Categories
What a transaction was, and where you are counting it. Two different fields.
Updated
The Two Systems
| Category | Budget | |
|---|---|---|
| Answers | What was this? | Where am I counting it? |
| Who defines it | Cadence - a fixed list of around fifty | You - name and shape your own |
| How many per transaction | One | One, or several if you split it |
| Set by | Cadence on sync, or you on entry | The categories linked to the budget |
Categories are a built-in list covering everything from Groceries and Coffee & Cafes to Transfer and Uncategorized. You cannot add your own, and you do not need to: budgets are the part you name, and one budget can draw from as many categories as you like.
Changing a Transaction's Category
- Tap the transaction to open it.
- Tap Edit.
- Open the Category picker and choose the right one.
- Tap Save.
Category is also editable inline from the detail view without opening the full edit form, which is quicker when that is the only thing you are fixing.
Applying a Correction to a Whole Merchant
If you have other transactions on file from the same merchant, Cadence asks before saving whether to also update those transactions, and shows you which ones it means.
- Up to ten, the box arrives already ticked, since that is almost always what you want.
- Past ten, it arrives clear, because a sweep that size is a bulk edit you should opt into.
It only asks when there are at least two others to change, so a one-off correction saves straight through. Transactions already carrying the category you picked do not count towards that, which is why correcting one stray charge from a merchant you sorted out long ago never prompts.
Check the box before you save
Untick it to change only the transaction in front of you. There is no undo for a sweep beyond re-editing each row.
Assigning a Transaction to a Budget
A transaction’s budget is a separate field on the same edit form. Open the transaction, tap Edit, and pick from the Budget list, or choose Unbudgeted to leave it out of your spending totals.
Most of the time you will not have to. Linking categories to a budget when you create it is what puts transactions there automatically; this field is for the exceptions.
When the Budget Field Is Missing
It disappears on anything that is not spending:
- A Transfer or Investments transaction.
- An income category such as Income, Bonus or Tax Refund.
Reimbursement and Refund are the exceptions among the income categories. They keep the field, because money coming back to you can offset what a budget already spent. See Reimbursements & Refunds.
It also disappears while WorryFree is switched on, since that mode replaces your monthly budgets with a single allowance. Annual and out-of-pocket budgets survive WorryFree, so the field comes back if you have one of those to assign to.
How Cadence Learns From Your Corrections
Correct a category on a synced transaction and Cadence records your preference for that merchant. After two or three consistent corrections it applies your category to future transactions from that merchant on its own.
There is no rule to write and no mapping table to maintain - correcting is the mechanism. See Smart Features, which also covers how to wipe what it has learned.
Tip
To recategorise a lot at once, filter the list down to the merchant first and then select all. See Bulk Editing.