Skip to main content

How Bank Sync & Categorization Works with Adam

Keeping your books clean shouldn’t require manually categorizing bank transactions every month. Adam helps you automate this process by using bank rules, so once you set them up, transactions are categorized correctly going forward.

Maz avatar
Written by Maz
Updated over a week ago

You can also watch the video walkthrough:

Create Bank Rules for Automatic Categorization

To get started, navigate to Banking in the sidebar and select Bank Rules.
This opens the Bank Rules table, where you can define how Adam should recognize and categorize your transactions.

Bank rules help Adam learn recurring patterns in your transactions, such as salaries, subscriptions, transfers, and fees, so you don’t have to fix the same items repeatedly.

Click Create Rule to choose between:

  • Bulk generate with AI

  • Create manually


Bulk Generate Rules with AI

When you select Bulk generate with AI, Adam asks for a sample bank statement. This allows the system to detect recurring transactions and automatically create rules for them.

To generate rules:

  1. Upload a sample bank statement

  2. (Optional) Add extra instructions, such as categorizing all credits as Other Income

  3. Click Generate


Understand Rule Scope

Each bank rule can:

  • Apply to all bank accounts, or

  • Apply to one specific bank account

If no bank is selected, the rule applies to all banks. This is useful when different banks format narrations differently or when certain transactions occur on only one account.


Rule Logic: AND vs OR

Rules use logical conditions to determine when they apply:

  • AND → All conditions must match

  • OR → Any condition matching will trigger the rule

Use AND for precision and OR for flexibility.


Conditions and Outcomes

Each rule has two parts:

  • Conditions – what Adam checks (narration, amount, date, transaction type, etc.)

  • Outcomes – what Adam does when conditions are met

Outcomes can define:

  • The ledger account to post to

  • Transaction status (categorized or uncategorized)

  • Assigned customer or vendor


Apply Rules to Past Transactions

Before saving a rule, you can choose Apply to Historical Transactions.
This allows Adam to automatically re-categorize previously uploaded or synced transactions using the new rules.

Once saved, the rule becomes active immediately.


See Rules Applied to Bank Transactions

To view rules in action, go to Banking → Bank Transactions.
Here, you will see transactions from synced bank accounts or uploaded bank statements.

When you import a bank statement, Adam automatically processes and categorizes transactions using your saved rules. You can filter transactions by bank to review the results.


Create Rules Manually (Optional)

If you prefer full control:

  1. Go to Bank Rules

  2. Click Create Rule → Create manually

  3. Name the rule

  4. Choose AND or OR logic

  5. Set conditions (for example, narration contains “Rocket Rides”)

  6. Define outcomes (such as posting to General Expenses)

You can choose whether the rule is active immediately and whether it should apply to historical transactions.


Bank Sync and Automatic Transactions

Adam also supports automatic bank synchronization.

Navigate to Banking → Account & Sync to connect a bank account.
Once enabled, Adam imports up to 3–6 months of past transactions and then syncs new transactions automatically each day.

All synced transactions are categorized using your existing bank rules, ensuring consistency without manual effort.

Did this answer your question?