Transactions in SavePoint

💰 Understanding Transaction Types

The "type" tells SavePoint whether money came in or went out, and helps it calculate your totals correctly:

• Income: Money that came INTO your account - your salary, freelance payments, gifts, refunds, or investment dividends. These show up as positive (green) numbers and increase your account balance.
• Expense: Money you SPENT - groceries, gas, bills, subscriptions, or any purchase. These show up as negative (red) numbers and decrease your account balance.
• Transfer: Money you moved from one of your accounts to another - like transferring from checking to savings. This doesn't change your total wealth, just moves money around.
• Payment: When you pay your credit card bill - this doesn't change your total wealth because you're paying off debt you already owe. Your checking account goes down, but your credit card debt also goes down by the same amount.

📝 What Information Do I Need to Enter?

When you add a transaction, SavePoint shows you a form with several fields. Here's what each one means and whether you need to fill it out:

• Amount (Required): How much money - just enter the number, SavePoint figures out if it's positive or negative based on the type
• Account (Required): Which bank account, credit card, or cash account this affects - choose from your list
• Date (Required): When this happened - SavePoint fills in today's date, but you can change it
• Description (Required): What this was for - "Grocery store," "Salary deposit," "Coffee," etc.
• Category (Required): What type of expense or income - helps with budgeting and reports
• Currency (Optional): The currency for this transaction - defaults to your account's currency if not specified
• Payee (Optional): Who you paid or who paid you - "SuperMart," "MyCompany Inc," "Mom," etc.
• Check Number (Optional): If you wrote a check, put the check number here
• Notes (Optional): Any extra details you want to remember about this transaction

✂️ How to Split a Transaction

There are two ways to split a transaction: from the transaction table using the split button, or inline when adding or editing a transaction.

Method 1: Split Button (Transaction Table)

• Find the transaction you want to split in the transaction table
• Click the split button (branch icon) in the actions column for that transaction
• The Split Transaction modal opens, showing the transaction summary (description, account, date, type, and amount) at the top

Method 2: Inline Split (Add or Edit Transaction Modal)

• Open the Add Transaction or Edit Transaction modal
• Click "Split this transaction" (branch icon button) to activate the inline split editor
• The single category dropdown is replaced with the inline split editor where you can add multiple category rows
• To turn off split mode, click the button again. If you have split data entered, SavePoint will ask you to confirm before discarding the split rows

🔧 Using the Split Editor

Whether you use the split modal or the inline editor, the controls work the same way:

• Split Rows: Each row represents one portion of the split. You need at least two rows. Each row has a category dropdown, an amount field, a percentage field, and optional notes
• Dollar/Percent Mode: Each row can independently be set to dollar mode or percent mode using the per-row toggle button. In dollar mode, you enter a fixed amount. In percent mode, you enter a percentage and SavePoint calculates the dollar amount. You can also use the "Set All $" or "Set All %" buttons at the top to switch all rows at once
• Amount Adjustments: Each amount and percentage field has +/- buttons for fine-tuning values by $1 or 1% increments
• Progress Bar: A visual progress bar shows how much of the transaction total has been allocated. It displays green when you reach exactly 100%, yellow while you are still allocating, and red if you go over 100%
• Remaining Amount: A "Remaining" badge shows how much of the transaction total is still unallocated. The badge turns green when the remaining amount reaches $0.00
• Reorder Rows: Use the up/down arrow buttons on each row to change the order of your splits
• Per-Split Notes: Click the sticky note icon on any row to expand a notes field for that split. The icon changes color when notes are present
• Add Split: Click "Add Split" to add another row. There is no limit on the number of splits
• Delete Row: Click the X button on any row to remove it (minimum of two rows required)

⚡ Even Split

The Even Split button distributes the transaction total equally across your split rows:

• With categories already assigned: Click "Even Split" and the total is divided equally among the existing rows. If the amount does not divide evenly, the remainder pennies are assigned to the first row(s). For example, splitting $100 three ways produces $33.34, $33.33, and $33.33
• Without categories: Click "Even Split" and an inline count picker appears, asking "Split into how many?" Enter the number of rows you want (minimum 2, maximum 50) and SavePoint creates that many rows with equal amounts

💾 Saving Splits

The "Save Splits" button is only enabled when all of the following conditions are met:

• All rows have a category selected
• All rows have an amount greater than zero
• The total allocation equals 100% (remaining amount is $0.00)
• At least two rows exist

If any of these conditions are not met when saving a transaction with inline splits, SavePoint displays a specific error message explaining what needs to be corrected (for example, "Split amounts must equal the transaction total" or "All split rows must have a category selected").

