Creating Rules

Automate your transaction categorization with powerful rules.

Transaction rules allow you to automate the process of organizing your finances. By defining criteria, you can automatically categorize transactions, update payees, or add notes as soon as data enters the system.

How Rules Work

A rule consists of Conditions (the “If” part) and Actions (the “Then” part).

Logic: If [Condition A] [AND/OR] [Condition B] is met -> Then perform [Action].

Rule Priority

Rules are executed in order of specific priority. If multiple rules apply to the same transaction, they will apply in sequence. You can manage the priority order in the rules list.

Creating a Rule

  1. Navigate to the Rules section in the application.
  2. Click Add Rule.
  3. Define your Conditions and Actions.
  4. Save the rule.

Conditions (The “If”)

You can match transactions based on the following fields:

  • Payee
  • Category
  • Notes
  • Amount
  • Date

Text Operators

For text fields (like Payee, Category, Notes), you can use:

  • Equals / Not Equals: Exact match.
  • Contains / Not Contains: Partial match.
  • Starts With / Ends With: Matches the beginning or end of the text.
  • Matches Regex / Doesn’t Match Regex: Match using a regular expression pattern (e.g., ^Coffee.*Shop$). Matching is case-insensitive. If the pattern is invalid, the condition will simply not match.
  • Is Empty / Is Not Empty: Checks for presence of data.

Number Operators

For numeric fields (like Amount), you can use:

  • Equals / Not Equals
  • Greater Than / Less Than
  • Is Empty / Is Not Empty

Logic

You can combine multiple conditions using:

  • AND: All conditions must be true for the rule to run.
  • OR: At least one condition must be true for the rule to run.

Actions (The “Then”)

When a rule matches, you can automatically update the transaction. You can set:

  • Category: assign a category (e.g., “Groceries”).
  • Payee: clean up bank descriptions (e.g., set “AMZ* Marketplace” to “Amazon”).
  • Notes: add custom tags or comments.
  • Date or Amount: (Less common, but possible).

Example

Scenario: You want to categorize all coffee shop visits as “Dining Out”.

  1. Condition: If Payee Contains “Starbucks”
  2. Action: Set Category To “Dining Out”

With this rule, every time you import a transaction containing “Starbucks”, it will automatically be categorized.

Using Regex

Scenario: You want to match multiple coffee shops at once.

  1. Condition: If Payee Matches Regex ^(Starbucks|Dunkin|Peet's).*
  2. Action: Set Category To “Coffee”

This single rule catches transactions from Starbucks, Dunkin, or Peet’s regardless of what follows the name (e.g., “Starbucks #12345” or “Dunkin Donuts - Main St”).

Regex Quick Reference

SymbolMeaningExampleMatches
.Any single characterS.op“Shop”, “Stop”
*Zero or more of the previousgo*d“gd”, “god”, “good”
+One or more of the previousgo+d“god”, “good” (not “gd”)
?Zero or one of the previouscolou?r“color”, “colour”
^Start of text^Star“Starbucks” (not “Five Star”)
$End of textCorp$“Acme Corp” (not “Corp Inc”)
\dAny digit (0–9)#\d+“#123”, “#7”
\wAny word character (letter, digit, _)\w+“hello”, “test_1”
\sAny whitespaceMain\sSt“Main St”
[abc]Any one of a, b, or c[CB]ost“Cost”, “Bost”
[^abc]Any character except a, b, or c[^0-9]+“abc” (no digits)
(A|B)A or B(Visa|MC)“Visa”, “MC”
{n}Exactly n repetitions\d{4}“2025”
{n,m}Between n and m repetitions\d{2,4}“12”, “123”, “1234”

All regex matching is case-insensitive, so starbucks will match “Starbucks”, “STARBUCKS”, etc.