QMate Features (version 1.5)

QMate is specifically designed for users of Quicken or Microsoft Money. The most notable features are:

For complete details of QMate's evolution (past, present and future), please see the QMate revision history page.

Screen Shots

Account List

When you launch QMate for the first time you will be presented with the Accounts List form (without any account information).

Use this form to enter accounts for which you want to track transactions. QMate supports up to 32 accounts. The three buttons on this form and their function are:

  • New - creates a new account
  • Details... - displays the Accounts Details dialog for the selected account (see below)
  • Transactions - navigates to the Transactions Screen

Account Details Dialog

Selecting an account and tapping the "Details..." button brings up the Account Details dialog. In this dialog, you specify the account's name, type (Bank, Cash, Credit Card, Asset or Liability), default currency and balance.

This dialog also provides the means for deleting an account. When you delete an account, all the transactions associated with that account are also deleted. Exercise caution when using this feature as it cannot be undone. You are given a chance to change your mind, though, after you press the "Delete..." button.

Transaction list

Most of your time spent using QMate will be in the Transactions Form. From this form you can create new transactions, edit (or delete) existing ones, move a transaction from one account to another and select the account for which you want to view or modify transactions. The three buttons on this form and their function are:

  • New - creates a new transaction (see below)
  • Show... - changes the way transactions are displayed (see below)
  • Accounts - navigates to the Accounts Form

New Transaction Dialog

Tapping the "New" button on the Transaction List screen displays the New Transaction dialog. Use this dialog to create new transactions. The "Date" button displays the standard Pilot date selection dialog. The Number field operates very similarly to Quicken's number field. Entering "+" (or "k", to avoid having to use the punctuation shift) or "-" (or space) in the graffiti area will increment or decrement the account's current transaction number. Enter the transaction's payee in the Desc field or tap the "Payee" button to select from your list of memorized transactions. Enter the amount immediately below the payee. Don't enter a negative number in the amount field, instead use the Debit/Credit selection buttons. If you've imported categories into QMate using QSync (see the user's manual) then the "Cat" button will display a dialog containing all of your Quicken categories. Alternatively, you can enter the category manually. The Cleared checkbox controls whether the transaction is imported into Quicken already reconciled. The Synced checkbox instructs QSync to copy the transaction to the .QIF file (unchecked) or to skip it (checked). The memorized checkbox is used for memorizing transactions for easier entry in subsequent transactions with the same payee.

Transaction Details Dialog

Selecting a transaction on the Transactions Form (single tap) will display the Transaction Details dialog.

This dialog is identical to the New Transaction dialog except that it adds a "Delete..." button. Use this button to delete a transaction you no longer want. Transactions that have been synced (have the Synced checkbox checked) can be deleted en masse using the Options:Purge... menu command (see QMate Menus).

Split Transaction Dialog

Tap the Split... button in the New/Edit Transaction dialog to display the Split Transaction dialog. With this dialog you can enter up to six splits for a transaction.

The "+" button will retabulate the overall transaction amount based on the sum of the splits you have entered.

Transfer Money Dialog

To transfer money from one account to another tap the Xfer button in the New/Edit Transaction dialog. QMate will display the Tranfer Money dialog where you can specify the target account and amount. To clear a transfer transaction tap the Xfer button and then tap the Clear... button. QMate will change the transaction to a non-transfer one and update any affected account balances. QMate uses any applicable conversion rates when updating account balances.

Select Category Dialog

Tapping the "Cat" button on the New Transaction dialog displays the Select Category dialog.

This dialog requires that you use QSync to import a category list file exported from Quicken. Categories and subcategories along with income and expense characteristics are supported. The income/expense characteristic is used to set the Debit/Credit setting on the New Transaction dialog.

Entering the first letter of a category in the graffiti area scrolls to the first category whose first letter matches or is greater than the letter entered (case insensitive). This is only supported for categories, not subcategories. In the example shown to the left, "d" would select "Deposit" not "Children:Day Care."

Show Transactions Dialog

Tapping the "Show..." button on the Transactions List screen displays the Show Transactions dialog.

This dialog allows you to change the sort order, filter characteristics and display options used by the Transactions List.

Edit Currencies Dialog

With the Edit Currencies dialog you can specify a base currency and up to 32 different currencies with conversion rates to use in QMate. The conversion rates are used when transferring funds from one account to another (when different currencies are involved) and also when QMate's conduit generates QIF files. All amounts in QIF files are expressed in your base currency.

Conversion Rate Dialog

Whenever you choose a currency in the New/Edit Transaction dialog that is different than your base currency QMate will display the conversion rate dialog. Here you can tell QMate to use the master rate (a floating value that will change as your master rate changes) or a fixed rate. If you choose a fixed rate you can tell QMate to update your master list using that value. This offers a facile means for keeping your master list of coversion rates up to date.

Options Menu

The Options menu commands and their functions are (see below for screen shots of the dialogs for each of these commands):

  • Get Info... - displays the Info dialog.
  • Preferences... - allows you to change the QMate preferences.
  • Purge... - offers options for deleting unwanted transactions.
  • Synced/Cleared Status... - changes the synced and/or cleared status of all transactions.
  • Set Password... - lets you to enter a password (and optinally a hint to help you remember it) that must be entered before QMate will allow access to your data.

Lists Menu

The Lists menu commands and their functions are:

  • Edit Currencies - displays the Edit Currencies dialog where you can specify the currency symbols and conversion rates to use in QMate.
  • Delete Categories... - deletes all the categories that have been imported from QSync. This is useful if you want to update your category list in QMate with a newer one from your Quicken data file.
  • Delete Memorized... - deletes all of your memorized transactions.

Edit Menu

QMate supports the standard Pilot editing features when applicable.

 

Info Dialog

The all important Info dialog. What app is complete without one?

Preferences

The Preferences panel allows you to configure how QMate displays currency symbols and decimal portions of amounts in addition to how QMate enters default dates for transactions and whether to recalculate an account's balance when purging transactions.

Password Dialog

To protect your QMate data from prying eyes you can enter a password of up to 9 characters. You can also enter a hint of up to 9 characters to help you remember your password. Please guard your password carefully as there is no "backdoor" way to get into QMate.

Purge Transactions Dialog

To reclaim space on your Palm handheld you can choose to purge some or all of your QMate transactions. The Purge Transactions dialog provides you several choices for specifying which transactions to remove.

You can have QMate purge transactions only in a selected account or all accounts. Furthermore, the Synced and Cleared statuses along with transaction age can all be used to narrow down further which ones you no longer want. See the dialog tips for an explanation of what the Or/And buttons do.

Transaction Status Dialog

Occasionally you may find it useful to check or uncheck either the Synced or Cleared checkbox for all transactions in QMate. The Transaction Status dialog is where you can do that. Choosing "Yes" will check the corresponding checkbox, "No" will uncheck it and "No Change" will not make any change to the setting.

See Also: