Categories and patterns

Spending analysis is an important part of managing a budget. This analysis is done on the spending page, but requires transactions that have a category assigned. A category can be assigned whenever a transaction is entered or edited. Patterns are required for automatic category assignment.

Creating categories

Categories can be defined by clicking the "Settings" icon in the main menu at the top. This brings up the "Settings" window. Click on the "Categories" tab and there you can add, edit, delete, rearrange, export or import categories. If you already have a text file with a list of categories that you would like to use click the "Import" button. Each category has a name and an optional monthly spending goal. You can also view a list of transactions that have a particular category by selecting one or more categories and clicking the "Search" button.

Creating patterns

Patterns can be defined by clicking the "Settings" icon in the main menu at the top. This brings up the "Settings" window. Click on the "Patterns" tab and there you can add, edit, delete, rearrange, export or import patterns. You can also see how many transaction descriptions are matching that pattern and view a list of the transactions by selecting one or more patterns and clicking the "Search" button.

Automatic category assignment

Automatic category assignment is done when the "Automatic category assignment" checkbox is checked, which it is by default. The category gets assigned automatically based on the transaction description. This is done with user created patterns that have a pattern text string and a category. If a pattern is found in the description the corresponding category is assigned. Below is an example where the pattern "Pizza hut" is found in the description "PIZZA HUT #7143" so the "Dining out" category is assigned. This becomes a powerful tool when importing transactions. Once a pattern has been created then any transaction with a description containing that pattern is automatically assigned the category associated with that pattern. The matching pattern can be edited (or a new pattern created) by clicking the "Edit Pattern" button.

Manual category assignment

Manual category assignment is done by picking a category from the list of defined categories or entering a new category by typing it into the category field. If the "Automatic category assignment" checkbox is manually unchecked the category is cleared and can be manually assigned or left blank. Below is an example where the category "Office expense" was selected to override the automatic category assignment of "Dining out".