Tags

Tags are a second way to classify your transactions, running parallel to and independent of categories. Whereas each transaction has one single category (Food, Electricity, Salary…), a transaction can carry several tags at once, or none. They are a free, cross-cutting classification: they group things that cut across several categories and several accounts.

The idea is to mark a cross-cutting slice of your bookkeeping. Typical examples: a trip to Rome (flights, hotel, meals and leisure, each in its own category), a bathroom renovation (materials, labor, furniture), a specific project, a cost center, or the spending around a family event. You can then filter by that tag and see, at a glance, how much that trip or that renovation cost you in total — even though the spending is spread across dozens of transactions in different categories.

Tags are managed in Settings → Tags, but they are used all over the app: on transactions, on recurring items, in the filters of several screens and in the reports. They have no page of their own because their natural home is inside each transaction.

Tags versus categories

They are easy to confuse at first, but they play different roles:

• The category answers “what kind of expense or income is this?”: Food, Fuel, Salary, Pharmacy. It is unique per transaction and it feeds the spending-by-nature reports.
• The tag answers “what matter does it belong to?”: the trip, the renovation, the project, the child. It is optional, multiple and cuts across categories.

A single restaurant expense can have the category Dining out and, at the same time, the tag Rome trip. They don't compete: they complement each other.

Creating and managing tags (Settings → Tags)

In Settings, the Tags tab is the management hub. At the top you have the form to create a new tag; below it, the list of the ones that already exist. Each tag has three fields:

• Name (required, up to 50 characters): how you recognize it (“Rome trip”, “Bathroom renovation”, “Project X”).
• Color: you pick one from the available palette. It's the color the tag is painted with as a “chip” all over the app, so you can spot it at a glance.
• Icon (optional): an icon that accompanies the name in the chip. You can remove it at any time.

As you type the name, a live preview of the chip appears exactly as it will look. Press “+ Create” to save it. The list of active tags lets you edit each one (name, color, icon) without leaving the tab.

Tags belong to your account book: each book has its own set of tags, isolated from the rest. If you are a read-only member, you'll see the tab but won't be able to create or edit.

Archiving and deleting

When a tag stops making sense (the trip is over, the renovation is done), you have two options:

• Archive: it retires the tag from daily use without losing anything. It stops appearing in the selectors when you tag new transactions, but it's kept on the transactions that already had it and you can still filter by it. Archived tags are grouped in a collapsible “Archived” section at the end of the list, from where you can unarchive whenever you want.
• Delete: this is more drastic, but Cuéntamo protects you. If the tag is in use (assigned to any transaction or recurring item), pressing delete archives it instead automatically, so those transactions aren't left orphaned. Only if nobody uses it is it truly removed, for good.

In practice: archiving is what you normally do with “closed” tags; deleting is for undoing one you created by mistake. On an already-archived tag, the delete option does offer a permanent delete (it asks for confirmation).

Assigning tags to a transaction

You tag a transaction from its editor, in Transactions. Both the modal editor and the inline table editing have a tag selector: a field where you type to search, and where the tags already assigned show up as colored chips, each with an to remove it.

As you type, the book's tag list is filtered and you add the ones you want (remember: several per transaction). Archived tags don't appear in the dropdown, but if the transaction already had one assigned, it's still shown as a chip (marked “arch.”) so you don't lose sight of it.

In the transaction list, each row shows its tags as small chips (the first few plus a “+N” if there are more), so you can see at a glance what's marked and with what.

Creating a tag on the fly

You don't have to go to Settings to start using a new tag. From a transaction's tag selector, if you type a name that doesn't exist yet, the option “+ Create tag …” appears with the text you typed. When you press it, a mini-form opens to choose a color and an icon (with a chip preview), and on confirming, the tag is created and assigned to that transaction in one step.

It's the fastest way to get going: you create “Rome trip” on the first expense of the trip and, from there, it's available on all the others. Tags created on the fly are identical to those created in Settings; you can tweak them there later.

Tags on transfers

A transfer is a transaction with two legs (the outflow in one account and the inflow in another). Tags on a transfer behave in a special way: both legs always share the same tags. If you add or remove a tag on one side of the transfer, the other side is updated accordingly. That way, when you filter by a tag, the transfer shows up consistently on both sides and your cross-cutting slice doesn't fall out of balance.

Tags on recurring items

Recurring items (templates for periodic transactions) also accept tags, with the same selector. Tagging a recurring item has an advantage: every transaction it generates inherits those tags, so a monthly expense is classified automatically without you having to touch it each time.

If you edit the tags of an existing recurring item and they change from what it had, Cuéntamo propagates the change to the future (forecast) transactions that template generated, to keep them aligned. Recurring items also have a tag filter in their list.

Bulk assignment

When you already have lots of untagged transactions, there's no need to go one by one. There are two mass routes:

• From Transactions. Select several transactions with the checkboxes and, in the bulk actions bar, use the tags action. You choose the tags and a mode: Add (adds the chosen tags to whatever each transaction already had) or Replace (fully replaces each transaction's tag set with the one you specify).
• From Concept classification. On the Classification screen you work by concept (all transactions with the same name). You can apply tags in bulk to every transaction of one or several concepts at once, also with the Add / Replace modes. It's the most efficient way to tag large histories in one go.

Filtering and analyzing by tag

This is where tags pay off. You can filter by one or several tags on several screens:

• Transactions: a multi-tag filter that combines with the rest (account, categories, dates, type, scope). Perfect for seeing all the “Rome trip” transactions and their total.
• Analysis: the monthly table and the spending-by-category reports can be narrowed down to a tag, to see how a project's spending breaks down by category and by month. When you click a cell, the transaction list that opens carries the same tag filter.
• Concept classification and Recurring items: both have their own tag filter to narrow the list.

This closes the loop: you tag as you spend (by hand, on the fly, via a recurring item or in bulk), and then you filter to find out how much that trip, that renovation or that project cost in total — cutting across every category and every account involved.

Usage ideas

• Trips and holidays. One tag per trip: flights, hotel, meals, transport and leisure all add up even though each is in its own category.
• Renovations and building work. “Kitchen renovation” groups materials, labor and furniture so you know the real cost of the project.
• People or family members. Tag each child's expenses, to split them or simply to know how much each one adds up to.
• Events. A wedding, a birthday, a Christmas: all the spending for an event under one tag.
• Cost centers or projects. If you run a business, tagging by project or client gives a slice that complements the category one.

Don't overdo the count: a few well-chosen tags pay off more than dozens you never look at again. When a tag has done its job, archive it and move on.