Transactions are the core of Books — every dollar in or out is recorded as a transaction. This guide covers adding, editing, categorizing, and bulk-managing them.
Adding a Transaction
Click the + button in the top navigation and pick:
Add Expense — money out (vendor payment, subscription, fee)
Add Income — money in (booking commission, refund received, service revenue)
Add Bank Deposit — money in that consolidates multiple items (a deposit slip that bundled 3 checks)
Add Transfer — money moved between your own bank accounts (no income/expense, just a position change)
Transaction Fields
Date — when the transaction occurred (defaults to today)
Amount — always positive; the type (Expense / Income / Transfer) determines the direction
Bank account — which of your bank accounts the money touched
Payee — who you paid or who paid you (optional but recommended for clean reports)
Category — the chart-of-account this belongs to (Software Subscriptions, Office Rent, etc.)
Memo — optional note for your own reference
Attachments — receipts, invoices, supporting docs (uploaded to your Filing Cabinet)
Split — if a single transaction covers multiple categories, split it. Example: a $200 Amazon purchase = $150 office supplies + $50 software
Income & Expenses Pages
The dedicated Income and Expenses pages filter the full transaction list to just those types. Use them when you want to see your spending without the noise of transfers and deposits, or your earnings without the noise of bills.
Filtering and Search
Filter by date range (this month, last month, year-to-date, custom)
Filter by category, payee, or bank account
Search by amount or memo
Filter to unreviewed transactions only (useful when working through a backlog)
Editing Transactions
Click any transaction in any list to open the edit drawer. Change anything; click Save. Edits are logged in the transaction's history — you can see who changed what and when.
Categorizing — How to Pick the Right Account
Categorization is what makes reports meaningful. A few rules of thumb:
Match the category to the chart-of-account that best describes what it WAS, not where the money WENT. A $50 charge from Office Depot for printer paper is "Office Supplies", not "Office Depot."
Use Payee for the WHO and Category for the WHAT. That way you can ask "How much did I spend at Office Depot?" (payee report) AND "How much did I spend on office supplies?" (category report).
Use Split when a single transaction is genuinely multi-purpose. Don't force everything into one bucket.
When in doubt, ask your accountant which category they want. Categorization affects your tax categorization, not just your reports.
Bulk Actions
Select multiple transactions in any list and the bulk action bar appears at the bottom:
Assign Payee — set the same payee on all selected (useful when fixing a missed-payee batch)
Assign Category — set the same chart-of-account on all selected (useful when categorizing a batch of related items, e.g. all ATM fees → Bank Fees)
Mark Reviewed — bulk-approve a batch of transactions you've verified
Delete — remove the transactions (this is a hard delete; use with care)
Export CSV — download the selected transactions
Transaction History
Every transaction has a built-in audit trail — who created it, when, every edit since, every reconciliation it's been part of. Open a transaction and click History to see the full log. This is especially useful when an old transaction's state is questioned.