A rule tells Copper where a kind of purchase belongs. A rule can put matching transactions in a bucket, so they spend from it and not from left-to-spend, or give them one of your categories. See Categories & names.

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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 tap the Always pill in the Bucket field to send that merchant there every time. For a category, tap the Always pill in the Category field.
  • From a bucket. In the bucket editor, use the Auto-Assign section.
  • From Settings. Go to Settings › 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 a bucket or category

Matching transactions land in the bucket and come out of its balance, or take the category. A rule that matches by category can only point at a bucket.
4

Review and save

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

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How rules apply

  • Buckets: new transactions only. A rule’s bucket applies to transactions as they sync. Past ones stay where they are, so old purchases don’t drain your buckets.
  • Categories: past and new. A rule’s category also recategorizes the matching transactions you already have, as soon as you save it.
  • 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.
  • Split purchases are left alone. A rule never moves a purchase you’ve split between buckets, even when it posts.
  • 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 › Rules lists every rule, grouped by the bucket or category it points at. Tap one to change its values or target, switch it off with Rule on, or delete it. Deleting or switching off a rule stops it from applying to new transactions; transactions it already sorted stay where they are.