How to set up spending categories and history filters

Why assign a category to a transaction

Budgets and category reports count only transactions that have a category. A transaction without a category is in no budget.

Categories are organized into groups. A group only sets the order of the list; a transaction belongs to a category, not to a group.

Create a separate category when some transactions have their own budget, report, tax rule or automation rule. Similar transactions can stay in one category.

How to set up your categories

Open the category list.

1. If there are no categories yet, choose "Use suggested set" or "Start blank".
2. For a category of your own, click "New category" and enter the "Name".
3. Choose the "Group" or leave "No group". Choose the icon and color next to the name.
4. For a new group, click "Add group" and name it.
5. Save. The name should say plainly which spending or income the category covers.

The suggested set has 12 groups and 61 categories: Food & Drink, Transport, Housing, Health, Entertainment, Personal, Shopping, Family & Pets, Travel, Work & Business, Financial and Income. Food & Drink, for example, holds Groceries, Restaurants, Coffee, Delivery and Bars, and Income holds Salary, Freelance, Bonus, Refunds and Dividends. Each category of the set already has words in "Other names", such as "supermarket" in Groceries. You can rename, merge and archive these categories like your own.

How to assign a category by a word from the description

A word in a category can match it to a transaction description. For example, you add the word "Coffee house" to the category "Coffee" in its "Other names" field: a transaction with that description gets the category "Coffee" marked "Suggested · based on note".

To add a word, open the category and click "Add alias" under "Other names". One category can have at most 30 such words.

After you choose a category by hand, a question asks whether to assign it to every transaction with the same description. To apply the category to other transactions without a category and to future statement transactions, choose "Create rule": it makes an automation rule that you can find in Automations. To keep the category for this transaction only, choose "Not needed".

If the condition needs an amount, a wallet or a tag, create a rule in Automations.

How to filter the transaction history

In the "Filter or search transactions…" bar you can search by a word from the description and add filters: "Period", "Wallet", "Category", "Tag", "Budget", "Goal" and "Currency".

The period options are "Today", "This week", "Last week", "This month", "Last 30 days", "Year to date" and "Custom range". For an earlier period, use "Open full history".

The suggestions include "Recent searches" and "Quick filters", for example "This week · money only". Choose the event type from "All", "Money", "Income", "Expense", "Outside every budget", "Alerts", "Subs" and "System". Clear every chosen filter with "Clear filters".

The sample has two transactions in the category "Cafés": −€7.40 and −€9.30, together −€16.70.

How to split a receipt across categories

In the transaction details, choose "Split into parts".

1. For each part, choose a category and enter an amount. For a new row, click "Add category".
2. Watch the "Remaining" and "Unallocated" lines: you can save the parts once "Fully allocated" is shown.
3. Click "Save splits".
4. To go back to one category, choose "Collect into one".

A supermarket receipt of €32.00 is split into "Groceries" €27.00 and "Home" €5.00. The parts add up to the transaction amount in the same currency, so the wallet balance is the same as before the split. In the budgets of these categories, €27.00 and €5.00 are counted.

How to attach a receipt and tags to a transaction

The transaction form has a note panel with the "Add a note…" field, "Tags" and the "Attach file" button.

You can add up to 10 tags to one transaction next to its category, for example "work" or "vacation". You can filter the history by a tag.

You can merge tags with "Merge with tag". Deleting a tag removes it from transactions, and the transactions themselves stay.

You can attach up to 10 files to a transaction, each up to 10 MB: JPEG, PNG, WebP, PDF or CSV. If a file does not fit the size or type, a message is shown next to it.

How to remove a category and keep its transactions

A category has these actions: "Merge with another", "Archive category", "Delete category" and "Move to group".

To merge, choose "Merge with another", then the category that will take over the transactions, recurring transactions and budgets of the source category, and click "Merge". If both categories were in one budget, the target stays in it. The source category will be archived. Automation rules and "Other names" words are not moved by a merge: in the rules that use the source category, choose the target category by hand.

Archiving removes the category from the lists you choose from, and the recorded transactions stay. In the "Archived" section you can bring the category back with "Restore".

"Delete category" deletes a category without transactions or recurring transactions at once, and you cannot undo it. If it has them, choose a replacement: "Merge and delete" assigns them to the category you choose.

Moving to another group leaves the transactions as they are. Deleting a group leaves its categories without a group.

How to sort out transactions without a category

The category list has a line about transactions without a category from the last three months, with a "Review transactions" button. These transactions are in no budget.

Repeated descriptions without a category are grouped in the "Uncategorized clusters" report. For a description that repeats often, create a category and an automation rule for it: the condition "Description contains" and the action "Set category".

A rule condition can be the direction, amount, currency, wallet, category, tag, description or date. An action can set a category, add or remove a tag, replace or append to the description, or record a message in the Activity of the transaction.

Saving a rule does not change past transactions: run it manually for the period you choose. You can pick the trigger: when a transaction is created, when it is updated, or manual only.

How to search categories and read the budget in the history

Category search

The search in the category list works on both names and the words in "Other names".

Budget left

A transaction with a budget shows "left" or "over" in the history: the remainder or the excess of that category budget.

Outside every budget

The event type "Outside every budget" keeps only the transactions that are in no budget.