When you add a new account, Quicken adds it to the Account List (choose Tools menu > Account List). In most cases, you'll want to add all your accounts in the same Quicken data file, so that you can track all your finances in one place.
As you move through the account setup process, you may not see all the pages described below—these depend on the type of account you are adding and how much information Quicken can download from your financial institution. Click the link below for more information.
If your bank or brokerage is listed on the screen, click it.
If your bank or brokerage is not listed on the screen, start typing its name. After you type a few characters Quicken displays a list of possible matches. If you see what you are looking for, go ahead and click the name of your bank or brokerage. If you don't see what you are looking for, click Back and try again.
If you've tried a couple of times and you can't find your bank or brokerage in the list, or if you want to enter your transactions manually, click Advanced Setup and then choose I want to enter my transactions manually. You can always activate it to download transactions or send payments later on (if your financial institution supports bill pay).
Quicken needs to know your bank or brokerage name to find out if it can download transactions for you.
Downloading transactions will:
If you don't enter the name of your bank or brokerage, Quicken won't be able to download transactions for you. You will therefore have to manually enter your transactions into Quicken.
Quicken needs this information so it can download your account information. For most banks and brokerages, you can use the same user ID and password you use to log in to their website. If you don't have a user ID and password right now, add the account manually. You can always activate it to update transactions or send payments later on.
It may be an account number or some other number assigned by your bank or brokerage. It may also be the user ID you use to log in to their website.
Yes. If you entered the user ID that you use to log in to your bank or brokerage website in the user ID field, then enter the website password as well.
Direct Connect is a service some banks and brokerages use to connect to Quicken. You will know if you have Direct Connect if you specifically signed up for it and/or your bank or brokerage sent you a special user ID and password to use with Quicken. If so, use your Direct Connect login information on this screen.
If you did not receive special login instructions, use your website user ID and password here.
If you are not sure what to do, use the user ID and password you would use to log in to your bank's website.
Yes. To see the password while adding an account, select the Show Characters box to the right of the password box.
Your password will be saved in the Quicken Password Vault.
Quicken's Password Vault is a secure and convenient way to store multiple financial institution passwords that you can then access with a single master password.
Sometimes Quicken needs more information to determine what type of account you have, or at what branch the account resides before it can access it. If you are not sure, here are some tips that may help you:
If different types of accounts are shown, such as checking, savings, or credit card, choose the account type that applies to you.
Some banks and brokerages use a state or region to classify accounts. If you see your state listed, this is probably the option to select.
Did your local bank or credit union merge with a larger bank? If you see your old or pre-merger bank name listed, this is probably the option to select.
Having trouble? Contact your bank or brokerage for instructions.
After you tell Quicken how to access your bank or brokerage, it goes online and downloads information about the accounts you hold there. Quicken then asks you to provide a bit more information about the accounts.
This is a list of your accounts that Quicken has detected at your bank or brokerage.
You may see various items in this list: Checking, Savings, Credit Card, Brokerage, IRA or Keogh plan, or 401(k). Choose one that best matches the purpose of your real-world account.
Quicken needs to know what you want to do with the accounts it has found. Keep in mind that you don't need to set up all of the accounts it finds; just the ones that you want to track in Quicken.
Choose Add to create a new Quicken account in which to download your transactions. If you are new to Quicken, this is probably the option that you want.
Choose Link to download your transactions into an existing Quicken account. If you have previously set up the account in Quicken, but are not yet downloading transactions into it, this is probably the option you want.
Choose Ignore to disregard one of the accounts that Quicken has found. No account will be created, and transactions for that account will not be downloaded into Quicken.
Enter the name you want to use to refer to the account in Quicken. This name will appear in reports and the Quicken interface. If you don't enter a nickname, Quicken will use the name provided by your financial institution for the account.
If you are using Quicken Business & Personal, choose the primary use of the account: Personal (which is the default), Business, or Rental Property. Your selection determines where in the Quicken interface (on which tab) the account appears. You can change this from the Account List later if you wish. the account appears. You can change this from the Account List later if you wish.
For most users, Simple Setup is all they will need to add their accounts. If you need to use Advanced/Manual Setup you will see a few additional screens. Click a link for more information.
If you want to download transactions into Quicken, enter the name of your bank, brokerage, or credit card company and click Next.
If you don't want to download transactions into Quicken, select I want to enter my transactions manually and click Next. This option means that you will need to update your account transactions by hand.
Enter the name you want to use to refer to the account in Quicken. This name will appear in reports and the Quicken interface.
If you are using Quicken Business & Personal, choose the primary use of the account: Personal (which is the default), Business, or Rental Property. Your selection determines where in the Quicken interface (on which tab) the account appears. You can change this from the Account List later if you wish. the account appears. You can change this from the Account List later if you wish.
Enter the appropriate date and balance from your statement, and then click Done.
Leave the settings as they are (today's date, with a zero balance), and then click Done.
The new account will be added with an opening balance of $0.00, as of today. You can edit the opening balance later.
The following options are not available for every account. The connection methods you see in the wizard will be customized to your financial institution and the account you are setting up.
Express Web Connect provides an integrated way to update transactions and account balances for financial institutions that do not currently connect directly to Quicken. With Express Web Connect, you can use One Step Update to update multiple accounts, and you no longer have to go to a financial institution's website to retrieve transactions.
Direct Connect is a service some banks use to connect to Quicken. You will know if you have Direct Connect if you specifically signed up for it and/or your bank sent you a special user ID and password to use with Quicken. Some financial institutions require Direct Connect to use services such as bill pay, or transfers via Quicken.
Many financial institutions offering Web banking also let you download your Web transactions into Quicken. If you already have a password, and if the website displays the Quicken logo or a button or link that says Download to Quicken, this means that your financial institution supports the Web Connect protocol for downloading and importing transactions into Quicken.