User guide

Everything you need to set up dueset and keep track of your bills each month. The Windows app and the web app work the same way, except where noted.

Getting started

Setting up takes about ten minutes. Have a recent statement or your bank's bill-pay list handy so you know each bill's amount and due date.

Add your payment accounts (optional). Open Settings and add the checking accounts and cards your bills come out of. This lets you see later which account paid what.
Add your bills. On the Bills screen, select Add bill and enter each one. See Adding a bill.
Mark bills paid as you pay them. Each month, select Pay next to a bill when you pay it. The totals update as you go.
Save a copy of your data. Open the File menu and select Save to file to keep your bills in a file you choose. See Saving and backing up.

Adding a bill

Select Add bill on the Bills screen and fill in:

Name and amount: What the bill is and how much it usually costs. If the amount varies, enter a typical amount; you can enter the real amount when you pay.
Category: Housing, Utilities, Subscriptions and so on. You can change the list in Settings.
Pay from account: The account or card the bill normally comes out of.
Biller website: Optional. Adds a Pay online link to the bill so you can jump straight to the payment page. Use the arrow button to test the link.
Starts: The bill appears from this month forward. Set it to an earlier date if you want to record past payments.
Auto Pay: Adds an Auto Pay label so you know the bill pays itself. dueset doesn't mark it paid for you; select Pay once you've confirmed it went through.

The Add Bill form with fields for name, amount, category, account, biller website, start date, Auto Pay, frequency and due day.

Choosing how often it's due

Frequency	Use it for
Monthly	Most bills. Add more than one due day if it's due twice a month, like the 1st and 15th.
Weekly	Bills due on the same day every week.
Every 2 weeks	Bills due every other week on the same weekday.
Quarterly	Bills due every three months. Choose the first month it's due and the day.
Annually	Yearly bills such as memberships or renewals.
Every X months	Anything on another cycle, such as every 6 months. Choose the interval, the due day, and the first month.
One-time	A single bill on a specific date.
Custom dates	Bills on irregular dates. Add each date, and tick Recurring to repeat those dates every year.

The Bills screen

The bar across the top takes you between Bills, History and Settings. On the Bills screen it also has the List and Timeline switch, which changes how your bills are laid out. Both views show the same bills and work the same way, so use whichever you prefer. dueset remembers your choice, and you can also set it in Settings.

The top bar with Bills, History and Settings, the List and Timeline switch, a Saved to dueset-bills.json status, and the File menu open with Save now, Open file, Download backup and Import backup.

On the right, the File menu holds saving, opening and backups (see Saving and backing up). When you're working from a data file, its name appears next to the menu with a green dot once your changes are saved.

Below the bar, the Bills screen shows one month at a time. Use the arrows to move between months, select the month name to jump to any month and year, or select Today to come back to the current month. Add bill is on the right.

Each bill has a status:

Overdue (red): the due date has passed and it isn't paid or skipped. It shows how late it is, such as "3 days overdue".
Due soon (amber): due within the next few days, with a countdown such as "Due in 2 days" or "Due today". You choose how many days ahead counts as soon in Settings.
Upcoming (plain): due later this month.
Paid (green): shows the date you paid it, the account, and any note.

Hover over a countdown to see the exact due date. If any bills from earlier months were never paid or skipped, a red banner at the top lists them with their total. Select Go to next to a bill to jump to its month and pay or skip it.

Each bill has a Pay button and a … button. The … menu lets you edit the bill, skip it this month, open the biller's website (if you added one), or delete it.

The more-actions menu open on a Water & Sewer bill, with Edit bill, Skip this month, Open biller website and Delete bill.

Skipped bills are hidden by default. Select Show skipped to see them; the number on the button tells you how many there are.

On a phone, the Bills, History and Settings buttons move to a bar along the bottom of the screen, and the List and Timeline switch shows icons only.

List view

List view puts what needs doing first. It's the view dueset starts in.

The summary at the top shows how much is left to pay this month, with a bar that fills as you pay and the amount paid so far. The three tiles beside it count the bills that are overdue, due in the next few days, and set to Auto Pay, with their totals.

Below the summary, bills are grouped, each group with its own total:

Needs attention: overdue and due-soon bills. In light mode they're tinted red or amber; in dark mode they get a colored stripe on the left edge instead.
Coming up: bills due later in the month.
Paid: bills you've paid this month, with the date, account and any note.
Skipped: appears when you select Show skipped.

Timeline view

Timeline view shows the whole month in date order, so you can see what's already gone out and what's still ahead.

Calendar: a dot under a day shows a bill on that day, colored by its status. Today is highlighted. Hover over a day to see which bills are on it.
Still to pay, by account: how much is left to come out of each account or card this month.
Totals: total due, paid, remaining, and the number of overdue bills.
Bill list: every bill in date order, with the date and weekday on the left. Paid bills are listed on the day you paid them. When you're viewing the current month, a Today line shows where you are. Bills without a fixed day, such as weekly bills, are listed at the end.

