You will need the Full Write Accounting permission to perform this action.
A bank rule lets you define a set of criteria the system uses to recognize imported transactions and automatically categorize them. You can also have a rule auto-confirm the transaction straight into your general ledger, so it bypasses the manual review step entirely.
Creating a bank rule
Go to Accounting > Banking and select the Bank Rules tab.
Click Add New to create a new rule. To edit an existing rule instead, click its name in the table.
In the Add Bank Rule window, give the rule a Name and set the criteria and actions described below, then click Save.
Naming the rule
Set these two fields at the top of the window:
Name - a descriptive name that tells you what the rule does. Required.
Enabled? - when toggled to No, the rule is saved but is skipped when transactions are imported.
Setting the Criteria
The Criteria section defines which imported transactions the rule should match:
Direction - whether the rule applies to money coming in (Balance increases) or money going out (Balance decreases).
Account - choose Any to apply the rule to every register account, or Specific to limit it to one account (for example, your checking account).
Conditions - add one or more conditions that must all be true for the rule to match, such as Amount or Description. For example, you might match transactions where the Description contains "5/3 Bankcard."
Setting the Actions
The Actions section determines how a matching transaction is categorized:
Category - the income or expense account the transaction is assigned to. Required.
Payee - an optional vendor or payee to set automatically.
Memo - an optional memo to apply to the transaction.
Auto Confirm? - when toggled to Yes, the rule applies these actions and immediately confirms the transaction into your general ledger. When set to No, the actions are applied but the transaction stays in the For Review list so you can confirm it yourself.
Managing your rules
Every rule you create is listed on the Bank Rules tab, with columns for Name, Direction, Criteria, Actions, Auto Confirm?, and Enabled? Click a rule's name to edit it, or use the actions menu at the start of its row for more options. To stop a rule from running without deleting it, edit the rule and toggle Enabled? to No.
Tip: You can also create a rule directly from a transaction while reviewing it. In the review window, use the create new rule option to build a rule from that transaction's details. See How do I categorize imported bank transactions?
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