Transactions and Categories
Review transaction data and keep reporting categories consistent.
This page is a short overview for people who are looking for transaction cleanup in one place. For detailed guidance, use Transactions and Categories and rules.
How the pieces fit together
Transactions are the raw money movement. Categories explain what the movement was for. Transfers and ignored records tell reports what should not be treated as normal spending or income. Rules automate repeated category patterns.
The cleanup workflow usually looks like this:
- Review new transactions.
- Fix obvious duplicates and pending/source issues.
- Mark internal transfers.
- Categorize uncategorized transactions.
- Create rules for repeated patterns.
- Use tags for secondary labels.
- Check dashboards or spreadsheet outputs again.
Review transactions first
Review recent transactions after adding a source or refreshing data. Confirm dates, merchant names, amounts, accounts, pending status, categories, ignored state, and transfer state before using the data in reports.
Do not start by editing a dashboard total. Dashboard totals are usually downstream symptoms of transaction, account, source, or category issues.
Use categories intentionally
Categories make spending, income, transfers, and savings easier to understand. Keep everyday categories simple and reserve specialized categories for reporting needs you actually use.
If a category only matters for one spreadsheet, consider using the spreadsheet's Categories and Rules tabs. If the category should matter across the app, create or edit it in Tablewealth.
Use rules for repeated patterns
Rules are created from transaction category edits. They match transaction text such as merchant, name, original statement, source group, or source category. They can also narrow matches by amount range and by debit or credit direction.
Create rules for stable repeated patterns, not for one-off cleanup. Preview nearby transactions before saving a rule so you can see whether the rule is too broad.
Transfers
Transfers usually move money between your own accounts. Marking them correctly helps avoid double-counting income, spending, or savings activity.
Common transfer examples include credit card payments, brokerage cash movement, bank-to-bank transfers, and savings transfers.
Where to go next
- Use Transactions for filters, pending activity, ignored records, manual transactions, tags, transfers, and source mismatches.
- Use Categories and rules for category management, rule matching, rule settings, previews, and app rules vs. spreadsheet rules.