Today we’re going to look at a simple way to keep your bills organized using Bento 2, the popular and powerful database software from the folks at FileMaker. This tutorial will show you how to set up a Library to keep a record of all your bills, and a Collection to organize the ones which need your attention now.

Step 1: Set up a library.

Bento uses different types of data sources. Larger, unfiltered data is a Library, and data fitting certain criteria is a Collection. We’re going to set up a Library first.

Hit File > New Blank Library. You’ll get a window with a header called Blank, and two tabs: Table (which is selected) and Untitled Form. Below that you’ve got New Field and a big empty expanse, waiting for you to fill it.

So let’s do that. Double-click on New Field and you’ll get a new field (funnily enough) called Field, waiting for you to edit it. Call the first one Biller. Repeat this, adding Service, Amount, Due Date, Paid, Date Paid and Receipt No. While you’re there, double-click the heading and change it to All Bills.

Okay, now you have a series of text fields. But we need some of these to be a different type of field in order to be useful. Go to Amount and right-click on it, then select Change To > Currency. Use the same method to change Due Date and Date Paid to Date fields, and Paid to Checkbox.

Step 2: Set up the form view.

Click on Untitled Form. Down at the far right corner of the window there are two buttons – click the left one to make it blue. This will bring up the form tools across the bottom of the window. By default you’ve got two fields already set up – Date Created and Date Modified. Right-click on them and delete them as we won’t be using them.

Down at the bottom left corner, you should see the Fields pane (if not, click the triangle at the extreme bottom left of the window). This contains all the fields we set up in step 1. In order to make these form fields, just drag them out onto the form. Bento gets a little bit picky about where the fields are placed, but if you maneuver the field carefully you’ll see a little guide line display where the new field will border the previous one.

Once you have the fields in place, it’s time to create one more. In the form tools menu at the bottom, click Field. This will bring up the Create a Field dialog box – choose Media from the list and name the field Scan, then click Create.

Drag Scan out from the fields pane and onto the form – you’ll probably want to do this in a second column. Resize it so it’s nice and big.

Step 3: Set up your Bills Due list.

If you’re the sort of person who pays a bill the second it arrives in your letterbox, this probably won’t be necessary. But if you’re anything like me, most bills just sit around until payday and then get paid all at once. So in order to have a handy snapshot of what needs to be paid, it’s helpful to set up a Collection called Bills Due.

Right-click on All Bills in the left (Libraries) column and select New Smart Collection. You’ll get a new screen with a set of criteria at the top – just set it to “Paid > Is not checked”. You can optionally set another to restrict this collection to “Due Date > Is in the next > 28 days”; if you do this then you’ll need to change the collection to “Display records which match > All of the following conditions”. Hit Save and you’re done.

Step 4: Enter your bills.

This is the easy part. When a bill comes in, just create a new record in All Bills, scan the bill as a JPEG or PDF, and drag it into the Scan field. Fill in all your other data and you’re done.

When a bill is paid, just go into Bills Due, fill in your receipt number and the date, then click Paid. The bill disappears from the collection as it no longer fits the criteria.

Too easy!

If you’ve got a great use for Bento, or an idea for a how-to article, you could see it published on Mactalk. Shoot me an email at toby.nieboer at mactalk.com.au.