User manual

4.1 Create a new transaction

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4.1 Create a new transaction

This page is used to quickly and accurately record a new income, expense, or transfer between accounts.

When should you use it?

  • to record a new money movement
  • to enter missed transactions later
  • to register a transfer between two of your own accounts

Main areas of the page

Mode switcher

At the top, you can choose between two modes:

  • Regular transaction: for income or expense
  • Transfer: for money movement between two accounts

This choice decides whether the category field or the destination account field is required.

Date

Use the actual date of the money movement. Dashboards, charts, and monthly summaries all rely on this date.

Amount

Always enter the amount as a positive number. Whether it is income or expense is defined by the transaction type, not by a minus sign.

Description

This field is optional. Use it for a short human-readable note, for example:

  • “weekly grocery run”
  • “salary for May”
  • “city center parking”

If you do not need it, you can leave it empty.

Account

This is the account affected by the transaction. For regular transactions it is the source or impacted account, and for transfers it is the source account.

Category

Required for regular transactions. Categories are used by reports, budgets, and category statistics.

Typical examples:

  • expenses: Groceries, Fuel, Housing
  • income: Salary, Bonus, Other income

Destination account

Only visible in transfer mode. This is the account that receives the amount. The source and destination accounts should not be the same.

Tags

Optional. They are useful when you want a finer breakdown inside the same category. You can type a new tag name to create it instantly without leaving the form, or pick an existing tag from the autocomplete list. Multiple tags can be added to the same transaction.

Notes

Use this for longer explanations. It is the right place for background information that may matter later but would be too long for the short description.

Attachments

You can upload receipts, invoices, or any related file here. This is useful for audits, taxes, or company expense tracking.

Validation rules

  • for a regular transaction, category is required
  • for a transfer, destination account is required and category is not needed
  • amount must be greater than 0
  • description is optional

Good practice

  • add a short and clear description for frequent entries
  • use categories consistently
  • always use transfer mode for account-to-account moves instead of creating two separate transactions

Related pages

Table of contents
1. Introduction
CaeliBudget is a workspace-based financial management application.
3. Workspaces
A *workspace* is the isolated unit that owns your accounts, categories, transactions and tags. A user can belong to multiple workspaces (e.g. *Household*, *Business*), and every membership is bound to a **role**.
Create or edit a workspace
This page is used to create a new workspace or update the core settings of an existing one.
Workspace onboarding
This page guides you through the first setup steps of a newly created workspace.
Workspace members
This page manages the list of users who can access the workspace and their roles.
9. Dashboard
After sign-in your home screen is the **Dashboard**: a consolidated view of your workspace's balances, spending split, budgets, savings goals and most recent transactions.
4. Accounts
An *account* represents a concrete money-holding instrument inside a workspace: bank account, cash, credit card, savings, etc. Every transaction is bound to exactly one account (a transfer touches two — source and destination).
Create or edit an account
This page is used to add a new account or update the settings of an existing one.
5. Categories
Categories let you classify transactions so statistics, budgets, and exports can group them meaningfully.
Create or edit a category
This page is used to create a new category or fine-tune an existing one.
Category statistics
This page shows the detailed activity of a selected category.
4. Transactions
A transaction is the atomic unit of CaeliBudget: every income, expense or transfer is stored as one transaction.
4.1 Create a new transaction
Import transactions from CSV
This page is used for bulk transaction upload from a CSV file.
7. Planned transactions
A *planned transaction* is a template that either automatically generates **real transactions** at a fixed cadence, or pre-generates **planned occurrences** that you confirm before they are booked.
Planned transaction form
This page is used to define regular income, expense, or transfer rules that either generate transactions automatically or create planned occurrences for your review.
8. Budgets
A *budget* defines a cap (or target) for one category over a period of time. CaeliBudget continuously shows where you stand against it.
Budget form
This page is used to create or edit a budget linked to a category.
14. Savings goals
The Savings Goals module helps you separate money reserved for specific targets from day-to-day spending. Each goal is linked to a dedicated virtual account that sits beneath a savings account.
Tag list
This page shows all tags available in the workspace.
Create or edit a tag
This page is used to create a new tag or update an existing one.
Profile page
This page is used to manage your own user details and password.
Accessibility

Adjust display preferences for better readability and usability.

Keyboard shortcuts

A limited desktop-oriented shortcut set. Disabled by default.

Focus a field, then press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + a letter or digit. Press Backspace or Delete to clear the binding.
Active only on desktop or installed desktop PWA environments.
Full accessibility manual