Category Creation
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If you choose the "Start fresh" path when first setting up your Lunch Money account, you will be prompted to select and customize categories to get you started. If you don't have categories set up yet or if you wish to add or adjust your categories, you can add new categories at any time via the Categories page.
On the Categories page, categories can be set up individually, or in bulk using category presets. Categories can also be created when adding or updating transactions via the Transactions page, or as part of the CSV import process.
How to create a category from the Categories page
Open the Categories page
Click on the orange "Add new category" button:
In the table, a new row will be created. Type a category name (obligatory), type a description (optional), and enable any of the category properties if relevant.
To save the new category, click on the little green "Add" button on the right side of the row, or press 'Enter' on the keyboard.
How to create a category from the Transactions page
Open the Transactions page
In the table, click on the category cell for any of the transactions and type the name of the new category. Given that the name of the category doesn't already exist, an option to add the category will appear:
Click on "Add [New Category Name]" and a confirmation dialog will appear.
In the confirmation dialog, click on the green “Yes, Create” button to confirm.
The new category will be created and assigned to the transaction from which it was created.
Please note that new categories created from the transactions page will always be treated as basic expense category and will not have any of the category properties enabled.
How to create categories in bulk using category sets
If you're not sure which categories to set up, or if you simply wish to speed up your category creation process, you can select one of Lunch Money's preset category sets, and customize it.
Open the Categories page
Click on the arrow next to "Add new category" and select "Add preset categories" in the dropdown menu:
In the 'Create Preset Categories' panel that appears on the right, click the drop-down menu to choose a category set:
Once you choose a category set, you can now select which categories from the set you wish to include. You can either manually check individual categories, or click "Select all" at the top to select all of them.
For category sets with category groups (ie. 'Detailed categories'), make sure to select the category group names as well. If you only select subcategories, they will be created as standalone categories.
Once you've made your selection, click on "Create".
How to create custom categories in bulk (advanced)
If you wish to add a custom set of categories, you can do that using the 'Custom (Advanced)' preset categories option:
Open the Categories page
Click on the arrow next to "Add new category" and select "Add preset categories" in the dropdown menu:
In the 'Create Preset Categories' panel that appears on the right, click the drop-down menu and choose "Custom (Advanced)":
In the text field, enter your categories, one per line. Use a dash ("-") to indicate subcategories. Optionally add category properties in square brackets after category names. Supported tags are: income, exclude_from_budget, and exclude_from_totals.
In the "Preview of categories", review the list to make sure your categories, category groups, and subcategories were all entered correctly.
If you see red warning icon (
), it means that the category name is already in use. In this case, it is recommended to change the name to something else, otherwise the category name will have a numbered suffix added to it, ie. "Category (1)".
To proceed with creating you categories, click on "Create".
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