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Data Browser

Use Data Browser to inspect tables, views, indexes, triggers, schema, and rows in an exported budget snapshot.

Open it from Tools → Data Browser (/data-browser).

Budget impact: Data Browser does not change budget data. The snapshot opens in your browser and never goes back to Actual.

The Data Browser: the snapshot's tables and views on the left, rows of v_transactions in the middle, and the row-details panel on the right.

Every table and view in the file, with row counts, and the raw rows behind the screens Actual shows you - read-only, and exportable a table at a time.

It shares its snapshot with Budget File Health, which is where loading, caching and reloading are explained - once either tool has loaded the budget, the other opens instantly.

Browse tables, views, and schema

Section titled “Browse tables, views, and schema”
  • Lists tables, views, indexes, and triggers grouped by Actual Budget domain; v_transactions is selected by default when present.
  • Rows paginate, with sticky headers and horizontal scrolling. Sorting happens in a worker, so a big table does not freeze the page. The object, page, page size and sort all live in the URL, so you can send someone a link to exactly what you are looking at.
  • Schema shows the type, parent table, row count, inferred key, columns, indexes, and the raw CREATE … statement.
  • Indexes and triggers are listed, and marked as having no rows to browse.

Inspect rows and follow relationships

Section titled “Inspect rows and follow relationships”
  • Row actions copy a row as JSON - BLOBs come out base64 - and open a details panel that stacks as you drill in.
  • Linked cells are clickable. A foreign key takes you to the row it points at, using the same relationship map diagnostics uses.
  • Money stays as the integer Actual stores. Dates and budget months are formatted. BLOBs are marked binary with a hex preview on hover, and every formatted cell keeps its raw value in a tooltip.

Export tables and views

Section titled “Export tables and views”

Any table or view exports to CSV. Rows stream through a worker rather than loading into memory, the encoding is UTF-8 so Excel behaves, and text that looks like a formula is neutralised so opening the file cannot execute it. Negative numbers stay negative. BLOBs become truncated base64.

Safety and limitations

Section titled “Safety and limitations”
  • Read-only. It cannot change your budget.
  • A very large snapshot is limited by your browser’s memory.
  • An exported CSV holds real financial data. Treat it like the budget.

Troubleshooting

Section titled “Troubleshooting”
  • No rows - you selected an index or a trigger. They have none.
  • The snapshot is stale - reload it from Budget File Health.
  • A CSV looks wrong in a spreadsheet - it is UTF-8, with formula protection. Open it as UTF-8.
Section titled “Related pages”