PowerBook

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From the first statement to Schedule C.

Six steps from a fresh install to a year's books, with every line recorded and the form worked out.

Setting up

From a fresh install to a year's books.

  1. 1

    Start your books

    Download PowerBook and run it. The first time, it asks for your business's name and makes your books, with a chart of accounts for a US freelancer or single-member LLC. They are kept in your Windows profile, in %AppData%\PowerBook.

  2. 2

    Install the categoriser

    At the bottom left, choose Install beside Categoriser. It downloads the model that reads bank descriptions, 129 MB, once per computer, and checks every file against its published digest.

  3. 3

    Import your statements

    Choose Import statement on To record, pick every statement you have, and the account they are for. Chase business checking PDFs, and CSV, OFX or QFX from any bank, can be mixed in one go. Each file reports how many lines it added.

  4. 4

    Record the lines

    Each line comes with a suggested account. Accept all sure records every line PowerBook is confident of; the rest wait for you, with the best guess already picked. Change any suggestion before recording it, and the model learns from that too.

  5. 5

    Turn Claude on, if you want it

    Choose Turn on beside Claude off, then Get one free: a licence key arrives by email, and its button opens PowerBook with the key filled in. From then on a line both models are unsure of is answered by Claude, shown in purple.

  6. 6

    Read the reports

    Reports has the profit and loss and the balance sheet; Accounts has each account's ledger; Schedule C has the year's form, each line with the accounts behind it. Check them, then take the figures to your return or your accountant.

Worth knowing

Things it will do that you might miss.

A few of the parts people find after a week, which are worth finding on day one.

Accept all sure
Records every line the models are confident of in one go, and leaves the unsure ones for you.
Transfers recorded once
A payment from checking to the business card appears on both statements; PowerBook matches the pair and records it once.
Corrections that keep the history
Reverse an entry and a dated reversing entry sits beside it. Nothing in the journal is ever overwritten.
Light or dark
The app follows Windows' own setting.
Claude can be turned off
Turn the licence off at the bottom left and nothing more is sent. Your own and the shipped model keep suggesting.