Smart import rules can be used to help you import transactions more efficiently. Files imported from banks often contain extraneous information or are not worded the way you would like them to be - smart import rules allow you to import your data using words that make sense to you.
For example, let's say that a purchase you made at your local market shows a payee of "123 Main St. Market ID:992311" when downloaded from the bank. Using a smart import rule, you can choose to have any imported transaction that contains "123 Main St" in the payee field be automatically changed to "Mimi's Market" with a category of "Groceries."
First, start an import. After configuring import settings (if required), the import window will appear. Select a transaction in the top half of this window upon which you would like to base the new smart import rule:
Click the button. A sheet will appear with a new smart import rule based on the payee and memo of the transaction you had selected:
First, give the rule a name by changing the "Name" field at the top - choose anything that will help to distinguish it from other rules you create. In the space below, you will see several criteria upon which the rule is based. Each transaction, before it is imported, will be compared against these critieria in order to determine whether or not the rule should be applied to it.
When you first create a rule, iBank tries to guess which criteria you want to use, but you can edit the list however you see fit. Click the and
buttons, respectively, to add and remove the criteria that will determine which transactions are to be modified by the smart import rule. The following criteria are available:
Be careful with the "any" option - if you choose this option and accidentally leave one of your criteria blank, you may end up with a rule that applies itself to all of your imported transactions!
Following our example from above, here is how the rule looks after adding a name and a couple more "payee" criteria:
The last step is to specify what the smart import rule actually does, that is how it will change those transactions to which it is applied. Use the four fields at the bottom of the window (Payee, Memo, Type, and Category) to specify how you want the transaction to look after the rule has been applied. If you change the payee to "Mr. Rogers," for example, then any transaction that satisfies the rule's criteria will be given a payee of "Mr. Rogers." If you don't want the rule to change a particular field, leave it blank or leave the menu set to "No Value."
Here is a finished version of the example rule we created above. For any imported transaction whose payee contains "Pure Foods Market," "Albertson," or "Safeway," this rule will assign to it the category "Groceries" and will not change any other fields. Note that we had to clear the payee field so that it wouldn't change the payee field of the transactions to which it was applied:
When you are done configuring your rule, click "OK" to return to the import window. The rule will be applied automatically and any transactions to which it applies will be modified immediately. In our example, note that both "Pure Foods Market" transactions now have the category "Groceries" assigned to them.
Click the button to bring up the smart import rules window again. To add additional smart import rules, click the
button. A new rule will added to the list, ready for editing. To delete a rule, select it in the list and click the
button.
Any smart import rules you create will be applied not only to the current import, but to all future imports as well. To edit the list of rules that are applied during an import, select "Smart Import Rules" from the source list in the main window. You will see all of your smart import rules listed - click on a rule to view its criteria. You can modify the criteria for each rule on the right side of the screen, and use the buttons at the bottom of the window to add and delete smart import rules from the list.