Help

How do I…

Short answers, in the app's own words.

• Connect a bank or card
  Go to Banking and choose Connect a bank. Columnwell gets read-only access to activity and balances; it can never move money and never sees your bank password.
• Sort transactions in Review
  New bank activity waits in Review. Columnwell suggests a category for most of it; confirm with one tap, or pick a different one, and it learns from what you choose.
• Bring your QuickBooks history
  Export your reports from QuickBooks Online, upload them on QuickBooks import, match your accounts, and Columnwell checks the totals tie out before anything is posted.
• Send an invoice and get paid
  On Invoices, create the invoice, then choose Send and get paid. Your customer gets an email with a PDF and, if Stripe is connected, a link to pay by card or bank.
• Track bills to pay
  Forward bills and receipts to your private bills address, or upload them. Each one lands in Bills to pay for review, and Columnwell learns which company and category it belongs to.
• Run reports and send your accountant a package
  Reports has profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow and more, on accrual or cash basis. For your accountant, build an export package: a frozen, hashed set of the books and evidence for a tax year.
• Close a year and record adjusting entries
  On Adjustments & close, close a finished year so nothing changes it by accident, and record the adjusting entries your accountant asks for.
• Get ready for taxes
  Taxes shows a Schedule C summary, how much to set aside, the estimated payments you have made, and a giving summary for your records. It is for you and your preparer; Columnwell does not file returns.
• Set up a household budget and invite your partner
  Connect your bank and Columnwell sorts your spending into a budget on its own. Invite your spouse or partner from Settings so they get their own sign-in to the household books.
• Find and cancel subscriptions
  Subscriptions finds recurring charges in your bank and card history on its own and flags price increases, duplicates and charges after you cancelled. Columnwell never cancels anything for you.
• Use Columnwell from Claude or another AI
  Columnwell's own assistant is built in and already on. To use your books from Claude, Copilot or another AI that supports MCP, add Columnwell as a connector and sign in, or create a connection on Connect an AI.
• Turn on two-factor sign-in
  On Security, scan the code with an authenticator app, type the 6-digit code it shows, and save your recovery codes.
• Your plan, trial and access codes
  Settings, Plan & billing shows your plan, what you have used, and when your trial ends. Choose a plan there to subscribe. If a trial ends, your books stay readable and exportable and nothing is deleted.