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View spending by category

Use the Spending page to see where your money went during a selected period.

Prerequisites​

  • Big Picture Money is unlocked
  • At least one account has expense transactions
  • Transactions are categorized for the clearest chart

Steps​

  1. Open Spending from the left navigation.
  2. Choose a date range, such as Current month or Last month.
  3. Review the donut chart. Each slice is a top-level category, such as Food & Dining, Shopping, or Housing.
  4. Read the legend for category totals, percentages, and transaction counts.
  5. Click a category slice or legend row to drill into that category.
  6. Review the subcategory chart and the transactions listed below it.
    • Spending assigned to the parent itself (no subcategory) appears as Shopping (general) (or the same pattern for other parents). That amount is separate from any subcategory slices — totals are not double-counted.
    • If the chart includes an Other slice (smaller categories rolled together), click Other to expand the chart and legend to those categories.
  7. When the category has no further subcategories (a leaf such as Restaurants or Uncategorized), review the payee chart instead: each slice is a merchant / payee share for that category.
    • Up to 10 payees appear by amount; smaller ones roll into Other.
    • Clicking a payee slice does not drill further — use the transaction list below to inspect or fix rows.
  8. Use the breadcrumb, such as All spending > Food & Dining, to return to the top-level chart.

Expected result​

  • The chart shows top-level spending categories for the selected period.
  • Clicking a category shows its subcategories when available. Parent-only spending uses the (general) label.
  • Clicking Other replaces the chart with the categories that make up that slice; the transaction list matches.
  • At a leaf category, the chart and legend show payee / merchant shares (not a single 100% category slice), with at most 10 named payees plus Other when needed.
  • Clicking a payee slice does not change the filters or shrink the transaction list.
  • The transaction list below the chart contains the transactions that make up the selected chart view.
  • Transfers between your own accounts are not counted as spending.