You found a file
What a .finbak file is, and how to open it
A .finbak file is an encrypted backup made by 2Fin Desktop, a finance app that keeps a person’s books on their own computer. One file holds a copy of their records and their receipts, sealed with a passphrase they chose when they made it. To open it, install 2Fin Desktop on any computer, click “On this PC” at the top of the window and choose “Import from an export…” under “Where your data lives”, then pick the file and type that passphrase.
Opened it in a text editor and found a note? You are in the right place — files made by current versions start with a few readable lines and send you here. Everything after those lines is the encrypted part, which is why it looks like nonsense. Reading it does no harm; saving a change to it does, so close it without saving. An older export has no note and is unreadable from the first character, and that is normal too.
If you do not have the passphrase, that file cannot be opened — by anyone, including 2Fin. It is worth knowing before you spend a day on it, and there are other places the same records may still exist. Start here instead.
A whole set of records, in one file
Not a document you can preview. It is a sealed copy of somebody’s transactions, categories, bills and budgets, together with the receipt files that go with them.
Encrypted, on purpose
It is scrambled with a passphrase the person chose. A backup usually ends up on a drive or a USB stick, so it carries its own protection rather than relying on where it is kept.
Made to travel
It exists so records can move to another computer, or be kept somewhere separate. It restores on any machine — the original one is not needed.
How to open it
Three steps, on whatever computer you have in front of you. You will need the file and the passphrase it was made with.
Install 2Fin Desktop
Download it for Windows, macOS or Linux and install it like any other app. The free tier needs no account, no email and no card, so reading the file costs nothing.
Open “Where your data lives” and choose “Import from an export…”
Open 2Fin Desktop and click “On this PC” at the top of the window — the chip that says where your data lives, which reads “On this Mac” on a Mac. In the panel it opens, choose “Import from an export…” and pick your .finbak file. Any computer will do; it does not have to be the one the file came from.
Type the passphrase it was made with
Enter the passphrase chosen by the person who made the file. The records and receipts are then restored into a folder on that computer, where you can read them, edit them and export them. Importing replaces whatever records that copy of 2Fin is holding, so use a fresh install if the computer already has books on it you want to keep.
Nothing is uploaded to open it. The file is unsealed on the computer in front of you, and the records land in a folder on that machine. 2Fin Desktop keeps your books locally, so restoring a backup happens on your own computer rather than on somebody else’s server.
If you do not have the passphrase
Then that file cannot be opened. There is no reset, no master key and no request anyone can make on your behalf — 2Fin never had a copy of the passphrase, so there is nothing to look up. It is a hard answer, and it is a better one to have now than after a week of trying.
It is the same property that makes the file safe to leave on a drive in a drawer or a stick in a bag: the protection travels with it. That trade runs in both directions, and 2Fin makes it on purpose.
Where the same records may still be
With the person who made it
A passphrase is usually written down somewhere — a password manager, a note in a drawer, the inside cover of a notebook. Worth asking before anything else.
The “backups” folder on the original computer
2Fin Desktop keeps its own copies there, in a folder called “backups” beside the folder where it stores your data, each with a short list of what it holds. Those copies are not sealed with a passphrase, so if that machine or its drive still exists they can be restored — on that machine, where the key to their sensitive fields lives. They cover the records file rather than the receipts, and they never left the computer.
An older export, or an ordinary one
Another .finbak whose passphrase you do remember will open normally. So will anything exported as a spreadsheet or a tax report, which is not encrypted at all.
Before giving up on the passphrase itself, try it once more slowly. Capital letters, a space picked up at the beginning or the end, and a keyboard set to another language account for most failed attempts. A damaged file refuses in exactly the same way as a wrong passphrase, so a second copy of the file is worth trying too.
The two kinds of copy 2Fin makes
“I have a backup” can mean either of these, and which one you are holding decides what is possible. Both stay on your own machine unless you move them.
| The automatic daily backup | “Export everything…” — a .finbak file | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it lives | A folder called “backups”, beside where the app keeps your data, on that computer only. | Wherever you saved it: a drive, a USB stick, your own cloud storage. |
| What it holds | Your records file, with a short list beside it of what that copy holds — how many tables, how many rows altogether and how many in each. Not your receipts. | Your records and your receipts, in one file. |
| What protects it | No passphrase. It sits on your own machine, under your own account, and its sensitive fields are tied to that machine’s keychain. | A passphrase you choose, with scrypt and AES-256-GCM encryption. The file cannot be read without it. |
| What it is for | Getting back on your feet on the same computer. 2Fin takes one whenever the newest is over twenty hours old, checks that it reads, and keeps about a month of history. | Moving to another computer, or keeping a copy somewhere else. Importing it replaces the records on the machine you import to. |
The automatic daily backup
- Where it lives
- A folder called “backups”, beside where the app keeps your data, on that computer only.
- What it holds
- Your records file, with a short list beside it of what that copy holds — how many tables, how many rows altogether and how many in each. Not your receipts.
