Transactions

From the All accounts page, search by payee or note, and filter on five independent dimensions: Period, Envelope, Account, Amount and Status. Each button shows its current value, and filters stack — “Restaurants, this month, over £50” is a combination, not a single choice. Clear removes them all. The same bar is on an account’s register, without the Account filter: the list there is already down to one. The summary at the top shows your net worth (all open accounts) and its change this month; as soon as a filter or a search narrows the list, it shows the total of the transactions shown instead, with the filter restated below (transactions the server rejected are not counted).

The register

Columns sort on a click of their header, and a second click reverses the order. The Note column shows what you wrote on a row without opening it. The ⋯ menu at the end of a row holds the usual actions — edit, split, delete — and ticking several rows brings up the bulk ones: clear, classify, delete. Delete (or the D key) acts right away: a message offers Undo, which brings the transaction back. A box asks for confirmation only when the deletion takes more than what you ticked (the other leg of a transfer, the parts of a split). A reconciled transaction cannot be deleted, and the message says so.

On a wide screen the list scrolls inside its own frame: the search, the filters and the month’s net stay in view while you work through the history.

Two entry modes

The register can be driven two ways, chosen in Settings → Transaction entry — the question is also asked on first launch, and the answer can be changed anytime:

• Panel (default): clicking a row opens it in a form beside the table, guided field by field. It is the mode described in the rest of this page.
• Grid: cells edit in place, like a spreadsheet. Leaving the row saves the whole row at once, and Esc abandons it without writing anything. The first, blank row creates a transaction. The grid needs a wide screen; below that, the panel takes over. Keys are detailed in Keyboard.

A transfer, a split transaction or a reconciled row always opens in the panel: a flat grid cannot represent their shape.

In both modes, ⌘Z (Ctrl+Z on Windows and Linux) undoes the last action — the entered row truly disappears from your vault, created payee included — and ⇧⌘Z (Ctrl+Shift+Z) redoes it. The undo history survives a page reload. The Undo and Redo buttons in the top bar do the same (on a phone, Undo only: Redo is in the message that follows an undo), and the command palette offers them too. Undoing a gesture made on another page takes you back there — the page, the Budget month, the row gets the focus; from the page of the gesture, you stay where you are.

Creating or editing a transaction

A transaction is an Expense, an Income, or a Transfer between two accounts (“From” / “To” fields). Fill in the payee, category, an optional flag, and a note.

Opening the Envelope or Payee list on a row that already has a value shows the whole list, not just that value — the current one appears active, and its text is selected: typing right away replaces it. A × button clears the field as soon as it is open or hovered. Changing the payee on an existing row that has no envelope yet suggests that payee’s envelope, the same way a new row does.

Typing an amount

In any amount field (transaction, Budget, reconciliation, goal, moving funds…), a click, Tab, Enter, F2 or a double-click selects the whole amount, sign included: what you type replaces it (“50” over “120.00” gives 50.00). In the Budget and the grid, Esc brings the old amount back.

An amount can be a calculation: “12+5” is 17.00, “100/3” is 33.33 (rounded to the cent). Type

• • • / (or x), or + − × ÷; multiplication and division come before addition and subtraction. The result shows when you leave the field. An incomplete formula (“12+”), a division by zero or unreadable text is refused with a message, and nothing is written. The register search does not calculate: “12-05” stays a date there. On a phone, a ± button flips the sign where an amount can be negative: the Budget’s Budgeted amount and the statement balance when reconciling.

Note

A reconciled transaction is locked: only its note can still be edited. A transfer or a split transaction follows the same restriction on the other fields.

Splitting a transaction

To spread a single purchase across several categories, use Split transaction: split evenly or add parts one at a time until the amount left to allocate reaches zero. A transfer cannot be split.

Bank reconciliation

Reconciling confirms that your register matches your bank statement. From an account, pick Reconcile in the ⋯ menu (“More actions”, at the end of the filter bar), enter the statement balance: Arca compares it against the currently cleared balance and either shows a match (the selected transactions will be locked) or a discrepancy, in which case an adjustment transaction is created automatically. The panel offers a statement date (today by default, editable): only transactions cleared up to that date are counted and locked, so you can reconcile a statement that ends before today.

Three states read off the badge at the head of each row:

Uncleared — entered, not yet checked against the statement

Cleared — checked by hand — the row stays editable

Reconciled — locked by a confirmed reconciliation

Clicking a row opens it in a panel beside the table, which covers nothing: you read the row next to its neighbours. The open row is tinted, and clicking it again closes the panel. On a narrower screen the panel goes back to being a drawer.

Keyboard

Everywhere: F puts the cursor in the search field (on an account register too), ⌘K (Ctrl+K on Windows and Linux) opens the command palette, and ? shows the Keyboard shortcuts screen that lists them all, grouped by where they apply (the palette lists it too). ↓ from the search field goes to the first row found. Register keys depend on the mode:

Panel

↓ / ↑ (or J / K) move the row cursor, Space selects the row, ⇧ Space extends the selection, Shift+click ticks the range since the last box ticked, and ↵ opens the transaction. Home / End (or ⌘ Home / ⌘ End) go to the first and last row, Page Up / Page Down jump ten rows. Esc clears the selection — but first closes an open panel, menu or filter. On a selection, D deletes (a message offers Undo), L marks as cleared, C classifies, and E, P, N, M, A edit the date, payee, note, amount or account.

Entering several transactions in a row: T opens the form with the cursor already in the amount. ⇧⌘ Enter (Ctrl+Shift+Enter) saves and carries on — the account and the date stay put, the rest clears, and the cursor returns to the amount: the gesture for entering a grocery receipt line by line. ⌘ Enter (Ctrl+Enter) saves and closes.

Grid

Arrows move the cell cursor; ⌘ arrow jumps to the edge, and ⌘↑ returns to the entry row. F2 or typing enters edit mode — arrows then belong to the field. Tab commits the cell and moves to the next one (⇧ Tab: the previous one), ↵ commits and moves down — leaving the row saves it. ⌘D copies the cell above, and Esc cancels the cell, then the whole row.

Payees

See Payees to rename, merge, or set a favorite or a fixed envelope for a payee.

Recurring transactions

For a rent payment, a subscription, or a paycheck that comes in every month, see Recurring transactions instead of re-entering them by hand.