👁️ Viewing Split Transactions

Split transactions are easy to identify and explore in the transaction table:

• Split Badge: Split transactions display a blue "Split" badge (with a branch icon) in the category column instead of a single category name
• Expandable Sub-Rows: Click the chevron arrow next to the Split badge to expand the transaction and see each split as an indented sub-row. Each sub-row shows the split's category emoji, category name, and amount
• Collapse: Click the chevron again to collapse the sub-rows

↩️ Removing a Split (Unsplit)

If you want to revert a split transaction back to a single-category transaction:

• Open the split modal for the transaction (click the split button in the actions column)
• Click "Unsplit" to open the Remove Split modal
• Choose which category to keep: A dropdown shows all the categories from your splits, each with its emoji, name, and amount. Select the one you want the transaction to revert to
• Click "Remove Split" to confirm. All split data is removed, and the transaction is assigned to the category you selected

📊 How Splits Affect Reports and Other Features

Split amounts flow through to all areas of SavePoint that use category-based calculations:

• Budget: Each split's amount counts toward the budget for that split's category. A $150 transaction split between Groceries ($60) and Household ($50) adds $60 to your Groceries budget actuals and $50 to your Household budget actuals
• Cashflow Center: Split amounts appear under their respective categories in the monthly cashflow tables and drilldowns
• Dashboard: Category distribution charts reflect the split amounts, not the parent transaction's original single category
• Reports: All category-based reports use the split amounts for accurate breakdowns
• Yearly Trends: Split amounts are aggregated per category in the yearly table
• FIRE Calculations: Split amounts are used for expense and savings calculations
• Goals: If you have goal rules that match a split's category, the split amount (not the full parent amount) is used for the goal allocation. If multiple splits match different goal rules, each goal receives only its matching split amount
• Category Filter: Filtering transactions by category will find split transactions where any split matches the selected category, not just the parent transaction's original category
• Excel/CSV Export: Split transactions are exported as multiple rows (one per split) with "Split" (Y/N) and "Split Group" columns for identification
• Per-split Owner (Advanced household mode): When household mode is Advanced, each split row gets its own Owner dropdown so you can record "Sarah paid the $120 personal portion, Tom paid the $80 business portion" inside a single transaction. If the splits have different owners, the parent transaction is automatically marked Shared.
• Per-split Tags: Each split row can carry its own tags independent of the parent transaction. This is what lets you split one $200 charge into "$120 with General tag Discretionary / Wants" and "$80 with Business tag Client Billable" without having the tags conflict at the transaction level. See Tags & Tagging System for the broader tagging concept.

📂 How Categories Work

Every transaction gets assigned to a category so SavePoint knows what type of spending it represents. SavePoint uses a three-level categorization system: main category, Subcategory 1, and Subcategory 2.

Main Category (Required)

The primary type of transaction - what you actually spent money on or where income came from:

• Income Categories: Types of money coming in like "Salary," "Freelance," "Investment Income," or "Tax Refund"
• Expense Categories: Types of spending like "Groceries," "Rent," "Utilities," "Entertainment," or "Transportation"
• Transfer Categories: Moving money between your own accounts - doesn't affect your budget since it's not real spending

Subcategory 1 (Optional) - Needs vs Discretionary

We recommend using this to categorize your spending as "Discretionary" (wants) or "Needs" (essential expenses). This helps you see if your actual spending aligns with financial guidelines like the 50/30/20 rule (50% needs, 30% discretionary, 20% savings). SavePoint shows you these percentages in budget reports:

• Needs: Essential expenses you must pay - rent, groceries, utilities, insurance, minimum debt payments. These keep your life running
• Discretionary: Non-essential spending you choose to do - dining out, entertainment, hobbies, subscriptions. You could cut these if needed

Subcategory 2 (Optional) - Life Area Analysis

Use this for more granular analysis across different areas of your life:

• Purpose Categories: Group by life area like "Food," "Living," "Medical," "Transportation," "Entertainment," "Personal," or "Financial"
• Cross-Category Analysis: Track total spending on "Food" even when it comes from multiple categories (Groceries + Dining Out + Coffee)
• Why This Helps: You might realize total "Food" spending is 40% of your budget, even though no single category looked too high

Example: "Groceries" might be main category with "Needs" for Subcategory 1 and "Food" for Subcategory 2. "Dining Out" would be main category with "Discretionary" for Subcategory 1 and "Food" for Subcategory 2. This way you can see spending patterns across broader life areas.

