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Getting Started

This guide walks you through launching Spendwise for the first time, importing your first bank statement, and navigating the interface.

Launching the Application

After installing Spendwise, start it from your terminal:

expense-tracker

The main window opens with three tabs: Transactions, Statistics, and Heatmap.

Importing a Bank Statement

The fastest way to populate Spendwise is by importing a Bank of America PDF statement.

1. Download Your Statement

Log in to your Bank of America account and download a monthly statement as a PDF.

Note

Only Bank of America PDF statements are supported at this time. Other bank formats will not be parsed correctly.

2. Import the PDF

  1. In the Transactions tab, click Import Statement (top-right of the toolbar)
  2. Click Browse and select your downloaded PDF
  3. Click Upload

Spendwise extracts each transaction from the PDF and automatically categorizes them using its merchant categorization system. A success message confirms the import.

3. Review Your Transactions

After importing, your transactions appear in the table with the following columns:

Column Description
Date Transaction date
Amount Negative for expenses, positive for income
Category Auto-assigned category (or "Uncategorized")
Description Original merchant description from the statement

Adding a Transaction Manually

You can also add transactions by hand:

  1. Click Add Transaction in the toolbar
  2. Fill in the amount, category, and description (the date defaults to today)
  3. Click Save

Editing a Transaction

To correct a transaction's details or update its category:

  1. Double-click a transaction in the table (or select it and click Edit Transaction)
  2. Modify the amount, category, or description
  3. Click Save

Tip

When you change a transaction's category, Spendwise remembers the mapping and automatically applies it to other uncategorized transactions from the same merchant. See Categorization for details.

Deleting Transactions

  1. Select one or more transactions in the table
  2. Click Delete Transaction
  3. Confirm the deletion in the dialog

Searching Transactions

Use the search bar in the toolbar to filter transactions by keyword:

  1. Type a keyword (e.g., a merchant name or category) into the search field
  2. Press Enter or click Search
  3. Click Clear Search to remove the filter

Browsing Pages

Transactions are displayed 100 per page, sorted by date (newest first). Use the Previous and Next buttons at the bottom to navigate between pages.

Viewing Statistics

Switch to the Statistics tab to see monthly summaries:

  • Net income for the selected month
  • Top spending categories ranked by total amount
  • Use the < and > buttons to browse between months

Viewing the Spending Heatmap

Switch to the Heatmap tab for a calendar visualization of your daily spending:

  • Darker colors indicate higher spending days
  • Click on any day to jump to the Transactions tab filtered to that date

Next Steps

  • Learn how Categorization works to keep your transactions organized automatically