Macworld Jan 13, 6: Not to mention a brief name change from Quicken to Quicken Essentials and back to Quicken again. The setup of Quicken is a little uncomfortable from the jump, as it requires that you use a Quicken ID in order to set the app up. Another unnecessary required step. After signing in to your banking account, Quicken lets you select which accounts you want to sync. Quicken would only allow me to enter an answer by typing into into a field, which my banking site would not accept.

Once you log in to your banking site, Quicken lets you to select the accounts you want the app to automatically download transactions from.

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When selecting accounts to sync, you also have the option of customizing the names of those accounts. Quicken downloads transactions for the accounts you link—typically three months worth of data, depending on your bank—as soon as you add them. I found that I needed to refine or edit categories to make them work for my specific needs. One of the benefits of automatically mapped categories is that you have instant access to a reasonably good set of reports.

Quicken ships with nine reports, such as account and category summaries, net worth, and monthly spending, six of which can be customized and saved for later use.

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, Quicken can track investment income and help you set budgets for every spending category.

As with standard bank accounts, Quicken can link directly to and download transactions from you investment service if your investment service supports transaction downloads. Quicken can quickly pull a suggested budget from three months worth of existing transaction information. It uses your categories to create the budget and allows you to select which categories you want to have included in your budget. The app will create a budget amount based upon your average spending for a particular category, which you can then adjust to match what you want your budget to be.

I was easily able to set up a budget within a matter of minutes. It is just one of many apps, some of which are far less expensive, that can connect to your bank, download transactions, and track your finances. Macworld is your best source for all things Apple. We give you the scoop on what's new, what's best and how to make the most out of the products you love.

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Thank you Your message has been sent. Sorry There was an error emailing this page. By Jeffery Battersby Macworld Jan 13, 6: Intuit Quicken Essentials 1. Quicken Essentials for Mac. Our Top 3 Predictions.

Intuit Quicken for Mac. Quick on the setup The setup of Quicken is a little uncomfortable from the jump, as it requires that you use a Quicken ID in order to set the app up. The quick report One of the benefits of automatically mapped categories is that you have instant access to a reasonably good set of reports.

The quick track on investments and budgets Existing Quicken reports can be customized and saved for reuse. To comment on this article and other Macworld content, visit our Facebook page or our Twitter feed.

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