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.

Search runs on our servers across your transaction history, not just the transactions your device happens to have loaded. That means a charge from months ago is findable without scrolling to it first.

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 transactions 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.

How Far Back Search Looks

When you search without setting a date range, Forbidden Finance searches the last 12 months by default. This keeps results fast on accounts with years of history.

You are always told when this happens. A line under the search box reads Showing matches from the last 12 months, next to a Search all history action. Tap it to run the same search over everything you can see.

Search as usual

Type your search term. If the default window applied, the status line under the box names it.

Tap Search all history

The same search runs again with no start date. The status line updates once the wider search is running.

Set a date range instead

If you already know roughly when the transaction happened, applying a date range filter is faster. A search that names its own dates is never narrowed to 12 months.

How far back Search all history reaches depends on your plan, because your plan sets how much history you can view:

Tier	History you can search
Free	6 months
Starter	12 months
Pro	24 months
Premium	Your whole history

On Free and Starter, your plan's history limit is already inside the 12-month default, so nothing is ever narrowed and you will not see the prompt. It appears on Pro and Premium, where there is older history to reach for.

If a search comes back empty, read the line under the search box before concluding the transaction is not there. "No matches in the last 12 months" is a different answer from "no matches," and Search all history is one tap away.

Key Details

Search is case-insensitive. Searching "amazon" finds "Amazon" and "AMAZON" equally.
Partial matches work. Searching "star" finds "Starbucks" and "Star Market."
Search looks at every name a transaction has. That includes the merchant name, your description, your bank's original statement text, and any name you set yourself with Rename a Merchant. If you renamed "SQ *0472 POS" to "Blue Bottle," both terms find it.
Shared transactions are included. Transactions a household member shares with you are searchable, the same as they are scrollable in your list.
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. Search does not re-rank by relevance, so the newest matching transaction is always at the top.
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.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I search by amount?

Use the amount range filter rather than typing a number into the search bar. The search bar is designed for text (merchant names and descriptions), while the amount filter handles numeric ranges.

Does search find transactions across all accounts?

Yes. Every account you can see is searched, including accounts a household member shares with you. The one thing that is narrowed by default is time, not accounts: unless you set a date range, the search covers the last 12 months, and Search all history widens it. If you want to search within a single account, apply the account filter alongside your search.

I know the transaction exists, but search says there are no matches.

Check the line under the search box first. If it says the search covered the last 12 months, tap Search all history to look further back. Also check that no stale filters are active, and remember that your plan sets how far back you can search at all: Free reaches 6 months, Starter 12, Pro 24, and Premium your whole history.

Can I save a filter combination?

Filter combinations are not saved as presets at this time. However, your most recent filters persist while you are using the app, so you do not need to re-enter them during a session.

How do I find all uncategorized transactions?

Open the filter panel and toggle Uncategorized. This shows all transactions that do not have a category assigned, making it easy to categorize them in one sitting.

Transactions Overview

Understand how transactions work.

Add a Transaction

Enter transactions manually.

Split a Transaction

Divide a transaction across categories.

Transfers

Learn how transfers work.

Need more help? Contact us at [email protected].

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