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[GH-ISSUE #7109] [Feature] #template schedule should budget toward the next occurrence, not overshoot
#72716
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Originally created by @mathisgauthey on GitHub (Mar 2, 2026).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/actualbudget/actual/issues/7109
Verified feature request does not already exist?
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Pitch: what problem are you trying to solve?
Hi,
Following this Discord discussion, I noticed that the schedule template behaves unexpectedly when a category already has funds assigned.
A schedule is defined by :
Xnmonths from aDATEtoANOTHER_DATEor forever. I know the recurrence can be defined as daily/weekly/monthly/yearly, but as we budget monthly the calculations bellow will use the month "currency"now(), we could considerYthe next occurrence date based on the schedule recurrence rule.The core issue is that the template does not account for what has already been assigned. Instead of checking whether the target amount
Xwill be reached by dateY, it blindly addsX/nregardless of the current balance.Example: Google Drive subscription
Say I have a Google Drive schedule for 29.99€ that renews yearly, and I add
#template schedule Google Driveto the category.If I've already assigned 29.99€ to that category, running
Overwrite with templatestill proposes adding 29.99/12€ on top. That's wrong: the goal is already met.Describe your ideal solution to this problem
Proposed solution
The template should calculate how much still needs to be saved to reach
X €by dateY, and assign only the remaining amount for the current month. The logic breaks down into three cases, which will reuse that Google Drive example.Case 1 : Nothing assigned yet, next occurrence in 12 months
X €n=12X / 12€Case 2 : Already assigned X or more
Already assigned
XorX+Z>X€, for a next occurrence in the future.The monthly template should do nothing.
Case 3 : Partially funded, mid-way through the saving period
Example: next occurrence in 10 months, target is 30€, and 15€ has already been assigned (as if 2 months of saving have already happened).
This is the general formula:
(X - already_assigned) / months_remaining, clamped to 0 if the goal is already met.Teaching and learning
Why This Makes Sense
I think it makes sense from a following schedule sense.
A schedule is fundamentally just an amount
Xdue on a recurring dateY. The template's job should be to help you reachXbyY, distributing the remaining gap across the remaining months, exactly like a savings goal.The current behavior ignores what's already been set aside, which defeats the purpose of using templates to automate budgeting.
The docs should clarify that #template schedule works like a forward-looking savings calculator: it looks at the next occurrence, the amount due, and what's already assigned, then fills in only what's still needed for the current month.
A note about the "already funded" behavior (Case 2) would prevent confusion for users who manually assign money before running templates.
@github-actions[bot] commented on GitHub (Mar 2, 2026):
✨ Thanks for sharing your idea! ✨
This repository uses a voting-based system for feature requests. While enhancement issues are automatically closed, we still welcome feature requests! The voting system helps us gauge community interest in potential features. We also encourage community contributions for any feature requests marked as needing votes (just post a comment first so we can help guide you toward a successful contribution).
The enhancement backlog can be found here: https://github.com/actualbudget/actual/issues?q=label%3A%22needs+votes%22+sort%3Areactions-%2B1-desc+
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