Getting Started With YNAB
YNAB works best if you are familiar with these four rules and how they work in the software. So we encourage you to read about them first. For now, we’ll being by showing you:
1. Creating a new budget
2. Adding an account
3. Adding and modifying categories (master and subcategories)
4. Adding notes
5. Adding budget amounts
Creating a new budget
How excited are you to create your first budget? This section shows you how get set up from the moment you finished downloading the app onto your desktop. If you selected to Cloud Sync your budget, download Dropbox. Have fun!
1. Click Create a brand new budget to take you to the Budget Setup screen.
2. Name your budget
3. Select Cloud Sync your budget to keep your budget automatically up to date on all your devices running YNAB.
4. Select a starting category.
5. Choose your currency and date formats.
6. Click Create Budget
Adding an account
Time to add your money. This section explains adding the amount in your bank account to determine the amount you have to budget. We recommend the Budget Account option as it be used to update your budget.
1. From the home screen, click Add Account. You will be taken to the Create a New Account screen.
2. From the Create a New Account screen, name your account.
3. Input the current balance from your bank account.
4. Select the date of your current balance. If you are inputting your current balance do not change the date as it defaults to today’s date.
5. Choose an account type from the Type dropdown menu.
6. Choose if you want this account to affect your budget.
7. Click Create Account.
Adding and modifying master categories and subcategories
Let’s fiddle around with your all your categories. This section explains how to add and modifying master categories and subcategories. It’s broken down into four parts so you can quickly refer to what you want to do.
Adding a master category
1. From the home screen, click on and the Add new master category window will appear.
2. Input name of master category.
3. Click Done.
Modifying a master category
1. Click a master category and an edit master category window will appear.
2. Rename the master category.
3. Click Done.
Adding a subcategory
1. Hover next to a master category and the will appear.
2. Click and the Add new category window will appear.
3. Name the new category
4. Click Done.
Modifying a subcategory
1. Click on a subcategory and the Edit category window will appear.
2. Rename the subcategory.
3. Click Done.
Adding a note
Note to self: Read this if you want to know how to add a note. This section explains adding a note to a master category or subcategory. Use it to jot down important info that you don’t want to forget. It's kind of a big deal.
1. Hover next to a master category or subcategory and the will appear.
2. Click and the Notes window will appear.
3. Write a note.
4. Click Done.
Adding a budget amount
Time to set your goals for the month. This section explains adding how to add a budget amount, which will decrease once you add transactions to that category.