BUDGETUMBudget planner
Help Center

Budgetum Help Center

Step-by-step guides for every screen in Budgetum: where to find each button, what it does, and when it appears. Budgetum works offline, needs no account, and keeps your data on your device.

Budget & planning

Plan months or custom periods and track them.

Transactions

Record, review, and repeat income and expenses.

Accounts & import

Balances, transfers, and bank statements.

Analytics

Charts, trends, and saved filters.

Organize

Categories, contacts, and tags.

Settings

Backup, import / export, appearance, and shared controls.

About Budgetum

Why the app works the way it does.

Key Concepts

Budgetum is built from a few building blocks. Only categories and transactions are required; everything else is optional.

  • Budget: your plan for a calendar month or a saved custom budget period (for example payday to payday), compared with what actually happened. See Budget screen.
  • Sections: groups of categories, for example Housing, Food, or Income.
  • Categories: what each income or expense belongs to. Every regular income or expense transaction has exactly one category. Sections and categories are one shared list used by every month; plans are separate for each month or period. See Categories and sections.
  • Transactions: income and expense records. They count toward your budget. See Add and edit transactions.
  • Accounts: where money is kept, such as bank, cash, card, savings, or debt. An account can use a currency different from your main (budget) currency. See Accounts.
  • Transfers: moving money between your accounts. A transfer is not spending.
  • Balance adjustments: manual corrections to an account balance. They are not spending either.
  • Contacts: the stores, services, and people you pay or get paid by. See Contacts.
  • Tags: optional labels that cross categories, such as a trip or a project. A transaction can have several tags, and a tag can be on many transactions. See Tags.
  • Receipts: one purchase split into several transactions, each with its own category. Receipts use accounts in your main currency. See Receipts.
  • Recurring transactions and favourites: saved transaction templates. A template can be a favourite, have a repeat schedule, or both. Only active schedules create upcoming transactions, which you confirm. Favourites are added manually: long-press + on Budget or Transactions and pick one. See Recurring transactions.
  • Saved Sets (Pro): saved include/exclude filters for reviewing matching transactions, opening their analytics, or changing them in bulk. Sets can also be shown on the Budget screen with their own plans. See Saved Sets.
  • Bank statement matching (Pro): import a CSV or XLSX bank statement for one account and match its rows to your transactions. In the app it is called Match bank statement. See Bank statement matching.
  • Import / Export: CSV export and import, plus an optional analytics ZIP for Desktop Analytics. See Settings.
  • Desktop Analytics: private reports on a computer at budgetum.app/analytics. Your export is read in the browser, not uploaded.
  • Free and Pro: core budgeting is free. Free allows up to 5 tags and 5 recurring templates. Budgetum Pro is a one-time purchase that removes those limits and unlocks Saved Sets and bank statement matching.

Rules That Apply Everywhere

  • Budgetum is flexible and does not force a budgeting method. See Budgetum philosophy.
  • Transfers and balance adjustments change account balances only. They never count as budget income or spending, and Analytics leaves them out.
  • Analytics uses saved transactions in the selected date range; upcoming recurring previews are not included. Changing the dates keeps your whole drill-down selection.
  • Refunds: the Analytics summary shows gross expenses and income, with refunds counted in received income. Expense breakdowns show net amounts after refunds. For example, a $100 purchase and a $20 refund in the same category show as $80 in the breakdown.
  • Tags in Analytics: a transaction with several tags is divided equally between them, refunds included. A $100 expense tagged A and B counts $50 toward each tag, so a tag's amount in a breakdown can differ from the total of its full transaction list. See Analytics and reports.
  • Foreign-currency accounts: budget totals use the transaction's budget amount in your main currency, while the account balance uses the amount in the account's own currency.
  • Scheduled recurring transactions can require confirmation. While any are waiting, the Transactions tab shows a small ? badge.
  • Make a backup before importing a CSV. Re-importing a Budgetum export skips transactions that already exist (matched by their ID).
  • Contact and tag fields on the Add Transaction form can be hidden with Show on transaction creation in the Contacts and Tags screen settings.

Every screen at a glance

A short description of each part of the app, with a link to its full guide, followed by what happens the first time you open Budgetum.

