How rules run

Rules run automatically on transactions as they arrive, and on request for transactions you already have. Each rule has a stage. Every rule whose conditions match a transaction applies its actions, in a set order.

When rules run automatically

Rules run when a transaction arrives in one of these ways:

• You import a CSV, TSV, OFX, QFX or QIF file. A cleared condition sees the transaction as cleared, unless you turned off Transactions imported from a file (CSV/OFX) start as Cleared in Settings. See Import transactions from a file.
• Your bank sends a new transaction. See How bank sync works.
• You select Add in the Add row (on a phone, the Add transaction form) while Categorize is empty or still shows a category the row filled in. As soon as you choose a payee while Categorize is empty, the row shows the category your rules would give. It also fills an empty Notes if a rule sets notes. It checks again when you leave the amount or date field, switch the direction, choose another account or switch the cleared mark. The save runs the rules once more with the final amount, date, account and cleared mark. A cleared condition sees the mark the row will be saved with, and a rule that sets cleared replaces it. Add a transaction shows how to open the row from any page.

Rules run before the app checks whether a transaction is already in the account. A rule that changes the date or payee changes what the app compares with your existing transactions.

If an incoming transaction matches one you entered yourself, the app updates your transaction instead of adding another. Rules do not change its category and do not overwrite its payee or notes. A rule's add tag action still applies.

When rules do not run

Rules do not run on:

• The Add row when you chose or changed the category yourself before you select Add. It is saved as you chose it. A split and a transfer are saved as you entered them.
• Edits to an existing transaction.
• A scheduled item that you post.
• A backup or Good Steward Local export that you import.
• Transactions already in your budget. To apply rules to those, use Run rules or Apply actions to N selected now. See Run rules on transactions you already have.

Stages and run order

Each rule has a stage: Pre, Default or Post. Rules run in this order:

1. All Pre rules.
2. All Default rules.
3. All Post rules.

Inside a stage, rules run in the order you created them. The Rules page lists them in this order. You cannot drag rules to reorder them, and editing a rule does not move it. To make a rule run later, change its stage, or delete it and create it again. A new rule goes to the end of its stage, and so does a copy of a rule. See Categorize transactions automatically with rules.

Every rule that matches applies. Rules do not stop at the first match. When two matching rules set the same field, the rule that runs last wins. add tag is the exception: a transaction gets the tags from every matching rule.

A rule sees the new transaction as it arrived, plus the changes that earlier rules made to its payee, notes and category. The payee is the name as it came in, not a name you gave that payee later. imported payee is not changed by a rule or a rename. For a bank transaction it is the bank's own text, and a later sync corrects older bank transactions to it.

Use Pre for rules that clean up names, so later rules can match the clean name. Use Post for rules that must win over others.

Example: a transaction arrives with the imported payee "SBUX #1234".

Rule 2 matches because it sees the payee that rule 1 set. The transaction ends with the payee Starbucks and the category Coffee.

Rules and automatic categorization

Rules run with Auto categorization on or off. When no rule sets a category, the app can fill one in from your payee history or from a category the bank or file supplies. See How automatic categorization works.

When a rule splits a transaction, the app skips payee history and category suggestions. The parent has no category and the parts carry the categories.