Categories and sections

Accessing the Categories Screen

You can access the Categories Screen by:

• Tapping More in the bottom navigation bar, then tapping Categories under Advanced Features

You can also create categories directly from the Budget (main) screen without opening the Categories screen:

• From the Budget top-right menu (☰) -> Add Category
• From an expanded section -> New Income Source / New Expense Category

Visual circles mode is for quick transaction entry (section circle → category bottom sheet → Add Transaction). It does not include an Add Category circle.

Understanding Categories and Sections

What Are Sections?

Sections are groups that organize your categories. Think of them as folders or containers. For example:

• Housing section might contain: Rent, Utilities, Home Insurance, Repairs
• Transportation section might contain: Gas, Car Payment, Public Transit, Parking
• Food section might contain: Groceries, Restaurants, Coffee, Takeout

Each section has:

• A custom icon
• A custom color
• One or more categories inside it

What Are Categories?

Categories are the specific types of expenses or income you want to track. Every transaction you record is assigned to a category. Categories always belong to a section.

Example categories:

• Groceries (in Food section)
• Electric Bill (in Housing section)
• Salary (in Income section)
• Netflix (in Entertainment section)

Income Section

There is a special built-in Income section that cannot be deleted. This section contains your income categories (like Salary, Freelance, Investments). Income categories work differently from expense categories - transactions in these categories add to your balance rather than subtract from it.

Screen Layout

Section Cards

The main area displays your sections as expandable cards. Each section card shows:

• Icon - The section's custom icon (displayed in the section's color)
• Section name - The name of the section (e.g., "Food", "Transportation")
• Expand arrow - Indicates the section can be expanded to show categories
• Total amount - The sum of all category totals within this section (or a loading spinner while totals are calculated)
  • Positive amounts (more income than expenses) show with a plus sign
  • Negative amounts (more expenses than income) show as the amount spent
• Menu button (three dots) - Opens section actions

Categories Within Sections

Tap or expand a section to see its categories. Each category shows:

• Category name - The name of the category
• Total amount - The transaction total for this category, or a loading spinner while it is calculated (colored to match the section)
• Menu button (three dots) - Opens category actions

Section Colors

Each section has its own color. The section's border, icon, and category totals all use this color, making it easy to visually distinguish between different spending areas.

Top Bar Actions

The top bar contains several action buttons:

Sort Button

Tap the sort icon to open the Order screen where you can:

• Rearrange the order of sections
• Rearrange the order of categories within each section
• Drag and drop items to your preferred position

Search Button

Tap the search icon to reveal a search bar. You can search by:

• Section name
• Category name

The list filters in real-time as you type. When searching:

• If your search matches a section name, all categories in that section are shown
• If your search matches a category name, only matching categories are shown (within their sections)

Tap the search icon again to close the search bar and clear the search.

More Options Menu (three dots)

Tap to access additional options:

• Add Section - Create a new section to organize categories
• Add Category - Create a new category (you'll choose which section it belongs to)
• Merge Categories - Combine two or more categories into one
• Change Order - Rearrange sections and categories (same as the sort button)

Section Actions

Expanding/Collapsing Sections

Tap on a section to expand or collapse it. When expanded, you'll see all the categories within that section.

Long-Pressing a Section (or Tapping the Menu Button)

Opens a menu with these options:

• Add Category - Create a new category within this section
• Transactions - View all transactions from any category in this section
• Trends - View a chart and month-by-month totals for a selected year (navigate between years in the screen)
• Analytics - View charts and detailed analytics for all spending in this section
• Edit - Change the section's name, icon, or color
• Delete - Permanently remove the section (only available if the section is empty and is not the Income section)

Note about deleting sections: You can only delete a section if it has no categories inside it. The Income section cannot be deleted.

Category Actions

Tapping a Category

Tap any category to view all transactions assigned to that category. This opens a filtered transaction list showing:

• All income and expenses in this category
• The transaction history over time

Long-Pressing a Category (or Tapping the Menu Button)

Opens a menu with these options:

• Transactions - View all transactions in this category
• Trends - View a chart and month-by-month totals for a selected year (navigate between years in the screen)
• Analytics - View charts and detailed analytics for this category's transactions
• Edit - Change the category's name or move it to a different section
• Delete - Permanently remove the category (only available if the category has no transactions and no transaction templates)

Note about deleting categories: You cannot delete a category that has transactions or transaction templates (e.g. recurring/scheduled transactions) associated with it. To remove such a category, you would first need to reassign or remove those, or use the Merge feature to combine it with another category.

Adding a New Section

When adding a new section, you'll set:

Required Fields

• Name - A unique name for the section (e.g., "Entertainment", "Health & Fitness")

Optional Fields

• Icon - Choose from a variety of icons to represent this section
• Color - Pick a color to identify this section visually

Adding a New Category

When adding a new category, you'll set:

Required Fields

• Name - A unique name for the category (e.g., "Groceries", "Electric Bill")
• Section - Which section this category belongs to

Note: If you start adding a category from within a section (using the section's "Add Category" action), the section will be pre-selected for you.

Editing a Section

When editing a section, you can change:

• Name - Update the section's display name
• Icon - Choose a different icon
• Color - Pick a new color

All changes apply immediately to the section and its visual appearance throughout the app.

Editing a Category

When editing a category, you can change:

• Name - Update the category's display name
• Section - Move the category to a different section

Moving a category to another section does not affect any transactions already assigned to that category.

