An import template — called a "preset" in the app's screens — stores how a file from a given source should be interpreted. You build one per account or card and, from then on, importing the month's statement becomes: pick the file, pick the template, confirm.
What a template stores
| Field | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Name | Required, and it is what you will see in the list at import time. Name it after the real source — "Bank X card", "Bank Y checking" — not after the file format. |
| Descriptions | The texts that will be pre-filled on each imported entry. There are several lines: the editor adds a fresh blank field as soon as you fill the last one, and drops empty ones on save. |
| Marker | The marker the template stamps on everything it imports — handy for setting apart, in one move, whatever came from a particular source. It has a field of its own below the descriptions, and does not count as one: a template with only a marker still needs a description or a category before it can be saved. |
| Category (optional) | The default category for that file's entries. It makes a lot of sense for a single-purpose account; very little for your main card, where everything is mixed. |
| Default currency | The currency that statement comes in. It is what stops you importing a whole foreign statement as if it were in your main currency. |
Creating your first one
- Do one import without a template. That way you see how that source's entries actually arrive, before deciding what is worth standardizing.
- Note what you repeated by hand. If you ended up typing the same description on twenty entries, it is a candidate to become a template field.
- Create the template with those fields. Name, descriptions, a category if it makes sense, a currency if it isn't the main one.
- Use it on the next import. Selecting the template makes the import screen fill in the description fields and the category for you.
A template describes a source's format, not a period. You create it once and reuse it every month; if the bank changes the file layout, you edit the template rather than creating another one.
Managing the list
The presets screen lists every template with a text filter. Tapping one opens the editor; there you rename it, adjust the descriptions, change the category or delete it — with confirmation. When the list grows, an add button also appears at the bottom, so you don't have to scroll back to the top.
What a template does not do
- It does not categorize by itself. If the template sets no category, entries come in unclassified and go to the suggestion-based categorization flow — which is the right mechanism for that.
- It does not prevent duplicates. That is handled during file pre-processing, template or not: already-imported entries are discarded before you confirm.
- It does not change the past. Editing a template affects future imports, not previous ones.
A default category on a varied statement dumps everything in one place and creates more correction work than it saved. Reserve that field for single-purpose sources — the account that only pays rent, the card used only when travelling.