How Do I Customize a Microsoft Money Report?

At the bottom of any report or chart window, Money provides a Customize button.

If you click this button once you have produced the report or chart, Money displays

a Customize Report dialog box This dialog box provides ten tabs with each tab corresponding to

a type of customization you can make to a report or chart.

Using the Account Tab

If you click the Account tab, Money displays options that let you choose which accounts should appear on the report. If you want all the accounts you track in Money to have their data included on the report, for example, click the Select All button. If you want only those accounts that are "open," click the All Open Accounts button. If you want to select only a subset of accounts for the report, first

click the Clear All button to un-mark each of the accounts on the list shown. Then click the individual accounts you want to appear. When you click an account, Money places a check in a box in front of the account name. Only those accounts whose boxes are checked will appear on the report.

NOTE To close an account, click the Accounts link so that Money displays the Pick An Account To Use window. Then right-click the account you want to use, and choose See Account Details from the sub menu. When Money displays the Account Details window, select the This Account Has Been Closed check box. The Show Closed Accounts box lets you control whether the list of accounts shown on the Account tab includes only open accounts or both open and closed accounts. If

the Show Closed Accounts box is checked, then Money shows any closed accounts. Otherwise, Money shows only open accounts.

Using the Amount Tab.

The Amount tab lets you select transactions for a report based on the transaction amount. To include only transactions that equal a specific amount, select the Search On This Amount option button and then enter the amount in the Search On This Amount text box. To include transactions that fall into a range of amounts, select the Search On This Range option button and then use the From and To boxes to provide the range of values. All of the text boxes on the Amount tab provide buttons that you can click to display a pop-up calculator that you can use to calculate an amount in the field.

NOTE If you don't enter values in the text boxes shown in the Amount tab, Money

does not include or exclude transactions using amount information.

Using the Category Tab

The Category tab lets you select transactions for inclusion based on the income or

expense category recorded for a transaction. To include all transactions regardless of the category used, click the Select All button. To include only those transactions that use income categories, click the Select Income Categories button.

To include only expense categories, click the Select Expense Categories button. To include only those categories that have been marked as tax related, click the Select Tax Categories button.

To use a smaller subset of categories, click the Clear All button and then select the categories you want to appear on your report by clicking them in the list box of categories. When you click a category, Money places a check in the box next to the category name.

The Category tab also provides several other check boxes you can use to deal with special cases. Selecting the Show Subcategories check box tells Money that you also want subcategories to be listed. Selecting the Include Unassigned Income Transactions check box and the Include Unassigned Expense Transactions check box tell Money to include income transactions and expense transactions that were not assigned to a category.

Using the Date Tab

The Date tab lets you specify which range of dates the report should include. You can select a predefined date range using the Range list box. Or you can use the From and To boxes to enter specific dates. Click the From and To boxes' buttons to display a pop-up calendar that you can use to enter a date in the field.

Using the Details Tab

The Details tab lets you select transactions that should be included on a report according

to the type of transaction. The Type list box lets you choose which types of transactions should appear on the report: payments, deposits, unprinted checks, unsent direct bill payments, transfers, or all types of transactions. The Status list box lets you select reconciled, unreconciled, or both reconciled and unreconciled transactions for your report.

Finally, the Find This Check Number button and box and Find

This Range button and text boxes let you select only a specific check or range of checks

for inclusion on your report.

Using the Fonts Tab

The Fonts tab provides options you can use to control the appearance of the reports

that Money produces. You can use the Font box to select the font used for a report. The Size box lets you select the point size for the report's text.

The Report Column Widths box lets you control how Money sizes the report columns. Typically, you want the report column width set to automatic so that the report columns are wide enough for the information they contain. The Report Column Widths list box, however, also provides other column sizing options, including narrow, standard, wide, and extra wide.

Using the Rows & Columns Tab

The Rows & Columns tab lets you specify how Money arranges report information

into rows and columns. The Rows list box lets you specify what information Money shows in its rows. By default, Money typically uses rows to show category-level information.

The Columns list box lets you specify how Money should use the columns of the

report. Many Money reports use only a single column. However, some reports that show how your income and expenses change over time use different columns for different months or different years.

The Report & Columns tab also provides three other options. The Sort By Amount

check box lets you tell Money to sort report rows in descending amount order.

(Typically, Money sorts rows alphabetically using the category name.) The Include Abbreviations check box lets you include abbreviations. The Combine All Values Under % Of Total box lets you tell Money to combine row-level information into a single value when the information would otherwise be immaterial. (To use this option, simply enter the percentage that is insignificant in the box.)

Using the Payee Tab

The Payee tab lets you specify which payees should appear on the report. If you want all transactions to appear in the report, click the Select All button.

If you want only certain payee transactions to be included in the report, click the Clear

All button. Then select each of the payees that you want to include using the list box that appears on the tab. As you click a payee name, Money checks the box next to it.

NOTE Beneath the list box of payees, Money also provides an Include Transactions With

No Payee In Search check box. Select this box to tell Money that it should include those transactions where no payee name is recorded.

Using the Text Tab

The Text tab lets you specify that you want a report that includes only those transactions

that use a specific string of text. This is a very useful feature.

For example, if you want a complete report that lists any transaction having anything to do with a charitable contribution, you might specify that you want any transaction that includes the word incorporation. By specifying this text using the Text tab, Money would include in its report any transaction that used the word incorporation in the payee name, the category name, or the memo description.

How do I undo my customization?

If you want to return to Money's default report settings, all you need to do is display

the Customize Report dialog box and then click its Reset button. Money then returns

the Customize Report dialog box's options back to their original settings.

Stephen L. Nelson is the author of do it yourself kits for Arizona incorporation, Arizona S corporation, and Arizona LLC formation.