LocalMoney

All features

LocalMoney is a free personal finance app for Windows and Linux, and a replacement for MS Money 97, which no longer runs on Windows 11. Here's everything it does, by area, the big things first. Smaller than its big brother's list, but every line of it counts.

Money 97 import

Your old .mny file, opened again

  • Imports MS Money 97 files

    Pick your .mny file and save the result as a new accounts file. The original stays untouched.

  • The whole history comes along

    Accounts, transactions, categories, payees, transfers, splits and recurring payments, with the right balances.

  • Currencies included

    Each account keeps its currency from Money 97.

  • Or start fresh

    No Money 97 file? Create a new accounts file and begin with your first account.

Accounts and register

Bookkeeping, row by row

  • A register with a running balance

    Date, recipient, category, purpose, payment and deposit, and the new balance after every row.

  • Made for the keyboard

    Edit right in the row and move from row to row with the keys, like in the old days.

  • A calculator in every amount field

    Type 12.80+7.50, press Enter, and the field says 20.30. Or open the calculator next to the field and click your way through all four operations, the way Money did it.

  • A calendar in every date field

    Pick the date from a month calendar, or jump straight to today. Typing it still works, of course.

  • Accounts in any currency

    With account number, bank, opening balance and credit limit. Mark favorites, and closed accounts move out of the way.

  • Column filters

    Filter the register by date range, payment or deposit amount, recipient, category or purpose. Where did all the money for coffee go?

  • Export to Excel or CSV

    Exports the account you're looking at, with its filter and sort order, and opens the file right away.

  • Required fields, your choice

    Decide whether every booking needs a recipient and a category, or whether you like it looser.

  • A cash register sound

    Ka-ching when a booking is saved. Can be switched off, for the open-plan office.

Bank import

Statements in, categories filled

  • camt.053 bank statements

    Download a statement from your e-banking, as a file or a zip of several, and import it. LocalMoney never needs your bank login.

  • Check before you book

    A preview shows every transaction with its recipient and category. Untick what you don't want, then save to the register.

  • Import rules

    Rules fill in the recipient and the category from the purpose text or the statement name. Set them up once and they work every month.

  • Fix a rule on the spot

    A rule missed something? Edit the rules right from the import preview and see the result straight away.

  • Rules in order

    Rules run from top to bottom. Move them up or down into the order they should apply.

  • Rules in a spreadsheet

    Export all rules to Excel or CSV, edit them in bulk there, and import them back.

  • No double bookings

    Import the same statement twice and nothing is booked twice. Transactions that are already there get updated.

Splits and transfers

One payment, many categories

  • Split transactions

    Divide one payment across several categories. The remainder is shown as you go, so the lines always add up.

  • Combine into a split

    Select several existing transactions and turn them into one split transaction, after the fact.

  • Transfers between accounts

    Move money from checking to savings, and both accounts show their side of it.

  • Move to another account

    Booked in the wrong account? Move one or several transactions where they belong.

Categories and recipients

Know where it goes

  • Categories with subcategories

    Expenditures and revenues, each with as many subcategories as you need, like Car › Fuel.

  • Reorganize without losing anything

    Move a subcategory to another category, or delete one and choose where its transactions and rules go.

  • A recipient list

    Everyone you pay or who pays you, with suggestions while you type. A new name gets added after a quick question.

  • Merge recipients

    "Migros", "MIGROS AG" and "Migros Basel"? Delete the extras and move their transactions to the one you keep.

Planned payments

Rent, insurance and the gym you never go to

  • Recurring payments

    From daily to every two years, with everything in between: weekly, monthly, quarterly, twice a year and more.

  • A payment calendar

    See which payments fall on which day, month by month.

  • Enter what's due

    A list shows everything due up to a date. Tick what's paid and book it with one click.

Safe and sound

Your numbers stay yours

  • One accounts file

    A zip with readable JSON inside, wherever you want it. What's inside

  • Optional password

    Encrypt the accounts file with a password from your password manager. Change or remove it any time.

  • Backups

    On exit, LocalMoney offers a backup to a place of your choice, or makes one every time without asking. Keeps older versions if you like.

  • Saves by itself

    After every change or on exit, as you prefer. Or save by hand, the old-fashioned way.

  • Open only once

    An accounts file can't be opened in two windows at the same time, so no change ever overwrites another.

  • No bank connection, no cloud

    LocalMoney only goes online to check for updates and, about once a month, to ask for news. Neither includes a single amount. Details

Looks and languages

Three themes, four languages

  • Dark, Light and OS

    Dark and Light switch along with your system's dark mode, OS uses the plain look of your system.

  • Your layout

    Put the main navigation on the left or at the top.

  • English, German, French and Italian

    Pick the language in the settings. Everything else follows, from the menus to the messages.

  • Dates and amounts your way

    By default your language meets your system's region, so it's 1’234.50 in Switzerland and 1.234,50 in Germany. Or pick another regional format in the settings.

  • Your own themes and languages

    Drop a theme folder or a language file next to the app, and LocalMoney offers it at the next start. Here's how

Windows and Linux

At home on your computer

  • The same app on Windows and Linux

    Same features, same look, same accounts file. Switch systems and take your accounts along.

  • Double-click to open

    Accounts files open from your file manager. Each file gets its own window, and opening it again brings that window to the front.

  • Recent files

    The welcome screen lists the accounts files you opened last.

  • Menus like on Windows

    Click a menu to open it and hover to the next one, or work through it with the arrow keys and first letters. The menu bar you grew up with.

  • Updates

    LocalMoney checks for new versions, unless you switch that off. Windows installs them on a restart, Linux with the system updates.

  • News, if you want it

    About once a month LocalMoney asks this website for news and shows it at the start. Switch news off in the settings, and only a notice about a problem you should know of still gets through.

  • Help close at hand

    The Help menu leads to support and feature requests, opens the folder with the log files for a bug report, and tells you the version in About.