Yes, you can change many documents in one go. In the web app, open Documents, tick the checkbox on the left of each document you want to change, open Actions in the bar that appears and choose Set category, Assign tags, Set payment method or another bulk edit. Review the change in the dialog and click Apply. In the mobile app, tap Select on the Documents tab, tap the documents, and use the bar at the bottom of the screen.
This is also how you change the Category of every document from one merchant: filter the list to that merchant, select the documents, and set the new Category for all of them at once.
Select documents in the web app
- The checkbox on the left of each row selects that document for a bulk edit. You only need it when you want to change several documents together. To edit one document, open it or change the value right on its row.
- The checkbox in the list header selects every document on the current page. Click it again to clear the selection.
- Shift-click a second checkbox to select every document between the two.
- As soon as one document is selected, a bar shows how many are selected, with Actions, Export selected and Clear.
Select more than 25 documents
The list shows 25 documents per page by default. To select more at once, change Rows per page at the bottom of the list to 50 or 100, then use the header checkbox.
A selection covers the page you are on. When you move to another page, the selection is cleared, so you cannot collect documents from two pages into one bulk edit. To work through a long list, filter it down first, then edit it one page at a time. Filtering usually helps the most: for example, a Merchant / Payer filter plus a Document date range often fits everything you want to change on one page. See How to search, filter and sort documents.
If what you need is a report or export of documents that span several pages, you do not need to select them. The Export button at the top of Documents exports every document that matches your current filters, on every page. Export selected exports only the ticked rows. See How to create reports in SparkReceipt.
What you can change in bulk
The Actions menu in the web app has:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Reviewed, Pending, Needs Attention, Rejected | Sets the review status. |
| Set document type | Changes the documents to Expense (Receipt), Expense (Invoice), Income, Statement or Other document. |
| Set category | Sets one Category on the selected documents. See below. |
| Set name | Sets the Merchant or Payer name. |
| Set description | Sets the description. |
| Set paid status | Marks income or invoices as paid or unpaid. |
| Set due date | Sets the due date on invoices. |
| Set reference | Sets the reference. |
| Set payment method | Sets the payment method. |
| Set paid by | Company or personal money. Shown only on accounts that use expense claims. |
| Assign tags | Adds Tags. Choose Add to existing to keep the Tags already on the documents, or Replace all to swap them out. |
| Move to account | Moves the documents to one of your linked accounts. Shown only when you have linked accounts. |
| Add to expense claim | Puts expenses on an expense claim. Shown only on accounts that use expense claims. |
| Publish to accounting | Publishes the documents to your connected accounting software. Shown when accounting software is connected, to every role except Contributor. |
| Resolve duplicates | Opens duplicate resolution for selected documents flagged as duplicates. |
| Merge | Combines two or more documents into one. |
| Auto-categorize uncategorized | Lets SparkReceipt pick a Category for the selected documents that have none. See below. |
| Trash | Moves the documents to the Trash bin. See How to delete documents. |
Before a change is saved, a dialog lists the documents with their current value and the new one. You can take single documents out of the batch there. Click Apply to save or Cancel to stop.
Documents in a closed accounting period are never changed by a bulk edit. The dialog tells you how many of them are skipped. See Closed accounting periods.
Change the Category of many documents
- In Documents, filter the list to the documents you want to change. For example, add Merchant / Payer and type the merchant's name, or add Category and pick the Category you want to move documents out of.
- Select the documents. Use the header checkbox to select the whole page.
- Open Actions → Set category.
- Pick the new Category. The list is grouped into Expense, Income and Other Categories, and each group shows how many of your selected documents it applies to.
- Check the list in the dialog and click Apply.
Things to know:
- An expense Category is only set on the expenses in your selection, and an income Category only on the income. Documents of another type are listed in the dialog as not affected.
- Set category replaces the Category on every line item of the document. If a document had different Categories on different line items, they all get the new one.
- A Category that has sub-categories is greyed out and cannot be picked. Pick one of its sub-categories. See How do I add, rename, nest and delete Categories?.
- There is no bulk action that clears the Category, leaving the documents uncategorized. Set category can only set a Category. To move documents out of a wrong Category, set the right one instead.
Let SparkReceipt categorize documents for you
Auto-categorize uncategorized asks SparkReceipt to choose a Category from your own list for each selected document that has no Category, or whose Category has been archived. Documents that already have a Category are skipped. A message tells you when it starts and how many documents were categorized when it is done.
This is the quickest way to apply a set of Categories you just created to documents that never had one. It does not move documents that already sit in another Category. For those, use Set category.
Everyone except Contributors can run it.
After you set up new Categories
When you create your Categories by hand, documents you already have keep the Category they had. To put existing documents into the new Categories:
- Use Set category for each group of documents, filtered by merchant or by old Category as in the steps above.
- Use Auto-categorize uncategorized for documents that have no Category.
If you add Categories by importing a file or applying a template with Replace existing categories set to Yes, remove old categories, SparkReceipt re-categorizes the documents in open periods into the matching new Categories for you. See Can I import categories into SparkReceipt?.
Rescanning a document also picks a Category again, but it reads the whole file from scratch and overwrites the changes you made by hand. Use it to fix a bad read, not to recategorize. See How do I rescan a document?.
Keep new documents from one merchant in the right Category
A bulk edit changes the documents you have today. For documents that arrive later:
- Open Merchants & Payers, open the merchant and add a Category rule. After each scan of a receipt from that merchant, its lines get the Category the rule names. Expenses you already have stay as they are.
- Or set up an automation that assigns a Category by merchant name. See How to set up automations in SparkReceipt.
Merchants & Payers is open to every role except Contributor.
Turn Categories into Tags
SparkReceipt cannot convert Categories into Tags automatically. You can do it by hand:
- In Documents, add the Category filter and pick one Category.
- Select the documents, open Actions → Assign tags, type the Category's name as a new Tag, and apply with Add to existing.
- Repeat for each Category.
Once every Category is copied into a Tag, you can go back to a standard set of Categories by applying a template with Replace existing categories. See Pre-defined chart of accounts templates and How to use tags (dimensions).
Bulk edit in the mobile app
- Open the Documents tab and filter or search the list if you want.
- Tap Select at the top of the screen, or press and hold a document and choose Select multiple....
- Tap the documents you want. Select all picks every document loaded in the list, so scroll down first if you want more of the list loaded.
- Use the bar at the bottom: Category, Tags, Export and Trash, with More for review status, payment method, merge, duplicates, publishing and the rest.
- Tap Exit selection when you are done.
Category in the mobile app needs all selected documents to be of one type. If your selection mixes expenses and income, it shows Select documents of one type.
Give several line items the same Category
You can also set one Category on many line items of a single receipt.
In the web app
- When all line items share one Category, changing the document's Category field changes every line item.
- When the line items have different Categories, the Category field shows a breakdown. Click Categorize all items as... to put all of them in one Category, or Edit to change them line by line.
- To give only some line items the same Category, set the Category on each of those lines in the line item table.
In the mobile app
- Open the document and find Categorization.
- Tap Edit lines to open Edit line items.
- Tap Select, tap the line items you want, then tap Category in the bar at the bottom and pick the Category.
To give every line item the same Category without opening the line items, tap Assign all... under Categorization.
See Can SparkReceipt categorize individual line items from my receipts? for more on line items.
Bank transactions
Bank and credit card transactions in the Transaction Manager have their own bulk edit for Categories and Tags. See Bulk edit categories and tags in the Transaction Manager.