Splitting transactions

The supermarket run that was half groceries, half birthday present, finally recorded as both.

Creating a split

In the Add or Edit Transaction dialog, flip the Define Splits? switch. The single category field gives way to split rows, each with its own category, amount and optional description; Add Split adds another. The row amounts need to account for the transaction's total, and the dialog does the arithmetic with you as you type. You can also split an already-imported row during review, or any existing transaction from its edit dialog.

Splits can point both ways

Each split row carries its own direction, charge or credit, which is what makes real-world receipts recordable. The Costco run with a refund on the same receipt, the salary payment with a deduction inside it, the reimbursement that partly offsets a cost: one transaction, children pointing in both directions, and every child lands in its own category with its own sign.

How splits are counted

The parent is a container: it holds the total, the payee and the date, but no category of its own. Budgets and spending reports count the children, each against its own category.
In the transaction list, the parent shows with an expand toggle; open it to see the children beneath.
Editing the parent reopens the split editor. Children inherit the parent's payee and date, so changing those on the parent carries through.

Loan repayments are splits with a chaperone

A loan repayment is technically a split too, principal plus interest plus any extras, but Endute manages its pieces so the parts always sum to the payment. You edit the loan repayment itself rather than its components, and the app will tell you exactly that if you try. The Transfers & loan payments guides cover them properly.

Undoing a split

Once a transaction has been saved as a split, the Define Splits? switch locks on it; un-splitting happens from the transaction list instead. Open the parent row's menu and choose Unsplit: every split line is removed and the parent folds back into an ordinary transaction, ready for a single category. To change the lines rather than remove them, edit the parent and adjust the splits there. Deleting the parent itself removes the children with it, after the usual confirmation.

What next

Splits keep categories truthful, and truthful categories are what budgets are made of. For one-off corrections that are not really splits, a refund or category credit is often the better tool.