Balance Sync
Balance Sync connects eligible Budget List purchases with your private Personal Balance so supported purchases can update it automatically.
What Balance Sync does
“Balance Sync” connects a “Budget” List to your private “Personal Balance”. When you record an eligible purchase in that list, the list budget updates and your “Personal Balance” updates as well.
Example: if your “Personal Balance” is 1,000 and you record an eligible purchase of 55 in a Balance Sync list, your “Personal Balance” becomes 945. The in-list budget also reflects the same 55 purchase.
The “Personal Balance” currency and the Balance Sync list currency must be the same. If “Personal Balance” is USD and the list is EUR, the sync will NOT happen. If both are USD, the sync WILL happen.
Turning Balance Sync on
- Set up “Personal Balance” first and choose its currency.
- Open the “Budget” List settings.
- Enable “Balance Sync”.
- Check the in-list currency and make sure it is exactly the same as your “Personal Balance” currency.
- Save the setting.
Matching currencies are required for Balance Sync. Different currencies mean no sync.
Which purchases affect Personal Balance
Purchases recorded in a Balance Sync list can update your “Personal Balance” when the list meets the sync requirements.
If payer tracking is also being used, the payer selected for a purchase determines whose spending is being recorded. Your “Personal Balance” should only be affected by purchases that apply to you.
Currency must match. USD “Personal Balance” + USD list = sync works. USD “Personal Balance” + EUR list = no sync.
How a purchase changes your balance
- Open the Balance Sync “Budget” List.
- Select the item you purchased.
- Enter the purchase amount and confirm it.
- Smart Lists updates the in-list budget.
- If the sync requirements are met, Smart Lists also updates your “Personal Balance” automatically.
If the two currencies do not match, the “Personal Balance” will not update.
What happens when a purchase is edited
If you edit the amount of a synced purchase, Smart Lists adjusts “Personal Balance” to reflect the corrected purchase.
This prevents the old amount and the new amount from both being counted.
What happens when a purchase is undone
When a synced purchase is undone, the Balance Sync effect of that purchase is also reversed.
“Personal Balance” returns the amount according to the corrected list state.
What happens when an item is deleted
If the item contains a purchase that affected “Personal Balance”, Smart Lists needs to reverse or account for that purchase when the item is removed.
Use “Undo purchase” first when your intention is only to reverse the spending record and keep the item.
Using Payer Tracking and Balance Sync together
Payer Tracking can be useful when a shared “Budget” List also needs to work with “Personal Balance”.
Because each purchase records who paid, Smart Lists can distinguish your spending from another member’s spending rather than treating every purchase in the shared list as yours.
This is why a payer-tracked list is useful when you need shared spending information and “Personal Balance” behaviour together.
The list currency still needs to match your “Personal Balance” currency for any Balance Sync to occur.
Turning Balance Sync off
- Open the “Budget” List settings.
- Turn Balance Sync off.
- Save the setting.
- New purchases in that list will no longer update your “Personal Balance” automatically.
What happens to previous synced purchases
Turning Balance Sync off affects future automatic syncing.
Purchases that already changed your “Personal Balance” are not automatically treated as if they never happened unless you edit or undo the relevant purchase.