Quicken 2008: The Missing Manual

List Price: $24.99 Discount Price: $14.44

Customer Reviews:

GREAT PURCHASE!  [Posted on 2008-03-02]
Despite being very proficient on Quick Books, I was stumped when it came time to navitage Quicken 2008. I was frustrated and even requested a refund at one point. Not only did this book allow me to learn and navigate through Quicken, I gained tremendous knowledge about options I had never used previously! I found myself sitting on a weekend evening reading the manual as if it were a novel! There were personal touches and very easy to understand instructions. The index was thorough and would direct me to a particular topic with ease! Love the book...love the author! Well done!

Quite a Good Introduction to Quicken [Posted on 2008-03-03]
I bought Quicken, and then Quickly learned that I needed some help. After buying Quicken 2008 I jumped in and tried doing things like downloading data from my bank accounts and setting up budgets. I was able to do many of the things to get my family finances running in Quicken, but if I had had this book I could have done it much quicker and without as many mistakes.

Quicken the software did not walk me through a bunch of wizards to help me set everything up. There were some wizards and helpful start up things, but I mostly had to work things out for myself. Finally, in frustration, I picked up "The Missing Manual." Then I went through the book from the beginning and either revised my previous work or deleted it altogether and reworked it using the book's advice. If you plan to buy Quicken 2008 then you should definitely pick up this book or something like it.

Now it could go into things a little more deeply than it does. I still have some questions about how Quicken is working, or why it does what it does. Sometimes I have questions that the book doesn't address. Here's an example: I have a paycheck set up with an after tax deduction that makes a payment for me via direct deposit. Even if I give that direct deposit a category, it doesn't seem to show up in my reports as an expense for that category. Why not? I don't know, and this book doesn't get that deep.

I'll need another book, I think, that does get that deep and explains the relationships among the notations and transactions. I need to know more about "if I add a transaction here then where else will it show up?" I do recommend the book if you are new to quicken, but look for something more advanced for when you get this book done.

Delivers as promised [Posted on 2008-04-17]
Considering what a DRY subject lerning how to manage your finances can be this book is well written and easy to understand. In the introduction the author (Bonnie) gives you an email address to use if by some chance you have a question about anything, well I took her up on this and got a quick an accurate response. I was a Microsoft Money user for many years and if it was not for this book I still would be!!

Starter Edition [Posted on 2008-04-26]
I read the fine print that this was for the Premier and Deluxe Edition, but I didn't realize how different they are from the Starter Edition, i.e., panel layouts, etc. Now I either go to one of the other editions, which I don't need or spend a lot of time trying to figure how to make the best of the Help function which is not that helpful.

Not Much Help for Mac Users [Posted on 2008-05-09]
Overall the manual seems to be a cutesy rewrite of the users manual and is written for Windows users with no help for Mac users. Although better organized than the users manual in Quicken, it provides no great insights into using Quicken more effectively. For Mac users look elsewhere, this is a windows book.

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