Default Categories
A new database starts with sixteen categories. They are a standard set, chosen to be recognizable rather than to be an opinion about how you should organize your money.
They matter for one practical reason: the built-in categorizer targets these names. Transactions it recognizes are filed under them, which is what makes your first import arrive partly done. See Automatic Categorization.
Income
| Category | What goes here |
|---|---|
| Primary Income | Your main paycheck. |
| Other Income | Side work, refunds, interest, gifts, anything else arriving. |
| Uncategorized | Locked. The total of income transactions with no category. |
Expense
| Category | What goes here |
|---|---|
| Rent / Mortgage | Where you live. |
| Utilities | Power, water, gas, internet, phone. |
| Food | Groceries and restaurants together — see below. |
| Auto & Transport | Fuel, parking, servicing, transit, ride-hailing. |
| Health & Wellness | Doctors, pharmacy, gym, dentist. |
| Entertainment | Streaming, cinema, games, hobbies, going out. |
| Shopping | Retail: clothes, electronics, household goods. |
| Travel | Flights, hotels, holidays. |
| Insurance | Any policy. |
| General | Everything else. |
| Uncategorized | Locked. The total of expense transactions with no category. |
Transfer
| Category | What goes here |
|---|---|
| Savings | Money moved into a savings account. |
| Investing | Contributions to a brokerage or retirement account. |
Transfers are neither income nor spending — see Money In Money Out and Transfers.
Why groceries and restaurants share one category
They used to be separate. They were merged for a practical reason: the difference is often unknowable from a bank description.
A supermarket with a café, a corner shop that sells hot food, a “market” that could be either — splitting them meant the categorizer had to abstain on a whole class of transaction rather than risk filing it wrongly. With one Food category, both readings land in the same place, so those transactions can be categorized confidently.
If the split matters to you, add a “Groceries” category and use it. Your own corrections become rules and the app will follow your preference.
Why there are only two transfer categories
Splitting saving by purpose — “Emergency Fund” versus “Savings” — is a distinction only you can draw, and most people never do. The money leaves for the same place either way.
If you want it back, add it as a category.
The locked Uncategorized rows
The two Uncategorized categories have a padlock. They cannot be renamed, deleted, or moved to a different type, though they can be reordered.
They are not places you file things. They hold the totals of transactions that have no category, so uncategorized money still appears in your Cash Flow statement rather than quietly disappearing. They fill and empty on their own as you categorize.
Changing the set
Rename, reorder, delete, and add freely — see Categories.
Two things to weigh:
- Deleting a default loses a head start. Nothing breaks: transactions that would have gone there arrive uncategorized instead, and your corrections teach the app your preference. You just do the first few by hand.
- Custom categories work fully — as dropdown options, statement columns, filters, chart lines, and rule targets. They only lack the built-in merchant knowledge, which knows the default names.
Related: Categories · Automatic Categorization · Money In Money Out and Transfers