CheckBook, our beloved personal finance manager, uses two terms – Resolved and Reconciled – that may sound similar and throw you right off, so let’s sort them out right here.
Resolved is what you’ll think of as “cleared” or “posted”. Click an Entry’s Resolved checkbox, in the column with a checkmark at the top, to tell CheckBook the Entry has posted at your bank or other financial institution. The Resolved Balance, then, is the total of all Entries marked as Resolved and the Unresolved Balance is the total of what’s left – what’s Unresolved, or outstanding.
Reconciled is a bit, well, more than Resolved. A Reconciled Entry’s Amount can’t be changed and its Resolved checkbox can’t be unchecked. Clicking the Resolved checkbox of each Entry on your statement is part of getting your Entries to this point, but you’ll need to go through an official, honest-to-goodness reconciliation before you make it all the way there: Click the Reconcile button at the bottom of the window, enter your statement’s ending balance, mark each Entry on the statement as Resolved, and, as long as your work is spot on, the Unreconciled total will be zero and a smaller Reconcile button, at the bottom of the Statement column, will light up. Click that button to complete your reconciliation. There. Now all of your Resolved Entries are also Reconciled.
So, you see, Resolved Entries aren’t necessarily Reconciled, but Reconciled Entries must be Resolved first. A very quick, practical way to tell the difference is Resolved Entries have a colored checkmark you can click and Reconciled Entries have a grey checkmark you can’t.
The Reset Unreconciled Entries button may not be for you
One common way of getting into a jam is to click the Reset Unreconciled Entries button next to the small Reconcile button at the bottom of the Statement column. That button removes the Resolved checkmark from every Entry that isn’t Reconciled, taking your Resolved Balance back to what it was when you completed your last official reconciliation. If you’ve never clicked the small Reconcile button, though, then you’ve never officially reconciled, so every Entry will lose its Resolved checkmark. In short, if you’ve never clicked the small Reconcile button, you probably won’t want to use Reset Unreconciled Entries.
If you need to undo Reset Unreconciled Entries
While there isn’t a single step to undo Reset Unreconciled Entries, here’s how to get back to where you started:
- Go to the View menu at the top of your screen, down to Columns, and click the Date Modified menu item. The Date Modified column will appear at the far right of the list of Entries. It could appear so far to the right you’ll have to scroll to the right or make your window wider to see it. Make sure you can see it.
- Click the Date Modified column header, the actual words “Date Modified” at the top of the column. All of the Entries that just lost their Resolved checkmark will appear grouped together with the same Date Modified.
- Scroll to one end of the group of Entries that lost their Resolved checkmark and single-click the first Entry in the group.
- Scroll to the other end of the group of Entries and hold the Shift key on your keyboard while you single-click the last Entry in the group. All of the Entries in between will be highlighted.
- Go to the Entry menu at the top of your screen, down to Mark, and click the As Resolved menu item. All of the selected Entries will be marked as Resolved.
- Return to the View menu, down to Columns, and click the Date Modified menu item.
- Click the Date column header, the word “Date” at the top of the column of dates.
These steps assume no Entries have been changed since Reset Unreconciled Entries was used. It’s OK if you’ve changed an Entry or three, in the meantime – you’ll just need to recall which were Resolved before and mark them that way one at a time.
We’re happy to help
We want you to make the most of CheckBook’s reconciliation features. Please reach out to support@splasm.com with any questions and we’ll be happy to provide all the details you need!