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In this course we will create a simple tool to record and manage your personal or professional expenses. When you’re done, you’ll be able to record expenses at any time, either on your computer or on your cell phone. Every time you pull out your wallet, you should then document this expense. The reward for this effort is that you can see at a glance what you have spent how much money on.

So let’s start this online course by creating the necessary structure to be able to save these outputs. To do this, you will create an initial base and then some columns. You will see that the following steps are almost self-explanatory.

We start on the SeaTable start page. Create a new base with the name Expense Tracking button. Then click on this base to go to the Base Editor.

By default, each base contains a table with the name Table 1which has a column with three rows .

  • Delete the three rows
  • Then change the name of the table to Expenses

Next, we turn to the columns of the table so that our base can record the desired data.

  • Change the name of the first column from Name on Reason
  • Now add three more columns

Column 1:

Name: Date
Column type: Date
Format: any
To the minute: Yes

Note: Instead of the column type Date the column type Created time can be used. While you have to fill in the date column manually, this would be filled in automatically with the current date. This of course saves time. However, the disadvantage would be that you would no longer be able to change the date value and, for example, could no longer retroactively enter expenses for other days.

Column 2:

Name: Amount
Column type: Number
Format: Euro

Column 3:

Name: Category
Column type: Single select

Your single selection currently has no selection options. Therefore, next create a new selection for the Category the following four options:

  • Clothing
  • Groceries
  • Leisure
  • Travel

Fantastic. If you have followed the instructions exactly, your base should now look like this:

Let’s briefly recap what you have just created with just a few mouse clicks: You now have a base in which you can record all your future expenses.

At the same time, by selecting the column types, you have ensured that only the appropriate information can be entered in the columns.

That was step 1 of this online course. Scroll to the end of this article and jump to Step 2: Creating a form.

Help article with further information

Navigating in the SeaTable user interface Step 2: Creating a form