the checkbook file if the Checkbook menu item under the Program Prefs Requester's Icon Creation menu is selected. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA S Mouse: Menu Item Save As Store to disk the current checkbook under a new file name, regardless of the current checkbook file name. The file name to attach to the current checkbook is entered from the displayed file requester. Checkbook files are saved with a ".CAc" extension (signifying a Checkbook Accountant checkbook file). An icon file will be created to accompany the checkbook file if the Checkbook menu item under the Program Prefs Requester's Icon Creation menu is selected. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA W Mouse: Menu Item Reconcile Perform the statement reconciliation process, or as it is frequently described, checkbook balancing. The program will display the Reconcile Requester, which describes the conditions which must be present for the program to calculate properly the statement balance. Specifically, all transactions which the bank statement lists as being cleared (or posted, as some bank statements describe) MUST be entered into the checkbook and marked as cleared. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA R Mouse: Menu Item Print Output to the attached printer or selected disk file the contents of the current checkbook. The Print Requester will be displayed to define which contents to output. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA P Mouse: Menu Item Information Display the current checkbook's information, as described in the definition process. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA I Mouse: Menu Item Statistics Display various statistics about the current state of the current checkbook. The Statistics Requester will be displayed with all the statistics identified on it. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA T Mouse: Menu Item About Display the version number, copyright notice, and release date of this copy of Checkbook Accountant, along with the amount of available memory (chip RAM, fast RAM, and total RAM) in the system. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA ? Mouse: Menu Item; CHECKBOOK ACCOUNTANT 2.0 Button Quit Terminate the current session of Checkbook Accountant and any editing of the current checkbook. If the current checkbook or current budget list (assuming no checkbook has been defined yet) has been modified since the last time it was saved, the program will ask if these changes should be saved before terminating the program. The process of saving a checkbook file is the same as saving a checkbook during an editing session. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA Q Mouse: Menu Item; Close Gadget Edit Menu Checks Define a new check transaction to be entered into the checkbook. The Transaction Requester, modified for check entry, will be displayed. The check number used for this new check will be one number greater than the last check number used. For example, if the last check entered into the checkbook were numbered 00100 (leading zeros are always displayed), then the next check number available, 00101, will be used. The description input field will contain the word "CHECK", if the S:CAdefault.CAp file does not exist. Otherwise, it will contain the description defined in the Default Description For -- Checks input field of the Program Prefs Requester. This description can be edited. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA C Mouse: Menu Item Other Debits Define a new debit transaction to be entered into the checkbook. Other Debits should be used for debit transactions which are not checks, such as service charges, ATM (Automated Teller Machine) withdrawals, and fund transfers from the checking account to another account. The description input field will contain the word "DEBIT", if the S:CAdefault.CAp file does not exist. Otherwise, it will contain the description defined in the Default Description For -- Other Debits input field of the Program Prefs Requester. This description can be edited. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA - Mouse: Menu Item Deposit Define a new deposit transaction to be entered into the checkbook. The description input field will contain the word "DEPOSIT", if the S:CAdefault.CAp file does not exist. Otherwise, it will contain the description defined in the Default Description For -- Deposits input field of the Program Prefs Requester. This description can be edited. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA D Mouse: Menu Item Other Credits Define a new credit transaction to be entered into the checkbook. Other Credits should be used for credit transactions which are not deposits, such as fund transfers from another account to this checking account and interest payments. The description input field will contain the word "CREDIT", if the S:CAdefault.CAp file does not exist. Otherwise, it will contain the description defined in the Default Description For -- Other Credits input field of the Program Prefs Requester. This description can be edited. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA + Mouse: Menu Item Batch Mode Allow for continuous definitions of a certain transaction type. For example, if the next 10 transactions to be entered into the checkbook are all checks, toggle Batch Mode to its ON state and select Checks from the Edit Menu. The Check Transaction Requester will be displayed for you to define the first check in the sequence. To add the current check and continue with the definition of the next check, select "Add". The check is entered into the checkbook and a new Check Transaction Requester is automatically and immediately displayed. To stop entering transactions, select "Cancel". Be sure that "Cancel" is not selected while editing the last transaction in the batch sequence; doing so will lose the current transaction's information. In other words, select "Cancel" only on an undefined (empty) transaction. Batch Mode has no effect on the transactions during the update process. