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Global Search

Big Picture Money puts a search field in the title bar so you can jump to what you need without remembering which page it lives on.

What you can find​

From the title bar you can search:

  • Transactions — by payee, description, memo, category, and related account names
  • Accounts — by name and institution
  • Categories — by name, parent path (for example Shopping under Food), and search synonyms
  • Chat — AI conversations by title and message text (opens the full Chat thread)
  • Help — built-in documentation articles by title or body text (opens the article in the Help window)
  • Settings — by category name or keyword (for example SimpleFIN finds Bank integration)
  • Pages — main sections such as Transactions, Spending, and Settings

Search runs entirely on your computer. Your search terms are not sent to the cloud.

Quick results and full results​

While you type, a dropdown shows up to about 10 best matches, grouped by type. Each result shows a badge such as Transaction, Settings, or Page so you can tell what you are opening.

  • Click a result or press Enter while it is highlighted to open it.
  • Press Enter with nothing highlighted, or click View all results, to open the Search page with more matches for the same query.

After you unlock​

When you unlock your data file, Big Picture Money may show Updating search index… briefly while it indexes your transactions, accounts, and AI conversations. Settings and page results stay available during that time.

What search is not for​

The search box finds things in your app — it does not answer financial questions in plain language. For questions like “How much did I spend on groceries last month?”, use the AI assistant in the right panel or open Chat for a longer thread.

Help results​

When a match comes from the built-in documentation, the badge reads Help. Selecting it opens the Help window on that article.

Chat results​

When a match comes from an AI conversation, the badge reads Chat. Selecting it opens Chat with that conversation loaded. Search does not scroll to a specific message inside the thread — it opens the conversation so you can read the full history.

Expected behavior​

  • The search field is always visible in the title bar when the app is unlocked.
  • Results are labeled by type so you can distinguish a transaction from a settings screen.
  • Opening a transaction result selects that row in the register and opens the inspector.