Journals

Guides

A journal is a complete set of books with its own accounts, transactions and budget. Here's how to create journals, move between them and remove the ones you no longer need.

Most people need just one journal, for their household. Create another when money should be kept apart, for example a club’s cash box, a flat you rent out or a trip you share with friends. Journals don’t mix: each has its own accounts and its own budget, and no transaction connects two journals.

The journals list

The journals list shows all your journals, sorted by name.

JournalsEdit

Household
👥 Shared with 2›2

Trip to Lisbon
👥 Shared by Anna›3

＋New Journal1

1. ＋ New Journal creates a journal.
2. One of your own journals. Shared with 2 below the name means you’ve shared it with two people.
3. A journal someone else shared with you. The badge names its owner: Shared by Anna.

A journal that has only just arrived from iCloud may be called Syncing… for a moment, until its name follows.

On iPhone, you get back to the journals list with the back button in a journal. On iPad, tap the sidebar button to show the list as a third column next to the open journal.

Create a journal

1. Tap ＋ New Journal in the bottom bar, or press ⇧⌘N on a keyboard. If you have no journals yet, you can also tap Create Journal in the middle of the screen.
2. Type a Name, such as “Household”. Until you type, the field shows My Journal in gray as an example.
3. Check Currency. It starts with your device’s currency, such as “Euro (EUR)”; tap it to choose another one. Journal currency explains the choice.
4. Tap Save (✓). It works as soon as the journal has a name.

A new journal is empty. Your first ten minutes shows how to fill it: accounts, your opening balances and a first budget.

Open and switch journals

Tap a journal to open it. When you start Balanced again later, it reopens the journal you used last. To switch, go back to the journals list and tap another one.

Share a journal

Touch and hold one of your own journals and tap Share to invite other people. Sharing needs iCloud Sync to be on. Sharing a journal explains the rest. Everyone in a shared journal can record transactions. To split costs between people and see who owes whom, add them as members.

Delete or leave a journal

Swipe left on a journal, or tap Edit at the top of the list and then the red minus button. In Edit mode the button always says Delete. What happens next depends on whose journal it is:

Journal	You tap	What happens
Your own, not shared	Delete	It’s deleted straight away, without a question. With iCloud Sync on, it disappears from all your devices.
Your own, shared with others	Delete	Balanced asks Delete for everyone? If you confirm with Delete Journal, the journal is removed from everyone’s devices.
Shared with you by someone else	Leave	Balanced asks Leave this journal? If you confirm with Leave Journal, it’s removed from your device. The owner can invite you again.

For a journal someone shared with you, touching and holding it and tapping Leave Journal does the same.

Deleting a journal deletes all its accounts, transactions and budgets with it. Be sure before you swipe. More about shared journals: Leaving and removing.

Rename a journal

Open the journal, tap ⋯ More at the top and then Journal Settings. Change the Name and tap Save (✓). In a shared journal, everyone can rename it, and the new name shows up on everyone’s devices.

Journal Settings is also where you change the journal’s currency: Journal currency.