Search and Filter Transactions

How to find transactions in Forbidden Finance using full-text search, date ranges, category filters, amount ranges, tags, and more.

Overview

Forbidden Finance provides full-text search and a comprehensive set of filters to help you find any transaction quickly. You can search by merchant name or description, then narrow results by date, category, account, amount range, tags, or pending status. Filters combine with each other, so you can answer specific questions like "How much did I spend at restaurants in March?" in seconds.

How to Search

Open the search bar

Go to Transactions and tap the search icon at the top of the screen. The search bar appears with your full transaction list below it.

Type your search term

Enter a merchant name, keyword, or phrase. Results update as you type. The search looks at both the merchant name and the description field, so searching "birthday" finds transactions where you typed "birthday gift" in the description.

Apply filters

Tap the filter icon next to the search bar to open the filter panel. Select one or more filters and tap Apply. The results update to show only transactions that match both your search text and your filters.

Clear filters

Tap Clear All in the filter panel to reset everything, or tap the X on individual filter chips to remove them one at a time.

Available Filters

Filter	What It Does	Example
Date range	Show transactions between two dates (inclusive)	March 1 -- March 31
Category	Show only transactions in a specific category (includes splits assigned to that category)	Groceries
Account	Show transactions from a single account	Chase Checking
Amount range	Set a minimum and/or maximum amount	$50 -- $200
Tags	Show transactions with any of the selected tags	"vacation," "tax-deductible"
Pending status	Show only pending or only posted transactions	Pending only
Uncategorized	Show transactions without a category	Uncategorized only
Source	Filter by how the transaction was created	Manual, Bank Sync, or Import

Combining Filters

All filters work together using AND logic. When you apply multiple filters, a transaction must match every active filter to appear in the results.

Example: To find all restaurant transactions over $30 in the last month:

Set the date range to the past 30 days.
Set the category to Restaurants.
Set the amount range minimum to $30.

Only transactions matching all three criteria appear.

If you also type "sushi" in the search bar, the results narrow further to restaurant transactions over $30 that mention "sushi" in the merchant name or description.

Key Details

Search is case-insensitive. Searching "amazon" finds "Amazon" and "AMAZON" equally.
Partial matches work. Searching "star" finds "Starbucks" and "Star Market."
Split transactions appear when filtering by category. If you split a transaction and one split is in Groceries, filtering by Groceries shows that split amount.
Results are sorted by date (newest first) by default. The most relevant results appear first when you use text search.
Filters persist until you clear them. If you navigate away and come back, your filters are still active.

Tips

Use tags like "reimbursable" or "business" to create your own filterable groups that cut across categories. This makes it easy to pull up all work expenses at tax time.

The "Uncategorized" filter is a great way to do a weekly cleanup. Filter for uncategorized transactions and assign categories in bulk to keep your budget accurate.

If you are not seeing a transaction you expect, check whether you have active filters. A stale date range or category filter might be hiding it.