How do I schedule recurring transactions?

Scheduled transactions can be created to track financial activities that occur on a repeating basis, for example a monthly mortgage payment or biweekly paycheck. Scheduled transactions are based on transaction templates. When one or more schedules are associated with a template, transactions based on that template will be created in your accounts as the schedules dictate. For more information about templates, see Transaction Templates.

Create a scheduled transaction

There are several different ways to create a scheduled transaction. Use any of the following methods:

Edit a template's schedules

Each transaction template can be assigned one or more schedules to determine when transactions based on that template will be posted to your accounts. To configure the schedules associated with a template, select "Scheduled Transactions" in the source list, select the template you want to edit, and click the button where the transaction date is shown. The schedule inspector will appear:

A few basic settings affect all schedules assigned to the template:

Click the plus (+) button at the bottom of the inspector to add a new schedule. Each schedule is represented by a set of options enclosed in a box with the "Schedule" label. To delete a schedule, click the box surrounding one of the schedules (so that it turns blue), then click the minus (-) button to remove it. Each schedule has the following options that you can configure:

When you are done configuring schedules for the template, click "Save" to record your changes, or click "Cancel" to discard them. You may edit the other template details (payee, amount, etc.) just like you would edit a transaction in an account register.

Multiple schedules come in handy when you want to post transactions at irregular intervals. For example, to post a transaction on a semi-monthly basis, you could configure one monthly schedule for the 1st of the month and a second monthly schedule for the 15th.

Delete a scheduled transaction

Select "Scheduled Transactions" in the source list, select a template, and click the minus (-) button at the top of the template list. The entire template will be deleted: it will no longer appear in "Transaction Templates," "Scheduled Transactions," or "Import Rules," and all schedules and import rules associated with the template will be deleted along with it. Any transactions that were already posted to your accounts are not affected by deleting the template.

Process upcoming scheduled transactions

Make sure you have at least one scheduled transaction configured to use reminders (see above), then click the "Post" button on the toolbar or choose Tools > Confirm Scheduled Transactions. Alternatively, you can simply wait until the reminder date for one or more of your transactions arrives. When you open your iBank document on that date, a window will appear automatically with the transactions that are ready to post to your accounts:

The "Upcoming" tab shows transactions that are due soon, based on the number of days you chose to be reminded within (the default is 7). These transactions show their dates with orange stripes as long as they remain in the future. Once the due date for a transaction has passed, it will show a "Late" badge to highlight its urgent need for attention. The "All" tab shows the next due date for all scheduled transactions that are set to use reminders, regardless of when they are due. Select a transaction in the list and choose what action to take with it:

When you are finished processing your scheduled transactions, click "Done" to return to the main window.

Review upcoming transactions at a glance

The summary pane at the bottom left corner of the main window shows the next three upcoming scheduled transactions. If you don't see the summary pane, click the toggle button to show it, and/or click the arrow at the top right corner of the pane to switch from the net worth mini-graph to the summary figures. Click the arrow next to any scheduled transaction to view and edit it in the main "Scheduled Transactions" list.

Use scheduled transactions for budgeting

In iBank 5, scheduled transactions are tightly integrated with budgets. When you set up a new budget, iBank automatically uses your scheduled transactions to determine how much money you expect to earn and spend. Be sure to categorize each of your scheduled transactions so that you can compare expected and actual amounts on the budget report. As you monitor your budget throughout the month, you can make changes to your scheduled transactions, and iBank will keep track of the changes you make.

To illustrate, let's say you set up a budget with a scheduled transaction for a monthly salary of $2500. In January and February, you were paid $2500, which is exactly what you expected: your budget is accurate for those months. In March, however, you get a raise and are now getting paid $2800 each month (lucky you)! If you edit the scheduled transaction in March to make its amount $2800, your budget will automatically adjust to show $2800 as the expected amount for March, April, May, and so forth. If you go back in time and view your budget for January, however, iBank will still show that both your expected and actual salary for that month was $2500.

When you edit a scheduled transaction under "Scheduled Transactions" in the source list, the changes are always applied to the current month. If you want to change the expected amount for a scheduled budget item at some date in the past, you will need to make that change in a budget report that shows the time period when you want the change to take effect.

Under the hood, each change you make is tracked according to its "effective date." This date is shown at the top of the schedule inspector. Note that because of this feature, new scheduled transactions cannot be used to record repeating transactions that occurred prior to the current month. The schedule's starting date may be set earlier, but iBank will not show reminders or post transactions for dates prior to the effective date.