Set up auto-categorize rules

Teach Nova that any bank line whose description contains a word, such as a supplier's name, always goes to one category, so imports come in already sorted.

In the sidebar, open Bookkeeping, then Transactions. The page address is /bookkeeping/transactions. The rules window opens at /bookkeeping/transactions/rules.

Before you start

• Look at a few imported lines first and note the words that repeat in their descriptions, such as a fuel brand or a parts supplier.
• Your role needs permission to read bank rules to open the window, and permission to create or update rules to change them. Turning a rule off or back on and applying rules each need their own permission.

Steps

1. Press Rules at the top of the transactions list. The Auto-categorize rules window opens.
2. Under When description contains, type the word or phrase to look for, for example the supplier's name as it appears on your statement. Capital letters do not matter.
3. Under Category, pick the income or expense account those lines should always go to.
4. Press Add rule. Nova shows Rule added. and the rule appears in the list below the form.
5. To fix a rule, press Edit on its row, change the words or the category, and press Save rule. Cancel edit drops the change.
6. To catch lines that are already in the list, press Apply to unreviewed at the bottom of the window. Nova runs every active rule over the unreviewed lines in the account picked under Account only, and tells you how many it categorized.

What you see

• Each rule in the list reads as the match type (contains), the words in quotes, an arrow and the category. The list shows the category as Unknown; press Edit on the row to see the category it really uses.
• Rules run on their own every time you import a statement, over every unreviewed line in the account you imported into. The import message counts the lines they categorized.
• A rule categorizes the line exactly as if you had done it, so the line counts in your reports straight away. Lines you add by hand are not checked until you press Apply to unreviewed.
• When two rules match the same line, the older rule wins.
• A rule made here only fills in the category. Sales tax is not part of it, so open the line and add the tax if it applies.

If something looks different

• The form at the top of the window is missing: your role can read rules but not create or change them.
• You want a rule to stop without losing it: press Deactivate on its row. In the window that opens you can pick a Reason category and add a note, then press Deactivate rule. Lines it already categorized are not changed.
• A row has Reactivate and no Edit: that rule is turned off. Press Reactivate to turn it back on; it takes effect straight away.
• Apply to unreviewed is missing: your role cannot apply rules. Ask your admin.
• Apply to unreviewed says it categorized 0 transactions: no unreviewed line in the account picked under Account contains any rule's words. Pick another account under Account and try again.
• The list reads No rules yet: nothing has been added for this organization.

Open the rules