Transactions
The anatomy of a transaction in PennyBolt.
A transaction is a single entry in an account: one date, one payee, one amount. Every import creates transactions. Every manual entry creates one. Transactions are the building blocks everything else — reports, reconciliation, payee rules — acts on.
The fields
Each transaction has six fields:
| Field | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Date | When the transaction happened. For imported transactions, this comes from your bank. |
| Payee | Who you paid, or who paid you. PennyBolt normalizes raw bank descriptions into readable names — “SQ *BLUE BOTTLE 0412” becomes “Blue Bottle Coffee.” See Payees . |
| Category | Where the money belongs — “Groceries,” “Rent,” “Income: Salary.” See Categories . |
| Amount | The transaction amount. Positive for money coming in (deposits, income); negative for money going out (expenses, payments). |
| Memo | A free-text note. The bank sometimes puts details here; you can add your own. |
| Status | Whether the transaction is uncleared, cleared, or reconciled. See Reconciling . |
Splits
A single transaction can be split across multiple categories — a grocery run that also included household supplies, for example. Each line of a split has its own category and amount. The amounts must add up to the transaction total.
To split a transaction, open it in the register and click Split.
Status: uncleared, cleared, reconciled
Every transaction starts as uncleared. When you see it appear on your bank’s website, you mark it cleared. When you run a formal reconciliation against your statement and the totals agree, PennyBolt marks it reconciled.
Reconciled transactions are locked: you can’t edit or delete them without explicitly unlocking. This protects your history.
See also
- Add, edit, and split a transaction — how to work with transactions day to day.
- Payees — how bank descriptions turn into readable names.
- Reconciling with your bank — what cleared and reconciled mean in practice.