Creating rules
An introduction to creating rules for transforming transactions.
Written By Matias
Last updated About 3 hours ago
Rules can be used to automatically handle or transform bank transactions, and are a powerful tool for improving your workflows and the quality of your data.
Rule types
Synci offers two types of rules. Both types are built similarly, but ultimately serve different purposes. The rule type cannot be changed after a rule has been created.
Bank Account Rules
Bank account rules are applied to transactions as they are fetched from attached bank accounts. Transaction changes are saved in Synci, and will also be applied anywhere the transaction is transferred to.
Transfer Link Rules
Transfer link rules are applied to transactions as they are transferred to linked destinations. Transaction changes are only saved in the destination they are transferred to. The transactions that are stored in Synci will not be affected by these rules.
Transfer link rules are divided by destination type. For transfer links connected to a YNAB budget account, you will have to create a “YNAB Transfer Link Rule”. The same goes for Lunch Money and other destinations. This is because different destination types have different transaction fields, and we limit the fields you can transform based on the destination set up in the transfer link.
Creating a rule
To create a rule, head to the Rules page, and click the Create Rule button. The following dialog will appear:
Select the appropriate rule type based on the information provided in the Rule types section above. The name should be short and concisely describe the purpose of the rule (e.g. “Reverse amounts”). Optionally, you may also provide a description of the rule for more detailed information.
Set up conditions
Set up conditions by going to the Builder tab, then click "Add Condition". Conditions are certain criteria that must be met for a rule to be applied. If no conditions are provided, the rule's actions will always be executed.
Set up actions
Set up actions by going to the Builder tab, then click "Add Action". Actions are executed when a rule's conditions are met. Every time an action is executed, a new rule log is created.
Attach rule
Rules can be attached to Bank Accounts or Transfer Links, depending on what you chose as the rule type. A rule must be attached to a bank account or transfer link for it to actually perform the actions you have configured in the rule.
To attach a rule to an entity, click the green Attach button near the top of the page:
Next, select the entity you’d like to attach the rule to. Since this is a bank account rule, the selection is limited to your available bank accounts:
Finally, set the rule execution order. This is the order in which the rules attached to this bank account will be executed:
In the example above, the “Admin rule” will be executed first when the rule has been triggered by a new transaction. After this, the “Reverse amount” rule will be executed. Any values transformed by the first rule, will persist in the next rule execution. Click Confirm to attach the rule to the bank account.
Example: Assume Synci has fetched a new transaction with 100 as the amount. If the first rule has an action which multiplies the amount by 10, the new transaction amount becomes 1000. Then, when the second rule (which multiplies amount with -1) is executed, the final amount for the transaction will be set to -1000.
Configuring rules
The following article goes in detail about how rules work, and the different ways you can configure them to best suit your needs.