Using Quicken Category Groups for Your Budget

What are Category Groups in Quicken?

Quicken category groups are used to define sets of related income and expense categories used for budgeting purposes. Category groups, known as Supercategories in earlier Quicken versions, simply give you another way of viewing or organizing your personal finances.

Examples of Quicken Category Groups

Category Group name: House
Categories: Gas Utility, Electric, Mortgage, Insurance, Maintenance

Category Group name: Pets
Categories: Veterinarian, Pet Food, Pet Supplies

Category Group name: Fun Money (or Discretionary Spending)
Categories: Movies, magazines, Stardoes coffee, snacks

How to Set Up Quicken Category Groups

1. In Quicken, click on Tools on the upper left, then click on Category List. Or, you can hold down your Shift and Ctrl keys, then press C to open the Quicken Category List.
2. Click on Options on the lower left of the Category List, then click Assign category groups.
3. The Category Group Assignment window opens in Quicken.

Assign a category to a group:

1. Fist click on the category.
2. Then click on a selection in the from the Category Group List.
3. Click on Assign Category to Group.

Set up a new Category Group:

1. Click New on the right.
2. Enter a name for the new category group.
3. Click OK and the group appears in the Quicken Category Group List. Now you can assign categories to the group.

Change the category group assigned to a category:

1. Click on the category you want assigned to another group.
2. Click on the new group on the Category Group List.
3. Click on Assign Category to Group.

Rename or Delete Quicken Category Groups
You can also rename and delete category groups by choosing a group and then clicking on Edit or Del. Deleting a category group does not remove categories in Quicken, the categories will remain on on the Category Name list.

Budgeting with Quicken Category Groups

Category Groups can be used to simplify budgeting with Quicken by setting up budget amounts for an entire category group instead budgeting separately for each category in the group.

You See an Other Category in Your Category Groups

If you budget for category Groups in Quicken, the difference between the budgeted amount for the group and the total of the individual amounts for the categories in that group will be assigned to Other in the category group.

More Budgeting with Quicken Tutorials