Auto-assign strategies

The Auto-assign button on Budget opens a modal with six strategies. Pick one, preview the totals, apply. Every strategy is non-destructive — it sets Assigned values; it doesn't move money, doesn't create transactions, doesn't touch closed months. You can undo by editing the cells back, or by picking a different strategy and applying again.

Scope

Before picking a strategy, scope matters:

• All categories — the toolbar's main Auto-assign button. Walks every non-payment category.
• One group — the three-dots menu on a group header. Touches only that group.
• One category — the three-dots menu on a category row. Touches only that row.

The strategies

Goal target

For every category with a goal, set Assigned to exactly what the goal needs this month. Categories without goals are left alone. Most useful for monthly fixed goals (rent, insurance, subscriptions) and reach-a-target goals on a deadline.

Last month's spending

Set each Assigned to whatever Activity was in the same category last month. If you spent $412 on groceries in April, May's Groceries Assigned becomes $412. Good for stable categories, misleading for seasonal ones (don't run this in January expecting it to predict December).

Three-month average

Set each Assigned to the mean of the last three months' Activity in that category. Smooths out one-off months. Underestimates if any of those three months had unusual restraint; overestimates if any had unusual splurging.

Six-month average

Same as three-month but with a longer window. Better signal-to-noise, slower to react to lifestyle changes. Use this once you have six months of clean data.

Underfunded only

For every category whose goal is short, top it up to the goal target. Funded categories are left alone. The opposite of Goal target — that one overwrites; this one only fills gaps.

Last month's plan

Copy last month's Assigned values verbatim. Different from Last month's spending — this is your plan, not your reality. Useful when your assignments rarely change month to month.

The preview

Each row in the modal shows the dollar total that strategy would apply. Negative previews are valid (a category that received money via inflow last month would Auto-assign to a negative). The total at the bottom is the net change to Ready to Assign — positive means you're freeing up cash, negative means you're committing it.

A common workflow

The Auto-assign sequence most users land on after a few months:

1. Goal target — first pass; everything with a stated commitment gets covered.
2. Look at what's left in Ready to Assign.
3. Three-month average scoped to a Variable spending group — fund groceries, gas, dining at typical levels.
4. Manually assign what's left to savings or fun.

The whole session takes under a minute once it's habit.

What Auto-assign won't do

• Touch credit-card payment categories (those are derived from card spending, not assigned directly).
• Overspend Ready to Assign — if a strategy would push RTA negative, the apply button warns and asks for confirmation.
• Modify months other than the active one.

If you want different behavior in a specific category, exclude it by scoping Auto-assign to its group and using a different strategy for that category afterward.