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA ~ Mouse: Menu Item Duplicate Allow for the duplication of a transaction. Highlight the transaction to duplicate and select this function. A copy of the highlighted transaction will be entered as the last entry in the Transaction List. Note that everything in the highlighted transaction is duplicated, including the transaction date, amount, cleared date, and budget distributions. Checks which are duplicated will NOT use the same check number, but will use the next available check number. If the Transaction List is sorted, the duplicated transaction may not necessarily be placed at the end of the List, but rather in the proper order (according to the current sort criteria). The running and checkbook balances are updated to reflect this change in the checkbook. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA " Mouse: Menu Item Move Allow for the transfer of a transaction from one part of the Transaction List to another part. Highlight the transaction to move, select this function, and select the entry in the Transaction List where to move the transaction. The transaction will be moved between the selected location and the location before it. This means that a transaction cannot be moved to the last entry in the Transaction List (only to the second to the last entry). To move it to the end of the List, select the last entry and move to above the just moved transaction. A transaction must be highlighted for this function to work. While in the Move function, the regular pencil pointer will be modified to the move pencil (two arrows are superimposed on the pencil). Selecting another menu item while in the process of moving a transaction will terminate the Move function (and move pencil). If the View (Select Groups) settings do not display all the current checkbook's transactions, moving one transaction from one part of the List to another will move it immediately before the destination entry (and not immediately after the entry before the selected destination entry. If the Transaction List is currently sorted, the Move function will ignore the sort criteria, allowing you to place the transaction anywhere in the List (although the checkbook is still considered sorted). The running balances are updated to reflect these changes in the checkbook. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA M Mouse: Menu Item Quick Clear Allow for fast clearing (posting) of transactions from the Main Screen. Instead of selecting a transaction from the Transaction List and entering a date in the CLEARED input field a transaction can be cleared by highlighting the specific Transaction List entry and selecting this function. The current system date is entered into the CLEARED input field, replacing the previous date, and the 'C' column of the transaction entry is marked with a 'C'. The program only needs a valid date in the CLEARED input field for a transaction to be marked as cleared. Using the system date is a quick way of accomplishing this condition. Only use this operation if the content of the CLEARED input field is not very important for your purposes. If the Transaction List is sorted by cleared date, Quick Clear-ing a transaction may move it to the proper position in the List. Quick Clear will not operate on voided checks. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA / Mouse: Menu Item Quick Unclear Allow for fast unclearing (unposting) of transactions from the Main Screen. Instead of selecting a transaction from the Transaction List and clearing the date in the CLEARED input field a transaction can be uncleared by highlighting the specific Transaction List entry and selecting this function. The current CLEARED date will be erased and the 'C' column of the transaction entry is erased. If the Transaction List is sorted by cleared date, Quick Unclear-ing a transaction will may move it to the proper position in the List. Quick Unclear will not operate on voided checks. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA \ Mouse: Menu Item Reoccurring Transac Group List Display the Reoccurring Transaction Group List. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA U Mouse: Menu Item Add Transac To Group Add the currently highlighted transaction to a selected Reoccurring Transaction Group. The Reoccurring Transaction Groups Requester will be displayed for you to select a group. Be sure to double-click on the group name, rather than highlighting and selecting Okay, to choose the group. Once a group has been chosen, the Reoccurring Transactions Requester will display the chosen group's transactions, including the just added transaction. The added transaction will always be initially placed at the end of the list, but can be moved later. Changes made to this transaction in the checkbook will not correspond to changes in the group transaction; the added transaction is a copy of the original. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA < Mouse: Menu Item Add Group To Checkbook Add all transactions in a selected Reoccurring Transaction Group to the checkbook. The Reoccurring Transaction Groups Requester will be displayed for you to select a group. Be sure to double-click on the group name, rather than highlighting and selecting Okay, to choose the group. Once a group has been chosen, the transactions in the group will be entered, in the order of their appearance, into the checkbook. Depending on the current View settings, some of the transactions might neither be viewable nor entered in the defined ordered. