How to Make a New Budget When One Is Already Active

You can create and work on a new Draft budget at any time, even when an Active budget already exists for the same fiscal year. Drafts sit alongside the Active budget without affecting it.

When you are ready to switch over to the new budget, you archive the current Active one first, then activate the new Draft.

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Step 1: Create a new Draft

1. In the left sidebar, go to Accounting, then Budgets.
2. Click New budget (top right of the page or the Budget list tab).
3. Build out your new budget in the editor (name, fiscal year, accounts, amounts).
4. Click Save as draft to keep it as a work in progress. You will activate it after archiving the current Active budget (see below).

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What the "a budget is already active for this year" message means

If you try to activate a Draft for a fiscal year that already has an Active budget, the Activate button on that Draft is disabled. The tooltip explains why: "One Active budget per fiscal year. Archive the current Active budget first."

This is expected behavior -- it protects you from accidentally having two live budgets for the same year.

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Step 2: Archive the current Active budget

1. Go to the Budget list tab.
2. Find the currently Active budget for that fiscal year.
3. Click the kebab menu (three dots, on the right of the Active row).
4. Select Archive.
5. Confirm the archive in the dialog.

The budget moves to Archived status. Your historical performance data is preserved -- you can still view it at any time.

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Step 3: Activate the new Draft

1. Find your Draft in the Budget list for that fiscal year.
2. Click Activate (now enabled, since the year is open).
3. Review the confirmation and click Activate budget.

The Draft becomes the new Active budget and starts driving the Budget vs Actual view.