First steps on Home
When your data file has no accounts yet, Home shows a Getting started panel instead of the usual dashboard widgets. Use it to take the first steps that fill in your financial picture.
This is the same empty state you see after setting up your data file or after creating a new data file, unlocking it, and activating a license for that file.
Prerequisites
- Your data file is unlocked
- A license is activated for this data file on this computer
- You have not created any accounts yet
What you see
On Home, a Getting started panel explains that Big Picture Money needs at least one account before net worth, spending, and budgets can show useful numbers.
Until you add an account, most left-navigation sections (such as Transactions, Spending, Budgets, Goals, Reports, and Chat) stay unavailable. Home, Accounts, Import, Settings, Help, and Lock remain available. See Onboarding.
You can:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Connect with SimpleFIN | Opens Settings → Bank integration so you can link SimpleFIN. SimpleFIN is a separate third-party service with its own fee — not included in your Big Picture Money license. Once connected, it is often the easiest way to keep accounts up to date |
| Create account | Opens Accounts so you can add a checking, savings, credit card, or other account manually |
| Import transactions | Opens Import so you can bring in a CSV, QFX, or OFX file (you can create or choose an account during import) |
Choose whichever path fits you. Connect with SimpleFIN is shown more prominently for new users because it is usually the easiest to maintain after setup. You can still create an account or import a file first.
Steps
- Unlock your data file (or finish creating it) and complete license activation if prompted.
- Confirm Home shows Getting started.
- Choose a first step:
- Click Connect with SimpleFIN to open Settings → Bank integration, or
- Click Create account and add your first account (see Create an account), or
- Click Import transactions to bring in a file (see Import transactions from CSV).
- After at least one account exists, explore the rest of the navigation.
Expected result
- With no accounts, Home shows Getting started and does not show the customize-dashboard control or the usual summary widgets.
- Getting started highlights Connect with SimpleFIN (with a note that SimpleFIN is a separate third-party fee) and still offers Create account and Import transactions.
- Connect with SimpleFIN opens Settings → Bank integration.
- Sections such as Transactions, Spending, Budgets, Goals, Reports, and Chat are unavailable until you have at least one account; Accounts, Import, and Settings remain available.
- After you create at least one account, Home switches to the normal dashboard widgets (net worth, spending, and so on), and the previously locked navigation sections become available.
- Getting started does not appear again while any non-archived account exists.