Hints for making the most of version 4.xx ----------------------------------------- Quick method to set budgets for all categories ---------------------------------------------- To set budgets for all categories based on the spending and income patterns for any specified time period, follow this procedure. Select the Category Balance view by pressing the toolbar button. Set the Recalculate Budgets option to Yes. Follow the on-screen dialog. Done! Pasting your category balances and budgets into the Series 5 Sheet application via Word --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From the Category Balance view, press Tab for options. Select Screen + Tab-delimited File. Choose the export file and press Enter. In the Series 5 Word application, use the Import Text File option, then press CTRL+A (to select all text) and CTRL+C to copy text. In the Sheet application press CTRL+V to paste. Viewing the full text of a description, reference or category ------------------------------------------------------------- abp allows quite long names for transaction descriptions, references and categories. Because space is limited, these names are sometimes truncated on screen when transactions are listed. There are two options. Firstly, zoom out. Secondly, you can set a User Preference (CTRL+Q) so that tapping part of the transaction on the screen displays the full text. To clarify how this works: 1. You will have already set the default behaviour for tapping an entry to be either Edit transaction or Reconcile transaction. 2. If you tap the description, reference or category then the full text is displayed 3. If you tap ELSEWHERE on the entry (eg. the date, the amount) then the entry is opened for editing or is reconciled according to your preference. Upgrading from abp version 3.xx ------------------------------- Abp version 4 uses a modified data file format so, first of all, you'll need to convert your abp version 3.xx datafile using the supplied program abp3to4.opo. You can copy this program onto any Psion Series 5 directory (for example, c:\documents), it does not need to reside in c:\system\apps\abp like the main abp program. The conversion program will create a new data file for you - for security, it must have a different name from your original file (you can always rename your new file later if you wish). When you have installed abp version 4.xx (see instructions in README.TXT) then you are ready to go. For a complete inventory of the changes in version 4.xx, see the file CHANGES.TXT. Matching descriptions when entering transactions ------------------------------------------------ This new functionality was added in version 3.17. Press SPACE to enter a new transaction as normal. You will see a button entitled "Match description". If you enter the first few letters of a description then press this button or press CTRL+D, the program will look for the most recent transaction which matches this description. The full description, amount and category will be automatically displayed for you. Pressing the button or CTRL+D again will find the next most recent matching transaction, and so on. The idea of this new functionality is that it saves time when entering new transactions which are similar to previous transactions. Getting to know the new functionality ------------------------------------- There are a number of new functions in version 3.00. The most significant change is that abp now supports investments, activities (ie. buys & sells) and prices. In addition (and I believe uniquely to any Psion 5 program) there is full Quicken and MS Money compatibility so that investment activity can both be imported and exported to those PC-based programs. I recommend that you take a few moments to browse the help file (CTRL+SHIFT+H within abp). I also suggest that you open the abp data file SAMPLE.ABP, go to the Invest menu, then experiment! Using prices ------------ Abp stores all data in a single file. The program performs well with quite large data files, however if you have a number of investments and update the prices daily, then your abp file can grow big. In this situation, you might want to hold your prices in a different data file from your bank accounts. Note that the New Prices option (CTRL+H) is the normal way to enter new (updated) prices. The Update/Delete Prices option (CTRL+U) is designed to allow a previously-entered price to be modified - for example if you made a mistake. Remember that abp stores prices in units of home currency (for example, pounds sterling), so that a price of (say) 125 pence should be entered as 1.25. Using investments with your bank account ---------------------------------------- Whenever you enter any investment activity, you will have the option of updating your current bank account with the proceeds from the buy or sell. If you have a regular investment cash account, then ensure this is the currently-selected bank account before entering your investment activity. Calculating your gain or loss on investments -------------------------------------------- The Investment Summary screen (CTRL+SHIFT+Q) will show your investments and their current value, based on the latest prices that you have supplied. The program will sum your investment activity for each security and check how much you have spent on your investments. The gain or loss is calculated from the different between what you have spent and the current market value. Note: if you previously held a security and the buy/sell activity is not shown in abp, then the program does not know what you have spent. In this case, the gain or loss calculation will not be correct and will be shown with an asterisk. I hope you continue to find abp useful. Feedback is always welcome. Malcolm Bryant 5 September 1998 email: malbry@ms.com