It is easy to set a default category so that the category you use the most often for an envelope is automatically filled in. Please see our previous helpful tech tip on associating categories with your envelopes. Once you’ve associated your categories to a specific envelope you can also set a default category so when you spend out of that envelope that category will default in for you. If you are not already in Settings under the Categories tab you will want to click “settings” and then “Categories” to get to your list of categories. Set one default category for each envelope by checking the box. The screen will refresh each time you choose a default category and will be saved for you.

For instance in my personal finance portfolio I have a “Transportation” envelope. I then have categories for “repairs”, “gas”, “insurance” and “car payment”.  I find that “gas” is the expense category I use the most often as we fill our car up once a week with gas. So, I have set “gas” as my default category. That way when I spend money from my “Transportation” envelope “gas” is the default category. I can change the category by selecting the dropdown arrow. Why not give this a try in your portfolio? It saves time to set a default category!

You will want to associate categories that are spent out of a specific envelope in order to make your data entry quicker and more accurate.

For instance in my personal finance portfolio I have a “Transportation” envelope. I then have categories for “repairs”, “gas”, “insurance” and “car payment”. I have these categories associated to my “Transportation” envelope so that whenever I select “Transportation” only these categories are available for me to choose.

Follow these instructions to associate your categories to specific envelopes within your portfolio. Click on “settings” then “categories”. A list of all of your income and expense categories can be found here. You can designate a category to be associated with an envelope by selecting an envelope from the drop down list to the left of each of your listed categories. Please associate all of the categories with the envelope of your preference, scroll down and click save.

See our next helpful tip on setting a default category!