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Tips & Tricks

Undo/Redo​

If you ever make a mistake, pressing

Cmd
Z
will undo, and pressing
Cmd
Shift
Z
will redo. Using the desktop app, this is an undo system that you can always rely on; any change can be undone and the UI will walk back in time. If you're using the web app, this is only good for the current session of the website. If you refresh, or close the browser tab, undo history is lost.

Keyboard Shortcuts​

Actual has a number of keyboard shortcuts that can help you navigate and manage the application more efficiently. Below is a list of the most useful shortcuts.

The Command Palette​

The Command Palette is a powerful tool which allows you to quickly access various features and functions within Actual.

  • On Windows and Linux, you can open it by pressing the
    Ctrl
    K
    combination to open the Command Palette.
  • On macOS, you can use the
    Cmd
    K
    or the
    Ctrl
    K
    key combinations to open the Command Palette.

Once open, you can start typing to search for the functions in the sidebar, or you can use the arrow keys to navigate through the list of available commands. You can also quickly move to any of the available accounts by typing their name.

Other Global Shortcuts​

  • Ctrl
    O
    (the letter O, not zero) this will close the file and list other available files to open. On macOS, you can also use the
    Cmd
    O
    key combination.

Within the Budget View​

  • Enter
    while editing a budget amount will move to the next category.
  • Shift
    Enter
    will move to the previous category.

When Editing Transactions​

  • When editing,
    Enter
    and
    Shift
    Enter
    will move down and up. If a dropdown is open and you've typed a new value, this will instead save the value and close the dropdown.
  • When editing,
    Tab
    and
    Shift
    Tab
    will move left and right
  • When adding a new transaction,
    Cmd
    Enter
    will add it regardless of where you are editing. Pressing
    Enter
    in either the Payment or Deposit columns will add it as well.

When Managing Transactions​

  • F
    Show only selected transactions.
  • D
    Delete selected transactions.
  • A
    Set account for selected transactions.
  • P
    set payee for selected transactions.
  • N
    Set notes for selected transactions.
  • C
    Set category for selected transactions.
  • L
    Toggle cleared for current transaction.

The following require a transaction to have been selected first:

  • J
    /
    ↓
    Move to the next transaction down.
  • K
    /
    ↑
    Move to the next transaction up.
  • Space
    Toggle selection of current transaction.
  • Shift
    Space
    Add all transactions between current transaction and most recently selected transaction.

How to View Multiple Months at Once​

In the top left of the budget, you will see this control:

This sets the maximum amount of months to render at once, and defaults to 1. If you want to view multiple months on the same page, click the boxes to increase the number.

note

This only controls the maximum number of months. If the app is too small to render all of them it will only render the months that fit on the screen.

Scramble and Hide Data​

Actual Budget has a built-in privacy filter which help you hide your data from prying eyes.

To do this: click on the eye icon in the top right corner of the app.

This will scramble all of your data, including payees, categories, and transactions.

This is useful if you want to create a screenshot of your data without showing your actual data. This is useful when you need to show your budget to someone else, like other Actual users in our Discord.

note

This only hide data - no data is lost or encrypted.

To unhide the data, click on the eye icon again. This will show the data in its original form.

Show The Running Balance​

A "running balance" is the balance of the account after every transaction over time. This is very useful for reconciling accounts with banks because you can see the balance at a specific date and use it to compare it with your bank. Note that the "Show running balance" option and column is only available when the list of transactions is sorted by date in descending order.

To enable this:

  1. Click on an account
  2. Click on the 3 dots to show the actions menu
  3. Select "Show running balance"

A new column should appear which shows the balance of the account after each transaction:

Using Emojis in Actual​

Actual supports emojis in many places, including payees, categories, and notes. You can use emojis to add visual flair to your budget and make it more fun to use.

To add an emoji, you can use the emoji picker on your operating system, or you can copy and paste emojis from web sites like Emojipedia, EmojiDB or Get Emoji.

By using emojis on the accounts, you can have grouping of accounts by type, such as credit cards, expenses, and savings.