Change a transaction's category

Ask your AI to move a transaction to a different category and Pennyweight saves it as your decision. From then on, your choice is the one that shows, ahead of a rule, an import or your bank. For where categories come from in the first place, see how categories work.

How to do it

1. Tell your AI which transaction you mean. A merchant name plus a date or an amount is usually enough.
2. Name the category you want. Any name works. A name you haven't used before becomes a new category.
3. Your AI finds the transaction, changes it and tells you what changed.

What you'll see

Your AI identifies the transaction by its date or amount and confirms the new category. For the first prompt, it says the Bluejay Air charge moved from Travel to Vacation. For the second, the Corner Bakery charge had no category and is now Dining. Both save straight away.

When your AI asks you first

Two checks can hold a change until you confirm it.

• A recent decision. If you, a rule or your bank set the category on a transaction changed in the last 90 days, Pennyweight stops a change that would undo it. Your AI gets a one-time code that lasts 15 minutes, and sends the change again with it once you say yes. A transaction with no category, or one whose category came from an import, saves without this check. See why your AI asks "are you sure?".
• A pinned merchant. A pin can stop a change to a different category for that merchant's transaction. It does so only when your AI saved the pin as your decision at full confidence, under the merchant's name in lowercase with underscores, such as merchant:bluejay_air. A pin saved any other way doesn't stop the change. When it does, your AI can ask you and then force the change with a one-time code. Forcing changes that one transaction and leaves the pin in place, so the next contradicting change is stopped again. To stop the question, ask your AI to remove the pin. See what your AI remembers.

Good to know

• One transaction per change. To move many transactions at once, see recategorize many transactions at once.
• The name is saved exactly as you give it. Pennyweight doesn't check it against a list, so Dining and dining become two categories. See my category list is empty or has old entries.
• Your choice outranks rules. A rule never replaces a category you set by hand. See who wins: you, your rules, or the bank.
• Bank transactions can be recategorized too. Only their amount, date and currency are locked.
• Every change has a reason. Your AI records why it made the change. The reason is kept on the transaction and in your audit trail.
• Transfer categories link the other side. If you choose a transfer category such as TRANSFER, Pennyweight looks for the matching transaction on another account and links the two when it finds exactly one. See transfers aren't spending.
• For future transactions, use a rule. A rule categorizes matching transactions you import, transactions your AI adds without a category, and new bank transactions. Bank transactions are added at your next session, when you open the web app or ask your AI something. A new rule leaves the transactions you already have alone until your AI applies it to them. See create a rule and apply your rules to transactions you already have.