Help center
Guides for every part of Estate Bookkeeper. Inside the app, press ⌘K or Ctrl K to search these guides or ask the assistant.
Getting started
- Get started with Estate BookkeeperWhat Estate Bookkeeper does, the terms it uses, and the usual order of work from opening a matter to closing it.
- Principles of estate accountingWhy an estate is treated as a simple business, and the four kinds of transactions that keep its books in balance.
- Tour of Estate BookkeeperA walk through the matters list, the three tabs inside a matter, and where settings live, using one example estate.
- Set up a new workspaceWhat to do first in a new workspace, what can wait, and how one firm organizes its tags.
- Use the command palettePress Cmd+K or Ctrl+K to jump to pages and matters, search help, or ask the assistant to look up or change your data.
Matters
- Create your first matterThe three choices you make when you create a matter, with advice on naming, templates, and tags.
- Create a matterCreate a matter for an estate or trust, apply an account template, and add tags. Covers name rules and what blocks creation.
- Find, edit, close, and delete mattersSearch and filter the matters list, rename a matter or change its tags, close or reopen it, and delete it permanently.
- Organize matters with names and tagsA naming convention, a tagging scheme, and the search and filter tools that keep a long matters list easy to use.
Accounts
- Plan your chart of accountsHow to structure a matter's accounts around your court's requirements and your firm's reports, then save the structure as a template.
- Account types and when to use eachWhat asset, liability, equity, income, and expense accounts are for, and how Estate Bookkeeper labels a transaction from its two accounts.
- Set up accountsAdd accounts to a matter, nest them under parent accounts, write report descriptions, reorder them by dragging, and delete ones you don't need.
- Record opening balancesEnter each asset's and each debt's starting value, such as its value at the date of death, as a transaction against Opening Balance Equity.
- Set up accounts so reports are ready to fileThree ways to record income and expenses, and how each one changes the detail a reader sees on the report.
Transactions
- Opening balances, income, expenses, and transfersHow to enter each kind of transaction an estate needs, where each one appears in reports, and how the running balance catches mistakes.
- Enter a transactionRecord income, expenses, transfers, and loan activity from an asset or liability account's ledger on the Transactions tab.
- Edit, delete, and review transactionsChange or delete a transaction, reorder transactions on the same day, and review activity in the Account Ledgers and General Journal views.
- Import accounts and transactions with AIUpload a bank statement to get transaction suggestions for one account, or type, dictate, or upload material for Chart of Accounts AI to create accounts.
- Import a closing statement with AIA worked example of Import with AI on a real estate sale, what to check before you import, and why AI Instructions decide the result.
- Track taxable income with tagsUse a Taxable transaction tag and the Tagged Transactions report to hand your accountant what the fiduciary return needs.
Reports
- Run a reportChoose the Inventory Report, Income Statement, Combined Account, or Tagged Transactions report, set its dates, and read what each one shows.
- Customize and save report settingsRename a report, set the shared subtitle, hide zero-value accounts, collapse sections and accounts, and save settings to reuse later.
- Export a report to PDF, Excel, or CSVDownload the report you are viewing as a PDF, an Excel workbook, or a CSV file, and see what each format contains and how files are named.
- Prepare an inventory for filingThe settings to check on the Inventory Report, why entry dates matter, and how to export a clean copy.
- Prepare an interim or final accountHow to set the dates, choose the level of detail, and confirm that a Combined Account balances before you file it.
- Troubleshoot report totalsHow to find a mistyped amount, a transfer that does not match, or an unclear entry when a report does not come out as expected.
Templates and tags
- Use account templatesSave a matter's accounts as a template, apply a template when you create a matter, set the default, and edit, duplicate, reorder, or delete templates.
- Manage matter and transaction tagsCreate, color, reorder, and delete matter tags and transaction tags, then use them to label and filter matters and to group transactions in reports.
Workspace and team
- Workspace roles and permissionsWhat owners, admins, and users can do in a workspace, which Workspace Settings pages each role can open, and the rules for owners.
- Invite and manage membersInvite people by email or with a shareable link, resend or revoke invitations, change member roles, and remove members or leave a workspace.
- Switch, create, and set up workspacesSwitch between workspaces, create a new one, and, as an owner, rename it, add a logo and header image, write AI instructions, or delete it.
- Review the audit logWorkspace owners can search the audit log to see who created, changed, or deleted matters, accounts, transactions, members, and settings.
Billing
- Plans, trials, and current mattersThe Basic, Pro, and Firm plans, the 14-day free trial, and how the 120-day current-matter rule counts toward your plan's matter limit.
- Change plans and manage billingOwners and admins can choose a first plan, switch plans or billing intervals, update the payment method, view invoices, and cancel.