Transaction titles: update your history and choose names for future imports

Finance · Leonardo Lima · October 28, 2026

This guide is for CleverNote Finance: transactions, budgets and goals. Explore the other blog

A bank description can make sense to the bank while telling you little about your routine. You recognize the payment after opening its details, but have to repeat that investigation the following month. A title you choose helps you read your history with the context that matters.

In the web version of CleverNote Finance, you can change a transaction title, review other entries before applying the same name, and, when the source supports it, choose that title for future imports. These are three separate decisions. Each deserves its own check.

Start with a transaction you recognize

Consider this fictional example: the description received from the bank is “FIN PMT 0042,” and you confirm that it is your car loan payment. For you, “Car loan payment” explains the transaction more clearly.

In Entries, open that entry for editing and find Transaction title. Check the Bank description and the account shown before writing the new name. Use a short, specific line. The field accepts up to 160 visible characters, but it does not need to contain every detail of the loan agreement.

Save the title. This choice changes how the transaction is presented in CleverNote; it does not change the bank’s description or correct the amount, currency, date, or category. If one of those details is wrong, review the corresponding adjustment. A clearer name does not prove that the rest of the entry is correct.

Review the past before applying a bulk change

After saving, CleverNote prepares a review of earlier transactions. You can also use Review earlier transactions to open that check with the title already saved.

In the Apply title to all preview, read the target title and the groups found. There are matches in the same account, possible matches that need attention, and entries from other accounts. Titles that someone has already chosen are protected against replacement without explicit selection.

Before confirming:

• Compare the description, account, date, and amount of the selected entries.
• Deselect anything that represents a different commitment, even if the text looks similar.
• Check the count when selecting an entire group, because that selection includes the group’s pages that have not loaded yet.
• Use Include ignored entries in the preview only if you also want to review them. Selecting an ignored entry does not change its financial status.

In the fictional example, a payment for a different loan should not receive “Car loan payment” simply because it arrived with a similar abbreviation. Confirm with Apply title to N transactions, using the count shown for your selection. The result reports updated titles and entries preserved because of conflicts.

Separately choose what happens with future imports

Applying a title to your history does not, by itself, create a rule for the future. After the bulk change, the result may ask whether you want to use the same title for future imports.

Check the bank description and account displayed in that offer. If the scope is right, choose Use for future imports. The preference applies to that exact description in that account. It does not mean renaming every purchase from a merchant or recognizing every variation of the text.

If a different preference is already active, the offer shows the title change and the Update future imports button. Read the previous and new names before confirming. You can also choose Use this title for future imports while editing an individual entry, when that option is available.

In a shared space, the title is visible to the people in that space. Choose a name that helps everyone recognize the commitment. If the source cannot safely identify future imports yet, CleverNote explains that limitation. You can still correct the current transaction and review your history.

Check the confirmation and preserve completed work

A failure to save the future preference does not undo titles already applied by the bulk change. Read the message in that section and check the state before trying again. When an operation’s result is still being verified, use Check result to clarify what happened.

If the preview expires or the data changes, use Refresh preview and review the selection again. In Remembered titles, consult Future preferences and recent changes. Stop using for future imports keeps previously applied titles. When Undo change is available, check the displayed deadline; later changes are preserved.

This review works alongside checking entries that look like duplicates and reviewing recurring expenses. Start with a description that always requires investigation: open CleverNote Finance, give the transaction a clear name, and separately decide what to repeat in the future.

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