User Guide & Help

Last Modified: January 2026

Bookkist is designed to be simple.

  • Create Books: Think of a 'Book' as a folder (e.g., 'Personal', 'Business', 'Vacation').
  • Add Transactions: Record your Income, Expenses, and Transfers.
  • Set Budgets: Set monthly limits for categories.
  • Live Tracking: See 'Spent' and 'Balance' updates live as you add transactions.
  • Manage: Organize your Accounts and Categories.
  • Reports: Visualize your financial data.
  • Export: Download reports in PDF or CSV format.

Bookkist is Offline-First.

  • Offline: You are offline. Changes are saved locally on your device.
  • Synced: Data is safe.
  • Mismatch: Data drift detected. Try "Sync Book" first. If that fails, try refreshing the page or restarting the app. Only use "Force Re-download" if all else fails.
  • Syncing: Uploading changes...
  • N
    Pending: Changes waiting to upload.

Note: You don't need to do anything! As soon as you come online, the app automatically uploads your changes.

Advanced Controls: Click the Sync Icon to open the menu:

  • Sync Now: Manually trigger a sync.
  • Force Re-download: Reset local data (fix Mismatch).
  • App Updates: Check for the latest version of Bookkist.

There are two ways to sync your data:

  • Home Page Sync (Sync All):
    When you click sync on the Dashboard/Home, it checks ALL your books for updates. Use this to ensure your entire app is up to date.
  • Book Page Sync (Sync Book):
    When you are inside a specific Book (e.g., viewing transactions), clicking sync only updates THAT specific book. This is faster and saves data. Use this when you are actively working on a single book.

For the best experience, install Bookkist as a native app:

  • Android (Chrome):
    Tap the "Install" button in the app menu if visible.
    Or: Open Chrome Menu (⋮) -> tap "Install App" or "Add to Home Screen".
  • iOS (Safari):
    Tap the Share button (box with arrow) -> scroll down -> tap "Add to Home Screen".
  • PC/Mac (Chrome/Edge):
    Click the install icon (monitor with down arrow) in your browser address bar.

  • Your data is stored locally on your device for maximum speed.
  • We never sell your data to advertisers.
  • Tip: Do NOT enter sensitive passwords or PINs into transaction notes.

Found a bug? Email us at [email protected].