Transactions

Every purchase, paycheck and payment is a transaction. You can see them all together on Transactions, or one account at a time on its register (click the account in the sidebar or on the Accounts page).

The list

Transactions are grouped by day, newest first, with each day's total on its header and a count of what matches your filters above the list. Each row shows:

• the payee, with its logo or initial (transfers show two arrows),
• the category (a split shows Split (2) and can be expanded; a transfer shows Transfer),
• the account (on the all-transactions list only),
• a lock if it's reconciled,
• the amount: money coming in is green.

Finding transactions

• Search matches payee names and notes as you type.
• This Month, Last 3 Months, This Year and All Time pick the period.
• Hover over a category and click the arrow next to it to show only that category (the period switches to All Time so nothing is missed). The filter appears above the list; remove it with its ×. The same arrow next to a payee searches for all of that payee's transactions.

Adding a transaction

From Transactions: choose Add. Pick Debit (money out) or Credit (money in), then enter the amount, the merchant, the date and the account; category and notes are optional. The merchant box suggests payees you've used before, or creates a new one.

From an account's register: choose Add Transaction and fill in the row that appears at the top: date, payee, category, notes, and an Outflow or Inflow amount. Save with the check mark, or cancel with the ×. On a phone the form opens as a sheet, one field per row.

Amount fields do arithmetic: type 12.50+3*2 or 120/4 and FlyBudget works it out when you leave the field. This works everywhere an amount is typed, including splits and the budget.

When you save, FlyBudget fills in what it can: if the payee has a default category and you didn't pick one, it's used, and your rules run on the new transaction. Anything you chose yourself is kept.

Editing a transaction

Click a transaction to open its details on the right (full screen on a phone). Change the date, category, payee or notes; each change is saved when you leave the field. The panel also shows the recurring item it paid, if any, with a button to unlink it.

For quick fixes you don't need the panel: hover over the payee or category in the list and click it to pick another. The category picker can also create a new category on the spot.

• Create rule (in the panel) starts a rule from this transaction, with its payee and category filled in.
• Delete Transaction removes it, after asking. Deleting a transfer leaves the other side as a normal transaction; deleting a split removes its parts; deleting a payment for a recurring item marks that payment as unpaid again.

Reconciled transactions are locked: the panel says so, and the date, category, payee and notes can't be changed.

Splits

One purchase can cover several categories, like a warehouse-store trip that's part groceries and part home goods. When adding a transaction in a register, click the split button (next to the check mark): the category becomes Split and rows appear for each part, with its own category, notes and amount. Add more with Add split. The form shows whether the parts add up to the total (Balanced) or how much is left. The Add transaction dialog has a Split button next to the category that works the same way.

To split a transaction that's already there, like one from your bank, open it and click Split next to its category. The parts start as the whole amount in its current category plus an empty part; change them until they're balanced and click Save split. Reconciled transactions, transfers and balance corrections can't be split.

In the list, a split shows Split (N); click the arrow to see its parts. The detail panel shows each part with its category and amount. Edit split there changes the parts, and Unsplit makes it one uncategorized transaction again.

Budgets and reports count each part in its own category. The account balance counts the transaction once. A rule can also split transactions for you.

Transfers

Moving money between your own accounts (paying a credit card from checking, or saving into a savings account) is a transfer, not spending. Every category list ends with Transfer: account name for each of your other open accounts (type "transfer" in the search box to jump to them).

• Adding a transaction: pick Transfer: account name as its category. FlyBudget creates two linked transactions: money out of one account and into the other. An outflow (or Debit) sends the money to the other account; an inflow (or Credit) brings it in from there. In the Transactions page's Add dialog, the account field then reads From account (Debit) or To account (Credit).
• A transaction that's already there (imported from a CSV file or your bank): pick Transfer: account name as its category, in the list or the detail panel. If the other account already has the same amount going the other way within 5 days (your bank imported both sides), FlyBudget links the two. Otherwise it adds the other side for you.

Transfers FlyBudget finds for you

When an imported transaction leaves one account and the same amount arrives in another within 5 days, FlyBudget suggests it as a transfer above the transaction list: "2 possible transfers between your accounts". Choose Review to see each pair, untick any that aren't transfers, and Link the rest. Choose Not a transfer on a pair that only looks alike (a $40 grocery run on the same day as $40 of interest) and it won't be suggested again.

FlyBudget suggests these rather than linking them on its own, because two unrelated transactions sometimes have the same amount, and a wrong link would quietly drop real spending from your budget.

Working with transfers

Transfers are linked: change the date or amount on one side and the other follows. They have no category, and they're left out of income and spending. To undo a link, open either side and choose Not a transfer: both become ordinary transactions again (with your bank's original text as the payee), and nothing is deleted.

Importing and syncing

• Import a CSV file from your bank.
• Connect a bank with SimpleFIN or Plaid to bring transactions in automatically.

When the connection drops

On a self-hosted server, transactions you add while FlyBudget can't reach the server are kept on your device and sent when it's back. See Working offline.