iFreeBudget - Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is iFreeBudget?

iFreeBudget is a simple tool for personal finance manager and budgeting application. It is designed and written to be intuitive and easy to use for home and small business users. iFreeBudget uses double entry accounting.iFreeBudget is open source and free.

2. What operating systems does iFreeBudget run on?'

iFreeBudget will run on any OS with the right Java Runtime Environment installed. You need JRE version 1.6 or greater.

You can download it here: http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp

3. Is my data secure?

Yes. iFreeBudget uses a password based encryption scheme to encrypt all your data.

4. What is double entry accounting?

From wikipedia... In accountancy, the double-entry bookkeeping (or double-entry accounting) system is the basis of the standard system used by businesses and other organizations to record financial transactions. Its premise is that a business''s (or other organization''s) financial condition and results of operations are best recorded in accounts. Each account maintains a "history" of changes in monetary values about a particular aspect of the business. This system is called double-entry because each transaction is recorded in at least two accounts. Each transaction results in at least one account being debited and at least one account being credited, with the total debits of the transaction equal to the total credits.
Go here for the complete article:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_entry_accountin

5. How do I install it?

iFreeBudget will run on all operating systems with right version of Java runtime environment installed.Requires Java Runtime Environment(JRE) 1.6 or higher. 

Windows: Recommended way is to use the the installer program. 

Download the latest version for Windows from http://sourceforge.net/projects/mjrz/files/

Double click on the downloaded file and follow the instructions to install.If you do not have the right JRE installed, the program will automatically download the latest version when you first run the program. 

After installer completes, a program group would have been created in Start->Program files. Click on iFreeBudget icon within the group to run the program. 

RPM based Linux: RPM based Linux distros can use the RPM file distributed by PackMan repository to install.http://packman.links2linux.org/package/iFreeBudget

Ubuntu and Debian based Linux systems: Debian based Linux distros can use the deb file to install provided by GetDeb. http://www.getdeb.net/app/iFreeBudget

Other: All other systems can use the generic zip file. Unzip to any location on the hard drive.You must set the JAVA_HOME environment variable to point to your Java installation.On linux a typical command would be: export JAVA_HOME=/usr/java/latestTo run the program : execute run.sh script.

6. I hated it, How do I uninstall it?

Windows users can use the un-install utility provided with the distribution, or can un-install it from Control panel->Add / remove programs.  

RPM based Linux users can use their favorite package manager to uninstall. 

All other systems, just delete the directory where you unzipped the files. Let me know what you hated about it so I can improve it.

7. How to setup online banking?

To setup online banking you will need the following data:          

Org name:FI name        

FID: Financial institution identifier (from your bank)         

Routing number: From your checkbook (Leave blank for credit card accounts)         

Provider url:ask your bank         

Account type:CHECKING         

user name:your user name         

user password: your password          

And the account number which should be setup when adding the acount.

Another resource for finding the FI data is the blog at : http://ofxblog.wordpress.com/ I would like to hear if you are able to setup online banking or if you had any problems, so please feel free to send me an email. Your financial institution may charge you for monthly Personal finance management software usage. Please be careful if you use this feature.

8. Can I import Quicken or MS-Money files?

iFreeBudget supports importing Open financial exchange files. This means latest Quicken or MS-Money files can be imported. However, older QIF (Quicken interchange format) is not supported.

9. What if I forget my password?

Don''t. If you do, then all you can do is delete your data files and restart all over again.

10. Is it really free?

Yes, iFreeBudget is really free. It is released under Apache License, Version 2.0. To read the full terms and conditions please visit: http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

11. How to setup recurring transaction?

To setup reminders for a transaction:

1. Right click on the  transaction and select "Reminder" menu option. 

2.  Dialog shown below would be displayed.

3.  You can setup weekly, monthly, yearly reminders. Make selections and click "Save"

4.  At scheduled time, a sliding popup will appear reminding the user of scheduled transaction. Clicking on the dialog will display a transaction entry dialog populated with selected original transaction''s values. The new transaction can now be saved.

12. What programming language is iFreeBudget written in?

iFreeBudget is completely in Java programming language. It is compiled for Java version 1.6.  

HSQLDB is the internal database engine running in file mode and uses Hibernate for O-R mapping.

