Transactions

From the Transactions 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 total spent, income, and net for the rows shown.

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.

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 undoes the last action — the entered row truly disappears from your vault, created payee included — and ⌘⇧Z redoes it. The undo history survives a page reload.

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.

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, run Reconcile account, 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.

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, ⌘K (Ctrl K off Mac) opens the command palette, and ? shows the Keyboard shortcuts screen that lists them all. Register keys depend on the mode:

Panel

↓ / ↑ (or J / K) move the row cursor, Space selects the row, ⇧ Space extends the selection, and ↵ opens the transaction. Esc closes the panel.

Entering several transactions in a row: T opens the form with the cursor already in the amount. ⌘⇧ 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 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

Payee management (the Payees button on the Transactions page) lets you merge duplicates, set a default category per payee, mark a favorite, and let Arca learn a payee’s usual category over time.

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.