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[GH-ISSUE #4598] [Feature] Collaborative Budgeting with Shared Expenses #99372
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Originally created by @jonidimo on GitHub (Mar 11, 2025).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/actualbudget/actual/issues/4598
Verified feature request does not already exist?
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Pitch: what problem are you trying to solve?
Many households or groups (like couples or families) want a simple and integrated way to manage their finances collaboratively. However, Actual Budget’s current design—focusing on local-first and single-user file encryption—forces users to either manage multiple budget files or use workarounds (such as running separate instances) to share financial data. This approach is not ideal for non-tech-savvy users and creates friction when trying to track and report on shared expenses. Additionally, it hinders transparency since reporting options do not allow users to see their individual contributions clearly in shared expenses.
Describe your ideal solution to this problem
I envision a built-in multi-user, collaborative budgeting mode that includes the following features:
Shared Budget File: Allow a single, shared budget file to be accessed and edited by multiple users.
User-Specific Contributions: Enable tracking of each user’s personal contributions and shared expenses separately, so that when a shared expense is recorded, the system automatically divides the expense according to predefined percentages (for example, using a tag like #report 50 to display 50% of the value in personal reports).
User Permissions: Implement a user permissions system that controls who can view, edit, or manage specific parts of the budget. This way, families can share a single budget without exposing sensitive data or allowing unintended modifications.
Seamless Integration: Ideally, the feature should integrate with the existing local-first architecture. If that requires significant changes to the encryption or data sync layers, an alternative approach might be to build an external API or middleware layer that handles collaboration, while keeping the core budgeting logic intact.
Alternate ideas might include:
Developing a plugin system that allows for collaborative features without overhauling the main codebase.
Providing a hybrid mode where users can temporarily “join” a shared session for collaborative budgeting, with changes later merged into the local files.
Teaching and learning
Documentation: Write clear, step-by-step guides on how to enable and use the collaborative budgeting mode, including screenshots or short video tutorials.
Discoverability: Integrate the feature within the settings menu with a clear label (e.g., “Enable Collaborative Budgeting”) and include explanations in the onboarding documentation.
User Warnings: Since this feature involves additional complexity in synchronization and conflict resolution, include warnings or tooltips for users who might not be technically inclined.
FAQ Update: Expand the FAQ section to address common questions related to collaborative budgeting, its benefits, and any potential pitfalls.
Community Feedback: Actively encourage early adopters to provide feedback on usability and document any issues that might confuse users.
@github-actions[bot] commented on GitHub (Mar 11, 2025):
✨ Thanks for sharing your idea! ✨
This repository uses lodash style issue management for enhancements. That means enhancement issues are automatically closed. This doesn’t mean we don’t accept feature requests, though! We will consider implementing ones that receive many upvotes, and we welcome contributions for any feature requests marked as needing votes (just post a comment first so we can help you make 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+
Don’t forget to upvote the top comment with 👍!