mirror of
https://github.com/actualbudget/actual.git
synced 2026-07-15 14:43:36 -05:00
[Feature] Implement feature to import "Category" #229
No Assignees
Notifications
Due Date
No due date set.
Dependencies
No dependencies set.
Reference: github-starred/actual#229
Reference in New Issue
Block a user
Delete Branch "%!s()"
Deleting a branch is permanent. Although the deleted branch may continue to exist for a short time before it actually gets removed, it CANNOT be undone in most cases. Continue?
Originally created by @rich-howell on GitHub (Jan 22, 2023).
Discussed in https://github.com/actualbudget/actual/discussions/184
Originally posted by agichim May 6, 2022
Hi,
I'm running this locally and it's beautiful. Been using GNUCash so far, but I'm keen on trying Actual and would like to be able to import a Category column too when importing a .csv file.
@github-actions[bot] commented on GitHub (May 1, 2023):
✨ Thanks for sharing your idea! ✨
This repository is now using lodash style issue management for enhancements. This means enhancement issues will now be closed instead of leaving them open. This doesn’t mean we don’t accept feature requests, though! We will consider implementing ones that receive many upvotes, and we welcome contributions for any feature requests marked as needing votes (just post a comment first so we can help you make a successful contribution).
The enhancement backlog can be found here: https://github.com/actualbudget/actual/issues?q=label%3A%22needs+votes%22+sort%3Areactions-%2B1-desc+
Don’t forget to upvote the top comment with 👍!
@damianon commented on GitHub (Aug 20, 2023):
I would love to see this feature. Thinking of migrating from buxfer, but without automatically applying the category there's no way I'm going to re-categorize thousands of transactions 😅
@JavaDogWebDesign commented on GitHub (Aug 31, 2023):
Although I manually updated 8000 transactions with proper categories after migrating from Financier, I am going to upvote this feature so future users will not have this problem.
The thing is that the categories MUST be created on the budget page prior to the import or force-create new categories upon importing (with new categories). If the category does not exist on the budget screen, then how will the importer know to label the transaction with the proper category - likely the software will have to auto-create the category.
Thankfully it's very easy to mass update/merge catagories if they're wrong.
@heyboots commented on GitHub (Oct 30, 2023):
I also really need this, I don't want to have to go through and re-categorize 6400+ register entries when I migrate over from Financier, and I don't currently have any other way to import my whole 10-year budget aside from .csv account by account.
@youngcw commented on GitHub (Feb 2, 2024):
Update: You can import categories from csv now, but only categories that are already on the budget. It is still not possible to create new categories via an import.
@kriswdue commented on GitHub (Sep 15, 2024):
This is still needed.
This feature is still very needed!!
@MrRickle commented on GitHub (Nov 13, 2024):
yes, I am using GnuCash, but would like to try AB, seems much nicer , but am not going to manually add all the categories.
@mcalligator commented on GitHub (Apr 20, 2025):
Issue [Feature]: CSV Importer add missing categories #2226 requests the ability to auto-create Categories that are not already in the budget.
@andersoal commented on GitHub (Apr 26, 2025):
Thinking about the feature, it appears that a simple solution would automatically create a group, something like
Orphanand create all the categories that are not in the budget yet. After this, it is possible to reorganize/rename the categories in different groups.For example, GNUCash export CSV with accounts on different levels separated with
:, likePassive:Loan:Contract XAnother feature related is allow to select
imported categoryon Rules, today there isimported payee, so it would be possible to define rules to match the categories that are being imported.The option to import/export rules will make it easier to write rules with help ChatGPT, Gemini #3591
@balthanon commented on GitHub (Dec 29, 2025):
Not sure why this didn't come up when I searched these issues earlier, but I created a separate feature request in https://github.com/actualbudget/actual/issues/6511 that has some of my thoughts on this because I didn't spot it.
The last comment in here matches what I was thinking primarily-- basically create an import group that gets any categories that don't exist already and then we can use rules on those categories to move the transactions where we actually want them or just shift them into our own structure. I do like the "imported category" idea too-- that might be sufficient for actually ensuring the data isn't lost and better for rule based handling.
I think it would be useful to have a stand alone function for importing categories too, since that then allows people to create budget structures to help people get a quick start on budgeting with Actual Budget if they don't want to manually create everything themselves.
(Was interested in pulling it from quicken files too, but I just opened one up and apparently they don't bother including that (at least for the export I looked at). So that's not happening.)