First Run

  • Onboarding - First-launch setup: welcome, language and currency, suggested categories or start from scratch, optional category selection and planned amounts → see Onboarding below
  • Home/Budget - Main dashboard showing budget overview, spending progress, category summaries, and (when Quick plan update is on) quick planned-amount edits → Budget screen
  • Transactions - List of budget income and expense transactions for the selected period. When some scheduled transactions still need confirmation, the tab shows a small ? badge → Transactions screen
  • Accounts - Manage account groups, balances, transfers, statement import, and account-specific history → Accounts
  • More - App preferences and configuration (appearance, backup, import/export, categories, contacts, tags, recurring, saved sets, help, quick tips, about, official links, and extras). A small dot can appear on this tab when Budgetum has a rate-the-app prompt ready → Settings, backup, and import / export

Budget Management

  • Custom Budget Periods - Create and manage non-monthly budget ranges, such as pay cycles or project budgets. When the selected period ends, Budget asks once whether to move its dates or create the next period with the same plan → Custom budget periods
  • Budget Settings - Configure Budget screen display, summary behavior, and budget-calculation preferences → Budget screen
  • Reorder Budget - Change the display order of sections and categories within the current budget → Budget screen
  • Budget Sync / Copy Plan - Import selected category plans from another month or custom period into the current period. Categories that already exist in the current period are skipped. When a new month starts, Budget can offer to copy last month's plan once → Budget screen
  • Budget PDF Export - Configure export settings, export the selected month or custom budget period as a PDF, or generate a link to a web copy of the budget plan → Budget screen
  • Budget Trends - Per-category or per-section history screen showing monthly planned vs actual amounts for a selected year, with a chart and month-by-month drill-down. Opened from the history icon on a category or section in the Budget or Categories screens → Budget screen

Categories & Sections

  • Categories Overview - Master list of all sections and categories, available from More -> Advanced Features -> Categories. Categories can also be created directly from the Budget screen → Categories and sections
  • Add Category - Create a new category within a section → Categories and sections
  • Edit Category - Modify a category's name, icon, color, or section → Categories and sections
  • Category Details - Detailed view of a specific category with its transactions → Categories and sections
  • Merge Categories - Combine categories, add plans within each month/custom period, and update transactions, templates, Saved Sets, import rules, and hidden notes → Categories and sections
  • Add Section - Create a new section to group categories → Categories and sections
  • Edit Section - Modify a section's name, icon, or color → Categories and sections
  • Reorder Categories / Sections - Change display order of categories and sections → Categories and sections
  • Archived Categories - View hidden/archived categories → Categories and sections

Transactions

  • Add Transaction - Record a new income or expense → Add and edit transactions
  • Edit Transaction - Modify an existing transaction → Add and edit transactions
  • Daily Transactions - View transactions for a specific day with calendar navigation → Day view
  • Transaction Search - Search and filter transactions
  • Transaction History - View transaction change history
  • Grouped Transactions - View transactions grouped by various criteria
  • Entity Transactions - View all transactions for a specific account, category, section, contact, or tag → Transactions for an account, category, contact, or tag
  • Saved Sets - Save reusable transaction conditions for analysis and bulk updates → Saved Sets

Receipts

  • Add Receipt - Capture and record a receipt → Receipts
  • Add Receipt Item - Add individual items from a receipt → Receipts
  • Receipt History - View past receipts → Receipts

Accounts

  • Accounts Overview - List of all financial accounts (bank, cash, cards, etc.) → Accounts
  • Account Flow Chart - Account-specific inflow, outflow, and balance trends from the account menu → Accounts
  • Account Goals - Set a target balance on an account and track progress in the account list → Accounts
  • Add Account - Create a new financial account
  • Edit Account - Modify account details
  • Statement Import - Import a bank statement for one account and match rows to existing transactions → Bank statement matching
  • Add Balance - Record a balance adjustment
  • Edit Balance - Modify a balance entry
  • Transfer Between Accounts - Move money between accounts
  • Edit Transfer - Modify a transfer
  • Reorder Accounts - Change account display order
  • Archived Accounts - View hidden/archived accounts
  • Account Groups - Organize accounts into groups

