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Opening the create budget line form

In Commander Finance, click Budget in the sidebar to navigate to the Budget page. The New Line button on this page opens the create budget line form as an overlay. Before you have any lines, the empty Budget page offers a Create a Budget Line button that opens the same form. The form fields change based on your current budgeting mode, with Envelope Mode showing different options than Tracking Mode or Targets Mode.

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Entering basic line information

The form begins with a name field where you enter an identifier for your budget line, up to 64 characters. Commander prevents duplicate names and displays an inline error if you attempt to use a name that already exists among your active budget lines. Below the name, select a color using either the hex code entry box or the color picker. The color defaults to gray if left unchanged.

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Setting mode-specific fields

In Tracking Mode, the form requires only the name and color fields described in the prior section. Targets Mode adds a target field where you enter your spending goal for the line. This field accepts positive or negative values and defaults to zero. Commander allows you to save a budget line with a zero target, but displays a warning symbol next to the line name on the Budget page to indicate that the line has no target amount. Envelope Mode includes an initial transfer to line field that moves money from your unbudgeted funds pool into the new budget line. This field defaults to zero and requires an amount that doesn’t exceed your available unbudgeted funds. Commander validates that sufficient funds exist before allowing you to save—attempting to transfer more than your available balance displays an error and prevents creation. The transfer occurs when you save the line, reducing your unbudgeted funds by the specified amount.

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Completing budget line creation

Click Save to submit the form. Commander validates all required fields and displays inline error messages if information is missing or incorrect; if validation passes, the form closes and your new budget line appears on the Budget page alongside your existing lines. The new line shows no activity until you assign transactions to it.