Tags in Quicken - What they are and how to use them

[@Joejpw9000]

Nice job. Now I know what a tag does!

[@budgetwisenow]

You bet!

[@MichaelGarcia-zv2sc]

Thank you for the helpful video. Once I run a report and break out the results by tag, can I cut/paste a section of the report to use in a doc or email?

[@budgetwisenow]

I don't believe there is a way to copy\paste directly from the report in quicken but you can either take a screen shot and crop\copy\paste the part of the report you want or export\print the report as a pdf which will allow you to copy\paste contents directly from the pdf report.

[@1958zed]

Thanks. I've been looking for a way to identify a transaction as mandatory or discretionary, and this should help.

[@budgetwisenow]

Great. Glad it helped!

[@mike419100]

Awesome! - Is there a tag for that? 😀

[@budgetwisenow]

Haha. Thanks, I'll ask for one :)

[@fin3125]

Everyone says you can do mutiple tags but I can't get it to work. Did they remove this feature?

[@budgetwisenow]

You can add multiple tags, when you enter the tag field and the tag window opens with the list of tags there should be a button at the bottom of that popup windows labeled "Multiple Tags". You can then select the ones you want and they will be highlighted in blue.

[@daisysantoyo153]

Very helpful, thank you👍 Question, can you do that for expenses as well? Example I have an income from this company "pardos" but also, I spend money in working on their project. So, if I put a tag on expenses it will give provide the comparison of income and expense?

[@budgetwisenow]

Yes you can certainly do that. I would categorize income and expenses as normal and tag every related transaction as Pardos. Run a cash flow (under the Banking folder) report and customize it, select the tag tab and use the option to select only the Pardos tag and you should be all set.

[@daisysantoyo153]

@@budgetwisenow awesome, tku for ur answer.

[@lynoreabbott1010]

I don't see the group by tag option on reports. I have premier. It says it's the March 2023 version. Any tips?

[@budgetwisenow]

Generally speaking, you will need to be looking at a list of transactions in a report to be able to group by tag ( the option is "Subtotal by:"). If you are looking at a report breaking down amounts by category for example, you will not have that option. You can try using the "Itemized Tags" report in the spending menu and customize it to only include the categories you are interested in.

[@BerthaBenitez-bb3fw]

Isn't this the same as sub categories? What is the difference between sub category and tags?

[@budgetwisenow]

Tags function in a similar fashion but address a different use case. You can cross reference tags across many categories, where a subcategory will always be in a strict hierarchy. Take for example vehicles, prior to tags I used to create a subcategory for each vehicle I owned to track expenses per car. If I wanted to break that down into fuel, repair etc I would to add those as subcategories under EACH car. Instead, tags allow you to define the vehicles and apply them to transactions in existing categories (i.e. fuel, repair etc.) and run reports to understand how much was spent in a given category for each vehicle. In the end it's a much easier and cleaner way of slicing the data.

[@Joejpw9000]

Thanks. Now I know what a tag does

[@budgetwisenow]

Happy I could help!

[@terryclarke122]

How do I add my tag to a 'type' my choices are property and other. I don't see this option when adding a tag and it defaults to 'other'

[@budgetwisenow]

I'm not exactly sure what you are referring to when you say type. Tags are applied at the transaction level, the only "type" I can think of is category type (income, expense, transfer). Which screen are you seeing this on?

[@GreystoneGuru]

OK, I understand how tags can be used. But I noted that to add a tag to a split transaction, you have to do so in the "Category" drop-down. If the transaction is split, the Tag field in the register is overlaid by the text "Split" -- not very useful if you're using the tag to highlight, for example a "Pending" transaction. Can this behavior be overridden? Or is there another way to mark a transaction as "pending"? The "Clr" field should be an alternative but doesn't offer the option.

[@budgetwisenow]

I'm not sure I can visualize the problem you are describing. When I add tags to a split transaction it is through the Split Transaction window (a modal popup). The category and tags have clear and separate columns in that window. This is on the windows client. To track pending transactions I just use the absence of the clr column to indicate it's pending, and not at the tag level since the entire transaction (split & tags) is either clear or not (cannot be partially clear).

[@GreystoneGuru]

@@budgetwisenow I agree with everything you said, except for the assertion that "category and tags have clear and separate columns in that window." They do NOT on the main transaction screen -- whatever tag I choose in a "Split Transaction" modal popup does NOT display outside of the modal popup. Instead it repeats the word "Split" in the tag field, the same word that already appears in the Category field -- the Tag assigned is ONLY visible by opening the modal popup (worthless when reviewing). I frequently have transactions posted on my banking account that have been acknowledged as RECEIVED by the bank but that are labeled as pending (unresolved) AT THE BANK. It would be great if the "Clr" field, in addition to the options "Uncleared," "Cleared," and "Reconciled," offered a viewable indicator labeled "Pending" or "Pending Post." --- My 2 cents.

[@budgetwisenow]

I see what you're saying - same for me, the tag is not visible on the main transaction page, even when hovering over you only see the category, not the tag. Definitely a good feature request - I put it in as a product idea on Quicken's website. community.quicken.com/discussion/7922349/make-tag-values-visible-on-main-transaction-page-for-split-transactions-hover-over/p1?new=1

[@jerrygeeraerts8651]

I am using tags to budget for future payments, so I want to transfer money from my checking account to my savings account and use multiple tags. When I do this Quicken forces me to split the transaction into three transfers each with a different tag. In the checking account it shows as 1 transaction but in the saving account is shows as 3 transactions, which is not compatible with the one step update since my bank only sees 1 transaction in each account. Is there a way to fix this

[@budgetwisenow]

That's an interesting scenario, I just tried it and if you don't tag the split it will show as a single transaction but when you tag it the splits show up as separate transactions. My suggestion would be to process each sub amount as it's own transaction, it would mean more transfers for smaller amounts but you could keep track of it at least. The other option would be to manually enter the transaction on the checking side but that doesn't help if you want to download as you would have the same problem.

[@jerrygeeraerts8651]

@@budgetwisenow You've just confirmed my issue. Reconciling manually is not that big of a deal, so I guess I will have to do that. Thanks for the feedback