Custom rules allow you to create automations within Puzzle by defining categories for recurring transactions. When you create a rule, the category selected will be automatically applied to all future transactions with designated description. (Although the categories are automatically applied, they will still show up for your review so that you can finalize them.)

Custom rules will apply categories to Transactions. For a deeper dive into the relationship between third-party integrations, Transactions, categories, and the General Ledger, refer to our deep dive on Rules and Categories.

Within the Transactions tab, you can click on an individual line item to open the drawer for that transaction. Within the drawer, click on “Create Rule” to define the rule you want to create.

You can name the rule something that allows you to identify the general mechanics.

You will also have the option to select whether you want to do this for a transaction description that “Contains” or “Equals” the phrase. They will often result in the same outcomes. Choosing “Contains” will result in more possible transactions being captured (i.e. the rule will be applied anything that has the phrase). This is useful for any third party that may apply different strings of numbers to the end of different transactions.

However, you will want to avoid using “Contains” for phrases that may cause ambiguity. For example, you may know that any transaction with the exact description “Subway” should be “Office Meals,” but you would not want to include “NYC Subway Fare” as “Office Meals.”

You will also have the choice to add a Vendor name for any transaction where this rule is applied. This may be useful if you typically modify the default vendor name. For example, if the vendor in the situation above typically showed up as “UTD AIR,” you may want to change it to “United Airlines” so that it is more readable.

Furthermore, you will have the ability to choose when to start applying this rule. Regardless, it will not impact transactions that have already been finalized. If you are familiar with historical versions of transactions that have a different Category or Vendor and have been finalized, you can change them by marking them as not finalized and changing the Category or Vendor.

Rather than starting from a specific transaction in the “All transactions” section of the Transactions tab, you can also directly create rules within the Rules section. In the Rules section, you can also see existing rules that you have created.

You can click on “+ New rule” and follow the same steps from Option 1 to create a new rule. The only difference is that the category and vendor name will not auto-populate; instead, you will fill out a blank template.

You can also review and modify existing rules within this tab.