To make more room for the list, select Hide above the calendar. It folds into a slim strip with dots showing whether anything is overdue, due soon or upcoming. Select the button at the top of the strip to bring it back. On a phone, the calendar starts hidden.

Timeline view with the Overview panel hidden, leaving a narrow strip with a show button, OCT, and red, amber and gray dots beside the bill list.

Recording a payment

Select Pay on a bill. Check the details, then select Mark Paid:

Date paid: Today's date is filled in. Change it if you paid on another day.
Amount paid: Filled in from the bill. Change it if the actual amount was different, which is common for utilities.
Paid from account: The account or card you used this time.
Notes / confirmation #: Optional. A confirmation number, check number, or anything you want to remember.

To change a payment, select Paid on the bill in List view, or Edit in Timeline view, to reopen it. To undo it, select Remove payment record at the bottom.

If you pay a bill in a different month from when it was due, it's listed in the month you paid it, with a small label showing the month it was due.

The Record Payment form for a Phone bill, with date paid, amount paid, account and a confirmation number.

Skipping a bill

If a bill isn't due this month, for example a paused subscription or a waived fee, select … on the bill, then Skip this month. It's left out of that month's totals and won't show as overdue. Other months aren't affected. To undo it, select Show skipped, then … on the bill and Un-skip this month.

Editing and deleting

Select … on a bill, then Edit bill, to change any of its details. Changes apply to the bill going forward; payments you've already recorded keep the amounts you entered.

To delete a bill, select …, then Delete bill. For a recurring bill, you can choose:

Stop future only: the bill no longer appears after the month you're viewing, and its payment history is kept. Use this when you cancel a service.
Delete entirely: removes the bill and all of its payment history. This can't be undone.

Payment history

Select History to see every payment you've recorded, grouped by month with a total for each.

The History screen with filters for account, bill, year, month and date range, a total paid, and a list of payments.

Filter by account, bill, year, month (after choosing a year), or a date range. The total updates to match. Select Clear filters to start over.
Add up specific payments: select Select, then tick the payments you want. The count and total appear at the bottom of the screen. Select Done when you're finished.

Settings

Select Settings in the top bar.

Your version: Shows whether you're on the free version or dueset Full, and where you enter or remove your license key. See Free version and upgrading.
Interface size: Makes everything larger or smaller, from 70% to 200%.
Appearance: Light, Dark, or Auto to match your computer's setting.
Bills view: Whether the Bills screen opens in List or Timeline view. This is the same setting as the switch at the top of the Bills screen.
Due soon highlight: How many days ahead (1 to 14) a bill is highlighted as due soon.
Backup and restore: Make a backup file or restore from one. The same options are in the File menu.
Payment accounts, account types and categories: Add, rename, reorder or remove them. Each account shows how many bills use it.
Help: Opens this user guide, or starts an email to support.

Saving and backing up

Your bills are stored only on your own device, never on a server. That keeps them private, but it also means a backup is up to you.

Where your data lives

Windows app: your data is stored on your computer automatically.
Web app: your data is stored in your browser on that computer. Clearing your browser's site data, or using a private window, removes it.

Saving to a file

Open the File menu and select Save to file to choose a file for your data. After that, every change you make is written to that file automatically, and the file's name appears at the top of the screen with a green dot. If it says Unsaved changes, select File > Save now to save straight away. Select File > Open file to load a data file, for example on another computer.

Saving to a folder that syncs, such as OneDrive, iCloud Drive or Dropbox, gives you an automatic offsite copy and lets you use the same file on more than one computer. The Windows app reopens your last file when it starts.

In the web app, saving to and opening a file work in Chrome and Edge. In other browsers, such as Firefox and Safari, Save to file downloads a backup file instead, and you use Import backup to load it.

Backing up and importing

File > Download backup saves a copy of all your data as a single file. File > Import backup restores from one. Both are also in Settings under Backup & Restore. Importing replaces everything currently in dueset with the backup, so make a fresh backup first if you're unsure.

A good habit: make a backup at the start of each month, or keep your data in a synced file.

Free version and upgrading

The free version includes every feature for up to 5 bills. A bar above your bill list shows how many you've used. Bills you've stopped with Stop future only don't count.

If you try to add a sixth bill, dueset asks you to upgrade. Nothing is hidden or removed: you can still view, edit, pay and skip all of your bills.

Upgrading to dueset Full

Buy dueset Full. Select Upgrade in the app, or go to Settings and select Upgrade under Your Version. Checkout opens in your browser.
Find your license key. It's in the email you receive after your purchase.
Activate it. In dueset, open Settings, paste the key under Already bought dueset Full?, and select Activate. You need an internet connection for this step only.

One purchase covers the Windows app and the web app. Each key can be active on up to 3 devices at a time, for example two computers and the web app. Each copy of the Windows app and each browser you use the web app in counts as one device.

Moving to a new computer

Before you stop using a computer, open Settings and select Remove license from this computer, then activate the key on the new one. Your license isn't included in backups or data files, so you'll always activate it on each device.

Getting help

Questions, problems, or a lost license key? Email hello@dueset.app. It helps to mention whether you're using the Windows app or the web app, and which browser.