FIGURE C

This is the Split Transaction screen.

Splitting a transaction between multiple categories is valuable when you have a transaction containing personal and business expenses, or a transaction containing mixed items such as groceries and household products. Split transactions are synchronized to your desktop Quicken where you can create a more in-depth analysis and report for individual categories.

Features specific to QMate that are also displayed in the New Transaction window include the options of Synced, Memorized, and Cleared. These options allow you to manage your QMate data, as shown in Figure D. The Synced feature will flag the selected transaction as already been synchronized and will not import this transaction to your desktop Quicken. The Cleared feature will import the transaction into your desktop Quicken as already being cleared.

FIGURE D

The Transaction Details dialog also controls synchronization options.

The Memorized feature is what makes QMate's interface convenient. By selecting this option QMate will memorize the transaction's details, so the next time the you begin typing the payee, QMate will Quick-Fill the transaction based on the memorized information. This saves you valuable time entering repeating expenses, such as car and mortgage payments, that frequently repeat themselves.

Synchronizing QMate
Since your bank statement just arrived, you're now ready to synchronize your QMate data with your desktop Quicken. Synchronizing QMate and Quicken to reconcile your checkbook or analyze your monthly expenses requires a desktop software program called QSync that comes with QMate.

QSync is available for Macintosh, as shown in Figure E, and Windows operating systems. It allows the user to create a single or set of files that are importable into your desktop Quicken. If you are using Quicken 98, you can utilize Quicken's new format and record all your accounts in one file; otherwise, a separate file for each QMate account will be created on your desktop. In addition to synchronizing QMate data to Quicken, if you use a Macintosh, QSync also provides synchronization of expense data from the built-in Expense application. The Expense data may also be imported into a spreadsheet program like Excel. Once all your QMate accounts have been synchronized to a Quicken format you're ready to fire-up your desktop Quicken and reconcile your checkbook!

FIGURE E


This is the Macintosh QSync Interface. Roll over picture for a larger image.

Conclusion
In conclusion, QMate offers an easy to use, intuitive interface that a typical Quicken user would easily relate to as a PalmPilot application. QSync, QMate's desktop conduit, offers a quick and painless way to get your checkbook from your PalmPilot to your desktop Quicken. This makes QMate and QSync an attractive financial tracking solution for all PalmPilot and Quicken users.

When I asked Steve Dakin (Qmate's author) where he saw QMate in the next 3 months he replied, "QMate is constantly evolving," and added with excitement "Some of the planned features include multiple currency support (for my international users) and better synchronization with Quicken".

QMate is shareware, $20 (includes QSync) and may be downloaded at any of the popular software archives.

Jim McCarthy is the maintainer of the JustApps software archive, which can be found at http://www.bigfoot.com/~pilotguy. He can be reached via email at pilotguy@bigfoot.com.