Budget Express wizard

Welcome to the Budget Express’s wizard. This process will help the user enter all that is needed to get started in Budget Express.

Here is a video to guide you in the process of creating your budget using the wizard.

By using the Budget Express wizard, you can create your profile, budget and enter your bank and credit cards accounts, as well as your earnings and expenses. The program always creates a budgetary sub-category, the primary bank account.

If you already have a copy of the new Budget Express and wish to import the database from that install, use the button  to import the “database.db” file. The importation will replace the database file in place on this computer. When the import is finished, the program will open in the dashboard screen for this budget.

Profile

First name (required): Enter the main user’s first name or surname

Last name (required): Enter the main user’s last name.

Email (optional): Enter the main user’s first email address. In an upcoming version it will be used to communicate with Budget Express Customer Support.

Phone (optional): Enter the main user’s phone number.

Language (required) Select the language used, French or English. By default, the language is set to the language of your operating system when you downloaded Budget Express.

Currency (required): Select the currency you wish to use for your operations. By default, the currency is set to Canadian dollars, but you can change it to the US dollar, British pound, the euro or Brazilian Real.

Budget

Name (required) : Name of the budget you will be working on. The name of the budget is displayed at the top of the screen.

Description (required) :  Complete description  of your budget.

Protect (Y/N) (optional) : Allows you to protect your budget with a password. Click  to add a password. Important, the password is personal and cannot be seen, modified, or deleted by customer support. Be careful not to lose this password because you will lose your budget and will have to start over.

New:  Enter your password, there is no restriction on the number or type of digits you can use.

Confirm: Enter the password again to confirm.

The new budget will begin

Choose the starting date for your budget. This date is very important, you will not be able to enter an operation before that date.

The starting date by default is the current date. You could rather select start of the previous year or select the desired date using the Choose a date option.

The date entered will be the default date when entering operations.

Accounts

By default, Budget Express has already chosen one bank account. There is always a “primary” bank account. Click the Pen to enter the bank account balance (0 by default) or edit its description, icon, interest rate or credit limit.

To add another bank account, click the box in the left window and use the arrow  to add the sub-category to your accounts. You will be able to set the new account as the primary account should you so choose. Remember a primary account is required in Budget Express.

You can create a new sub-category by clicking  . See the Create a New Account topic for more information.

If you chose or created a bank account by mistake, click the garbage can to delete it from your accounts (but not from the Budget Express suggestion list).

Click Next to move on to the credit screen or Back to return to the budget screen.

Credit

To add a credit, click in the box of the desired sub-category in the left window and use the arrow to add it  to your credit list.

Click the Pen to enter the credit balance, its description, change its icon, its interest rate or credit limit.

Click  to add a new credit sub-category. See the topic on how to create a New Credit for more information.

If you chose or created a credit by mistake, click on the garbage can to delete the credit (but not from the Budget Express suggestion list).

Click Next to go to the income menu or Back to return to the account screen.

Income

The income wizard allows you to select income sub-categories you want presented in your budget. Click on the category, ex. Pay and Benefits to expand the menu and have access to all the income sub-categories. Note that operation data are always entered in the budget sub-category.

To add an income, click in the sub-category box in the left window and use the arrow to add the new income to your income list. You can add more than one sub-category before clicking the arrow.

Click the Pen to enter the income information such as its description, change its icon, the amount, its frequency or the account/credit.

Add a new income using the . See the Create a New Income Sub-Category for more information.

If you chose or created an income by mistake, click the garbage can to remove it from your incomes (but not from the Budget Express suggestion list).

Click Next to go to the expenses menu or Back to return to the credit screen.

Expenses

The expense wizard allows you to select expense sub-categories you want presented in your budget. Click on the category, ex. Groceries to expand the menu and have access to all the expense sub-categories. Note that operation data are always entered in the budget sub-category.

To add an expense, click in the sub-category box in the left window and use the arrow to add the new expense to your expense list. You can add more than one sub-category before clicking the arrow.

Click the Pen to enter the expense information such as its description, change its icon, the amount, its frequency or the account/credit.

Add a new income using the . See the Create a New expense Sub-Category for more information.

If you chose or created an expense by mistake, click the garbage can to remove it from your expense (but not from the Budget Express suggestion list).

Click Next to go to the end menu or Back to return to the income screen.

End

Click Finish to exit the wizard. You will be redirected to the calendar. Important, if you leave the wizard you will not be able to use it again for this particular budget.

Click Back  to return to the expenses screen.