Terminology

This section is intended to give you a brief introduction to the basic concepts and terminology you will need to understand in order to make sense to the rest of the documentation.

:: Wallet

HomeBank wallet is the 1st level of the data hierarchy. A wallet is equivalent to a HomeBank file (.xhb).
Managing the few wallet properties is done in the Wallet dialog.

:: Accounts

HomeBank accounts is the 2nd level of the data's. A account is a division of the wallet, which will each contain your financial transactions.
Managing the accounts is done in the Accounts dialog.

:: Transactions

HomeBank transactions is the terminal level of data's. A transaction is a financial transaction, attached to its own account.

In addition to the usual data's you can find in most accounting application, HomeBank offers the following:

Managing transactions is done in the main window or the account window.

:: Archives

Archives is a kind of transaction bookmark, with an optional automated insertion.
Typically such transactions are the one's occurring very often, for example: Wage, Rent, Phone, Taxes, etc...

Managing archives is done in the Archive dialog. If automated insertion is enable, transactions occurrences will be created when you open the wallet, or by manually selecting the main window-menu: Transaction / Check automated.

Archives can also be created from existing transactions from the Account window.
Every archive is available as a bookmark for fill purpose in the Transaction dialog.

:: Payees

A payee can optionally be set for each transaction to later perform sorting, filtering and analysis. The payee identify people you give money to, as like as those you receive money from.
Managing payees is done on the Payee dialog. Payees are global to the wallet and are shared between all the accounts.

:: Categories

A category can optionally set for each transaction to later perform sorting, filtering and analysis. The categories is another classification model of your financial transactions.
Managing categories is done on the Categories dialog. Categories are global to the wallet and are shared between all the accounts.

Please also note well that categories and subcategories are the same from a HomeBank point of view, the subcategories are only to create a hierarchy in category tree. This is especially important for the budget dialog

:: Tags

Some tags can optionally be set for each transaction to later perform sorting, and analysis. The tags are most common to those yo can find in the web, so it is words separated by space.

:: Budget

The budget is axed toward a report point of view. You will set up some limits to each categories for later compare the decay between these limits and the reality of the expense/income of each categories.

Managing the budget is done in the Budget dialog. The budget is global to the wallet,so if you need to manage a different budget each year, you can use csv import/export capabilities.