Localization
Aspire Budgeting supports your local currency and date format out of the box. Whether you budget in euros, pounds, yen, baht, or any other currency — the add-on reads your Google Sheets locale setting and formats everything accordingly.
What gets localized
In the add-on UI (reports, previews, budget snapshot):
- Currency amounts display with your locale’s symbol, decimal separator, and thousands grouping
- Dates display in your locale’s preferred format (e.g. DD/MM/YYYY for Europe, YYYY/MM/DD for Japan)
In the spreadsheet (when you click “Localize Sheet Formats”):
- Transactions tab — Date, Outflow, and Inflow columns
- Transfers tab — Date and Amount columns
- Dashboard tab — all currency and date cells
- Configuration tab — Monthly Amount, Goal Amount, and account balance columns
How to use it
Automatic formatting (add-on UI)
The add-on automatically reads your spreadsheet’s locale and uses it for all currency and date display in reports, the CSV import preview, and the budget snapshot. No setup needed.
Formatting your sheet cells
- Open the sidebar (Aspire Budgeting menu → Open Sidebar)
- Scroll to Settings & Support
- Click Localize
- Click Localize Sheet Formats
This applies locale-appropriate display formats to all date and currency cells across your spreadsheet. It also converts any text-formatted amounts (like “$24.95” stored as text) into actual numbers so the formatting takes effect.
Changing your locale
Your locale is set at the spreadsheet level in Google Sheets:
- Go to File → Settings → General
- Change the Locale dropdown to your country
- Click Save settings
- Reopen the Aspire sidebar — it will pick up the new locale
- Click Localize Sheet Formats again to update the cell display formats
Supported locales
Any locale that Google Sheets supports will work. The add-on derives the correct currency from your region automatically. Some examples:
| Locale | Currency | Date Format | Amount Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | USD ($) | MM/DD/YYYY | $1,234.56 |
| Spain | EUR (€) | DD/MM/YYYY | 1.234,56 € |
| Germany | EUR (€) | DD.MM.YYYY | 1.234,56 € |
| United Kingdom | GBP (£) | DD/MM/YYYY | £1,234.56 |
| Japan | JPY (¥) | YYYY/MM/DD | ¥1,235 |
| Thailand | THB (฿) | DD/MM/YYYY | ฿1,234.56 |
| Brazil | BRL (R$) | DD/MM/YYYY | R$ 1.234,56 |
| India | INR (₹) | DD/MM/YYYY | ₹1,234.56 |
Notes
- Localization is a free feature — no subscription required.
- The “Localize Sheet Formats” button only changes how numbers are displayed. The underlying data (raw numbers and date serial values) is never modified.
- If you previously imported transactions with hardcoded ”$” symbols stored as text, the localizer will convert those to proper numbers and apply your locale format.
- Reports in the add-on always use your current locale — they don’t require running the localizer.