Welcome to the BudgetTail!
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the tabs at the top of the screen?
There are four tabs, each one used to manage related information:
- The Accounts tab is used to manage transactions in each of your accounts;
- The Budget tab is used to manage recurring transactions you want to add. For instance, every month you pay Utilities / Gas;
- The Summary tab shows a set of charts presenting aggregated values for all of your transactions from all accounts, in different periods of time;
- The More tab is used to manage the lists you use in your transactions (Payees and Categories).
How to manage accounts?
You can add accounts of three types: Checking, Savings or Credit. To manage accounts use the buttons at the lower-left portion of the Account tab.
Important: Please note that when you delete an account all of its transactions will also be deleted.
How to manage transactions?
You can either enter transactions manually, or import from a file you have downloaded from your financial institution:
- To enter transactions manually use the buttons at the lower-center portion of the Account tab;
- To import transactions from a downloaded file use the "Import" button at the upper-left portion of the screen. The App accepts the most used file formats for financial statements: .ofc, .ofx, and .qfx.
Please note that as you import a file to an account the app will remember to which account you added the transactions. Next time that account will be automatically selected from the dropdown list.
Also, as you identify the payees and categories from an imported transaction, the next time the app will remember that selection and do it for you automatically.
When you mark a transaction as a "Transfer" the app will generate the equivalent transaction in the transfer account. Any modification will reflect in both accounts.
How to schedule recurring transactions?
You can add recurring scheduled transactions for payment, deposit and transfer. To enter scheduled transactions use the buttons at the lower-center portion of the Budget tab.
The scheduled transactions will be used for presenting your budget forecast. The forecast uses today's balance on each of your accounts and apply all future scheduled transactions to show what you should expect in the future --based on what you have planned.
Please note that you can even modify the date or value for some of the future instances of your scheduled transactions. Also, as you enter an account transaction the app will check if you have an equivalent scheduled transaction for that same Payee, and properly update the schedule. If you prefer you can manually move a scheduled transaction to the account, by using the "Move" button in the detail for the scheduled transaction.
How to use the summary tab?
Use the charts to see all values entered for same Payee and Category in a given period of time.
Click on each of the pie slices (or bar) and drill-down to the actual transactions used to calculate that aggregated value.
Once you are seeing the related transactions you can even click on "Detail" button and modify that transaction. The app will refresh the charts with the updated values.
In the bar chart you can see totals for your income and expense on each month, based on the entered transactions for all accounts. You can also drill-down to those values.
There are four tabs, each one used to manage related information:
- The Accounts tab is used to manage transactions in each of your accounts;
- The Budget tab is used to manage recurring transactions you want to add. For instance, every month you pay Utilities / Gas;
- The Summary tab shows a set of charts presenting aggregated values for all of your transactions from all accounts, in different periods of time;
- The More tab is used to manage the lists you use in your transactions (Payees and Categories).
How to manage accounts?
You can add accounts of three types: Checking, Savings or Credit. To manage accounts use the buttons at the lower-left portion of the Account tab.
Important: Please note that when you delete an account all of its transactions will also be deleted.
How to manage transactions?
You can either enter transactions manually, or import from a file you have downloaded from your financial institution:
- To enter transactions manually use the buttons at the lower-center portion of the Account tab;
- To import transactions from a downloaded file use the "Import" button at the upper-left portion of the screen. The App accepts the most used file formats for financial statements: .ofc, .ofx, and .qfx.
Please note that as you import a file to an account the app will remember to which account you added the transactions. Next time that account will be automatically selected from the dropdown list.
Also, as you identify the payees and categories from an imported transaction, the next time the app will remember that selection and do it for you automatically.
When you mark a transaction as a "Transfer" the app will generate the equivalent transaction in the transfer account. Any modification will reflect in both accounts.
How to schedule recurring transactions?
You can add recurring scheduled transactions for payment, deposit and transfer. To enter scheduled transactions use the buttons at the lower-center portion of the Budget tab.
The scheduled transactions will be used for presenting your budget forecast. The forecast uses today's balance on each of your accounts and apply all future scheduled transactions to show what you should expect in the future --based on what you have planned.
Please note that you can even modify the date or value for some of the future instances of your scheduled transactions. Also, as you enter an account transaction the app will check if you have an equivalent scheduled transaction for that same Payee, and properly update the schedule. If you prefer you can manually move a scheduled transaction to the account, by using the "Move" button in the detail for the scheduled transaction.
How to use the summary tab?
Use the charts to see all values entered for same Payee and Category in a given period of time.
Click on each of the pie slices (or bar) and drill-down to the actual transactions used to calculate that aggregated value.
Once you are seeing the related transactions you can even click on "Detail" button and modify that transaction. The app will refresh the charts with the updated values.
In the bar chart you can see totals for your income and expense on each month, based on the entered transactions for all accounts. You can also drill-down to those values.