The overall look of Quicken has not changed much for the 2009 version, but there are some nice tweaks for getting around Quicken faster and easier than in earlier versions.
Some features mentioned require Quicken Deluxe 2009 or Quicken Premier 2009. Read Quicken 2009 Versions and Prices to learn more about which features are in each Quicken versions.
New Navigation in Quicken 2009
Tabbed navigation has been added to the right side of Quicken 2009, with tabs labeled To Do, Guide Me, Community, Tools and Services. The Guide Me function is by far the most useful addition to Quicken 2009.- To Do: View a list of upcoming financial tasks like accepting downloaded transactions, reminders and get of overdue bill alerts.
- Guide Me: Provides instructions for the area of Quicken currently being used.
- Community: Ties into the online Quicken community at Quicken.com, revealing topics related to the feature being used in Quicken 2009.
- Tools: To view links to helpful tools to the feature currently being used. Tools might be buttons to access reports or the Quicken Calendar, links to the Budget tool, category list or Debt Reduction Planner (available features vary between Quicken versions).
- Services: View ads and offers to other Quicken and Intuit services. Not necessarily an enhancement from users who do not want to see ads in software they paid for, at least this marketing initiative is hidden behind the Services tab.
New Top Navigation Tabs in Quicken 2009
New to the top tabs in Quicken 2009 is the Setup Tab and Quicken Picks, which is discussed later in this review.The Setup tab in Quicken 2009 consolidates Quicken set up tasks into one place. Use the Setup tab to set up:
- Financial accounts like checking, savings, credit card and investment accounts.
- Assets owned, like a home or car, and loans you are making payment on, like a mortgage or auto or college loan.
- Income sources and transfers you make regularly between accounts.
- Reminders for help with paying bills on time.
- Some Quicken program preferences.
- Income and expense categories and tags, which are another way of identifying and reporting transactions.
The Setup tab in Quicken 2009 will save a lot of time for new Quicken users, and provides a minor convenience for experienced Quicken users. It seems like an oversight that the Setup tab cannot be hidden, because once Quicken is set up this tab will rarely be used again.
Quicken My Pages
Customized Quicken views (pages with sets of related data and information for bills, taxes, banking, etc.) can be found under the My Pages tab. Those who are upgrading to Quicken 2009 will find views set up in an earlier Quicken version under the My Pages tab as well.Quicken Picks
The Quicken Picks tab provides a personalized online shopping savings portal. Not everyone wants to use this feature in Quicken 2009, and those people can hide the Quicken Picks tab.