Tracking by property, vehicle, or project. Subcategory 2 is just as useful for grouping costs by something you own (a boat, a vacation home, a car) as by life area. Two facts shape how you set this up: each category is its own budget line, and a transaction takes its subcategories from whatever category you assign it - so the category is the smallest thing that shows on its own, and Subcategory 2 groups across categories. To see each cost and a per-property total, give every cost its own category and tag them with the same Subcategory 2. For example, create Rental Utilities, Rental Property Tax, and Rental Insurance as separate categories, each with Subcategory 2 = "Rental Property" (use "Other (specify)" to type it). Each then appears as its own line in your budget, and on the Transactions page you can filter by Subcategory 2 = "Rental Property" to see everything that property costs in one place. If instead you only want a single number per property with no breakdown, just make one category named for the property (for example "Rental Property") and put all of its spending there.

🎯 Setting Up Good Categories

The key is creating categories that match how you think about money and that you'll actually use:

• Start Broad: Begin with major categories like "Food," "Housing," "Transportation," "Entertainment"
• Add Detail Later: If "Food" becomes a large expense, break it into "Groceries," "Dining Out," "Coffee"
• Match Your Budget: Categories should align with how you plan to budget - if you budget for "Utilities," use "Utilities" as a category
• Be Consistent: Always categorize similar expenses the same way - all grocery stores go to "Groceries," all restaurants to "Dining Out"
• Avoid Too Many: 15-25 categories is plenty for most people - too many makes it overwhelming to categorize transactions

✏️ Assigning Categories to Transactions

SavePoint offers several ways to categorize your transactions efficiently:

• During Entry: Choose the category when you first enter each transaction
• Bulk Categorization: Select multiple similar transactions and assign them all the same category at once
• Auto-Categorization Rules: Set up rules in Settings → Merchant Mapping so transactions from specific merchants automatically get categorized
• Import Categorization: Categories can be assigned during the CSV import process
• Auto Categorization (Import Only): During import, SavePoint suggests categories based on merchant mapping patterns or your prior transaction history for similar vendors
• Quick Edit Mode: Rapidly categorize many transactions in sequence

📅 Time Period Filters

Choose what time period you want to see:

• Current Month: Only transactions from this month, great for tracking current spending
• Last Week: The most recent complete calendar week (Monday through Sunday)
• Last Month: Previous calendar month only, helpful for reviewing completed months
• Last 3 Months: Shows recent spending patterns without going too far back
• Last 6 Months: Good for seasonal analysis or quarterly reviews
• Last Year: The previous full calendar year (January 1 to December 31 of last year)
• This Year: The current calendar year, January 1 to December 31 of this year
• Year to Date: The current year so far, January 1 of this year through today. This is the usual choice for "how am I doing this year?"
• Custom Dates: Pick any start and end date you want
• All Time: Every transaction you've ever entered, can be slow if you have lots of data

🏦 Account, Category, and Import Batch Filters

Focus on specific accounts, spending categories, or imports:

• Account Filter: See transactions from just one account - helpful for reconciling bank statements
• Category Filter: Show only certain types of spending like "Groceries" or "Entertainment." This filter also finds split transactions where any split matches the selected category
• Transaction Type: Show only Income, only Expenses, only Transfers, or only Payments. There is also an Income & Expense option that shows income and expenses together while hiding Transfers and Payments, which is the usual view for reviewing what you actually earned and spent without internal money movements between your own accounts
• Import Batch Filter: Filter transactions to a specific import batch. Each import is tracked with a batch ID that includes the date and original filename (e.g., "2026-03-17_Chase-Checking.csv"). Use this to review, verify, or bulk-delete all transactions from a particular import. The dropdown auto-refreshes after deleting transactions, so empty batches disappear automatically

