Common Workflows

Set up a new budget

1. Create a budget and choose its starting month.
2. Add your main account and enter its current starting balance.
3. Create groups and categories for bills, everyday spending, savings, and other priorities.
4. Assign current money to categories and review Ready to Budget. Aim for $0 without making it negative.

Set up paycheck planning

1. Open Expected Income and configure the supported paycheck schedule and estimated amount.
2. Optionally configure payroll identity so eligible received income can match scheduled occurrences.
3. Add bill dates and category paycheck plans, then review which paycheck window owns each item.
4. Review Expected Income, Money Timeline, and the budget by paycheck guide.

Record a transfer

1. Create a transfer and choose the source account, destination account, date, and amount.
2. For a transfer between eligible Normal on-budget cash accounts, review Which money moved? Choose Unassigned, Category money, or Mix. Match the ownership total to the transfer amount and check the account, category, and Ready to Budget preview.
3. Confirm “I've transferred the actual money between my accounts to match this.” Recording the transfer does not instruct a bank to move cash.
4. The paired entries describe one movement, not income or spending. Ordinary Normal-account transfers preserve total Ready to Budget while changing account backing. Transfers across a Normal/On-demand boundary can change which money is included in Ready to Budget.

Pay a credit card

1. Open the supported credit-card payment action.
2. Fund the card’s payment category and the paying account’s backing first. Choose the cash account paying the card and review the amount owed and funded Available to pay before confirming.
3. The payment is recorded as a transfer to the credit-card account. The purchases were the spending; the payment is not new spending.

Import transactions

1. Choose the supported transaction import and select the export file.
2. Review the preview, account, dates, and amounts.
3. Check for overlap with manual entries or earlier imports, then complete the import.
4. Categorize imported activity and reconcile the account.

Cover overspending

1. Open the flagged category in the relevant month.
2. Use Cover or Assign money and inspect the affected account’s backing.
3. Choose eligible Ready to Budget or transferable category money. Review the amount and account; if a different account is needed, make the real bank transfer and use the required acknowledgement.
4. Confirm only when the source and account limits permit the change. Future expected income is not spendable funding.

Create a new starting point with Start Fresh

1. Open Menu → Budgets & Storage → Budgets. Use Start Fresh in the header and name the new budget.
2. Review every account balance. The values you confirm become real starting balances; InfinitelyZero does not manufacture balancing transactions.
3. Review the summary, then create the new budget. The original budget and its history remain untouched.

Move between Local and Cloud

1. Choose the source storage mode and confirm the budget is present.
2. Use Copy to Cloud or Copy to Local. Merely switching modes does not move data.
3. Existing destination budgets are not overwritten. A same-name budget is skipped unless you copy it as new under a different name.
4. Switch to the destination mode and verify the independent copy.

Restore a desktop backup

1. Select the storage mode that should receive the restored data.
2. Open Menu → Budgets & Storage → Backup & Restore, choose Import Backup, then select the supported backup file.
3. Enter the backup file's password. It is separate from the Local recovery key or recovery passphrase.
4. Review the restore confirmation carefully and complete the supported workflow.

Notes and tags

Open Menu → Notes. Use + New note or Quick Capture; on desktop, Enter saves a capture and Shift+Enter adds a line. The first line becomes its title. The editor autosaves as you type.

Tags identify a note’s linked category or bill. Filter by All, Untagged, or a linked-context chip; use the overflow control for additional tags. Search filters note titles and text. A linked note shows its context, with Change and Unlink controls. Category details provide a linked-note entry and capture.

Pin keeps a note in the Pinned section. Delete requires confirmation and removes the note, not the linked category, bill, or transaction.

Calculators

Open Menu → Calculator. The page has Basic, Percentage, Split Amount, Income Converter, Debt Payoff, Savings Goal, Loan Payment, and Tax / Discount tools. Inputs and results are estimates; they do not assign money, record transactions, or update balances.

Basic’s Recent calculations tape records successful calculations, newest first. Copy copies an entry; Clear clears the tape separately from calculator C. It survives switching tools while the page stays mounted, and clears when you leave or reload the page. The other tools keep their existing inputs, warnings, and Reset controls.

Budgets & Storage workspace

Open Menu → Budgets & Storage. Budgets contains Active and Archived lists, Current budget context, and New Budget and Start Fresh header actions. Create, rename, duplicate, archive, and delete actions open a right-side panel; review its confirmation before proceeding.

Storage, Backup & Restore, Recovery, and Sync & Devices are separate modes. Their availability and protections still apply. See Local and Cloud and Backup and Restore before changing storage or restoring data.