Assigning the transactions imported into PocketSmith into meaningful categories helps to classify your earning and spending into different areas. Once your transactions are assigned to categories, you can create budgets for these categories to track your earning and spending!
You can use the Categories page to personalise your categories with your own category names, colours, and even emoji 🎉
Just getting started?
Whether you want to create your categories in bulk, add as you go, or use automatic categorization from the bank feed, check out our user guide: An introduction to categories in PocketSmith
Frequently asked questions
Can I choose my own categories?
Yes! You can set up categories on the Categories page before you start categorizing your transactions.
Can I add and change categories as I go or do I need to create them all when I first get started?
You can set up the bulk of your categories on the Categories page before you start categorizing your transactions. You can also add categories of your choice as-you-go by adding new categories when categorizing your transactions on the Transactions page or the Categorize items page.
Can I use parent and sub-categories (nested categories)?
Yes! You can create sub-categories in two different ways on the categories page. By drag-and-dropping one category under another, or by editing the settings for a category. Learn more here: Sub-categories and nesting
Why do categories I've not created keep re-appearing?
If you notice categories keep reappearing that you did not add, this is likely due to bank feed automatic categorization. The option Auto-categorize where possible is selected by default when you first add your bank feeds. This results in new categories being made for you when new transactions are imported.
You can either turn this setting off, delete the bank feed category or edit the bank feed category name to one you’d prefer and PocketSmith will remember this for next time.
Can I edit categories in bulk?
Categories cannot be edited in bulk and will need to be updated one-by-one. Categories can be deleted or created in bulk.
Why is one of my expense categories showing as income (or vice versa)?
This will most likely be due to the category type being incorrectly set up. To fix this up you'll just need to change the category type to better suit this particular category. See Category types in PocketSmith to learn how to change this!
Why aren't my sub-categories showing as nested below my parent categories in my reports, such as the Income & Expense statement?
Currently, categories can't be nested (i.e. rolled up to only see the parent category) in our reports, such as the Income & Expense Statement, or on the Earning and Spending chart on the Dashboard. You can analyze your earning and spending by parent category on the Trends page. You can also see a breakdown of your parent categories into sub-categories by using the Transactions Income & Expense pie chart on the Transactions page.