How do I organize my categories hierarchically?

Categories can be organized into levels of hierarchy so that some categories are listed under others.

Say, for example, that you have a category for auto expenses named "Auto". You want to track all of your car-related expenses under this category, but what if you also want to be able to track how much you spend on repairs alone, or gas? iBank makes it easy to create sub-categories, so that you can categorize both "Service" and "Fuel" under "Auto". Using charts and reports, you can then see at a glance how much you spent on repairs alone, or how much your car is costing you in total:

Creating sub-categories

To add a sub-category, select the category under which you want to create the sub-item, and click the button above the list. The "Create New Category" sheet will appear just as it does when you create any other category. Enter the appropriate information for the sub-category and click "Create Category." A small disclosure triangle will appear next to the main category - click this to expand the category and view the sub-category you just added. Once they have been created, sub-categories can be edited just like any other categories.

Using sub-categories

When you assign a sub-category to a transaction in one of your accounts, the transaction will display both the main category and its sub-category, separated by a colon. To illustrate, say that you assign the above-mentioned "Fuel" sub-category to a transaction. In the account register, the transaction will then show "Auto:Fuel" in its Category field:

When you create transactions, typing in the category field will cause iBank to suggest category names as you type. Use the arrow keys to select a category from the drop-down list, then press the Tab or Return key to accept it. To quickly enter a sub-category, type the first few letters of the parent category (so that the category name is highlighted for autofill), then type a colon (:). You can then type the first few letters of the sub-category; when the correct sub-category name is suggested, press the Tab or Return key to accept it. If you do not want to use one of the existing categories, ignore the suggestions that appear and type in a unique category name. When you save the transaction, iBank will prompt you to create a new category based on what you typed in.

Organizing category hierarchy

You can easily reorganize your category hierarchy at any time by dragging and dropping categories and sub-categories in the category list view. If you drop one category on top of another, that category will become a sub-category of the one you dropped it on. If you drag a sub-category to a place in the list outside of the main category to which it belongs, it will become a main category itself. Rearranging categories in this fashion will not disrupt any transactions that are assigned to those categories; the transactions will automatically update to reflect the category changes. You can create as many levels and sub-levels of categories as you wish.

Sub-categories in reports

For information about how categories and sub-categories are handled by reports, please refer to the pages about each report type in the Reports section.