Navigating the App
Big Picture Money uses a four-region layout designed for reviewing accounts, transactions, and budgets.
The four regions
| Region | What it is |
|---|---|
| Title bar | App logo (Home), back and forward buttons, global search, Bank sync status (when configured), Help menu, user menu (Lock, Appearance, Settings), and right-panel toggle |
| Left navigation | Primary menu for switching between major sections |
| Main content | The active page — tables, charts, and forms appear here |
| Right panel | Optional side panel for AI assistance and contextual details |
On a wide window (1280 pixels or more), all four regions are visible when the right panel is expanded. On narrower windows, the right panel collapses or overlays the main content.
Primary navigation
Use the left navigation to switch sections. Items appear in this order:
| Item | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Home | Dashboard overview and summary |
| Chat | Full-screen AI conversations, history, and inline charts (requires AI enabled in Settings) |
| Spending | Category breakdowns, spending filters, drill-downs, and transaction cleanup |
| Budgets | Budget planning and progress |
| Goals | Long-term outcomes — savings targets and balance floors; badge shows how many need attention (for example, 2) |
| Reports | Spending reports, income vs expense, balance and net worth over time |
| Transactions | Transaction register and daily money management; expand for Review queue, Transfer review, Views, and pinned views |
Below a divider, secondary items:
| Item | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Accounts | Account list and setup — create, edit, archive, and reorder accounts |
| Import | Bring in transactions from CSV, QFX, or OFX files |
| Categories & Rules | Category tree and auto-categorization rules |
| Settings | Appearance, font size, license, AI, bank connections, export, and Activity (event timeline) |
Views lives under Transactions in the left navigation. Use it for reusable filtered registers you can pin. It is separate from Reports.
When navigation is limited
On a new or empty data file, some sections stay unavailable until setup is finished:
| Situation | What you can use | What stays unavailable |
|---|---|---|
| License not yet activated for this file | License prompt, Lock, Help (as needed) | Finance navigation and main finance screens |
| Licensed, but no accounts yet | Home (Getting started), Accounts, Import, Settings, Help, Lock | Transactions, Spending, Budgets, Goals, Reports, Chat, Views, Categories & Rules, and similar |
See Onboarding and First steps on Home.
Switch between sections
- Launch the app (see Installing the app).
- In the left navigation, click Home.
- Confirm the main content area shows a Home heading.
- Click Chat, Spending, Budgets, Goals, and Reports in order — each updates the main heading to match (when those sections are available — see When navigation is limited).
- Click Transactions in the left navigation.
- Confirm the main content area shows a Transactions heading.
- Under Transactions, expand the submenu and click Views — confirm the Views heading appears.
- Under Transactions, click Review queue — confirm the Review queue heading appears.
- Click Accounts, Import, Categories & Rules, and Settings — each updates the main heading to match.
- Click a pinned view under Views (for example, Main Checking) and confirm the register filters to that account.
Spending and transaction filters
Use Spending when you want a chart-first breakdown by category. Use Transactions and Views when you want a reusable filtered register you can pin to navigation. The two sections use the same transaction data and category/tag rules, so matching filters should show matching transactions.
Right panel
On first launch, the right panel is collapsed. You can expand it during your session using the panel toggle control. Select a transaction in the register to see categorization details in the panel. When AI is enabled, the panel also shows a compact AI assistant for quick questions.
On the Chat page, the right panel does not duplicate the assistant — use the main Chat area instead. You can still open the panel to preview a transaction linked from a chat message.
Title bar
The title bar at the top includes:
| Control | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Logo | Click to go Home |
| Back / Forward | Return to the previous or next page you visited |
| Search | Find transactions, accounts, settings, and pages — press Ctrl+K or Cmd+K to focus |
| Bank sync chip | When bank sync is set up, shows sync health and opens recent sync imports |
| Help menu | Documentation, updates, license, Report an issue, Suggest a feature, and About — press F1 to open Documentation |
| User menu | Lock, Appearance (shortcut to Settings → General), and Settings |
| Panel toggle | Show or hide the right panel |
The Help menu is a question-mark icon next to the user menu. Choosing Documentation (or pressing F1) opens the built-in user guide in a separate Help window, so your main workspace stays where you left it. See Help menu.
Big Picture Money does not remember whether the panel was open when you quit — it starts collapsed each time you open the app.
Expected result
- Clicking Home shows the Home heading in the main area.
- Left navigation order matches the tables above (primary group, then secondary group below the divider).
- Clicking Transactions shows the Transactions heading in the main area (when that section is available — see When navigation is limited).
- Clicking Spending shows the Spending heading in the main area (when available).
- Views opens from under Transactions and is separate from Reports.
- Each available navigation item updates the main content to the matching section.
- On an empty licensed file, locked sections cannot be opened until you add an account.
- The right panel starts collapsed on a fresh launch.
- At 1280px window width or wider, expanding the right panel shows all four regions at once.