Work safely
Review before budget data changes
Section titled “Review before budget data changes”Manual changes to budget data do not reach Actual until you review and confirm them. The interface uses Save for staged edits and Apply for a reviewed workflow, but both follow the same rule.
| Where you work | Review step | Confirmation |
|---|---|---|
| Data Management and Budget | Edits collect in Draft Changes | Save |
| Bank Reconciliation and Budget File Sync | A session or preview lists planned changes | Apply |
Check the active budget and review the listed changes before you confirm either action.
Reviewed Apply workflows
Section titled “Reviewed Apply workflows”Budget File Sync classifies items in a preview before you apply them. Bank Reconciliation keeps your decisions in a resumable session and re-reads affected transactions immediately before it writes. Both workflows report partial failures and keep failed items available for retry.
The re-read reduces the risk of overwriting a concurrent change, but it cannot make the write version-locked. Avoid changing the same transactions in Actual while reconciliation is applying.
Staged work
Section titled “Staged work”New, edited and deleted rows are marked as you go. The Draft Changes panel and the top bar count what is waiting. Save writes the draft. Discard throws it away and re-reads the server. Undo and redo work on the draft only - once something is saved, undo cannot reach it.
A draft belongs to one budget. With several open, check which one is active before you save.
Immediate budget-change exceptions
Section titled “Immediate budget-change exceptions”- Notes save the moment you confirm the editor. Discarding the rest of your draft will not take them back.
- Carryover writes directly, through its own action in Budget Management. It was never part of the cell draft.
These actions are not part of Draft Changes. They write when you confirm them.
Automated budget changes
Section titled “Automated budget changes”Scheduled bank sync and opted-in safe sync can write later without a per-run review. They are explicit automation policies, not manual editing. See Automations and Budget File Sync.
Tools that do not change budget data
Section titled “Tools that do not change budget data”ActualQL, Rule Diagnostics, Budget File Health, and Data Browser do not change budget data. Some of these tools can save Actual Bench workflow metadata, such as a dismissed diagnostic finding or a saved query.
Where data and credentials are stored
Section titled “Where data and credentials are stored”| Information | Location | How long it lasts |
|---|---|---|
| Actual budget data | Your Actual Server | Managed by Actual |
| Staged edits and active connections | Browser memory | Until refresh or tab close |
| Non-secret recent connection details | Browser session storage | Until the tab closes |
| Actual Bench workflow metadata | /data/actual-bench.sqlite | Across restarts when /data is persisted |
| Remembered server secrets, when enabled | Metadata database, encrypted with your passphrase | Until you forget or reset them |
| Unattended-sync credentials, when enabled | Metadata database, encrypted with SYNC_VAULT_KEY | Until withdrawn or the database is removed |
| Exported budget snapshot | Browser memory; downloadable by you | Current session or your downloaded file |
Remembering credentials is opt-in. By default they live in memory and end when the tab closes. The two encrypted options use separate keys. See Connect to a budget and Configuration for setup details.
Before confirming a manual change
Section titled “Before confirming a manual change”- Check which budget is active before you Save or Apply.
- Review the listed changes before you select Save or Apply.
Go to the workflow that brought you here.