13. Brief overview of iFreeBudget

This is a general and brief overview of concepts of how to use iFreeBudget. Financial data is maintained using accounts and transactions. Accounts are arranged into four major categories.Income accounts (Job, Interest from bank, etc)Asset accounts (Checking/savings accounts, cash on hand etc)Expense accounts (Bills, grocery, gas)Liability accounts (Credit cards, loans)Transaction is movement of funds between accounts. For example, paying for gas means money has moved from one of the asset accounts (checking account, cash in wallet ) to an expense account (Gas). Similarly a pay check is recorded as a transaction from Income account to Asset account. Accounts are listed in the tree view in the left pane of the main window and transactions are listed in the table view in the middle pane of the main window. To create accounts use one of the following methods: Click on the New account button on the tool bar orSelect File->New->Account from the menu orRight click on the one of the tree nodes and select Add account from the popup menu.To create transaction use on the the following methods: Click in the New transaction button or Click on Transaction wizard button on the tool bar orSelect File->New->Transaction from the menu.

14. Creating new account

To create an account select File->New->Account from the main menu. In the next dialog box, select the category of account in the tree view and enter account details. Account number, starting balance and Notes are optional fields. Account can be edited to enter the details later.

15. Recording transaction

To record a transaction select File->New->Transaction from the main menu. In the dialog box, select From and To accounts in the tree view and enter the transaction date, amount and notes and click on Save button.

16. Did you know? 

1. You can move accounts between categories by dragging and dropping.

2. You can set up visual alerts to warn you if an account balance falls below or exceeds a threshold value

3. You can specify the alert threshold values to apply for the week, month or day

4.You can create cash flow statement for any range of date and save in html format for easy printing

5. You can backup and re-store your profile

6. You can import Quicken format files

7. You can view stock quotes and manage stock portfolios

8. You can create and manage address book 

9. You can set up recurring transactions

10. This project is Open source software

11. iFreeBudget is available is five languages.

17. Creating new profile

To create a new profile:Start the program. At the login prompt, click on the  "Add profile" button.  Add profile wizard will pop up. Follow the steps of the wizard, Enter name, passwordOn the third step ''Select location'', you can specify the location where you want to store the data files. Click on the "Change" button to modify location if desired.Select language and currency on steps 4 and 5 and click on finish to create the new profile.

18. Multiple languages

Translations are provided by volunteers. iFreeBudget is currently available in the following languages:CatalanDutchEnglish GermanItalian Please see Help->About section of the application for credits.Thanks to all the contributors who provided translations.If you are interested translating  iFreeBudget to other languages or provide ongoing support to any of the currently supported languages, please contact me at ifreebudget AT gmail DOT comNo programming knowledge is essential for helping with translating.

19. Account alerts

Alerts can be set up on accounts to provide visual indicators when a balance threshold has been reached. To setup alert, right click on the account in the accounts tree and select "Add alert" from the popup men.In the following dialog, enter the threshold amount and the range (current week, month). If the alert is raised, the icon for the account in tree will change to :

20. Favourites

Frequently occurring transactions can be added to favourites list. You can select any item from the favourites list and enter just the date and amount  to create the new transaction.  To add favourite: Right click on the transaction you want to add to favourites list and select "Add to favourites" from the menu.

21. Importing OFX or QFX files - Quicken/MS-Money

Instructions for importing OFX or QFX files.

1. Download the data from your financial institution. It is done by downloading a file with ofx or qfx extension.

2. Click on File->Import OFX/QFX

3. The following dialog would appear prompting to select the account to associated with this file. (Note: If an account is already associated with this financial institution, identified by account number, this step is skipped.)

4. In the next dialog,  review the data to be imported.   

* You can choose to skip importing a particular transaction by checking the "Skip" checkbox for that transaction. 

* You can also edit the transaction by clicking on the button in the "Edit" column. This will bring up the following dialog:

* You can also create a new account for the transaction if needed by clicking on the new account button  * Finally, you can check the "Reconcile Balance" check box to set the account balance to the ledger balance from the imported file.

22. How to backup and restore data

Backup profile data:

1. In the Login window, select your profile and click on the Backup profile button.

2. A file selector dialog will appear prompting you to select where to save the backup. Naviagate to where you want to save the backup file and click on Save.

3. Backup file with the name .zip will be created. 

Restore profile:

1. In the Login window, select your profile and click on the Import profile button. 

2. New wizard will appear asking you to select the backup file.

3. In the second step, select the destination where you want to save the imported profile data.

4. Click "Finish" and the profile will be imported.

23. Adding new item to this faq

Users are invited to add new items to this faq. You must register and login to be able to add or edit faqs. After you submit your question and optionally an answer, I will be able to approve the entry and it will be published on the website.If the submissions is duplicated/off-topic/offensive it will be rejected.