Create a narrow bank rule

Before You Begin

Most rules are created for you when you post — see How your bank rules get made and maintained. Write one by hand when you want the treatment in place before the first matching transaction arrives, or when the automatic rule keyed on the wrong text.

Look at several real examples of the description first, so the match text you choose is one that actually repeats. Avoid generic words — a rule matching payment will catch things you never considered.

Create The Rule

1. Open Rules from the company workspace.
2. Choose New Bank Rule.
3. Enter a name that says what it does, such as Stripe Payouts.
4. Set the priority. Higher priority is checked first — put the specific rule above the general one.
5. Choose the match field: description, reference, or merchant.
6. Choose the match type: contains, equals, starts with, or ends with. Prefer equals or starts with when the text is consistent.
7. Enter the match value — the longest distinctive fragment that still matches every real instance.
8. Choose the account matched rows should be coded to.
9. Narrow further where it helps: restrict to Money in or Money out, and set an amount ceiling for a payment that should never exceed a known size.

Save. LedgerHQ confirms Rule created and the rule shows as Active.

Review Its First Runs

A new rule can reach rows already sitting in the queue, not just future ones. Read Understand what a bank rule will post before you save, then check its first matches in Bank Feeds and confirm the account is right on every one.

If it caught something unintended, see Stop an overbroad bank rule. Disable first, investigate second.

Rules Do Not Overwrite People

If someone manually recoded a row away from the rule's account, that human choice stands. Rules handle repetitive untouched rows; they do not fight review.