Are there easier ways to enter securities into the grid?

Yes.

Copy-and-paste. The easiest way to get securities and their shares/par into the grid is to simply copy-and-paste them from Excel or another source. You can do it one at a time, or copy entire columns and paste them into the EVP Office applications.

Import. You can also import securities and shares from over a dozen sources, including ones you can customize to your circumstances.

Shortcuts. The EVP Office applications have lots of ways to make entering specific securities easier:

• Savings Bonds: For Series E and EE Bonds, you can type EYYMM (where YY is the year of the bond and MM is the month) into the Identifier field of EstateVal, GiftVal or CostBasis and the program will automatically translate the entry into the appropriate CUSIP when the evaluation is run. The same is true with Series H and HH Bonds (using HYYMM), and Series I Bonds (using IYYMM).
  One thing to note: Series EE Bonds were first issued in January of 1980 but the last issuance of Series E was not until June 1980. So between January 1980 to June 1980, the shortcuts for Series E and EE bonds overlapped. If you use the EYYMM between these dates, you’ll get the EE bonds valuation. If you need Series E, you will have to use the CUSIP numbers, listed below.

  Series E Date	CUSIP
  January 1980	912537VL8
  February 1980	912537VM6
  March 1980	912537VN4
  April 1980	912537VP9
  May 1980	912537VQ7
  June 1980	912537VR5

• Mortgage-Backed Securities: Instead of using the CUSIP for Ginnie Maes and Fannie Maes, EVP Office lets you use their pool numbers. In place of the Identifier, just enter the six digit pool number (padding the left side with 0s if need be) followed by an X if the security is a GNMA I; a C for GNMA II, Single Issuer; an M for GNMA II, Multiple Issuers; or an F for FNMAs.

• Cash: If you enter CASH into the Identifier field and the value of the cash into the Shares/Par column, evaluating the security will automatically set its per-share value to $1.00, so that the report will show the amounts as you expect. You also won’t be charged for the evaluation. This trick also works if you using $USD.

• Cryptocurrencies, commodities, foreign currencies: By going to Tools → Look Up... and selecting the appropriate item, a dialog box will appear that lets you search on the name of a cryptocurrency, precious metal, or foreign currency that the EVP Office applications can price. Selecting an item will insert it into the grid.