When the end of the month arrives and you wonder where the money went, the answer comes from the categories you picked for your transactions. Groceries, transport, rent, subscriptions: you build the list around your own life, because none comes ready-made. Once your transactions carry a category, the donuts on the Finance screen fill up, you get a list you can put budgets on, and you can see at a glance how much you spent on food this month.
In three steps you can learn how to add a new category, then edit it and delete it when you need to. Your categories sit in the same panel as your wallets: in the Categories tab on the left of the Finance screen. They are open on every plan. Adding your first transaction and the rest of the Finance screen are covered in Finance quick start.
1
Add a new category
In the Categories tab, click Add category + above the list and give your category a name. From the first box to the left of the name you can pick an icon: 🍔 for groceries, 🚌 for transport. From the box next to it, the one with the "A" on it, you can pick any colour you like. The moment you pick it, the name field takes that colour. The colour becomes the category's signature, because in the transaction table the category name always appears on that coloured label. Keep your colours apart from one another and you can tell which spend belongs to which category without reading a word.
Finally, choose the category's type: Expense or Income. Pumpynotes keeps the two in separate lists. When you add a new transaction, if you are recording a spend you only see your expense categories in the category list, and if you are recording your salary you only see your income categories. Click Save and your category is ready.
The new category window · icon, colour and name on top, the category's type right below
2
Edit your category
When you move onto a category's row, two small buttons appear on the right. Click the pencil icon, or right-click the row and choose Edit; both take you to the same place: the new category window opens again. Change the name, icon, colour and type as you like, then click Save. The new version appears straight away both in the list and next to every transaction you filed under that category, so you never have to update past transactions one by one.
The All, Income and Expense labels above the list help you find the category you are after. Click Income and only your income categories stay; click Expense and only your spending categories stay; All brings them all back.
The pencil appears when you move onto a row · the edit window is the same as the new category window
3
Delete a category
To delete a category you no longer use, move onto its row and click the trash icon, or right-click the row and choose Delete. Pumpynotes asks Delete category? When you click Delete, the category leaves the list.
There are two things to know before you delete. The first is reassuring: your transactions are not deleted. The spends you filed under that category stay exactly where they were, they only lose their category and gather in the slice called Other in the distribution donuts on your Finance screen. The second: the category does not go to the trash, it is deleted outright. Even if you create a new one with the same name, your old transactions will not attach themselves to it. So if a category no longer suits you, editing it as in step two is usually the better move: change the name and all your past transactions appear under the new one.
If you have set a monthly budget on the category, remove that category's limit from the Budget tab before you delete the category. The order matters, because although the budget works through the category, it is not deleted along with it. When the category leaves the list its budget stays behind: on your Finance page it keeps appearing in the Budget card as a row that reads only "Category" instead of a name. And since it is no longer listed in the Budget tab, you cannot remove it. On the free plan you can budget one category at a time, so that row also stops you from setting a new budget.
The trash icon on the right of the row · transactions left without a category gather in Other at the end of the list
Frequently asked questions
Can I create a category while adding a transaction?
Yes, you do not have to break off what you are doing. Open the Category tab in the transaction window, click the + New button next to the list, type the name into the row that opens and click Add; the category is created at once and selected for that transaction. Its type comes from the transaction you are writing: an expense category if you are adding a spend, an income category if you are adding income. Here you only choose a name and a colour; if you want an icon, you can edit the category afterwards as in step two.
What is "Other", and can I delete it?
Other is not a category you created, it is a collecting place Pumpynotes opens on its own: transactions you saved without a category and transactions whose category was deleted meet there. That is why it cannot be deleted. It only appears in the list while something falls into it, and even then only while All is selected; as it is not labelled income or expense, it stays out of those two lists. With the pencil beside it you can change its colour; its name is fixed.
Do I have to choose a category for a transaction?
No, the category can stay empty and the transaction is still saved. But that transaction then falls into Other in the donuts and counts towards no budget. If you are in a hurry, save it without a category and pick one later by opening the transaction.
Can I turn an income category into an expense category?
Yes, from the list in the edit window. The change applies from that point on: whether your old transactions are income or expense is stored on the transactions themselves, and they do not change sides because the category's type changed. So if you turn an expense category into an income one, the old spends you filed under it stay in the expense donut; the category itself is listed only when you add income from then on.
Can I hide some of my categories from the screen?
Yes. Click the eye icon on the left of the row, or the row itself, and that category leaves the totals, the donuts and the list on your screen; click again and it comes back. This is a filter, it deletes nothing. You can switch off as many categories as you like, and the choice is kept in the browser you are using; on another device all your categories are visible again. Which numbers the filters change and which they leave alone is covered in Filter your transactions by date and category.
How many categories can I create, and do I need a paid plan?
There is no limit on the number of categories, and categories are open on every plan, the free one included. The plan limit is only on budgets: on the free plan you can put a budget on one category, and on Pro and above on as many categories as you like.