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA > Mouse: Menu Item Description List Display the Description List Requester for you to edit the list of descriptions to be used in the definition of transactions. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA L Mouse: Menu Item Search Display the Search Requester for you to define a transaction PAY / DESC description to search for. Only those descriptions from transactions currently viewable in the Transaction List will be searched. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA ' Mouse: Menu Item Replace Display the Search & Replace Requester for you to define a transaction PAY / DESC description to search for and a description to replace it with. Only those descriptions from transactions currently viewable in the Transaction List will be searched and replaced. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA ; Mouse: Menu Item Previous Occurrence Depending on which search function was last selected (Search or Replace) this will perform that function, starting at the current location in the Transaction List and searching backward (through transactions listed before the current position). If no transaction is currently highlighted, this function will start searching or replacing from either the last entry in the Transaction List (if the number of viewable transactions is less than or equal to 20) or the last viewable entry of the 20 currently viewable transactions (if the number of viewable transactions is greater than 20). Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA [ Mouse: Menu Item Next Occurrence Depending on which search function was last selected (Search or Replace) this will perform that function, starting at the current location in the Transaction List and searching forward (through transactions listed after the current position). If no transaction is currently highlighted, this function will start searching or replacing from the either the first entry in the Transaction List (if the number of viewable transactions is less than or equal to 20) or the first viewable entry of the 20 currently viewable transactions (if the number of viewable transactions is greater than 20). Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA ] Mouse: Menu Item Budgets Menu Budget List Display the Budget Requester for you to edit budget lists. Budgets are used for distributing the amount of a check transaction across several categories (budgets). The expense limit for each budget is also defined in the Budget Requester. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA B Mouse: Menu Item Analysis Period Display the Analysis Period Requester which defines the starting and ending dates of the analysis period. The program uses this analysis period to determine which check transactions to analyze for overbudget status. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA . Mouse: Menu Item Settings Menu View ALL Display all the current checkbook's transactions in the Main Screen Transaction List. This function is equivalent to selecting the ALL TRANSACTIONS item in the View (Select Groups) Requester. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA A Mouse: Menu Item Select Group Display the View (Select Groups) Requester to define the type, range of dates, and grouping of transactions to display in the Main Screen Transaction List. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA G Mouse: Menu Item Program Prefs Display the Program Prefs Requester, from where the Show, Icon Creation, User Prefs, and Auto Desc List settings can be selected, the CA: directory defined, and various default transaction parameters set. Keyboard: RIGHT-AMIGA Z Mouse: Menu Item ---------------------------------------------------- SOME NOTES ABOUT NAVIGATING THROUGH CHECKBOOK ACCOUNTANT: Checkbook Accountant was designed to be as functional using either the keyboard or the mouse. Not all features have this duality, but most do. For example, you can move through any of the scrolling lists (transaction, budget, help screens, etc.) by either dragging the slider button or using the cursor keys (alone or with the CTRL, SHIFT, or ALT keys). As explained above, almost all buttons have corresponding menu selections and keyboard shortcuts. The letter to press with the RIGHT-AMIGA key is designated by either checking its entry in the menu bar or looking for an underscored letter in or next to the button; both letters are the same. The only occurrences where menus do not accompany buttons are when the program has to verify an action ("Okay" or "Cancel" response) or give you a message ("Okay" response). These buttons have the same underscored letters as their menu-attached counterparts, but they are selected from the keyboard by just pressing that key. They do not need the RIGHT-AMIGA key pressed at the same time, although doing so will not affect it (the extra key press is simply ignored). If an amount is undefined or is equal to $0.00, the amount's input field will be blank (although the display of the amount will show "0.00"). This is done so that you do not have to clear the field to define an amount. When you are entering a date into any of the date input fields, you can leave off the year (by only using the month and day). The program will use the last entered date's year for the currently entered date. If no date has been previously entered (such as when the program is started), the previous year will be the current system date's year. Also, if you try to press the HELP key when the cursor is in any input field, you will not get the requested help screen. Select anywhere in the current requester or screen, avoiding any input field, or while holding down the SHIFT key, press the RETURN key (SHIFT-RETURN); this should deactivate the cursor. Once you do this, the HELP key can be pressed. -- END OF MAIN SCREEN HELP --