Five years ago, I started creating instructional videos for hledger. A total of 18 have been made to date. So which are the most popular?
In first place, with 4.4k views is the first video that was created, The Basics: An hledger transaction. It’s called “The Basics” in the title because one of the basic things you should know is what are the parts of a transaction. Where do lines need to be indented? Where is more than one space needed? Yes, if you are using “hledger add” or “hledger iadd” to enter transactions, this is done automatically for you. However, at one point you are going to benefit from knowing the basics of an hledger transaction.
View the basics of transactions video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSz09ThShrs&t=3s
In second place is the most recent video (3 years old, but at this writing the most recent) with 1.8k views. The subject of the video is “hledger iadd,” which is the most common way I add new transactions. I find it a very useful program, and it’s worth knowing about.
See the iadd video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuCT9EzryaI&t=22s
Finally, in third place, with 1.2k views, is a video that was definitely a fun one for me to make. The idea is that you can take your hledger (or other plain text accounting) data and create charts from them. One way to do this by placing your data in a spreadsheet and then use the spreadsheet’s graphical functions to make bar, line, or pie charts from your data. Numbers are the essence of a financial report, but sometimes a graphic can drive home a point more viscerally.
Watch the “hledger fast fancy formatting” video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb-hK8Lc67s&t=226s