How to review a bank statement with Budget Tracker Capture

Capture is a review workflow, not an automatic import

Bank statements are visually inconsistent. An OCR engine may find balances, running totals, reference numbers and transaction amounts on the same page. Budget Tracker therefore separates detection from saving: you choose which detected values should become transaction candidates before classifying them.

Step 1: Capture

Take a photo or choose a statement image/file. The app scans it and prepares detected amounts. A clear, straight image with readable text usually gives OCR the best chance of finding the right values.

Step 2: Preview & Select

The statement itself is the main reference. Tap detected amounts you want to include. Use Select all when the detected list is clean, or choose only the transaction amounts when the statement also contains balances and totals. On touch devices you can press and hold a detected amount to correct it; with a mouse, double-click it.

When OCR misses an amount

If a transaction amount is visible on the statement but was not detected, tap its location on the preview and enter the amount manually. The goal is to keep the statement as the source of truth instead of forcing you to abandon the Capture workflow.

Step 3: Classify

Selected entries move to Classify. Set each item as Expense, Income, Ignore or Tax / Adjustment as appropriate, and add a date. Items that still need information remain visible under Needs attention; completed entries move to Ready.

Step 4: Categorize

Expense and income entries can then be assigned to the categories you use in Budget Tracker. An Unassigned warning is intentionally visible until the item has a category. Split remains available when one transaction genuinely belongs to more than one category.

Final review

Before saving, review the transaction count and totals. Capture is designed to reduce repetitive typing while keeping the user responsible for the final records.