How categories get suggested
Large statements are tedious to categorize by hand, so Rasa Money works through three layers for each row. First, your history: if you have put the same merchant in a category before, that category is reused. Second, note rules: a category name found in the description. Third, on Pro, Rasa AI, which proposes a category from the text your bank put in a memo or description column.
Each suggested category shows where it came from and how confident the guess is. If the confidence is too low the row stays empty, with a few alternatives you can pick with one click. Suggestions are a starting point, not a final judgment — you stay in control on the review screen.
It is most accurate on clear merchant names you already use elsewhere in the ledger. Brand-new payees and cryptic bank codes need human eyes. Plan a few minutes of review even when the suggestions look mostly right.
How to turn it on
History and note rules work on every plan that can import. To add AI, go to the Map columns step, find the Category section, switch on Detect category with AI and point it toward the column that describes each transaction (often a memo or description field). Without a useful text column, suggestions will be weak or empty, so map that field carefully.
Continue through the remaining steps as usual. Categorization does not skip review; it only pre-fills guesses for rows that look recognizable.
If you do not see the AI option, confirm you are on a plan that includes import and Rasa AI, and that you are on the Map columns step.
Review and correct
On the review screen, scan categories the same way you scan amounts and dates. Fix anything that does not match how you budget — for example, a transfer-looking row that was tagged as dining, or income that landed in an expense category.
You can set one category for many selected rows at once. Reassign categories with AI asks first whether to fill only empty rows (your own choices are kept) or to replace every category — fill-empty is the default.
Catching issues before commit keeps budgets and summaries cleaner from the first moment the rows exist. Fix systematic mistakes once — for example every “POS” row landing in the wrong parent category.
Tips and what to read next
AI works from your ledger context and the text in the file; it cannot see your bank. Odd merchant strings and foreign-language memos are the usual miss cases — expect to edit those.
For the full wizard path, see What you will be asked at each step. For what Rasa AI can and cannot do outside import, see Meet your finance assistant.
After import, spot-check one budget that should have moved. If progress did not change, categories, tags or accounts on the imported rows may not match that budget’s scope — fix the categories or tags rather than widening the budget blindly.