Transfer links: Send data to destinations

A transfer link connects a financial account to one account at a destination that Synci pushes data into, such as YNAB, Lunch Money, or Google Sheets. Once linked, Synci transfers data automatically as it syncs, and you can also trigger transfers manually.

There is no limit to the number of transfer links you can create. A single account can be linked to multiple destinations at the same time, each with its own settings and rules.

Formerly limited to bank accounts: Transfer links now work with any financial account, including brokerage and crypto-exchange accounts. That means you can push your investment activity and balances to a destination too.

When you need a transfer link

Not every integration needs one. It depends on which way the data moves.

These need a transfer link. Synci pushes your data into a specific account over there, so the two have to be paired up:

• YNAB

• Lunch Money

• Google Sheets

These do not. They read from Synci or receive events, so there is nothing to pair. You choose which accounts each one can see from its own page, or from the Link Accounts tab on any account:

• Actual Budget and other SimpleFIN apps, which pull the accounts you expose on their own schedule.

• AI assistants and connected apps, which read the accounts you granted them access to.

• Webhooks and Zapier, which receive events for the accounts you choose.

• The API, where you fetch your own data with an access token.

In the app, the Connect menu on any account's Link Accounts tab groups them the same way, under "Transfer transactions and balances to" and "Give direct access to".

Where to find your links

• Linked Accounts in the sidebar lists every transfer link you have, grouped by the account it sends from, along with everything that has direct access to your accounts.

• The Link Accounts tab on any account or destination shows what that one is connected to, and is where you create new links.

For the steps to create one, see the Linking accounts to destinations article.

What gets transferred

Each transfer link has a sync mode that controls what Synci sends to the destination:

• Transactions only: Each transaction is transferred as its own line item. This is the default for bank accounts.

• Balance only: Instead of individual transactions, Synci pushes a daily balance snapshot to the destination. Useful when you only want to track an account's value over time, for example a pension or savings account.

• Transactions & balance: Both of the above. This is the default for brokerage and crypto accounts, so your destination gets both the activity and the account value.

Transactions are sent using your account's mapped fields (date, payee, description), so what arrives at the destination matches what you see in Synci. See the Transactions article for how mapped fields work.

Transfer link settings

The following options are configurable per transfer link:

• Transfer start date: Only transactions dated after this date are transferred. Earlier transactions stay in Synci but are never sent to the destination. When you create a link you can pick a date, or use the shortcuts for today, the last 30 days, the last 90 days, or the last year.

• Sync mode: What the link sends, as described above.

Updates when a transaction becomes booked

When a pending transaction becomes booked, its details may change. These settings control which changes Synci pushes through to a transaction that has already been transferred:

• Update status: Update the transaction's cleared/booked status at the destination.

• Update payee: Refresh the payee if it changed.

• Update description: Refresh the description if it changed.

• Update amount: Update the amount if it changed.

Pausing and removing a link

Pause stops transfers and keeps everything else. Settings, attached rules and transfer history stay exactly as they were, and you can resume at any time. When you resume, anything that arrived while the link was paused is transferred as well, so the destination catches up without waiting for the next sync. The transfer start date still applies. Pause from the switch on the Link Accounts tab, from the Linked Accounts page, or from the link's own page.

Removing a link is permanent. It deletes the link's settings, its attached rules and its transfer history, and no more data is sent to the destination. If you only want to stop transfers for now, pause instead.

Transfer link rules

Rules attached to a transfer link transform transactions as they are transferred. The changes only exist at the destination; the transaction stored in Synci is untouched. This is the key difference from account rules, which permanently change the transaction in Synci.

Transfer link rules are destination-specific: a YNAB transfer link uses YNAB rules, a Lunch Money link uses Lunch Money rules, and a Google Sheets link uses Google Sheets rules. This is because each destination has its own transaction fields (for example, YNAB has flags and categories, while Google Sheets has whatever columns you've configured).

Every rule that fires creates a rule log, so you can always trace what was changed and why.

Transfer logs

Every transfer attempt is recorded in a transfer log, showing whether it succeeded and what was sent. From the logs you can:

• Retry failed transfers once the underlying issue is resolved.

• Undo a transfer, which removes the transaction from the destination. You can undo individual transfers or many at once.

Why transfer links?

Transfer links exist to give you granular control over the transfer process:

• Connect one account to multiple destinations simultaneously.

• Apply different rules to each account + destination independently.

• Choose per account + destination whether to send transactions, balances, or both.

• Control booked-transaction updates per link rather than globally.

• Keep destination-specific transformations out of your core Synci data.