Automation rules

Rules let you transform transactions automatically as they come in — set the category, assign a merchant, mark a transaction reimbursable, add tags, and more.

Where rules live

Open Settings → Rules. The page lists every rule you've created, in priority order.

Anatomy of a rule

A rule has two parts:

• Conditions — what must be true for the rule to fire.
• Actions — what to do when the conditions match: set category, assign a merchant, set a flag (reimbursable / recurring), add tags, or set a tax category.

The two ways to match a transaction

When you add a condition, the first choice is what to match on. The two most important options are Merchant and Description — and they work differently on purpose.

Merchant — match by who it is

Pick Merchant, and a dropdown appears listing your merchants. Choose one, and the rule applies to every transaction identified as that merchant — no matter what the raw bank text says.

This is match-by-identity. Once MoneyVue knows a transaction is "Aldi," it's Aldi whether the bank line reads ALDI 64123, ALDI SF #22, or ALDI.COM PURCHASE. That's why Merchant only offers equals — you're pointing at one specific merchant, so "contains" or "starts with" would add nothing. One pick covers all the messy variations for you.

Use Merchant when the transaction already shows a merchant name in MoneyVue. The classic recipe: Aldi → Groceries. Add a Merchant condition, pick Aldi from the list, add a "set category → Groceries" action, and every Aldi transaction lands in Groceries from now on.

Description — match the raw bank text

Pick Description, and you get a free-text box with three operators: contains, starts with, and equals. This matches against the raw text your bank sends, exactly as it arrives.

Use Description when a transaction hasn't been identified as a merchant yet — the most common reason to reach for it is to assign the merchant yourself. For example, your phone bill might show up as ACH AUTO MOBILE PHONE BILL with no merchant attached. Create a rule:

• Condition: Description contains MOBILE PHONE BILL
• Action: set merchant → T-Mobile

Now those transactions get tagged as T-Mobile going forward — and once they're identified as T-Mobile, your Merchant rules (like "T-Mobile → Bills") take over from there.

Amount and Account

Two more condition types, unchanged:

• Amount — greater than, less than, or between two values.
• Account — pick one of your accounts; the rule only fires on transactions from that account.

You can combine conditions — for example, Description contains "AMZN" and Amount greater than $100 — and all of them must match for the rule to fire.

Common recipes

• Categorize by merchant. Merchant equals Aldi → set category Groceries. The cleanest, most durable rule — it follows the merchant, not the bank's spelling.
• Assign a merchant from raw text. Description contains MOBILE PHONE BILL → set merchant T-Mobile. Turns an unidentified bank line into a named merchant so your merchant rules can act on it.
• Start a rule from a transaction. When you build a rule from a transaction that already has a merchant, MoneyVue pre-fills the Merchant condition with that merchant for you — one click and you're most of the way there. If the transaction has no merchant yet, it falls back to a Description condition using the transaction's text.

There's also a quick shortcut right on a transaction: when you rename a transaction, tick "Use this name for future transactions" and MoneyVue creates a matching rule for you automatically.

Order matters

Rules run top to bottom. The first rule whose conditions match wins. Drag rules to reorder them — put the most specific rules above the more general ones.

Creating a rule

1. Open Settings → Rules.
2. Click New Rule.
3. Name the rule, add one or more conditions, and one or more actions.
4. Save.

The editor shows how many existing transactions the rule would match, so you can check it before saving.

Editing and deleting

Click any rule to edit its conditions, actions, or order. Delete from the rule's menu. Deleting a rule does not undo its past effects — transactions it already changed stay as they are until you change them by hand or with another rule.

FAQ

I had rules before — do I need to redo them? No. Your existing rules were upgraded automatically. Any rule that pointed at one of your merchants now matches that merchant by identity, so it keeps working across all the raw-text variations without any action from you. Rules that matched raw bank text still do exactly that, under the Description option.

Why does Merchant only offer "equals"? Because you're picking one specific merchant from your list. MoneyVue already knows which transactions belong to that merchant, so "equals that merchant" is all you need — it covers every variation of the bank's text automatically.

A transaction has the wrong (or no) merchant. How do I fix it with a rule? Use a Description condition to match the raw bank text, and a set merchant action to assign the right merchant. From then on those transactions are identified correctly, and your Merchant rules apply to them.

Will a rule re-run on transactions I've already categorized by hand? No. Manual changes win and are never overwritten on the next sync.

Can one rule do several things at once? Yes. A single rule can set the category, add tags, and flag a transaction for reimbursement all together.

What if two rules match the same transaction? The higher one in the list wins. Reorder your rules to control which fires first.