Adding Your Data

When you first start using Trac, your main job is getting your information into the app: the things you own (holdings), the money movements on them (activities), the people and companies you work with (contacts), and the people or entities that hold your assets (owners). Once that data is in, everything else — your reports, your net-worth view, and the Explorer — is built from it.

This guide walks through each of those flows step by step.

How adding anything works#

Every “add” flow in Trac works the same way, so once you’ve done one the rest feel familiar. To add something, tap the + or Add button on the screen for that kind of data (for example, the Add button on the Contacts screen). A form slides up with:

A title that tells you what you’re adding, such as “Add Owner” or “Add Contact”.
A list of fields to fill in. You can scroll if there are more than fit on screen.
A Save button to finish, and a Close or Cancel button to back out without saving.

A few things that are true everywhere:

Some fields are required. If you try to save with a required field empty, Trac keeps the form open and shows a short message telling you what’s missing (for example, “Name is required”) so you can fill it in.
Saving happens in the background. The form closes right away and Trac saves your new record behind the scenes, so you can keep working. If something goes wrong, a message lets you know.
You can edit later. Opening an existing record shows the same form with your values already filled in. A few forms — targets, price updates, metrics, issues, and contacts — open read-only first; tap Edit (the pencil) in the form’s header to start changing values.
Deleting isn’t a button at the bottom of the form. Most edit forms carry a Delete (trash) action in the form’s header. Holdings, owners, and activities are deleted from the record’s own page instead — Delete Holding or Delete Owner in its ⋯ menu, and Delete on an activity’s event card. Contacts are the one flow on this page that still keeps a Delete button at the bottom of the edit form. Wherever you start it, Trac asks you to confirm first.

You can also create many things without leaving the form you’re already in. When a field lets you pick from a list, it often includes a Create New option that opens the matching add form, lets you fill it in, and drops you back where you were. For example, you can create a new contact while you’re linking one to a holding, without losing your place.

Adding a holding#

A holding is anything you track the value of — an asset, a cash account, a liability, or a brokerage account. To add one, open the Add form for holdings and choose what kind it is using the Type field.

Fill in the basics first:

Name — what you want to call the holding. (Required.)
Type — what kind of holding it is: Asset, Cash Account, Liability, Brokerage Account, or a custom type your portfolio uses. (Required.)

Then add any of the following details that apply:

Parent — the owner or brokerage account this holding belongs to.
Description — anything you want to note about it.
Ownership % — your share of the holding, from 0% to 100%. You can also have the displayed value reflect just your share.
Commitment — for deals or funds, the amount you’ve committed (shown as “Potential Investment” when you’re working on a deal).
Liquid — whether this holding counts as liquid. Cash accounts usually have this turned on for you.
Tags and Links — labels and reference web links to help you organize and find the holding.
Attributes — any extra details you want to record as a label and value. Some types of holdings ask for specific attributes before you can save.

If you’re tracking accounting detail, you may also see:

Book — which set of accounting records this holding belongs to. Holdings placed under another holding take their book from the one above them and show it as a read-only label.

A couple of types do a little extra for you:

Brokerage account — Trac can also create a matching cash (sweep) account for it automatically.
Deal — adding a holding as a deal starts it in your pipeline and hides the ownership and accounting details until the deal is funded.

When you tap Save, Trac creates the holding (and any related accounts) and closes the form.

Adding an activity#

An activity records money activity on a holding — a buy, a sell, a dividend, a contribution, and so on. You can start one from a holding’s page (choose Add Activity from the ⋯ menu, and it’s automatically linked to that holding) or from a document you’ve uploaded.

At the top of the activity editor you set the Date, the Activity (what kind of event it is), a Status, and a Description. Below that you choose how much detail to enter: Guided answers plain questions and lets Trac build the accounting, while Ledger and Accounting let you enter the money lines yourself. A posted event has to balance before Save is enabled.

Activities walks through the whole flow, including lots, realized gains, and custom activity types.

Adding a contact#

A contact is a person or organization you want to keep track of and connect to your holdings and owners. To add one, open the Add form for contacts.

Start with:

Contact Type — choose Individual or Organization. (Required.) Your choice changes which fields you see next.
Name — required. For a person, you fill in a First Name (with separate Last Name and Title fields); for an organization, it’s a single Name field.

Then add whatever applies:

Organization — for a person, the organization they belong to.
Description and Notes — free text for anything you want to remember.
Phone Numbers, Emails, Addresses, and URLs — you can add as many as you need. Each one has a label (such as Mobile, Work, or Home) and a value; tap Add for another row or the trash icon to remove one. Trac checks that emails and web links look valid before saving.
Additional Information — any extra details as a label and value.
Related Assets and Related Owners — connect the contact to your holdings and owners, choosing how they’re related (Advisor, Custodian, Manager, Sponsor, Operator, or your own custom label).
Related Files — attach files you’ve already uploaded, or use Create New to upload one right here.

If you open the contact form from a holding, Trac first lets you pick an existing contact and choose how they’re related, with a Create New button if you’d rather add someone new. Choosing the relationship is required so the contact actually attaches to the holding.

When you tap Save, Trac checks the name, type, emails, and web links, then creates the contact and attaches any files you selected.

Adding an owner#

An owner is a person or legal entity — such as a trust, an LLC, or an account — that holds your assets. To add one, open the Add form for owners.

Fill in:

Name — required.
Type — required; the kind of owner, such as Individual, Trust, LLC, or Account.
Parent — another owner this one sits under, if you want to nest entities into a structure.
Book — the default set of accounting records for this owner. Holdings you add under this owner use the same book. It starts as Default unless you change it.
EIN — the owner’s tax or account identifier.
Description — anything you want to note.
Links — reference web links.
Attributes — any extra details as a label and value.

If you try to close the form with unsaved changes, Trac warns you first. When you tap Save, it creates the owner and opens its portfolio view.

Adding other things#

Trac uses this same add pattern in lots of other places — for example, price updates, metrics, targets, automation rules, integrations, accounting entries, books, products, and file uploads. Each one opens from its own screen, but they all behave the same way described at the top of this page: a titled form, required fields, saving in the background, and — when you’re editing an existing one — a Delete (trash) action in the form’s header.