save budget for last year

pamela77

I am trying to study my budget for last year. Every time I leave the budget to look at something, the date reverts to jan 2021. I have to click back 12 times to get to jan 2021. I'd like to save the budget for 2020 and be able to look at it without going back each time.

I tried creating a duplicate while I was at the correct starting point, and saving that , but it did not save

John_in_NC

Hi, Pamela77:

If you select the year and click the down arrow, you can go back in a single click. (The month is selected by default.)



I suggest when you have last year's budget showing, you export it via the Export options at the upper right. Then, you can view a static version. Or, you can Print it to PDF to have an electronic version without having to scroll back: 



Quicken's budget is designed to have a single budget that rolls forward each year. The data is there, but you will have to always scroll back to see older years' budgets. 

I don't purposely save views of older budgets as I know it is only a few clicks to go back to older years if I select the desired year. 

I hope this helps. 

pamela77

Thank you, that is very helpful. The problem is that my budget amounts have changed over the years because circumstances have changed. So if I look back at 2019 with my current budget values it looks really off. Any ideas?

I tried saving as PDF. To make it readable it was 16 pages. Is there a way to save it digitally? I tried export - it said export to CSV? but I couldn't find it in documents.

Thank you again.
Pamela

pamela77

Also, when I saved it to PDF, there were black and white columns showing budget/actual and difference, but it was not very easy to see and read. How are you saving it to look at it?

John_in_NC

Hi again, Pamala: 

When I print the budget to save as PDF (I do three or four pages to sheet, landscape orientation which is easy to read), I don't see any Black/White columns. Note: I am in the 12 month Budget view when printing, not the single month.

Exporting to CSV would give you a similar view, but it is editable in a spreadsheet whereas PDF is not. I can't help you as far as where you saved it, though-that is basic MacOS Finder/dialog box navigation. 

Also, when you go back in through the years looking at older (12 month view) budgets, the goals shown are what you had for that year and not the current ones you are using. So, if you set different goals for 2021, they won't affect anything with your 2020 budget.

pamela77

Thank you John, I appreciate the response. I found the place that I had saved it and I see now the two options PDF vs CSV. I understand now that the goals are set for each year. Are categories also for each year? I have merged and changed categories over the years. When I look at my category list and choose categories to budget is that also save by the year? When I am looking at a category list and it shows "unused" is that referring only to the current budget?

John_in_NC

What categories you have chosen to track each year will be correctly retained for older budget years. However, if you have made changes/renamed/merging of categories, that is global to Quicken and will affect everything that works off the list. That might explain why you are seeing different numbers than you remember when looking at older budgets.

Those lists (Payee, Tags, Category, etc.) aren't just lookup lists; any changes you make there affect all older transactions, reports, budgets, etc.

As for the "Unused" in the Status column of the Category list: that means you don't have any transactions using that category. This can include both Quicken supplied categories and the ones you created.

You can click on the gear icon at the bottom of the Category list to show the unused categories. (Choose that again to show all). You can also choose the Remove Unused Categories if you feel you no longer need them. I am tidy, so I don't keep any in my file. (Again, if it shows unused, it won't affect anything.) 
 

pamela77

Thank you John, I don't like having unused categories either! However, I believe that I deleted some that said they were unused, and hundreds of old entries became uncategorized..Is that possible? So just so I am clear, when the category list shows unused, does that apply to ALL years, or just to the budget year you are working on?

I also migrated from windows about a year ago, so something could have happened in the transfer, The reason I think it was deleting a category that made it happen is because I remember looking at that unused category and thinking to myself that I HAD used it in the past...

pamela77

So in addition to the above comment - I just went and looked at the "unused" categories (thank you for that tip) and I am sure I have used them in the past.

Maybe I haven't used them since I switched to quicken mac? Could that be why they are listed as unused even though they have been used?

John_in_NC

If it shows unused in the Category List, then it isn't in use in any transaction anywhere in your file regardless of age. Some of the transactions may have been used in the past, but you might have recategorized them, or did some kind of merging. Importing from Quicken for Windows would not cause this.

Keep in mind what I am discussing is the Category list. It impacts all aspects of the program (transactions, budgets, reports, etc.) 

I suspect those transactions were uncategorized before you went looking. If you try to delete an in use category from the list, you will get a warning about it



Some people have overlooked that warning dialog. "Oh, I haven't used that category in 30 years, so I am going to delete it." They don't realize that doing so will mess up those 30 year old transactions. I hope this helps.

pamela77

Thank you John, Ok, well at least I can delete those unused ones without worrying. I have never deleted a category that gave me a warning. When I saw the warning I ran a report, found the transactions, put them in the right category, went back to the category list and deleted the category.

I did merge some categories though. I thought that when I merged them, they would show the new category, not an "uncategorized"

I do know for sure that I used to have a category called "business expenses reimbursed". The list showed me that it was uncategorized and I deleted it (this was last year) and now all of those items are uncategorized.

I can't figure out how it happened, but I do understand things better going forward.

pamela77

I want to thank you again John, I just spend a few hours going over last years budget and setting up 2021, and you really helped me to understand some things. I appreciate it.

John_in_NC

And I appreciate the thanks, Pamela. The "regulars" like to help, and it makes us feel good that our time spent answering questions is helpful.

Take care, and ask questions as needed.