¥ xingcihang
English
← KnowFlow Ledger

Simple Ledger · User Guide

Welcome to Simple Ledger, a cross-platform app for personal spending, budgets and assets, built natively for iPhone, iPad and Mac. This guide follows the five sections of the app — Home, Transactions, Insights, Plans and Settings.

1. Getting started

  1. Track a transaction: tap the ＋ button at the bottom right, enter an amount, pick Expense / Income / Deposit, choose a category and save.
  2. See today: go back to Home for today’s spending, income, net and transactions.
  3. Review: open Transactions and switch between Week / Month / Year to browse day by day.
  4. Analyze: open Insights for trends, category shares and the daily net heat map.
  5. Plan ahead: open Plans to set budgets, record recurring expenses and installments, and set savings goals.

There is no global ledger switch. You choose the ledger when you record a transaction, and Insights add up every ledger by default with a per-ledger breakdown.

2. Recording a transaction

Tap ＋ from any screen:

  • Ledger: choose which ledger to write to (when you keep more than one).
  • Type: Expense, Income or Deposit. A deposit can be linked to a savings plan.
  • Amount and category: the category list follows the ledger you picked.
  • More details: name, note, tags, payment method, account and date.
  • Receipt scanning: pull the amount, merchant and date from a photo automatically (on supported platforms).

The ledger you used is remembered as the default for next time.

On the Mac, ⌘N opens the entry panel from anywhere. Press Return to save; turn on “keep the date” to record several entries for the same day in a row.

3. Home

Your “right now” view:

  • Today’s spending / income / net
  • Last 30 days, with the change versus the previous period
  • Today’s transactions, with a link to the full list
  • Tracking streak: the flame at the top counts consecutive days with at least one entry in any ledger

On the Mac, Home is a card wall: drag cards to rearrange them, and use the size button on each card to switch between small, medium and large.

4. Transactions

Browse everything by period:

  • Period: Week / Month / Year at the top, with arrows for the previous and next period. Tap the period title to jump to a specific day or choose a custom range.
  • Period summary: spending, income and net, expandable per ledger.
  • Search and filters: search filters as you type. Filter by category, account, amount range, tag, payment method, date range and type. Active filters appear as chips you can remove individually or clear at once.
  • The list: grouped by day with a sticky header showing that day’s subtotal. Each row shows an icon, the name, the category and payment method, and the amount. With multiple ledgers, a colored dot marks which ledger a row belongs to.
  • Actions: swipe left to delete, or open a transaction to edit it. On the Mac, use the table’s sorting, multi-select and context menu, and edit in the inspector on the right.

5. Insights

One time control (Week / Month / Year / Custom) drives the whole page:

  • Overview: spending, income and net for the period, with the change versus the previous one.
  • Trend: a line chart, plotted by month at the year level.
  • Daily net heat map (Month only): each calendar cell shows that day’s net, colored by sign. Tap a cell to jump to that day’s transactions.
  • Category breakdown: the top five expense categories as share bars. “See All” opens the full pie chart and list, switchable between expenses and income.
  • Large expenses: the biggest entries this period, with a top-ten view.
  • By ledger: a per-ledger breakdown when you keep more than one.
  • The ··· menu: custom reports, Year in Review, cash flow forecast, savings tips, AI spending advisor and anomalies.

6. Plans

Your forward-looking dashboard:

Summary cards

  • This month’s budget: used versus total, progress, and how many categories are over.
  • Coming up: recurring expenses and installment payments due in the next 30 days.
  • Savings goals: overall progress across every savings plan.

Assets

  • Accounts & Net Worth: manage accounts, adjust balances, record transfers and review snapshots.
  • Investment portfolio (Pro): track holdings by hand; their value counts toward net worth.
  • Debts: record credit cards, loans and mortgages. Logging a repayment creates a matching transaction so it counts in your reports.
  • Zero-based budgeting (Pro): assign each month’s income to envelopes until nothing is unallocated. It complements category budgets, and you can use both.

More

  • Purchase plans: things you want, what they cost, and when you plan to buy.
  • Achievements and challenges: a little encouragement for keeping the habit.

Two budgeting modes: category limits (set a cap per category in the budget workbench) and zero-based envelopes (assign income). They are independent and can run side by side.

7. Settings

Ledgers

  • Ledgers: multiple ledgers, ordering, and your default.
  • Shared ledgers: use Sign in with Apple to label who recorded what, create a shared copy from a personal ledger or join with an invite code, and manage members. Shared ledgers are separate from local ones, and some advanced features are local-only.
  • Categories: customize icons, colors and order for expense and income categories; merge duplicates and reset to the built-in presets.
  • Tags: rename, merge and delete tags — every affected transaction updates with them.

Preferences

  • Appearance: light, dark or match the system, plus an accent color.
  • Currency: your currency symbol and decimal places.
  • Date & Time: date format and the first day of the week.
  • Notifications (Pro): reminders for budgets, recurring expenses, installments, savings, debt due dates and daily tracking.

Data

  • Data Management: export and import a full JSON backup, import CSV, turn on iCloud sync (Pro), review data statistics, and clear everything.

Other

  • Pro: upgrade and restore purchases.
  • AI Advisor API: configure your own model endpoint and key for the AI spending advisor.
  • Help & Support / About: this guide, the FAQ and version information.
  • Delete Account: permanently erase everything. This cannot be undone.

8. Pro

Pro unlocks:

  • Unlimited transactions and iCloud sync across your devices
  • Advanced reports and export to CSV / Excel
  • Investment portfolio and zero-based budgeting
  • Anomaly detection, personalized savings tips and the AI spending advisor
  • Reminders for budgets, recurring expenses, installments, savings, debts and daily tracking

Pro is a one-time purchase, not a subscription: pay once and every Pro feature stays unlocked, with no renewals and no further charges. Upgrade under Settings → Subscription, and use Restore Purchases with the same Apple Account on another device or after reinstalling.

9. Data and privacy

  • By default your data stays on the device. With iCloud sync on, it moves only between your own Apple devices through your private iCloud database.
  • Receipt scanning runs entirely on your device; images are never uploaded.
  • Quotes and exchange rates pass through our relay, which sees only ticker symbols and currency codes — never your personal data.
  • Only after you explicitly enable the AI spending advisor and configure your own API is a financial summary sent to the endpoint you chose.
  • The full privacy policy and terms are in the app under Settings → About.

10. Common questions

  • How do I back up? Settings → Data Management → Export. JSON is a full backup; Pro adds CSV and Excel.
  • Does my data go to the cloud? Only with iCloud sync (Pro), and only between your own devices.
  • How do I delete a transaction? Swipe left in the list, or open it and delete. On the Mac, select the row and press Delete.
  • If I delete a generated recurring or installment transaction, does it come back? No — it isn’t regenerated for that period.
  • How do I switch ledgers? You pick the ledger when recording. Insights add up every ledger and show a per-ledger breakdown.

Need more help? Use Settings → Help & Support → Contact Us.