Reviewing Imported Transactions
Learn how to review, categorize, and import bank transactions into your budget efficiently.
The Import Workflow
When Daily Bread syncs with your bank, new transactions don't go directly into your budget. Instead, they land in a pending imports queue where you review and categorize them before importing.
Bank syncs transactions
New transactions arrive from your bank automatically
Land in pending queue
Transactions wait for your review — nothing is imported automatically
You review and categorize
Assign categories, fix payee names, check for duplicates
Import or ignore
Approved transactions enter your budget; skip the rest
This review step is intentional — it keeps you engaged with your spending and ensures every transaction is correctly categorized.
Understanding Import Statuses
Each imported transaction has a status:
Pending
New from your bank, waiting for your review
Auto-matched
Automatically matched to an existing manual transaction
Imported
You've approved it and it's in your budget
Ignored
You've chosen to skip it (duplicates, transfers)
Reviewing Pending Imports
When you have pending imports, you'll see a badge count on the account in the sidebar. Click into the account to see the import review panel.
For each pending transaction, you can:
Check the payee name
Bank payee names can be messy ("WHOLEFDS MKT 10032 AUSTIN TX"). Daily Bread cleans these up using payee rules. You can also rename the payee manually.
Assign a category
Select the budget category for this transaction. If you have payee rules or category mappings set up, Daily Bread may suggest a category automatically.
Import or ignore
Click Import to add the transaction to your budget, or Ignore if you don't want it (e.g., a duplicate or a transfer you've already recorded).
Bulk Actions
For efficiency, Daily Bread supports bulk operations:
- Bulk Import — Select multiple transactions and import them all at once
- Bulk Ignore — Skip multiple transactions in one action
This is especially useful when you first connect a bank account and have many historical transactions to process.
Tip
Set up payee rules before doing a large bulk import. Rules will auto-categorize transactions matching your patterns, so you can import them in bulk with the right categories already assigned.
Transaction Matching
Sometimes you've already manually entered a transaction that also comes in through bank sync. Daily Bread handles this with transaction matching:
- Auto-matching — If the date and amount closely match an existing transaction, Daily Bread links them automatically
- Manual matching — You can manually match a pending import to any existing transaction
- Duplicate detection — Potential duplicates are flagged so you can decide how to handle them
When a match is made, the bank transaction data enriches your existing manual entry rather than creating a duplicate.
Transfer Detection
When money moves between two connected accounts (e.g., checking to savings), the bank sync will pick up both sides of the transfer. Daily Bread can detect these and let you match them as a transfer, preventing double-counting.
Keeping Things in Sync
For the best experience:
- Review imports regularly — Daily or every few days keeps the queue manageable
- Set up payee rules — Automate categorization for recurring transactions
- Handle duplicates promptly — Don't let unresolved matches pile up
- Reconcile monthly — Compare your Daily Bread balance against your bank statement
Note
Transactions sync automatically multiple times per day. You don't need to manually trigger a sync, though you can if you want the very latest data.
Next Steps
To speed up your import workflow even further, learn about payee rules for automatic payee renaming and categorization.