Record a transfer between accounts

A transfer moves money between two of your accounts, such as paying a credit card from checking. It is two linked transactions with opposite amounts, one in each account. Editing the amount, date or notes of one side changes the other.

Add a transfer

1. In the Transactions list, select Add transaction (on a phone, Add). If the list shows more than one account, choose the Account the money leaves or arrives in.
2. Open the Payee list and choose Make a transfer.
3. Choose the other account under Accounts (make this a transfer). The list leaves out the account you chose in step 1. Payee now reads "To" or "From" and the account name. When both accounts are on-budget, the category field reads Transfer.
4. Enter the amount in Amount. Leave the button on its left on − if money leaves this account, or select it to show + if money arrives. On a phone, choose Money out or Money in. The word in Payee changes with it.
5. Select Add.

Both sides get the same date and notes. Both start as To review. The cleared mark in the row (on a phone, Cleared) applies to the side in the account you chose. The other side follows your Settings choice for new transactions you enter by hand. A side in a Balance-only account is Cleared and reviewed, and it never changes that account's balance. See Transactions or Balance only for a bank account.

To go back to an ordinary payee before you save, open the Payee list again and choose Not a transfer — make this a normal transaction.

An Add row on an off-budget account has no Make a transfer button and shows — in place of a category. Choose an on-budget Account, or use a method below. A row can't be a split and a transfer at once. After you start a split, Make a transfer is not offered.

Turn a transaction into a transfer (computer)

1. Select the transaction's payee.
2. Select Make a transfer.
3. Choose the other account under Accounts (make this a transfer).

Good Steward creates a matching transaction in the other account, with the same date and notes and the opposite amount. This transaction loses its payee.

On a phone, use the Add transaction form or pair two transactions. Details can't convert a transaction.

Pair two transactions you already have

1. Select the checkbox of each transaction.
2. Select Make transfer (on a phone, in Actions), or press T.

The two must be in different accounts, with equal and opposite amounts. Neither can be a transfer or a split. A reconciled transaction asks you to confirm first.

Change or end a transfer

• Move it. Select the payee cell and choose another account. In Details, use Other account. The other side moves.
• Turn it back. Choose Not a transfer — make this a normal transaction in the payee list, or select Not a transfer — unlink it in Details. Confirm with Unlink. This transaction then needs a category. The dialog says what happens to the other side: it is deleted, or it stays unlinked when it was imported or came from your bank.
• Delete it. Deleting one side deletes both. See Delete, undo and restore transactions.

You can't move or unlink a transfer while either side is reconciled. Remove the lock from that side first: select its lock icon. You can't move the other side if it came from your bank or an imported file. Unlink the transfer and make a new one.

Transfers and your budget

In the second case, the Add row and the phone form show Leaving budget → (money out, −) or Entering budget ← (money in, +) in place of Transfer, with a Category list. If you leave it empty, the transaction appears under Uncategorized. See On-budget and off-budget accounts.

Money that leaves your budget this way counts toward a Save up goal on the category you chose, and money that enters counts against it. See How goal progress works.

Transfer from a split

A line of a split can be a transfer. Select the line's payee, choose Make a transfer and choose an account. See Split a transaction.