Spendlab.org: Resources

Learn how to use Spendlab's visual budget editor.

Quickly set up a Spendlab budget based on data from an existing grant spreadsheet.

Import all of the relevant data from an existing grant spreadsheet into Spendlab.

Save your budget as a file — Click the "Save" button to download your budget directly to your computer as a ".htm" file. You can then store the file or share it with colleagues like you would with any other file type.
Open a saved file — Open Spendlab, then use the "Open" toolbar button or drag and drop the budget file directly onto the Spendlab window.
Data security — Your budget data never travels over the internet, even though the software operates in a web browser. We run all calculations on your own computer and save your budget files locally. The spendlab.org servers never see or store your data.

Double-click on an empty space to create a one-time expense (a block with minimum duration).
Double-click on a block to split it into two separate blocks that can be edited individually. ("Clickety-split!")
Type k for thousand or m for million when editing numbers. For example, 5k becomes $5,000 and 1.2m becomes $1,200,000.
Use math expressions when editing numbers. For example, you could compute an average by entering: (34,822 + 46,151)/2.
Attach a note anywhere on a timeline by right-clicking and choosing Attach a note. You can drag the icon to position it anywhere. Click to view/edit the full text; click again to hide.
Adjust the visible time range by dragging the handle that appears at the lower left when your pointer moves over any row. Click the triangle buttons to advance by one period at a time.
Hot keys:
- 0-9: Start entering a new value for the currently selected block.
- Enter: Confirm or start editing the value of the currently selected block.
- Tab: Move between editable text fields.
- Escape: Cancel editing and revert to previous value.

Resources