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ClearCheckbook Knowledge Base

ClearCheckbook Knowledge Base

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General Settings

The General Settings page lets you control and set many different options for various behavior throughout ClearCheckbook.

You can find the General settings by clicking on Settings at the top right side of the page, then click on General Settings under the Manage Your: header.

Display help boxes

This setting adjusts whether or not the help/description boxes appear at the top of the various sections throughout the site.

The options are Show (default) and Hide

CSS Light / Dark Mode

This option is only available for ClearCheckbook Premium members.

You can set whether you want the site to be displayed in Light or Dark mode. Dark mode is easier on the eyes in low light situations.

The options are Light (default) or Dark

General Settings - CSS Mode - Light
Sample showing Light mode selected
General Settings - CSS Mode - Dark
Sample showing Dark mode selected

Main Budget Type

You can change this option to set which budget tool is your default. This budget option changes which budget tool is loaded by clicking on the Budgets link in the main navigation.

The options are Budgets (default) and Envelope Budgets

Default account page

When you sign into ClearCheckbook, this is the page that will load upon logging in.

The options are Dashboard (default) or Transaction Register

Separate Future/Current Balances

If you have transactions post-dated in the future, you can have your balances separate into the balance as it is today and a balance that includes all post-dated transactions. If separated, the balance as of today will appear as Today's balance under the overall balance.

The options are Yes (default) and No

General Settings - Separate Future/Current Balances option enabled
Sample showing Today's balance
General Settings - Separate Future/Current Balances option enabled
Sample showing Today's balance

Order Transactions within Date

This option changes how transactions are ordered within a date

The options are Deposits First (default) or Order Entered.

General Settings - Order Transactions within Date - Deposits First
Sample showing Deposits First selected
General Settings - Order Transactions within Date - Order Entered
Sample showing Order Entered selected
You can see the difference between the two screenshots. Deposits First has the deposits listed before the withdrawals. The Order Entered shows the transactions in the order they were entered.

Showing Clearing Options

This option, when set to Hide Cleared will hide everything related to Clearing / Reconciling. This includes the Cleared balances (in the overviews and running balances), reconcile tool, Cleared column, ability to Clear a transaction on add/edit, etc. This should only be used if you never plan on clearing or reconciling your transactions.

The options are Show Cleared (default) or Hide Cleared.

Running Balances

This option is only available for ClearCheckbook Premium members.

You can choose whether or not to show the running balance in your transaction register.

The options are Enabled (default) or Disabled

General Settings - Running Balances - Enabled
Sample showing Enabled selected
General Settings - Running Balances - Disabled
Sample showing Disabled selected
If you disable the running balances, you can re-adjust your transaction register columns to show other data where the running balances used to be.

Lock Cleared Transactions

Cleared Lock lets you lock any cleared transactions after a set time period. This will prevent you from accidentally editing or deleting transactions that have been cleared. Preventing modifications to cleared transactions will help you keep your cleared balances from changing if you accidentally edit or delete a cleared transaction.

When enabled, you can choose the number of days after a transaction has been cleared to lock it. The options are 1, 2, 5, 10, 30, 60, 90 days.

Once a cleared transaction passes the days value from above, the cleared checkmark will be replaced with a icon and you will not be able to make any changes to the transaction.

General Settings - Cleared Lock - Enabled
Sample showing Enabled selected

Archive Transactions on Register

If you'd like to hide transactions prior to a certain date on the transaction register, you can enable the Archive Transactions option and choose an archive date.

Any transactions dated prior to the Archive Date will not be shown on the transaction register. You can still find them through the Search tool and the transactions will still affect your budgets, balances, reports, etc.

When enabled, you will see a note on the Transaction Register in the Register Options box reminding you that you have an archive date set up. You can learn more about this on the General Transaction Register knowledge base article.

Transaction Register - Archived Transactions Nontification
Notification in Register Options box.

Upcoming Transactions on Register

This option is only available for ClearCheckbook Premium members.

This setting shows or hides an Upcoming Transactions block above your transactions on the Transaction Register.

When enabled, any upcoming / future transactions from the Bill Tracker and Reminders / Recurring transactions tool will appear above your transaction list. The list shows the date, description, account, category and how the transaction will affect your overall balance. The list shows the next year's worth of transactions. If more than eight transactions are displayed, the Upcoming Transactions block will be scrollable so it doesn't take up as much room on your register.

General Settings - Upcoming Transactions on Register - Enabled
Sample showing the Upcoming Transactions block
Clicking the Remove link at the top right side of the Upcoming Transactions box will remove the section from your Transaction register. You can re-enable it by turning this setting on again.

Columns on dashboard

You can choose how many columns you want to appear on the Dashboard. Free members can choose between 1-3 while ClearCheckbook Premium members can select up to 8. The default is 3

Auto-complete for adding transactions

You can choose whether or not to enable Auto-complete when adding transactions. This is the suggetion list that appears when entering a description, memo or payee.

Transaction Auto-complete suggestions
Auto-complete suggestion when enabled

When disabled, no suggestions will appear when entering a description, memo or payee.

The options are Enabled (default) or Disabled

Auto-complete functionality

If you have auto-complete enabled but don't want it to fill in the last used account, category or transaction type, you can change that here so it only enters the auto-complete text.

The options are Full (default) or Text-only

Auto-complete timeframe

This setting determines how far into the past the auto-complete suggestions will look for matching keywords. You can limit the search functionality so it only looks for more recent transaction matches.

The options are All Time (default), 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years or 5 years

`Don't clear form data` option when Adding Transactions

This option determines whether a checkbox appears at the bottom of the Add Transaction form. When enabled and the option appears, the option, when checked, will keep all form data after adding a transaction. This is useful if you're adding multiple transactions with the same data.

Don't clear data option
Add Transaction form when this option is enabled

When disabled, the checkbox does not appear at the bottom of the Add Transaction form.

The options are Disabled (default) or Enabled

`Set as Cleared` selected when Adding Transactions

This option determines whether the Set as Cleared checkbox on the Add Transaction form is selected by default when adding new transactions. If you set this option to Enabled, the Set as Cleared option will be selected by default. This setting is useful if you're adding a lot of transactions that have already cleared with your bank.

The options are Disabled (default) or Enabled

Validate for unique check numbers

This option determines whether the Add Transaction form will perform a validation on the check number field to make sure the check number isn't already being used. When enabled and a duplicate check number is found, the check number field will turn red and a small message will appear under the check number field. The check number validation takes place after you move to another field in the Add Transaction form (when the field loses focus).

Check Number Validation
Example of an error when check number has already been used

Note: A duplicate check number will not prevent you from adding the transaction. The warning is simply to alert you that the check number has already been used.

The options are Disabled (default) or Enabled

Show Category Transfer Options

This option is only available for ClearCheckbook Premium members.

This option is in reference to being able to categorize transfer transactions. By default, the To/From category options are hidden and you need to click Show / Hide Transfer Categories before seeing them. If you change this setting to Visible, the category options will always appear when you create a new transfer.

The options are Hidden (default) or Visible

General Settings - Show Transfer Categories Enabled
Sample showing Visible option selected

Automatically Enter Decimal Point

This option is only available for ClearCheckbook Premium members.

When this setting has the Enabled option selected, the site will automatically place the decimal point when you're entering amounts into any amount field. See the screenshot below for a better idea of how amount entry behaves when the option is enabled.

The options are Disabled (default) or Enabled

General Settings - Automatic decimal placement Enabled
Sample showing Enabled option selected