Merging Categories

The Merge Categories feature lets you combine two or more categories into one. This is useful when:

• You've created duplicate categories by mistake
• You want to simplify your budget structure
• You want to consolidate similar categories

Open Categories → More Options (three dots) → Merge Categories. Create Backup Now opens the backup screen; returning preserves the form. Opening backup hides the reminder for this visit, whether or not a backup was created.

1. Select Categories to Merge.
2. Choose the Target Category to keep. Choose at least one other source category; choosing only the target as a source shows a validation message. Income and expense categories cannot be merged together. The target must still exist and be active.
3. Optionally enter Extra Description to append text to descriptions of moved transactions, select Use category name as description to fill empty descriptions with the original category name, or choose Extra Tags. Existing tags stay attached and repeated tags are not added again. These optional changes apply to moved transactions, not to favourites or recurring templates, nor to transactions already in the target category. Turning on the category-name option clears and disables Extra Description.
4. Tap the checkmark at the top right to validate your selections and open Merge Confirmation. Cancel keeps the form open with selections and optional fields preserved. Merge Categories confirms the merge. A progress indicator replaces the form and Back is disabled until it finishes. Success returns to Categories. On failure, an error message appears and the form remains available for another attempt; no partial merge is saved. If a selection was deleted or the target archived, leave and reopen the form to select available categories.

The merge moves all historical and planned transactions, favourites, and recurring templates, including inactive schedules, to the target. Transaction amounts, accounts, dates, and recurring schedules remain unchanged. The target keeps its name, section, and category type; source categories are deleted.

Budget Plans

Source and target planned amounts are added together within each calendar month or each individual custom budget period. For example, a source plan of 20, another source plan of 30, and an existing target plan of 100 in January become one target plan of 150 for January. February remains separate. Custom periods remain separate even if their date ranges overlap or are identical, and are never combined with calendar-month plans. If the target has no plan for a source's month or period, that source plan moves to the target. Zero amounts are preserved as plans, not removed.

The target section is included in each affected month or custom period where needed so the moved plan can be shown. Existing section plans and the custom period's overall budget settings remain unchanged. Source plan amounts are no longer discarded.

Saved Sets, Import Rules, and Hidden Notes

• Saved Sets: source category selections change to the target in both included and excluded category filters, with duplicates removed within each list. Section and category-type filters remain unchanged. Results may therefore change, especially when the target belongs to another section or category type. If the target ends up both included and excluded, exclusion still applies; review the set's filters afterward.
• Statement imports: remembered category choices change to the target, so future matching imports can use it.
• Hidden note suggestions: hidden descriptions from the sources remain hidden under the target, with identical entries combined. Existing target preferences remain. Hiding applies to the exact saved text; using Extra Description changes transaction text and does not create a hidden preference for the new wording.

This action cannot be undone from the merge screen. Create a backup before merging if you may need the original categories and plans. Back before confirmation leaves the categories unchanged; reopening starts a new form.

Changing Order

From the Order screen, you can customize how sections and categories are displayed:

Reordering Sections

• Drag sections up or down to change their display order
• The order you set here is used throughout the app

Reordering Categories

• Within each section, drag categories to change their order
• This affects how categories appear in dropdown menus and lists

Empty States

No Categories Yet

If you haven't created any sections or categories, you'll see a helpful message with an "Add Section" button to get started. This typically only happens when you first install the app before setting up your budget.

No Search Results

If your search doesn't match any sections or categories, you'll see a message indicating no categories were found.

Empty Section

If a section has no categories, you'll see an "Add Category" button inside the expanded section to help you get started.

Tips for Organizing Categories

When picking a category elsewhere (for example Add Transaction), sections or categories that are hidden for the current budget period can be revealed with Show more (+N) in the category picker. On the Budget screen’s visual circles section sheet, the same control can reveal hidden category circles.

1. Use meaningful section groups - Group categories that make sense together. This makes it easier to analyze spending by area (e.g., all food-related expenses in one section).

2. Don't over-categorize - Having too many categories can make tracking transactions tedious. Find a balance that gives you useful insights without being overwhelming.

3. Use specific names - Category names like "Electric" and "Gas" are more useful than just "Bills" when reviewing your spending.

4. Review periodically - As your spending habits change, you may want to add new categories, merge unused ones, or reorganize sections.

5. Use the Analytics feature - After you've been tracking for a while, use the Analytics option on sections and categories to gain insights into your spending patterns.

6. Consider the transaction flow - When creating new transactions, you'll choose from these categories. Organize them in an order that makes quick selection easy.

7. Use merge for cleanup - If you find you've been using two categories for the same type of expense, use Merge to combine them and consolidate your history.

Categories vs. Tags

Categories and tags both help organize transactions, but they work differently.

Categories answer “What type of spending or income is this?” They are required: every transaction has exactly one category. Categories live in sections, shape your budget, and are used for planning and reports. Use them for the main classification (e.g. Groceries, Rent, Salary).

Tags answer “How do I want to slice or group this later?” They are optional: you can add none, one, or many tags to a transaction. Tags are a flat list and can be used for anything—projects, events, people, or custom groupings. Use them for cross-category tracking (e.g. all spending tagged “Vacation” or “Home office”).

Example: A dinner at a restaurant while on vacation:

• Category: "Restaurants" (in Food section) — so it appears in your Food budget.
• Tags: "Vacation 2024", "Italy Trip" — so you can see total vacation or trip spending across all categories.

Together, categories keep your budget structured; tags let you ask flexible questions across that structure.