A scheduled transaction is a template that gets entered automatically when it comes due — rent, salary, a subscription, an insurance premium.
Adding one
Open Scheduled transactions and fill in the form:
- Account — where it lands.
- Payee — who you pay, or who pays you.
- Money out / Money in and the amount.
- Frequency — Once, Weekly, Every 2 weeks, Monthly, or Yearly.
- Next date — when it next happens.
- Category — optional, but setting one means the transaction arrives already categorized and never reaches your review queue.
When they get entered
Due transactions are entered when you open the app. There's no background job you need to worry about — opening the Scheduled screen catches up anything outstanding.
Nothing is missed by being away. If you don't open Earmarkr for six weeks, every occurrence that came due in that time is entered, each on its correct date, not bunched onto today. A monthly bill missed for three months creates three transactions with three different dates, so your budget months stay accurate.
To force it immediately, use Run due now. It reports how many were entered.
Running twice is safe. Each occurrence is entered once and only once, by construction — there is no way to double-post by clicking again or opening the app repeatedly.
Upcoming
The Upcoming (next 45 days) panel previews what's coming, with dates, payees, accounts, categories, and amounts.
This is the most useful part of the screen. Read it before you assign money for the month — it's the list of things you already know are coming.
Pausing and deleting
Pause stops a schedule from entering anything, keeping the template. Right for a gym membership you've frozen or a bill on hold. Resume when you need it.
Delete removes the template. Transactions it already created stay — they're real records of money that really moved.
Month-end dates: one behaviour to know about
Monthly and yearly schedules clamp to the last day of a shorter month. A schedule on the 31st lands on the 28th in February.
The day does not spring back. The next date is worked out from the occurrence that just happened, so a schedule on the 31st of January goes:
Jan 31 → Feb 28 → Mar 28 → Apr 28 …
It settles on the 28th rather than returning to the 31st. If you want a bill that genuinely falls on the last day of every month, check the date after February and reset it, or schedule it on the 28th from the start and avoid the drift entirely.
This is worth knowing before it surprises you on a mortgage payment.
What it doesn't do
Amounts are fixed. A variable bill — a utility, a credit card statement — is entered at the amount you set. Adjust the transaction when the real figure arrives, or schedule a typical amount and correct it.
Transfers aren't scheduled here. A recurring card or loan payment is a transfer between two of your accounts; record those from the Transactions screen. See transfers and payments.
A scheduled transaction is not a budget. It records money moving; it doesn't assign money to cover it. For that, set a goal on the category — the two work well together: the goal reminds you to fund it, the schedule enters it.
YNAB scheduled transactions aren't imported. If you've migrated, recreate them here — a one-off job worth doing early.
Common questions
A transaction appeared that I didn't enter. Check here first. Anything created by a schedule carries its date and payee from the template.
My schedule stopped. A Once schedule fires a single time and then finishes. Otherwise, check
whether it's paused.
It entered the wrong amount. Edit the transaction as you would any other, then update the template so the next one is right.