- What protects it
- No passphrase. It sits on your own machine, under your own account, and its sensitive fields are tied to that machine’s keychain.
- What it is for
- Getting back on your feet on the same computer. 2Fin takes one whenever the newest is over twenty hours old, checks that it reads, and keeps about a month of history.
“Export everything…” — a .finbak file
- Where it lives
- Wherever you saved it: a drive, a USB stick, your own cloud storage.
- What it holds
- Your records and your receipts, in one file.
- What protects it
- A passphrase you choose, with scrypt and AES-256-GCM encryption. The file cannot be read without it.
- What it is for
- Moving to another computer, or keeping a copy somewhere else. Importing it replaces the records on the machine you import to.
More on where the desktop app keeps your records, and what it does when a file turns out to be damaged, on the desktop app page.
Questions people ask about this file
What is a .finbak file?
It is an encrypted backup made by 2Fin Desktop, a finance app that keeps a person’s books on their own computer. One file holds a copy of their records — transactions, categories, bills, budgets — together with their receipts, sealed with a passphrase they chose when they made it. It is not a document, a spreadsheet or a photo, so nothing on your computer will preview it.
How do I open a .finbak file?
Install 2Fin Desktop on any Windows, macOS or Linux computer and open it. Click the chip at the top of the window that says where your data lives — it reads “On this PC” on Windows and “On this Mac” on a Mac, and shrinks to a small laptop icon if the window is narrow. That opens a panel called “Where your data lives”; choose “Import from an export…” in it, pick your file and type the passphrase it was made with. The records and receipts are restored onto that computer. The free tier needs no account and no card, so nothing has to be bought to read the file.
Will importing replace what is already on this computer?
Yes. Importing an export replaces the records on the machine you import to with the ones in the file — it does not merge the two. If that computer already holds records you want to keep, take an export of them first, or import onto a fresh install instead.
I opened it in a text editor and saw a note. Is that normal?
Yes, for files made by current versions of 2Fin Desktop. Those exports begin with a few lines of readable text saying what the file is, when it was made and where to go next — everything after that is the encrypted part, which is why the rest looks like nonsense. Opening the file to read that note is harmless. Saving any change to it is not: an edited file will refuse to restore. Older exports have no note and are simply unreadable from end to end, which does not mean anything is wrong with them.
I do not have the passphrase. Can anyone recover it?
No. The passphrase is not stored anywhere and nobody holds a copy of it, including 2Fin. There is no reset, no master key and no support request that can open the file — and that is exactly what makes the encryption worth having. If the passphrase is gone, the thing to look for is another copy of the same records: the computer the file came from keeps its own plain backups, in a folder called “backups”.
Is the passphrase wrong, or is the file damaged?
From the outside the two look identical — both simply refuse to restore, with no partial result. That is deliberate. The file carries a built-in integrity check, so a single changed byte fails it, and 2Fin would rather say it cannot open a file than hand back records that have been quietly altered. Try the passphrase again carefully, watching for capitals, a stray space at either end and a keyboard set to another language, then try a second copy of the file.
Do I need the original computer, or an account?
Neither. A .finbak file restores on any computer running 2Fin Desktop, which is what it is for — moving to a new machine, or reading a copy kept somewhere else. There is no account to sign in to and nothing to reactivate. All you need is the file and its passphrase.
What is in the “backups” folder on the original computer?
Beside the folder where 2Fin Desktop keeps your data sits a folder called “backups”. When the newest copy in it is more than twenty hours old, the app takes a fresh one, checks that it reads correctly and writes a short list beside it of exactly what that copy holds — how many tables, how many rows altogether, and how many in each one. It keeps the newest three, then one a day for a week, then one a week for a month. Those copies cover the records file rather than the receipts, they are not sealed with a passphrase, and they never leave the machine.
Can I copy the “backups” folder to a different computer?
Those copies belong to the computer that made them. Sensitive fields inside them are encrypted with a key held in that machine’s own keychain, so carrying the folder to another computer does not generally give you readable records. They are the right thing to reach for when you still have the original machine or its drive. The .finbak export is the one built to travel, which is why it carries a passphrase instead.
Does a .finbak file get uploaded anywhere?
Only if you move it yourself. 2Fin Desktop writes the file where you ask it to and leaves it there, and the automatic copies in the “backups” folder stay on the machine as well. Where the file travels after that — an external drive, a USB stick, your own cloud storage — is your choice, and the passphrase is what protects it while it travels.
The computer it came from is gone. What can I still do?
With the file and the passphrase, everything in it comes back: install 2Fin Desktop on any machine and import it. With the file but no passphrase, that file cannot be opened, so the next place to look is another copy of the same records — an older .finbak whose passphrase you do remember, a spreadsheet or tax report exported at the time, or the original computer if it can still be started, where the “backups” folder beside the app’s data holds plain copies of the records.
Open it on the computer you have
2Fin Desktop installs free on Windows, macOS and Linux, with no account and no card. Bring the file and its passphrase, and your records come back.
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