Transaction Review

You’ve got 200 uncategorized transactions waiting across 8 clients. You could spend your entire afternoon clicking through them one at a time. Or you could work smart. Transaction review is where bookkeepers spend most of their time. Pluvel’s workflow is built to make that time count.

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The review queue

Instead of hunting through each client separately, see everything in one place: From the firm dashboard:

1. Click Tasks → Transaction Review
2. See which clients have pending items
3. Click a client to start reviewing

From inside a client:

1. Go to Banking → Transactions
2. Filter to “Needs Review”
3. Work through the list

The firm-level view is better for batch work. The client-level view is better when you’re focused on one client.

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The review interface

When you’re reviewing transactions, you see: That history panel is the time-saver. “Last time I saw a charge from ADOBE, I put it in Software Subscriptions.” Accept it in one click.

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Categorizing efficiently

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Single transactions

The slow way:

1. Click transaction
2. Click dropdown
3. Scroll through 80 accounts
4. Find the right one
5. Click Save

The fast way:

1. Click transaction
2. Type “soft” (for Software Subscriptions)
3. Hit Enter

Three seconds. Next transaction.

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Bulk categorization

Twelve transactions from the same coffee shop:

1. Select all 12 (Shift+Click or check boxes)
2. Click Categorize
3. Pick the account
4. Categorize All

Done. 12 transactions in 5 seconds.

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Accepting suggestions

Pluvel suggests categories based on vendor names, similar transactions, and patterns it’s learned from your categorization history. Suggestions show confidence levels:

• High confidence (green) — Probably right. Accept unless something seems off.
• Medium confidence (yellow) — Possible match. Worth checking.
• No suggestion — Pluvel has no idea. You’re on your own.

For high-confidence suggestions, just hit Enter. Don’t overthink it.

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Keyboard shortcuts

Stop clicking. Learn these: A skilled bookkeeper with keyboard shortcuts can process 100 transactions in 15 minutes. Clicking through the same 100 takes an hour.

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Creating bank rules

If you’re categorizing the same vendor for the third time, stop. Create a rule.

1. Categorize the transaction
2. Click Create Rule
3. Set conditions:
   • “Vendor contains DROPBOX”
   • “Amount is between $10 and$15”
4. Set the action: “Assign to Software Subscriptions”
5. Save

Next month, that Dropbox charge categorizes itself. You never touch it again.

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Managing rules

Each client has their own rules in Client → Settings → Bank Rules. You can:

• See all active rules
• Check which rules are firing most often
• Disable rules that aren’t working
• Set priority (when multiple rules match, which wins?)

Good rule hygiene saves hours per month per client. It compounds.

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Handling the weird stuff

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Unknown vendors

Transaction says “STRIPE TRANSFER 847261” — no idea what it is.

1. Click Ask Client
2. Type your question: “What’s this $347 Stripe transfer for?”
3. Send

The client gets a notification. Their answer appears right on the transaction. You don’t need to email back and forth.

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Duplicates

Same transaction imported twice (common when clients use multiple bank feeds):

1. Click Mark as Duplicate
2. Select which one is the original
3. The duplicate disappears from reports

Don’t delete it — mark it as duplicate. The audit trail matters.

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Splits

One transaction, multiple categories:

• $500 Costco run =$350 office supplies + $150 break room snacks

1. Click Split
2. Add lines with amounts and categories
3. Make sure they sum to the original
4. Save

Reports show the real breakdown, not a misleading lump.

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Review workflow

Here’s how efficient bookkeepers attack transaction review:

1. Start at the firm dashboard. See which clients have the biggest backlogs.
2. Pick the worst one. Get it to zero before moving on.
3. Filter to Needs Review. Don’t look at already-categorized items.
4. Sort by vendor. Group similar transactions together.
5. Bulk categorize obvious patterns. 15 coffee shop charges? One action.
6. Accept high-confidence suggestions. Don’t second-guess the obvious ones.
7. Create rules as you go. Third time seeing the same vendor? Make a rule.
8. Send questions to clients immediately. Don’t let unknown items pile up.
9. Mark complete and move to next client.

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Tracking your progress

The firm dashboard shows:

• Transactions reviewed per period
• Average time per transaction
• Rule hit rate (% auto-categorized)
• Exception rate (% requiring client input)

Watch your rule hit rate. It should climb over time. If you’re manually categorizing the same things month after month, you’re working too hard.