Review & Categorize Transactions
How transaction review works in Forbidden Finance: Smart, Full, and Off review modes, the review wizard, merchant rules, and applying a category to all pending transactions.
Overview
When new transactions arrive — from a bank sync, an import, or a partner's shared account — Forbidden Finance categorizes them automatically. Transaction review is how you stay in control of that: transactions the app isn't sure about wait in a review queue until you confirm or correct their category.
Review Modes
Choose how much you want to be asked. Go to Settings > Transaction Review:
- Smart review (default) — High-confidence categories apply and confirm automatically: anything matched by one of your own merchant rules, a category you picked yourself, or a category that came with your bank or import file. Only uncertain transactions wait for you.
- Review everything — Every new transaction waits for your confirmation, no matter how it was categorized. Maximum control, more taps.
- Off — Nothing ever waits for review. Categories apply automatically, and anything currently waiting is accepted the moment you switch this on. You can still change any transaction's category by hand at any time.
The Review Wizard
Open the review queue
Tap the To Review card on your dashboard, the Review transactions card at the top of your Transactions list, or the reminder banner that appears when transactions are waiting. The badge on the Transactions tab shows how many are in the queue.
Check each transaction
The wizard shows one transaction at a time: merchant, amount, date, account, and the suggested category with a note on where the suggestion came from.
Confirm or change
Tap Confirm to accept the category as shown, or Change to pick a different one.
Teach it your rules
Every card offers Always categorize this merchant like this — check it to create a rule so future charges from this merchant get this category automatically, and confirm themselves in Smart mode. When you change the category, a second option appears: Apply to all pending from this merchant also updates every other transaction from the same merchant that's still waiting in your review queue, so you only answer once.
When Two Entries Are the Same Purchase
If you enter a purchase by hand and your bank later reports the same one, you would otherwise end up with it twice. Rather than guess, Forbidden Finance parks the pair in your review queue and asks. The card is titled This looks like the same purchase and shows the two entries side by side, You entered against Your bank reported. You may also see it right after you save a hand-entered transaction, when the match turns up straight away.
There are two answers:
- Merge them leaves one transaction. The bank's version is the one that survives, so the amount and date are the ones that actually cleared, and your category, tags, description, receipts, and line items carry across to it.
- Keep both leaves the two transactions exactly as they are, and the pair is not suggested again.
When the bank's amount comes in a little above yours, the card shows the difference as a probable tip. That is the usual reason a restaurant charge settles higher than the total you wrote down.
If both entries already carry their own details, the card asks you to pick a side before it can merge: Yours or The bank's. This happens when each entry has line items, or when each has a category or split you chose yourself. One side's version is kept as it is, so nothing is silently blended together.
Where You'll See It
- Dashboard card — the "To Review" widget shows how many transactions are waiting, or "All caught up" when the queue is empty.
- Transactions tab badge — a count on the tab icon whenever the queue is non-empty.
- Reminder banner — once per app session, a dismissible "N transactions need review" banner appears at the top of the dashboard. Tap Later and it stays gone until you next open the app.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a transaction waiting for review count in my budget?
Yes. Review state never changes whether a transaction counts — it counts from the moment it arrives, under its suggested category. Confirming or changing the category just moves where it counts.
What happens to my queue if I turn review Off?
Everything currently waiting is accepted with its suggested category, and nothing new enters the queue. Switching back to Smart or Review everything starts fresh from your next sync.
Can my partner review transactions on our shared accounts?
Yes — anyone with write access to a shared account can confirm or re-categorize its transactions. Their own accounts' queues stay theirs. The "apply to all pending from this merchant" option only works on your own transactions.
If I merge two entries, what happens to the one I typed in?
It gives way to the merged transaction, which keeps your category, tags, description, and receipts. Your budget counts the purchase once, at the amount your bank settled.
Why did a transaction confirm itself?
In Smart mode, transactions matched by one of your merchant rules — or categorized by your own explicit pick — confirm automatically. That's the point of teaching it rules: the queue gets quieter over time.
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