User's Guide
Getting started
After the first launch of the app you can create immediately the first expense or income transaction using pre-defined categories and accounts. However, a lot of things can be customized in the app.
The recommended list for customizing and localizing:
set language in app preferences - basic preferences page
go to app preferences and select reset document to recreate the pre-defined categories and accounts using the language selected in the previous step
set 'First day of week' and 'First week of year' parameters in calendar preferences page
edit category, account and payee list in app preferences - entry details page
set monthly limits for categories in category edit page
set initial balances for accounts in account edit page
set default currency in app preferences - basic preferences page
set Dropbox connection in app preferences - cloud services page to backup/restore data or import CSV, QIF file
set password in app preferences to protect your document
Calendar-based layout
The base page of the app shows a finance calendar optimized for mobile phone format. In this calendar page you can see all of the important financial information like:
list of expenses and incomes arranged by dates
transfers between accounts
recurring transactions
remindered transactions with a warning icon if necessary
daily, running balances
summarized monthly expenses, incomes and balances
The format and the cells of the calendar are flexible based on the entered transactions. Moreover, you can customize some parameters in calendar preferences page like account filter, first day of week, font size, flexible or fixed cell height. The calendar page can be used in landscape mode as well.
Autocomplete feature based on earlier user input
Adding new transactions, just type in a few of the first letters of the description, click on an item of the drop-down list and the app fills automatically the rest of the parameters based on earlier entered transactions. Thanks to this useful function, usually only a few keystrokes are needed to create a new transaction. This auto-complete function lefts unchanged any previously edited field automatically, so your data won't be lost if you use this function.
Note: auto-complete function can be switched off in app preferences page.
Transactions with reminder (in-app purchase required)
Reminders are useful when you add a future dated transaction (e.g. a bill payment) and you want to get a remind before the transaction date. Transactions with reminder will be displayed using a bell icon in the calendar. When a remindered transaction date is passed, a warning triangle is displayed next to the transaction name.
Note: The notification interval for the reminders can be changed in the app preferences page.
Depending on the notification interval the following icons can be used for affected transactions:
the transaction is still not in the notification interval
remindered transaction is in the notification interval
remindered transaction date is passed
The remindered transactions are appeared on the app tile as well.
Recurring transaction parameters
Using the recurring option in the transaction edit page you can define recurrence pattern for the transactions. Patterns can be daily, weekly, monthly or yearly. You can set a lot of parameters here like, skip weekends, weekdays, first/second.../last specific days/weekdays in month, number of occurrences, end date. Moreover, you can set reminders for the recurrence transactions individually in the transaction list page.
Recurrence icons for expense, income and transfer transactions:
Transfer transactions
Transfer transactions are special transactions for transferring money between accounts (e.g. ATM withdrawal). Transfer transactions can be created by selecting a transfer category in transaction edit page. Selecting the default "All account" option in the transaction list, transfers are not counting as an income/expense, because your overall balance is unchanged. But selecting an account (e.g. Cash, Credit Card...) transfers are counting in reports and summaries as an income/expense not as a transfer. In the latter case, transfers are changing the balance of the selected account so the app lists the transfer transactions as income or expense.
Note: if you don't want to list transfer transactions you can hide them by checking Hide transfers checkbox in the filter page.
Budgeting by spending categories
Making a budget is one of the most important part in managing your money. After setting monthly limits for expense categories you can check your budget in the monthly budget chart (in-app purchase required). Here you can see how much money you have left in each category.
Note: monthly limit values can be checked in the app preferences - entry details - categories page as well.
Transaction importing
If you have a bank account or your transaction data are in another application already, you don't have to create your transactions again. Using the CSV or QIF format you can import transactions into the app.
Numeric and Date format settings
My Finance Calendar uses the Phone Region and Language system as default settings, however Decimal, Thousand separators and the Date format can be customized in the setup page of importing. If your CSV or QIF file uses a special date format (e.g. yyyy|MMMM|d) you can set the format manually. Click here for more info about the date formats.
