Budget templates and scenarios
A template is a named list of recurring planned amounts. It changes nothing until you apply it to your year.
Updated October 30, 2026
A budget template, also called a scenario, is a named list of lines that describes your usual month. Each line gives a category an amount, a frequency and an optional start date. See Set up template lines. Nothing in your budget changes until you apply the template.
To work with templates, select Budget template under Plan ahead in the sidebar (on a phone, the More tab, then Budget template).
Scenarios and the active template
You can keep several scenarios in a budget file, for example a usual month and a lean month. Each appears as a chip at the top of the page. The chip you select is the one you are viewing.
Only one scenario is active. A star marks it. The tools that use "my template" use the active one:
- Generate > From my template, rules & goals… on the Annual Budget Plan. See Generate a year's plan.
- Apply my template in Month actions and Use my template on an empty month, both on the Budget page. See Month actions.
The Apply “{scenario name}” to {year} button on the Budget template page uses the scenario you are viewing, whether or not it is active.
The first scenario you create becomes active. If you completed the plan step of the guided setup, a scenario named Starting Plan exists and is active. It holds the monthly lines from that step. Running the step again replaces its lines.
Scenarios are not tied to a year. Applying from the Budget template page always writes into the current calendar year. To fill another year with the active template, use Generate on the Annual Budget Plan.
Manage scenarios
| To | Do this |
|---|---|
| Create a scenario | Enter a name in New scenario… and select the plus button. A blank name becomes "New template". |
| Create a scenario from your income | Select Sketch a scenario. See Sketch a scenario from your income. |
| Make a scenario active | View it, then select Make active. The button appears only on a scenario that is not active. |
| Rename a scenario | Select the pencil icon, change the name in the Rename scenario dialog and select Rename. |
| Copy a scenario | Select the copy icon. The copy is named "{name} (copy)" and has the same lines, without the labels of extra lines. |
| Delete a scenario | Select the trash icon, then Delete scenario. The icon appears when you have more than one scenario. |
How applying writes into your year
Applying runs month by month from the start month you choose through December. For each month, the app adds up three sources for each category:
- the scenario's lines
- your funding formulas
- formulas that goals add
It writes the result into your plan. It skips off-budget categories, hidden categories and categories in a hidden group. Those amounts are the cells of the Annual Budget Plan and the Budgeted amounts on the Budget page.
In top up to plan mode, it raises empty or low amounts and never lowers one. In overwrite existing mode, it replaces the amounts of categories that have a line or a formula, in the months where the line or formula has an amount. See Apply a template to your year.
For example, a scenario has Rent $1,500 monthly, Groceries $650 monthly and Car insurance $1,200 yearly on Spread, and you have no funding formulas. Applied from January to a year with no amounts, it plans $1,500, $650 and $100 in every month. The monthly total is $2,250.
The projection
The right side of the page charts the scenario you are viewing. It leaves out lines on hidden categories and on categories in a hidden group. It still counts lines on off-budget categories, which applying skips.
- Cash flow projection: bars for Net, Generosity, Other expenses and Income, with a mo and yr switch. Savings & Investments and Debt & Liabilities appear when they are not $0.
- Spending distribution: planned outflows as a pie, with a groups and categories switch.
- Compared with (per month): the scenario's monthly figures next to the year's grid and next to your average over the last 12 months, for income and for spending. "Δ = template minus the comparison" explains the difference column.
On a smaller screen or a phone, the projection opens from the Projection tab on the right edge.