Budget Sharing
MoneyWell offers the capability to share a Budget with anyone who has a valid iCloud account. This article will provide step-by-step instructions on both initiating the sharing of a Budget and how to stop sharing a Budget.
Please note that your Budget contains sensitive financial information such as routing and account numbers for your accounts. However, it does not include any information necessary for Direct Connect, such as login credentials (usernames or passwords). These details are securely stored within your Apple Keychain for added protection.
Because of the specific nature of MoneyWell's sync system, if the Budget has already been set up to sync then it might be necessary to disable and then re-enable sync on the Budget you intend to share. To determine if you need to complete this step, open your Budget and navigate to File -> Manage Budget Sharing. If you encounter the following prompt, it indicates that you need to proceed with the necessary actions:
To disable and re-enable sync:
- Before proceeding, ensure that all copies of the Budget across all devices synced with this Budget are up-to-date
- Follow the steps outlined in our article, Disable Sync for a Budget
- Delete the Budget from all other devices that the Budget was synced with, you can find out more about deleting a Budget from our article, Deleting a Budget
- At this point, you should have only one copy of the Budget, set as "Local Only," on the Mac where you are currently following these instructions
- Now re-enable sync on the Budget by going to File -> Enable Budget Sync
- Follow the prompts and sync is now re-enabled for the Budget
Now that the Budget is now correctly set up for sync, we can enable sharing.
Sharing via Invite
The following instructions outline how to share your Budget with another MoneyWell user, who must have a valid iCloud account.
MoneyWell is designed to facilitate sharing your subscription through Apple's Family Sharing feature. As a result, any family members you wish to share your Budget with will have access to the complete MoneyWell experience. However, if the user you intend to share with is not part of your Apple Family Sharing program, they will need their own MoneyWell subscription to fully utilize the app. Otherwise, they will only have access to MoneyWell's Free Mode, which limits transactions to a maximum of 200.
To share a Budget via invite:
- Start by launching MoneyWell and opening the Budget you want to share. Please note that the Budget must already be enabled for sync (see section above)
- Go to File -> Manage Budget Sharing
- Next, the Budget Sharing window will appear, providing you with the ability to manage who you share the Budget with
In the Budget Sharing window, you will see a list of Participants, with the Budget Owner displayed at the top (see 1). Any additional users who have access to this Budget will be listed below. By default, the sharing option is set to "invite only," meaning only the owner has the authority to invite others to share this Budget.
- Clicking the plus icon (see 2) to invite someone to share this Budget with, will make the popover (see 3) appear
- This is where you can invite people via all the listed options
- Once an individual has received and accepted the invite, you can revisit the Budget Sharing window to view a list of all people who have access to this Budget
In the Budget Sharing window, you can now see the Budget owner (see 1), any participants who have accepted the invite and can access the Budget (see 2) and anyone who you have invited but has yet to accept their invite (see 3).
Video Tutorials
Stop Sharing a Budget
The following instructions provide a step-by-step guide on how to stop sharing a Budget, whether it's with individual participants or with all participants at once.
Please be aware that when you remove a participant's access to a Budget, the Budget will be permanently removed from that participant's devices. This action is irreversible.
To remove a single participants access to a Budget:
- Start by launching MoneyWell and opening the Budget you wish to work with
- Go to File -> Manage Budget Sharing
- Next, the Budget Sharing window will appear, providing you with the ability to manage who you share the Budget with
In the Budget Sharing window, you will see a list of Participants, with the Budget Owner displayed at the top (see 1). Any additional users who have access to this Budget will be listed below (see 2).
- To stop sharing the Budget with a particular Participant, click on the small icon located to the right of their name (see 3). You will now be shown the contact information for this Participant as well as some options to interact with. The one that we are interested in is 'Remove Access' (see 4)
- Selecting this option will open an onscreen prompt, follow the instructions in the prompt to remove access to this Budget for this Participant
- Done! This Participant is no longer able to access this Budget