Month actions
Every item in the Month actions menu on the Budget page: what it writes, when it asks first and the message it shows.
Updated October 30, 2026
The Month actions menu at the top of the Budget page changes the Budgeted amounts for the month you are viewing. The items depend on the view.
Category view
| Item | What it does | Asks first |
|---|---|---|
| Copy last month's budget | Copies every non-zero amount from the previous month into categories that are $0 this month. Income categories are included. Hidden categories are skipped. Categories that already have an amount are left alone. | No |
| Set budgets to zero… | Sets every saved amount in the month to $0, income and hidden categories included. It leaves off-budget categories and transactions alone. | Yes. Button: Set to zero |
| Set budgets to 3-month average… | Replaces the amount of every category that is not hidden with the category's average over the three calendar months before this one: money spent for expense categories, money received for income categories. A month with no activity counts as $0, so a new category averages low. A category that took in more than it spent gets a negative amount. January uses October to December of the year before. | Yes. Button: Set to average |
| Fill empty categories from your funding formulas | Runs your funding formulas, goal formulas and Budget template lines. It writes only into categories that are $0, and skips any category that already has an amount, including a negative one. Formulas and lines on hidden categories are skipped. | No |
| Rebuild month from your funding formulas — replaces amounts… | Runs the same formulas and replaces the amount in every category they cover, except hidden categories. The item shows in red. | Yes. Button: Rebuild month |
Fill empty categories and Rebuild month appear only when at least one funding formula, goal formula or line of the active Budget template is on an on-budget category that is not hidden.
The Rebuild dialog lists each category that a formula or template line gives an amount for this month, with the current and new amount (for example "$400.00 → $450.00") and the reason. Rows where the money ran short are red. With nothing to rebuild, the dialog says "Nothing to rebuild: none of your categories has a funding formula or template line for October 2026." and has no Rebuild month button. A formula with a priority of 1 or higher can receive less than it asks for when planned income runs out.
Group view
| Item | What it does | Asks first |
|---|---|---|
| Copy last month's budget | Same as in Category view. | No |
| Apply my template | Fills categories that are $0 from the active Budget template. It also runs your funding formulas and goals. Hidden categories are skipped. | No |
Apply my template appears only when the active template has at least one line on an on-budget category that is not hidden.
A month with nothing planned also shows a card with a copy button, for example Copy September's amounts, and Use my template. See Plan an empty month. For the views, see Group view and Category view.
Each confirmation dialog has a Cancel button and reminds you that you can undo the change.
Hidden categories
A hidden category, or a category in a hidden group, is never filled by these items, and the counts in the messages below are the categories actually written. Set budgets to zero is the exception: it clears every saved amount, hidden categories included. To stop a hidden category's plan from showing, clear it in the dialog that opens when you hide the category. See Manage categories and groups.
Messages
A green message at the top of the page reports the result. "Category" is singular when the count is 1.
| Action | Message |
|---|---|
| Copy last month's budget | "Copied 12 categories · 3 already set were left alone." The first count is the categories written. |
| Apply my template or Use my template | "Filled 9 categories for October." or "Nothing in your template applies to October. Type an amount on any line to start." The count is the expense categories that went from $0 to an amount. |
| Set budgets to zero | "Set 24 categories to zero." The count includes categories already at $0. |
| Set budgets to 3-month average | "Set 24 categories to their 3-month average." The count is every on-budget category that is not hidden. |
| Fill empty categories | "Auto-filled 4 categories from your funding formulas." |
| Rebuild month | "Rebuilt 4 categories from your funding formulas." |
The last two messages can end with a note such as "1 formula(s) couldn’t fully fund".
Undo
Every item that writes saves an undo step first. Use the curved arrows at the top of the Annual Budget Plan page: left to undo, right to redo. The page keeps the last 10 steps for each year.
Undo puts the whole year back as it was before the action, so amounts and Rollover settings you changed afterwards are reversed too. Entering an amount in a Budgeted box does not add a step.