First steps

A first look

Every balance abacova shows comes from what you record, so it pays to start carefully. First, find your way around.

The dashboard and the menu

On the web, abacova opens on the dashboard, a set of cards that summarise your organization. On the phone, the app opens on Accounts instead. Your money lives in an organization: everyone who signs up gets one, and everything on screen belongs to the one selected in the top bar.

The first time you open an organization, a short setup guide offers to walk you through your plan, your currency, a first account, optional example transactions and some ready-made rules. It's a good choice if you're in a hurry, and you can leave it at any step and pick it up later. This lesson takes the manual route, so you understand what each piece does.

Your preferred currency

Open your profile. This is where you set the interface language, how dates and numbers are formatted, and the app's appearance.

The setting that matters most on day one is your preferred currency, also called your display currency. It's the currency abacova uses for totals, whatever currency each account is in. Choose yours and save. You can change it at any time.

Your first accounts

An account is each place money sits: a bank account, a credit card, the cash in your wallet. Every transaction belongs to an account, and balances are worked out by adding transactions up. Open Accounts and add one for each real place you keep money. The free plan allows two accounts, which is enough for this lesson.

A checking account

Start with your main bank account. Give it a name you'll recognise at a glance, choose the checking type and pick its currency. The currency is fixed once the account holds transactions.

The opening balance is what the account holds today, so you don't need to bring in your whole history to get started. Save, and the account appears in the list.

Cash counts too

The money in your wallet deserves its own account, or those expenses get lost along the way. Add a second account, choose the cash type and enter what you're carrying right now.

Each account now keeps its own balance, and abacova adds them together in your preferred currency.

Your first transactions

Transactions are what really move your balances. To add one on the web, open New in the top bar and choose New transaction.

Income: your pay

The dialog first asks whether this is an expense, income or a transfer. That choice sets the sign, so you never have to type a minus. Pick income, then enter the amount, a clear description and the account the money goes into.

Once saved, the transaction appears in the list as pending. New entries always start that way, and they stay pending until you mark them as confirmed in the form or reconcile them against your bank statement.

An everyday expense

Now record something ordinary, such as the weekly food shop. Choose expense, enter the amount and write a description that will still make sense in a few months, when you're wondering where the money went.

A cash expense

Finally, record a small purchase paid in cash, choosing your cash account this time. Small amounts add up by the end of the month, and this way none of them slips through.

You now have two accounts and three transactions to build on.