Troubleshooting

What to check when a number looks wrong, an import misbehaves, or something is not where you expect.

Most surprises in Pentos come from one of a handful of causes. This page lists them in the order worth checking.

A number on the Budget tab looks wrong

Check the account is On Budget. An Off Budget account’s money never reaches To Budget. This is fixed when the account is created, so an account added with the switch off will always behave this way.

Check for uncategorised transactions. A transaction with no category never affects the budget. The chip under the account’s balance counts them, and tapping it filters to them.

Check the month. The Budget tab shows one month at a time, and after scrolling it is common to be looking at a different one than you think.

Check for a split parent. A split’s parent row has no category by design. Its lines carry the categories, so look at the lines.

Check for a hold. A hold subtracts from the month it is set in. The header shows Held for next month when one is active.

Refer to How the budget math works for the arithmetic itself.

To Budget says Overbudgeted

You have assigned more than you hold. Common causes:

  • Quick budget copied a richer month. Copying last month reuses last month’s amounts, which may exceed this month’s money.
  • Fund goals ran short. It never rations, so funding goals you cannot afford drives To Budget negative deliberately.
  • A hold larger than To Budget. The app does not clamp it.

Fix it by taking money back out of envelopes until the header reads zero or better.

An envelope reset to zero and I did not do it

That is the default overspending behaviour. An envelope with a negative Available resets the next month, and the amount you went over is charged to that month’s To Budget.

If you want the envelope to keep its debt instead, turn on Carries debt for the category. Refer to Carry overspending in a category.

An import brought in wrong dates

Almost always the date format on a CSV. 03/04/2026 is 3 April in some countries and 4 March in others, and the file does not say which.

Reimport with the correct Date Format, and check the preview against a transaction you remember before continuing. Refer to Map CSV columns.

An import brought in inverted amounts

The file writes outgoing money as positive. Turn on Flip sign in the column mapping.

An import skipped transactions

They were flagged as probable duplicates and left unticked. That is the intended behaviour when a statement overlaps one you have already imported.

If a genuine transaction was flagged, tick it in the preview before importing.

An edit will not save

The transaction is reconciled. Reconciled rows lock against edits, including bulk edits and retroactive rule applications, because they matched a bank statement.

A rule did not run

  • Check it is Enabled.
  • Check the pass. A rule matching on a payee name that another rule renames needs to run After it. Refer to Create a rule.
  • Check the field. A rule matching Payee will not match a statement whose raw name differs; match Imported payee instead.
  • Rules run on import. They do not run retroactively on their own. Refer to Apply a rule to past transactions.

A schedule is not posting

  • Check Post automatically. A manual schedule waits in the register for you to approve it.
  • Check the end date. A schedule past its end produces no more dates.
  • Check the preview. If it produces no dates, the recurrence contradicts itself, most often a weekly schedule with no weekday chosen.

Reports are missing a category

Check the period and the filters first. Then check whether the category is hidden: a hidden category keeps its history and disappears from pickers.

A restore will not read my file

Check it is a backup, not a CSV. Export Transactions CSV produces a spreadsheet that cannot be restored.

A failed restore leaves your current data unchanged. Refer to Restore from a backup.

I made a mistake

Undo covers everything, including bulk changes and deletions, from More in the toolbar. Shaking the device works too. Refer to Undo a change.

Something else

Write to support@pentosbudget.com.