Help menu
Big Picture Money has a dedicated Help control in the title bar — a single question-mark icon that opens a menu for documentation, updates, licensing, feedback, and app information. You no longer need to hunt through Settings or the web to learn how a feature works, see what version you are running, manage your license, or report a problem.
Where to find it
The Help icon lives in the right side of the title bar, next to the user menu. Click it to open the Help menu. On the Welcome and Unlock screens, a reduced Help menu is still available so you can read documentation, view the About dialog, and reach licensing before you unlock your data file.
What the menu contains
The Help menu always lists the same items, in this order:
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Documentation | Opens the Help window on the documentation home page so you can browse the full user guide |
| Documentation for this page | Opens the Help window on the article that matches what you are looking at (the current page, or the topmost dialog if one is open) |
| Check for updates | Checks whether a newer version is available |
| License… | Opens your product license status and import screen |
| Report an issue | Starts the feedback flow to report a problem |
| Suggest a feature | Starts the feedback flow with a feature suggestion |
| About Big Picture Money | Opens the About dialog with version and license status |
Third-party open-source licenses are intentionally not a top-level menu item. They are reachable from a small link inside the About dialog — see View open-source licenses.
Documentation opens in a separate window
Choosing Documentation opens a separate Help window on the documentation home page so you can browse the built-in user guide. Choosing Documentation for this page (or pressing F1, or ⇧⌘? on a Mac) opens the same Help window on the article for your current screen or dialog. The main finance workspace stays exactly where you left it — your registers, budgets, and chat are never covered by a full-page documentation overlay.
The Help window:
- Has a sidebar table of contents grouped by section (getting started, how-to categories that follow the app navigation, features, reference, discussions).
- Lets you search articles by words in the title or body — not only by title.
- Shows each article with readable typography, internal links, and images.
- Works completely offline — the documentation ships with the app, so no internet connection is required.
- Opens once: choosing Documentation again brings the existing Help window to the front instead of opening a second one.
For step-by-step instructions, see Open documentation and Open help for this page.
License… vs Open-source licenses
These two things sound similar but do different things:
| Item | Meaning |
|---|---|
| License… (Help menu) | Your product license — the Big Picture Money edition you bought, activation, and device slots. See Activate your license. |
| Open-source licenses (link in About) | Third-party open-source attribution — the crates, packages, fonts, and icons the app is built with. See View open-source licenses. |
They are never combined under a single "Licenses" label. Only your product license appears in the Help menu; open-source attribution is tucked away in the About dialog.
Check for updates
Check for updates tells you whether a newer version of Big Picture Money is available. You can run it from the Help menu any time. The app also checks about 10 seconds after unlock and every 6 hours while unlocked. When a background check finds an update, Update available appears quietly in the title bar instead of opening a dialog over your work. Select it to open the same dialog as the Help menu; Not now hides the notice until the next scheduled check.
Download, install, and update-applied progress appears as non-blocking notifications in the bottom-left. After restart, the applied confirmation appears after unlock once per data file and may include View the latest release notes. Most updates are relatively small. Rarely, an update includes an improved merchant database and may take longer to download — the dialog says so when that applies. Big Picture Money never stops working because an update is available, and it does not upload your financial data when checking. See Check for updates.
Report an issue and Suggest a feature
Report an issue and Suggest a feature start the in-app feedback flow so you can describe a problem or propose an improvement. The app helps you review what is included before anything is sent, and it never attaches your database or financial exports automatically. See Issue reporting, Report a problem, and Suggest a feature.
About Big Picture Money
About Big Picture Money opens a small dialog with the app name, version (for example 2026.1.42), your license status, and links to documentation and the project website. It is read-only — you manage your license from License…, not from About. See View app information.
Privacy
- Documentation, Documentation for this page, and About contain only public information — no financial data.
- Check for updates contacts the update service but never uploads your financial data.
- Report an issue only sends what you choose to include, and warns you against sharing secrets.