CheckBook 4+

Great Excel Spreadsheet Replacement

I was using a self built Excel sheet for my check register, until my computer decided to stop cooperating with me. When I bought my new Mac I knew I wanted an easy to use app that would do the balancing and math for me and this app sure fit the bill! It’s easy to set up and use, the only “wish” I have would be if it synced with my bank online! I could have paid for an app that would do that, but the prices!!!! Gesh. This is a great app for someone who wants “easy” but high quality and basic. Who knows, I may still have things to find out about this app and might have to update this later! If you are still in doubt, go to the website of the product and you can get a free trial (up to 100 entries) before commiting and paying for it!!!! :)

UPDATE: I have now been using this app for SIX YEARS! I actually have 6 years of detailed activity at my finger tips! I don't have to find old statements or log in to my bank account! I am still thrilled with this program! I just happened to go to the App Store and started reading some of the reviews and learned a couple of new little tricks!! Yep, the creators actually responded to those who had issues or concerns or a wish list and BAM now I have even more tips and tricks I've learned. After 6 years! Thrilled with this app - Only one wish for me - I would like to have the ability to have it on my phone so I could update on the go. But YES this app ROCKS!! Thank you!!!

This app certainly meets my needs

I wanted a vey simple check register that allows me to keep track of 4 bank accounts and 4 IRAs. I had Quicken Express for years and it was OK but then the company changed and I had to buy a full bookeeping program. It was expensive and offered far more than I wanted or needed. So I bought Checkbook based on its reviews. I am a computer idiot and not at all comfortable setting up or using a new program. I had some trouble getting this one set up but the support people were terrific! They were exceptionally patient and understanding and got me through it quickly and with some degree of ease. People more computer literate than I (and that's just about everyone!)should have no problem. The program was not at all difficult to set up and use once I got the hang of it. I’ve used it for three months now and like it very much. It more than meets my needs. I can certainly recomend it for ease of use and tech. support.

Basic functions good, weak interface

This app is my basic checkbook and credit card tracker, replacing the feature-rich, but aged Budget. Checkbook's functionality is above average, and the reconciling routine is a great virtue — well done on that! Checkbook accomplishes the basics but lacks simple things I need, such as ability to drag and drop a mis-entered item from one account to another. General interface is polished only to a basic level. For example, all data is on one line like a plain spreadsheet, but two lines per entry might be easier to read. When tabbing through an entry, the tabbing skips by a drop-down menu --- it would be so much smoother to tab to the menu and use arrows, etc. before tabbing along. My least favorite trait of Checkbook is that your most recent item is colored very strangely in white text, boldface, with black shadow on a gray background. For me, that is hard to read and disjointed in appearance. Default as you wish, but please give users the option to customize the recently entered item. Kudos for allowing different shades of color for credit or debit items. Overall, Checkbook beats competing app Savings for functionality, especially reconciling, but falls short of the outstanding Savings interface. At the present, I am sticking with Checkbook and hoping it will grow into a great mix of strong functionality and interface excellence.

Developer Response ,

Hello there, and thank you for taking the time to reach out! We can help you set your Mac to tab to those menu buttons and also show you how to move Entries between Accounts, and then go over the other items you're interested in. To tab between just about everything, not just fields, you'll want to turn on your Mac's Full Keyboard Access feature. Go to the Apple menu at the top left corner of your screen, click the System Preferences... menu item to reveal the System Preferences window, click the Keyboard icon, click the Shortcuts button at the top of the window, then click the All controls button toward the bottom left corner of the window. Unlike its big brother, CheckBook Pro, CheckBook isn't set up to allow drag and drop - but it does know how to copy and paste. So if you create an Entry and want to move it to another Account, you can use the Edit menu to copy it, go to the desired Account and paste it, then return to the original Account and remove it. We'll look at teaching CheckBook how to do this like CheckBook Pro. The selected Entry coloring issue you mentioned should only come up when the list of Entries isn't in "focus" - when you've clicked away from it on the list of Accounts, for example. When you directly click an Entry and continue to move about the list your selecdtion should be highlighted with your Mac's selection coloring, though it's possible that's been set to a light enough grey on your Mac that it's a touch uncomfortable to read. We're looking at treating the list of Accounts, in particular, as something that doesn't remove focus from the list of Entries, so the coloring doesn't change the way you've noticed. That'd minimize the times you find the selected Entry highlighted in grey, as well. Exploring ways to display more than a single line per Entry while still providing the same level of "findability" as a straight table layout is also on our to-do list. We hope we've helped and that you keep in touch at support@splasm.com if you need anything going forward. Thanks again for the gift of your feedback!