Add, Edit, and Delete Transactions

The main transaction form is where most day-to-day transaction work happens. It is the screen you use for ordinary spending, income, gains, losses, notes, labels, and category details.

Ways to open the form #

You will usually open the transaction form from one of these places:

• Add Transaction on the transaction list header
• the main Add button
• the Combo Palette (Add Transaction command)
• a transaction row’s Related Actions menu by choosing Edit
• a transaction row’s Related Actions menu by choosing Start a Refund

When you are creating a normal transaction, the button at the bottom says Add Transaction. When you are editing an existing row, it changes to Save Changes. If you started from Start a Refund, it changes to Create Refund. Refunds start simply as a reversing entry of the original with the current date filled in.

The controls you will use most #

For ordinary day-to-day entries, these are the fields that matter most:

• Account chooses where the activity happened.
• Type chooses the transaction type allowed for that account.
• Payee lets you search existing payees, type a new one, or edit a payee from inside the picker.
• Category tells Common Cents what the money was for.
• Label is optional and appears when Labels is enabled. See Labels.
• Date sets when the transaction happened.
• Amount uses a sign toggle so you can mark inflow or outflow.
• Note is optional extra context.

For a simple outflow on an on-budget account, that is usually enough.

Turn a transaction into a schedule rule #

For an eligible normal transaction, select Make Schedule Rule beside Add Details under the Amount field. The form expands with schedule fields for frequency, first date, ending conditions, active status, and—in the case of inflows—when new funds should reach the budget.

Choose Add Rule Only to create the recurring rule without recording the transaction. Choose Add Transaction & Rule to save both together. If the transaction date is in the future, the action becomes Schedule Transaction & Add Rule and creates a pending forecast instead of a posted transaction.

When editing an existing normal transaction, the action becomes Save Changes & Add Rule. If you decide not to schedule it, select Discard Schedule Rule to return to the regular transaction form; none of the schedule fields are saved.

Transfers, debt payments, and refunds linked to a specific original transaction cannot become schedule rules.

Controls that appear only in some situations #

The form changes based on the account, transaction type, and enabled features.

• Record as debt payment appears when the selected account can be used to pay a debt account.
• Mark as income appears when Scheduled Transactions is enabled and the transaction can be treated as income.
• Debt Account appears after you turn on debt payment mode.
• Payment Category replaces the normal category picker for installment-style debt payments.
• Principal appears for mortgage-style debt payments.
• Type can be locked when you are editing an existing transaction, interest entry, initial balance entry, or transfer-linked entry.

If you are working inside a debt account, Common Cents may offer more specialized header actions such as Pay Card, Pay Loan, or Apply Interest. When those appear, use them instead of forcing the normal transaction form to do a debt-specific job. See also: Debt.

Add new category and label without leaving the form #

The category and label pickers include footer actions:

• ➕ Add new category… opens the category form in place.
• ➕ Add new label… opens the label form in place.

That means you do not have to cancel the transaction just because the category or label does not exist yet.

Use Add Details when one transaction needs more than one category #

Under Amount, ordinary outflow transactions can show:

• 📊 Add Details
• ✏️ Edit Details
• 🗑️ Delete Details

Those controls open the split-details flow. If a purchase needs multiple categories, use that instead of forcing the full amount into one category. The full split workflow is covered here: Splits.

What the row action menu does #

Each row in the transaction table has a Related Actions menu.

The most common options are:

• Edit opens the transaction in the correct edit form.
• View Refunds opens a bottom sheet with linked refund transactions when the current transaction has one or more refunds against it.
• Start a Refund opens a new refund draft based on the original transaction.

Refunds are intentionally limited. Start a Refund is only available for normal outflow transactions. It is not available for income, transfer-linked activity, rows that already have a refund, or rows that are read-only.

When you start a refund, Common Cents carries over the account, payee, and detail structure from the original transaction, then opens a new draft so you can review it before saving.

If you open an original transaction in edit mode and it already has linked refunds, the footer also shows View Refunds so you can review those related rows without leaving the form.

For the full refund workflow, continue with Refunds.

Editing changes history #

When you edit a transaction, you are changing history that other numbers depend on. Account balances, category activity, and planning views can all move after a save.

That is why Common Cents blocks or reroutes some edits:

• transfer rows are edited in the transfer form instead of the normal transaction form
• closed accounts become read-only
• some debt-related activity belongs in debt payment flows, not the normal transaction form
• edits that cross month boundaries will warn you but will allow you to continue

If Strict Mode is enabled and the change would overspend a category, the app can stop you and open Strict Mode: Cover Overspending before it allows the save. This forces you to make a transfer to cover the overspending amount.

Delete only when the transaction should not exist #

The Delete button only appears in edit mode.

Use delete when the transaction should not exist at all. If the activity happened in real life but needs correction, editing the row or using Start a Refund is usually the cleaner fix.