A rule tells Copper where a kind of purchase belongs. When a matching transaction syncs, Copper puts it in the bucket you chose and it spends from that bucket, not from left-to-spend.

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Kinds of rule

Matching ignores capital letters. One rule can hold several values, so “Merchant is Starbucks, Dutch Bros or Peet’s” is a single rule.

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Create a rule

There are three ways in:
  • From a transaction. Open it, pick a bucket, and turn on Always assign. Future transactions from that merchant go to the same bucket.
  • From a bucket. In the bucket editor, use the Auto-Assign section.
  • From Settings. Go to Settings › Auto-Assign Rules and tap New rule.
1

Choose what to look for

Pick Merchant, Category, Name contains or Exact name.
2

Add the values

Pick from your recent spending or type your own. Copper shows how many transactions from the last 90 days the rule would have caught, and their total.
3

Choose the bucket

Matching transactions land in this bucket and come out of its balance.
4

Review and save

Check the summary, leave Rule on switched on, and tap Create rule.

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How rules apply

  • New transactions only. A rule applies to transactions as they sync. Past ones stay where they are.
  • Pending and posted. A pending charge is matched as soon as it arrives.
  • Apple Pay purchases you log from your iPhone are matched too. See Apple Pay logging.
  • Bills get marked paid. When a rule puts a payment in a bill’s bucket near its due date, the bill rolls forward to its next cycle.
  • Imported history is left alone. Transactions more than a week old that arrive when you first link a bank come in unassigned.

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When more than one rule matches

The most specific rule wins: an exact name first, then a merchant, then text in the name, then a category. So a “Merchant is Whole Foods” rule beats a “Category is Food & drink” rule. Each value can belong to only one rule of its kind. Adding a value that another rule already uses moves it to the new rule.

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Buckets rules can’t fill

Rules spend from ordinary buckets. They don’t point at card payment buckets or savings buckets that mirror an account. Payments to your credit card from checking find the card’s payment bucket on their own. See Credit cards.

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Manage your rules

Settings › Auto-Assign Rules lists every rule with its bucket. Tap one to change its values or bucket, switch it off with Rule on, or delete it. Deleting a rule stops future transactions from being assigned by it; transactions already assigned stay where they are.