Managing accounts

Add an account three ways, understand what each type asks you for, and close or delete one when you are done with it.

Every account starts the same way: Add Account on the Accounts page. From there you pick how the account gets its data.

Three ways in

Link with Plaid - connect a bank or card and let balances and transactions arrive on their own. See Bank-linked accounts.
Add manually - you name the account, pick its type, and set one starting number. You enter activity yourself.
Import from a file - bring history in from a YNAB export, a bank CSV, or an OFX/QFX/QIF download. See Importing data.

You can mix all three inside one pocket. A manual account can be pointed at a bank connection later, and a linked account can be disconnected and kept as a manual one.

The manual screen

Adding by hand is a single screen. Pick a type from the groups shown, give the account a name, and enter its one starting number. What that number is called depends on the type:

Group	Types	Starting number
Cash	Checking, Savings, Cash	Current Balance - what is in the account today.
Debt	Credit Card, Line of Credit, Loan, Mortgage	Amount Owed - enter it as a positive number; Pocketwatch stores it as money you owe.
Investment	Brokerage, Retirement, HSA, Crypto Wallet	Uninvested Cash Balance - cash sitting in the account, not yet invested. Holdings are added separately.
Collectibles	Steam, Trading Cards	None. The account starts empty and its value comes from the items in it.

Debt types ask for a few extra details while you are there - APR, minimum payment, and next due date, plus a credit limit on revolving debt or the original principal, start date, and term on a loan. Enter an amount owed, an APR, and a minimum payment and the screen shows you a payoff estimate before you commit.

Pick the type carefully - you can't change it later. Type drives budget behavior, net worth, and which screens the account lives on, so there is no safe way to convert one into another after the fact. If you picked wrong, delete the account and add it again.

Your starting balance is your starting line

The number you enter already reflects everything that happened before today, so you don't need to backfill old transactions. Doing that would double-count money the balance already includes. Set the balance, then log activity from today forward - or import your history into a freshly made account instead.

What's included on your plan

Cash and debt accounts - every plan, including Free. There is no cap on how many you create.
Investment and collectible accounts - Basic, Standard, and Pro.
Bank connections - Standard includes 2, Pro is unlimited. Free and Basic are manual and file import only.

Where a new account lands

Cash and debt accounts open in the Accounts ledger. Investment accounts open in their own workspace under Investments, where holdings and trades live. Steam and trading-card accounts open in their item panel. Pocketwatch takes you to the right one after it is created.

Closing versus deleting

Closing an account keeps everything - its balance, its full history, and every transaction it shares with other accounts - and files it under Closed in your account list. That is the right move for an account you actually closed at the bank.

Deleting removes the account and its transactions for good, and reverses the other side of any transfers so your remaining accounts are left as if those transfers never happened. A bank-linked account cannot be deleted while it is still connected - a sync would just recreate it. Disconnect the bank first.

Last updated July 25, 2026