About
Margins picks categories based on what similar businesses do, and most of them you can change at any time to match how you actually think about your spending. Some can't be changed (we'll explain why), and the tag color in your list tells you which is which before you click.
Recategorizing is also how you sharpen your metrics and insights. The closer your categories match your own view of the business, the more detailed the dashboards and data you'll have at your fingertips.
1. Which transactions can I change?
The quickest test is whether the label on the tag is underlined. Underlined tags are clickable and yours to change. Plain tags are set by Margins and can't be edited.
Tag | What it means | Can you change it? |
Waiting for your input or Additional input needed - underlined, pale purple | Margins needs a category or information from you | Yes, start with Clearing the transactions that need your input |
A category name - underlined, pale blue | Already categorized, and yours to adjust | Yes, follow the instructions in this article |
Money In, Transfer between company accounts - plain, pale yellow | Set automatically based on data synced from your connected sources | No |
2. Why some transactions can't be changed
Yellow tags aren't a limit on your account, they're transactions where Margins isn't where the answer comes from. There are two kinds:
Money coming in. When something arrives from a connected integration, that tool is the source of truth, like Shopify, Stripe, Afterpay, etc. The matching deposits still show in your transaction list, because they matter for cash flow, but changing the category in Margins would only put the two out of step, so the category follows the source.
Transfers between company accounts. These are automatically matched from your connected bank accounts and credit cards and allows us to ensure your banks remain reconciled and accurate.
Some tags carry an ⓘ. Hover over it for the reason that transaction is set the way it is.
If a yellow transaction looks wrong, the fix is at the source rather than here. Correct it in the channel or tool it came from and Margins follows.
3. Change a category
Go to Transactions.
Find the transaction and click its tag. If the tag reads Waiting for your input, it hasn't been categorized yet. See Clearing the transactions that need your input.
Type the new category. Categorized as and To be categorized as sit side by side, so you can check the change before committing.
Click Apply once for this transaction alone, or Apply always to move everything from this payee.
Your dashboards update with the change.
Ask AI is available here too. If you're changing a category because the original was wrong, describing the transaction often lands it better than picking from the list.
Tip: To send one transaction to more than one category, use More actions → Split instead. See Splitting a transaction across categories.