Stop categorizing the same transactions over and over. Transaction rules automatically apply settings to matching transactions.
Creating a Basic Rule
- Go to Settings > Automations > Rules.
- Click Add Rule.
- Enter a pattern (e.g., "Starbucks").
- Select the category (e.g., "Dining") you want to apply automatically.
- Choose the split type (Shared, Personal, etc.).
Tip: You can also create a rule directly from any transaction by clicking the Create Rule button in the transaction details.
Patterns match whole words
A rule for "ubs" will not match "Jersey Mike's Subs". This is deliberate, so short patterns don't quietly catch things you never intended.
Live Preview & Apply to Existing
As you type the pattern, Halfway shows exactly how many existing transactions will change, with examples. That number is what will really change, because it already accounts for settled transactions, your amount range, account scope and direction.
Why is the number smaller than I expected? Applying a rule to existing transactions only ever affects your current unsettled period. Transactions from before your last settlement are never modified, because you and your partner already agreed on those figures. The preview tells you how many were left out and why.
Money in vs money out
A rule can apply to money in only, money out only, or both. This matters for anyone you both bill and pay, such as a client who pays you and whose software you also buy. You can create two rules for the same merchant, one for each direction, so income and spending get the right category.
A rule can never file an expense under an income category, or income under a spending category, even if you set it up that way.
Advanced Options
- Payer Assignment: For shared transactions, automatically set which partner paid.
- Amount Range: Only match transactions within a dollar range, for example "Grocery Store" only between $50 and $200.
- Auto-Tagging: Automatically add tags. Great for trips, projects, or reimbursable expenses.
- Specific account: Limit the rule to one connected account.
- Ignore from reports: Only changes a transaction's reporting status if you set it on the rule. An ordinary categorization rule will never accidentally un-hide your transfers or card payments.
Duplicate rules
You can't create two rules with the same pattern, account and direction. Halfway will ask you to edit the existing one instead. If you create a rule for a merchant that already has an account-specific rule, we'll warn you: on that one account, the older rule wins.
Deleting a rule
Deleting a rule stops it applying to future transactions. It does not undo changes it already made.
"Learned from you"
Below your rules you'll see categories Halfway picked up from your own edits. When you categorize the same merchant the same way twice, we start using that for future transactions from them, but only when your bank doesn't already give us a category. It only ever sets the category, never the split or who paid.
Something you've only categorized once shows as "not used yet" and does nothing until you confirm it a second time, so one-off corrections don't turn into rules. You can forget any of them at any time, and that never changes transactions you already have.
