How do I edit category properties?

Click "Categories" in the source list to view your categories. You can edit their properties in list view or thumbnail view, but category images can only be edited in thumbnail view.

category thumbnail box

You can quickly jump to a category associated with a transaction by selecting the transaction and choosing Transaction>Go To Category.

Each category has the following properties which may be edited:

Name

The name assigned to the category. Double-click the category name in list view to edit it; in thumbnail view, simply select the field and type your changes. If you change the name of a category, your category assignments will not be lost - any transactions to which the category is assigned will simply update to reflect its new name.

Description

Enter a longer description about the category (if desired) to help you remember what it is used for. Double-click the category description in list view to edit it; in thumbnail view, simply select the field and type your changes. This is also a handy place to store tax reference information for taxable items.

Expense

Click the "Expense" checkbox to indicate that the category is used for expense items; leave it unchecked to indicate that it is used for income. This property determines which section of your budgets the category will be available in.

Taxable

Click the "Taxable" checkbox to designate the category as tax-related. Items that have this property checked will be added to charts when the "Add All Taxable Categories" command is chosen.

Tax code

If the category is associated with a particular tax code, enter the number of the code in this field to help you remember it. Double-click the tax code in list view to edit it; in thumbnail view, make sure "Taxable" is checked and select the "Code" field. iBank includes a list of U.S. tax codes for easy reference - click the question mark button button (in the "Create New Category" sheet or thumbnail view) to view and search them. Please note that we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the tax code list, but we do our best to keep it up-to-date. If you want to submit a correction, please don't hesitate to contact us.

iBank can attempt to assign tax codes to your categories automatically, based on its internal U.S. tax code list. Click the associate tax codes button button at the bottom of the main window. iBank will search for tax codes for each category based on its name and description. It will not replace any existing tax codes. Please double-check the codes assigned, as we cannot guarantee that they will be 100% accurate.

Color

Click the list view color box color box (in list view) or the thumbnail view color box button (in thumbnail view) to open the Apple color picker and choose a color for that category. Any transactions to which the category has been assigned will appear in the account register with the selected color as its background. If you don't want category colors displayed in the account register, choose iBank>Preferences, click the "Appearance" button, and check the "Hide category background colors" option. Category colors are also used to determine how the categories appear in pie and line graphs. To remove the color from a category and reset it to black, Control-click on the category in list view and choose "Remove Color".

Image

Category images are only displayed in thumbnail view. To add an image to a category, drag and drop the image file from the Finder onto the image box on the left side of the category you want it associated with. Alternatively, you can copy an image to the clipboard, click to select a category's image box, then choose Edit>Paste to add the image. To remove an image from a category, click the image to select it and click the x button button or press 'Delete' on your keyboard.

The image assigned to a category will appear as the default image for any transaction assigned to that category, when you view your transactions in thumbnail or cover flow view. Images assigned to individual transactions will display in place of the category images, but will not change the images assigned to the categories themselves.

Total

Displays the total amount of all transactions to which the category has been assigned. In thumbnail view, the total appears in gray at the bottom-right corner of the category box. Expense totals are shown as positive numbers; income totals are shown as negative numbers. This field cannot be edited directly, but changing the amounts of the transactions assigned to a category will affect that category's total.

If you are using multiple currencies, please be aware that the category totals do not automatically convert between currencies. The totals shown are straight sums combining amounts in different currencies.