🔍 Using the Search Box

The quickest way to find specific transactions:

• Type any keyword - like "grocery store," "coffee," or "gas"
• Search happens instantly as you type
• Finds partial matches - typing "groc" will find "grocery store"
• Not case sensitive - "COFFEE" and "coffee" both work
• Searches everywhere - descriptions, payees, notes, even account names

✅ How to Select Multiple Transactions

When you want to change or delete several transactions at once, you first need to enable Edit Mode, then select them:

• Enable Edit Mode: Click the "Edit Mode" button to activate selection checkboxes on all transactions
• Select Individual Transactions: Click the checkbox next to each transaction you want to work with
• Select All Visible: Use the "Select All" checkbox at the top to choose all transactions you can see
• See How Many Selected: SavePoint shows you "X transactions selected" so you know how many you've chosen
• Keep Selections: Your selected transactions stay selected even if you change pages or filters

🗑️ Deleting Multiple Transactions

Once you have transactions selected, you can delete them all at once:

• Select the transactions you want to delete (use the checkboxes)
• Click "Delete Selected" - SavePoint will ask you to confirm
• Confirm the deletion - SavePoint shows you how many will be deleted
• Account balances update automatically to reflect the deleted transactions

✏️ Edit Mode - Change Multiple Transactions Quickly

Edit Mode lets you change multiple transactions directly in the table without opening each one individually:

• Click "Edit Mode" to turn the table into an editing view
• Click in any cell to change things like category, description, or account
• Use dropdowns that appear for categories and accounts
• Press "Save All Changes" when you're done editing
• SavePoint updates everything and recalculates your account balances

⌨️ Edit Mode Keyboard Shortcuts

Edit Mode supports keyboard shortcuts that work regardless of Caps Lock state or whether Shift is held down. The two main shortcuts:

• Ctrl+S: Save changes. Works with Caps Lock on or off, with or without Shift.
• Ctrl+A: Behaves differently based on context. In an empty field, a single press adds a new row immediately. In a field containing text, the first press triggers the browser's native select-all (so you can replace the cell's value); a second Ctrl+A within about 600 milliseconds adds a new row.

🧹 Reset All Filters

Clicking "Reset All Filters" clears every filter at once, including Owner and Tag filters (which earlier versions left intact after a reset). Use this when you have narrowed the view several times and want a clean slate back to "all transactions, all the time".

📌 "Assign them" Banner from Budget

When you click "Assign them" on Budget's unassigned-transactions banner and arrive at Transactions, SavePoint may show a contextual banner at the top: "Showing unassigned transactions, but your saved filters ({{filters}}) are still narrowing the view." with a "Show all unassigned" link. The banner only appears when you have saved filters like Category, Sub Category, or Type that would hide some unassigned transactions from the list. Clicking "Show all unassigned" clears the narrowing filters but keeps Owner set to Unassigned. The banner auto-dismisses when you change the Owner filter away from Unassigned.

👥 Household-Aware Transactions

When Household Mode is enabled, the Transactions page gains several member-aware controls:

• Owner column on the table: A column showing each transaction's owner (a member name, Shared, or Unassigned). Hidden in Solo mode.
• Owner filter dropdown: Narrows the list to a specific member, Shared, or Unassigned. Combine with other filters (date, category, account, amount) to scope tightly.
• Default Owner on new transactions: If you have set a default household member in Settings > Household, new transactions pre-fill that member as the Owner. You can override on each transaction.
• Owner dropdown in the Add / Edit modal: Pick a member, Shared, or Unassigned when entering a transaction.
• Per-split member assignment in Advanced mode: Each split row gets its own Owner dropdown. If splits have different owners, the parent transaction is automatically marked Shared so the overall ownership stays consistent.

All of these controls are hidden in Solo mode. See Household & Members for the underlying concepts.

💱 How Transaction Currency Works

• Default Currency: New transactions use your account's currency by default (or base currency if account has no currency set)
• Multi-Currency Display: If a transaction is in a different currency than your base currency, it shows both - the original amount (e.g., "€50.00") and the converted amount (e.g., "→ $55.00")
• Conversion Rates: Uses exchange rates from your Multi-Currency settings. If no rate exists for the transaction date, uses 1:1 conversion
• Reports and Summaries: All currency amounts are converted to your base currency for accurate totals and charts