Is money in Cash Flow Envelopes available for use or do the funds need to be in the main QuickBooks Cash to be able to use?

Thanks for posting to the Community, @MrsTovmassian.

Let me share a bit of information about Cash Envelopes and QuickBooks Cash.

Yes, you're correct that the funds need to be in the QuickBooks Cash account to get the money for direct use.

While Cash Envelopes help you set aside money for future use. You can make money out to either transfer the funds to your QuickBooks Cash or bank account when you need to use the money. I've added an almost 3 minute video tutorial for an insightful reference:

To learn more about how QuickBooks Cash account works, you can check out these articles:

• Learn more about QuickBooks Cash accounts and the Cash Flow menu
• QuickBooks Cash – the small business bank account that earns high interest, speeds up money movement...
• Create envelopes to set your funds aside

Please feel free to add a comment if you have other concerns with QuickBooks Cash Flow. I'll get back to you as fast as I can. Have a nice day ahead!

Thanks for the links. None of them addressed the question I asked. Consider including this important detail in updates to the cash flow portion. 

Another question: does my money collect interest only when it lives inside the envelopes or cannot collect interest in the cash flow account? 
thanks again 

Yes, your money collects interest when it lives inside the envelopes,  MrsTovmassian.

The Envelope will automatically earn interest once created. The bigger the balance, the more interest you can collect.

The interest rates are the same as your QuickBooks Cash account and will be separately tracked from the primary account and any other Envelope. Here's how to find the current rate for your balances:

1. Go to the Cash flow menu.
2. Select Manage account.
3. If you're on a web browser, look for the Your benefits section. Or select View info if you're on mobile.

To know more about how interest works, check out the following resources below. These will provide you in-depth details on how often you get paid for interest as well as how it's calculated (scroll down to APY for QuickBooks Cash accounts):

Learn more about QuickBooks Cash accounts and the Cash Flow menu.

Use your QuickBooks Cash account.

I'll be around here in the Community, so please feel free to reach out to me if you have any other questions about this or anything in QuickBooks. Have a wonderful day!