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What category learning does
Cashflow Pilot can suggest a category for a new transaction based on choices you've already reviewed. This is a local, conservative suggestion—not an external AI service silently classifying every merchant. In Business, history is drawn from that business's own eligible Posted imported rows, not another business or your Personal purchases.
1. Correct a transaction yourself
For example, review a $12 purchase at a regular coffee shop and choose Dining Out. A future import with the same recognizable description may show a category suggestion, but you still review it. Confirmed, consistent examples are more useful than simply imported rows that were never checked.
2. Why the same merchant is sometimes different
A supermarket, marketplace or big-box retailer can sell groceries, clothing, equipment and gifts. Cashflow deliberately avoids making a broad learned rule that turns all purchases at Walmart, Amazon or Costco into one category. Conflicting past choices may mean no suggestion at all.
3. Saved rules win
An enabled explicit merchant rule takes priority over derived suggestions. More precise matches generally win over broad text matches. If a category is consistently wrong, inspect your saved merchant rules before expecting learning to override them.
4. Business has extra safeguards
For Business, a suggestion can identify an eligible Chart of Accounts category but cannot infer GST/HST treatment, auto-post a bank row, recognize a loan payment or invent transfer links. Review taxes, accounts and documentation before posting.
5. Check the outcome
Use the available category explanation or rule-testing tools in the relevant workspace. Review an imported row from the same merchant, change its category if necessary, and confirm your manual choice remains intact. Earlier transactions are not rewritten in bulk simply because a new suggestion appears.
If learning doesn't occur
You may not yet have enough consistent reviewed examples; the merchant may be mixed-use; or a saved rule may supersede a suggestion. You can still categorize manually. For a wider overview, read Organize your transactions.
Want the bigger picture? Explore the Personal, Portfolio and Business product tour →