When you import transactions from a bank statement, Financio automatically applies your rules and provides AI-powered category suggestions for new merchants. This page explains how automation works during the import process.
How Rules Apply During Import
As each transaction is imported, Financio checks it against your existing rules in order. When a transaction matches a rule's conditions, the rule's actions are applied automatically.
This means:
- Merchants you've seen before are instantly categorised
- Tags are applied without manual effort
- Messy bank descriptions are cleaned up
The Import Review Screen
When the import finishes, Financio shows a summary of what happened, followed by a set of panels. Rules applied, Potential transfer matches and Suggested categories expand when you click their heading; the rest are always visible.
| Panel | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Transactions imported | How many transactions were added, and how many scheduled payments were reconciled with your bank's actual details |
| Recurring transactions paused | Templates that kept creating entries your statement never confirmed, so Financio stopped them |
| Rules applied | How many transactions matched rules, which rules matched, and what each one did |
| Potential transfer matches | Imported transactions that appear to pair with a transaction in another account |
| Suggested categories | Transactions with no matching rule, where AI has suggested a category |
| Rules created | Rules you created during this review, and what each one categorised |
On iPhone, the import summary also offers Undo Import, which removes everything the import created. See Importing Transactions.
Rules Applied
The Rules applied panel reports how many transactions had rules applied and how many distinct rules were involved. Expand it to see each transaction with its date, merchant, resulting category, amount, and the specific rule actions that fired.
Potential Transfer Matches
If an imported transaction looks like the other half of a transfer (a matching amount and date in another account), it appears here. Review the two sides and choose Confirm as Transfer to link them, or Not a Transfer to dismiss the match (on iPhone: Confirm transfer / Not a transfer).
If the Transfer Check Fails
Occasionally the transfer check can't run. Your transactions still import correctly; open any transaction and use Convert to transfer to link it manually.
AI Category Suggestions
For transactions that don't match any existing rule, Financio's AI analyses the merchant and description and suggests a category. These appear in the Suggested categories panel, which reports how many transactions have suggestions. Suggestions arrive progressively, so the panel may show that it's still checking more transactions while you work through the ones already ready.
AI Uses Your Categories
Suggestions are based on your existing category structure, so they match how you organise your finances.
Applying a Suggestion
Expand the Suggested categories panel. Each row shows the date, merchant and amount. Click a row to see the suggested category and the actions for it.
- Click Set Category to apply the suggested category to that transaction only.
- Tick Always use this before clicking to also create a rule. The button changes to Set Category & Create Rule.
(On iPhone the buttons read Set and Set & Rule, and the options link reads Create a rule.)
The "Always use this" Tick Carries Forward
Once you tick Always use this, rows you haven't touched yet inherit the same choice. Categorising twenty rows is one tick rather than twenty. Untick it on any row to go back to setting the category without a rule.
Adjusting the Rule Before Creating It
Use the Options link on a row to open the rule detail before creating it. You can change:
| Field | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Category | The category the rule will apply |
| Match text | The text the rule matches on |
| Rename merchant | Optionally replace the messy bank description with a clean merchant name |
| Tags | Tags the rule will add to matching transactions |
On iPhone the fields are named Match when text contains and Rename merchant (optional).
Financio pre-fills Match text with a cleaned version of the bank description, stripping reference numbers and bank filler. This matters: matching on the raw description usually produces a rule that can never match again, because the next statement carries a different reference number.
Before you commit, Financio tells you how many transactions in this import the rule will categorise and confirms that it also applies to future imports. Click Create Rule & Set Category to confirm, or Cancel to close the options (on iPhone, tap Hide options).
Match Text That Describes a Transaction Type
If the match text names a transaction type rather than a payee, such as "INTEREST", Financio limits the rule to the account you're importing, and tells you why. This stops a generic word from sweeping up unrelated transactions in your other accounts.
Rules Created
Every rule you create during the review is listed in a Rules created panel that stays on screen for the rest of the review. For each rule it shows the match text, the category, how many transactions in this import it categorised, and a this account only badge if the rule was scoped to the account.
Existing Transactions Are Not Changed
A rule created during import applies to this import and to future ones. It does not go back and recategorise transactions that were already in your account. To categorise those, use bulk editing.
Best Practices
Build rules as you go
Each import is an opportunity to improve automation. When you see a suggestion for a merchant you'll encounter again, tick Always use this so the category is applied automatically from then on.
Review the match text
For merchants that appear with varying reference numbers, open Options and check the match text. A short, distinctive fragment of the merchant name matches more reliably than a long one.
Review before accepting
AI suggestions are usually accurate, but review them before accepting. Once a rule is created, it applies to all future transactions matching that text.
Check the rules page
After a few imports, visit the Rules page to review the rules you created. You can edit them to add tags, refine conditions, or adjust the category.
Next Steps
- Importing Transactions: The full import process, from file upload to review
- Managing Rules: Edit, reorder, and delete the rules you've built up