Edit a transaction
Change a transaction's date, payee, category, amount, notes or account in the list or in the Details panel.
Updated November 1, 2026
Change a transaction's date, payee, category, amount, notes or account. On a computer, you can edit values in the list. On any device, use the Details panel.
Edit in the list (computer)
- Select Transactions in the sidebar.
- Select the value to change: the date, payee, category, notes or amount.
- Make the change. Press Enter or Tab, or select outside the field, to save. Press Esc to cancel.
You can also work from the keyboard. Tab and Shift + Tab move from cell to cell, and each cell opens with its text selected, so what you enter replaces it. Enter saves and moves down to the same cell in the next row. In Date, Notes and Amount, ↑ and ↓ save and move up or down. In Payee and Category, ↑ and ↓ move through the list, and Enter chooses the highlighted item. See Keyboard shortcuts.
The Payee and Category lists open below the value. On a row near the bottom of the window, they open above it, so the value you are editing stays in view.
A refused change shows an error under the value.
| Value | How to change it |
|---|---|
| Date | Enter a date in the format you chose in Settings, such as 10/12/2026. You can leave out the year, or enter the day alone. Or select the calendar button next to the box and choose a date. |
| Payee | Search the list, or enter a new name and choose Create “name”. Choose No payee to clear it. |
| Category | Choose from the list. Categories other than income and off-budget ones show their Balance from the Budget page for the transaction's month. Choose Uncategorized to clear it. The list never offers a hidden category. A transaction that already has one shows its name followed by hidden. |
| Notes | Enter text. Clear the text to remove the note. |
| Amount | Enter a number. |
A number without a sign keeps the transaction's direction: 45 on a purchase stays money out. Enter -45 for money out or +45 for money in. Parentheses, such as (45), are not accepted.
Changing the amount of a transfer changes both sides. Changing the amount of a split changes its total and leaves the lines as they are. To change tags, see Tag transactions.
Edit in Details
- Select the row, or the Details icon at its right. On a phone, select the card.
- Change the fields in Edit transaction: Date, Account, Payee, Category, Debit, Credit and Notes. Debit is money out and Credit is money in. Entering one clears the other. Account appears only for a transaction that can move to another account. See the next section.
- Select Save. The panel closes.
To close the panel without saving, select Cancel or the X. If a change is refused, a message appears and the panel stays open.
In the Category list, categories other than income and off-budget ones show their Balance from the Budget page for the month in Date.
On a phone, Payee and Category open as a sheet from the bottom of the screen, with the search box at the top and the list below it. The keyboard stays down until you select the search box. Choose a name to use it. Select the X at the top of the sheet, or the dimmed area above the sheet, to close it without a change. A split line's category and payee work the same way, and a split line's category sheet shows the same Balance figures. On a card, a split line's category opens the same sheet. A line that is a transfer has no category button on the card.
A transfer has no payee, Debit or Credit fields. Change its amount in the list on a computer.
If your bank suggested a category, "Bank suggested: …" appears under Category. When the suggestion matches one of your categories and Category is empty, select Use it to apply it.
Below Tags, the panel shows where the transaction came from. These lines are read-only. Bank description appears only when the transaction has one:
| Line | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Bank description | The text your bank or the file gave for the transaction. For a bank transaction, this is the bank's own description, which can differ from the payee name. A transaction you entered yourself has none. |
| Added | "From your bank", "Imported from a file" or "Brought over from Good Steward Local", with the date it was added to Good Steward. A transaction you entered shows "Added by you". |
The Bank description is the text that an imported payee condition in a rule compares. See Rule conditions and actions.
Move a transaction to another account
Use this when you entered a transaction in the wrong account.
- In Details, choose the other account in Account, then select Save.
- On a computer, in a list that shows more than one account (All accounts, On-budget or Off-budget), select the account name in the Account column and choose another account. This column isn't part of the Tab movement between cells, so use Details to change the account from the keyboard.
The choices are your open accounts. The transaction keeps its category. In an off-budget account a category has no effect on the budget, and it applies again if you move the transaction back to an on-budget account. Undo moves the transaction back.
A transaction from your bank stays in the account the bank put it in. A transfer, a split transaction and a split line can't move either, and they show no Account choice. To change where a transfer points, see Record a transfer between accounts. A rule's set account action skips the same transactions.
A move is also refused when the other account already has a copy of the same imported transaction. This happens when you import the same file into two accounts. The message says "That account already has a copy of this transaction." If the copy is a duplicate, delete it. A rule's set account action skips such a transaction too.
Reconciled transactions
A lock icon marks a reconciled transaction. If you change its date, amount, payee or account, the Reconciled transaction dialog asks you to confirm with Change it anyway. Changes to the category, notes and tags don't ask. To remove the lock instead, select the lock icon and confirm.
See To review, Cleared and Reconciled. If a change is refused, see I can't change a transaction.
Other things to know
- Choosing a category for one transaction or one split line marks it reviewed. This applies in the list, on a phone card, with Use it, with Save in Details and in the split editor. The eye icon, the tint and the To review count change at once. In the split editor, they change when the save finishes. Undo reverses the category and the mark together. Clearing a category, changing several transactions at once, rules and bank sync do not mark a transaction reviewed.
- Changing the date, payee, amount or notes doesn't mark a transaction reviewed. Select the eye icon for that. Each line of a split has its own eye: select it to mark that line reviewed, and select it again to put the line back. The eye on the split's own row marks every line.
- After you choose a category, a message such as "Categorized “Corner Market”. Do this automatically next time?" can offer Create rule and Customize. It appears each time you categorize one transaction, when the transaction has a payee and no rule covers that payee. On a phone, it is a box across the width of the screen, with the message on top, Create rule and Customize on a row below it, and the X in the top-right corner. Create rule saves a rule that sets this category for transactions with this payee. Customize opens New rule from transaction over the list, so you can adjust the conditions. When you close or save it, you return to the same list, with the same account, filters and page. See Categorize transactions automatically with rules.
- Use Undo and Redo in the list toolbar to reverse or repeat your last 20 changes. On a computer, Ctrl + Z (Mac: Cmd + Z) undoes and Ctrl + Shift + Z (Mac: Cmd + Shift + Z) or Ctrl + Y redoes.