Tags

  • Tags Overview - List of all transaction tags → Tags
  • Add Tag - Create a new tag
  • Edit Tag - Modify a tag
  • Tag Settings - Configure tag preferences
  • Merge Tags - Combine existing tags into an active target, updating transactions, favourites, recurring entries, and Saved Sets → Tags
  • Archived Tags - View hidden/archived tags

Recurring Transactions

  • Recurring Overview - Saved templates for schedules and manual reuse; Favourites is the first filter and opens by default when any favourites exist. Drag favourites to save their order → Recurring transactions
  • Edit Recurring Template - Modify a recurring transaction template
  • Recurring Options - Mark Favourite independently of the repeat schedule. Turning it on keeps options open; choosing a repeat option returns with both choices. Save the parent form to keep changes. Favourite-only templates share the existing template Pro limits.
  • Custom Recurring - Create custom recurring schedules

Contacts

  • Contacts Overview - List of people/businesses you transact with → Contacts
  • Add Contact - Create a new contact
  • Edit Contact - Modify contact details
  • Contact Settings - Configure contact preferences
  • Merge Contacts - Combine existing contacts into an active target, updating transactions, favourites, recurring entries, and Saved Sets → Contacts
  • Archived Contacts - View hidden/archived contacts

Analytics

  • Analytics & Reports - In-app charts and insights about spending patterns, trends, period comparison, and financial health → Analytics and reports
  • Analytics drill-down - Each selection keeps the earlier filters, including the starting set or entity. Compact breadcrumbs below the summary return to earlier levels; the title shows the current entity.
  • Transactions in analytics - The last option in the breakdown selector. It opens automatically when no useful breakdown remains, uses receipt/contact groups, and shows about 100 transactions at a time without splitting groups. Totals cover all matches.
  • Spending calendar - Full-year daily spending (or income) heatmap from Analytics → More analytics → Analytics and reports
  • Desktop Analytics - Browser-based private reports at budgetum.app/analytics, fed by an Import / Export CSV or analytics ZIP → Analytics and reports and Settings

Data Management

Shared Components

Product Foundations

Other

Onboarding

Onboarding runs the first time you open Budgetum after install (until you complete it). It sets language and currency, optionally seeds categories and planned amounts, then takes you to the Budget screen.

When it appears

  • Shown when onboarding has not been completed
  • After completion, the app opens on the normal Budget screen; onboarding does not repeat unless you reset the app data or reinstall

Steps

1. Welcome

Introduces Budgetum and what you will set up next. Continue to move forward.

2. Localization

Choose:

  • Language — app UI language
  • Currency — default currency for amounts and formatting

These match what you can change later under More → Localization.

3. Setup choice

Pick how to build your first budget:

  • Use suggested categories — continue to pick from Budgetum’s starter category list and optional planned amounts
  • Start from scratch — skip category seeding; you add sections and categories yourself on the Budget screen after onboarding

4. Category selection (suggested path only)

If you chose suggested categories:

  • Browse starter categories grouped by section
  • Select the ones you want in your budget
  • Continue when you have at least one selected, or go back to change the setup choice

If you started from scratch, this step is skipped.

5. Planned amounts (suggested path, with selections)

If you selected categories:

  • Set a planned amount for each selected category (Number Picker)
  • You can adjust plans later on the Budget screen

If you selected categories but skip amounts, you can still finish; plans can be added later.

  • Back — previous step when available
  • Continue / Finish — advance; on the last step, completes onboarding and loads the Budget screen

The progress indicator reflects how many steps apply (scratch setup has fewer steps than the full suggested flow).

What gets created

Suggested categories path:

  • Selected starter categories (and their sections) are created in your database
  • Planned amounts you entered are saved for the current budget period

Start from scratch:

  • No categories are created automatically
  • Language, currency, and onboarding-completed flag are still saved

After onboarding

You land on the Budget screen with the period and settings you chose. Use the Budget menu to add sections/categories, or More for backup, recurring templates, and other features.

Tips

  1. Suggested categories are faster if you want a ready-made structure; scratch suits users who already know their category list
  2. You can change language, currency, and all categories after onboarding
  3. Planned amounts from onboarding are starting points—you can tap planned values on the Budget screen anytime to adjust

Download the free budget planner app

Budgetum is a simple budget planner and expense tracker for iPhone and Android. Plan it, track it, and understand your money.

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