Note: use MM instead of mm for the Months.
If the date contains Single, Double quotation marks, or Backslash you have to use additional \ character before these special characters:
\' - Single quotation mark
\" - Double quotation mark
\\ - Backslash
For example, for the 1/22'16 date the correct Date format is M/d\'yy or M/dd\'yy.
Remove characters from importing texts
In the settings page of importing can be specified the removed characters as well. This function is useful when the parameters in your imported file are embedded in quotes or you want to remove special characters from the texts.
Save import configuration
Import function has a lot of setup parameters in the Import page, because of the importing flexibility. These parameters are saved automatically and loaded by the next importing, so you don't have to set them up again.
Creating categories, accounts and payees/payers based on imported transactions
If you import transactions from an external file, the imported transactions may include new categories, accounts and payees/payers. These parameters are added automatically to the app Category, Account and Payee/Payers system.
Note: if the CSV or QIF-file doesn't contain any account/category information or a transaction doesn't connected to any account/category, the app will connect these transactions to the 'Unknown' Account and the 'Unknown' Category automatically. After the importing these transactions can be connected manually to the appropriate account or category using the batch edit function.
Editing imported transactions and removing duplicates
After setting importing configurations and pressing the create button, transaction list appeared on the third page of importing. Before finalizing the importing, here you can edit the new transactions if corrections are needed.
Importing transactions from Excel or a spreadsheet program
You can import transactions from Excel or a spreadsheet program, if you save the transaction list table to CSV file in the spreadsheet program. CSV file can be imported into the app using the import transaction function.
Password protection (in-app purchase required)
If you do not want anybody to be able to open the data file with your personal finance information, set a password in App preferences page.
Warning: If you lose the password, you will not be able to open your data file from your phone.
Date format
The My Finance Calendar Date System settings based on the Phone Date System. Therefore, if you want to change, for example, the month or day names to your language in the app, you must change the Region settings of your phone. However, the First day of week and the First week of year can be changed in the calendar preferences page.
Delete categories, accounts and payees/payers
By clicking on the Select button in Categories, Accounts or Payees/Payers list page you can delete items. If you delete an account/payee/category which are attached to a transaction, a notification will be appeared and the transaction will be connected to the Unknown account/category automatically.
Note: The 'Unknown' category/account can be deleted only if no transaction is connected to them.
Reportings
You can use the following chart types in the app:
Expenses/Incomes: amount of income or expenses by categories for a selected month or custom time interval in a bar chart
Balance: amount of income, expenses and balance for a selected month or custom time interval in a bar chart
Daily balance, trend of balance: daily balances for a selected month or custom time interval in a line chart
Monthly budget: monthly budget information by categories (in-app purchase required)
Trend of category: trend of amounts of a selected category for a custom time interval in a bar or line chart
Note: for using custom time interval in-app purchase required.
FAQ
How to add reminders to transactions?
click more button in the transaction edit page and check the reminder checkbox or
you can set reminders in the transaction list page as well after selecting transactions
How to add a monthly budget to a category?
The monthly budget can be set in the category edit page.
How to change font size in calendar and transaction list?
calendar font size can be set in calendar preferences page
transaction list font size can be set in app preferences - basic preferences page
How to save filter parameters in transaction list page?
Check 'Save filter parameters' checkbox in app preferences - basic preferences page and filter parameters will be saved automatically.
How to delete a transaction?
In the transaction list page press select button and select the transactions you want to delete.
How to delete a category, account or payee?
In the category/account/payee list page press select button and select the items you want to delete.
How to create income/expense transaction?
Transaction type (income, expense) will be set automatically based on the selected category on the transaction edit page.
How to create transfer transactions?
By selecting a transfer category on the transaction edit page, transfer transactions will be created automatically.
How to edit multiple transactions?
In the transaction list page press the batch edit button that will be appeared after selecting multiple transactions.
How to export data?
connect to Dropbox using your Dropbox account in app preference - cloud services
set the appropriate file format (CSV, QIF)
set the date intervals and the exported accounts