Everything the capture bar understands

The capture bar reads one line in English, German, Spanish, French, Macedonian or Hindi. Word order does not matter, and Tavala re-reads the line after every keystroke, so the chips above the field always show what will be saved. This page lists the rules. For the steps, see Add an expense in one line.

How a line is read

• The words Tavala uses are taken out of the note: the amount, a currency symbol, code or word, a date phrase, a wallet word, an estimate word, ~ and a leading +. Everything else stays as the note, in the order and the case you typed it.
• Words that pick a category, income, a refund or a trip stay in the note, because they are usually the title. coffee 4.80 saves with the note coffee.
• Letters are compared without case and without accents, so cafe and Café are the same word.
• Until the line has an amount, the bar shows your suggestions or says "Add an amount to save - like "3.80 coffee"", and the round button opens the full form with your words in it.
• When the line can be read more than one way (a currency several countries share, a transfer, a day that has not come yet, two amounts), the bar marks the chip with a question mark and does not save from the bar. See when the bar asks first.
• Autocorrect and word suggestions are off in the field.

Languages

English, German, Spanish, French, Macedonian (in Cyrillic and in Latin letters) and Hindi (in Devanagari and romanised) are read on any phone, whatever its language, and you can mix them in one line. A few short forms are read only when your phone is set to their language, because they are ordinary words in another one:

• Two- and three-letter weekdays such as sat, Fr, vie, ven and пет, unless they end with a full stop (sat.) or follow the language's "on" or "last" word.
• The German estimate word so and the Spanish como.
• Numbers spelled in Latin letters in Macedonian (sto dvaeset) and in romanised Hindi (do sau).

Amounts

• 0.001 stays one thousandth, and so do currencies with three or more decimal places: 1.500 BHD is one and a half dinar.
• Devanagari digits (२००) are read as digits.

Several numbers in one line

• The amount is the first number with a currency, else the first with a decimal part, else the first.
• A count of 1 to 20 before a word gives way to a larger price after it: 2 coffees 7.60 is 7.60 and 3 beers 12 is 12, with the count kept in the note. 20 lunch 5 tip stays 20.
• A count joined to a price by x, ×, @ or a word such as "at" is multiplied: 3x 4,20 beer is 12.60 and 2 pints @ 5.80 is 11.60.
• A number that belongs to a date phrase is never the amount: taxi 3 days ago has no amount, and 2 days ago 15 taxi is 15.

Sums and other operators

Join two or more amounts with an operator to calculate in the bar. The chip shows the result; the field keeps what you typed.

• Spaces. A calculation can be one token (lunch 12+8), and a plus or minus with spaces around it between two figures counts too: lunch 12 + 8 is 20.00 and 89,90 - 10 schuhe is 79.90. A dash that is not between two figures is punctuation: coffee - 4.80 is 4.80.
• Precedence. Multiplying and dividing come before adding and subtracting, and each group runs left to right: 2+3x4 is 14 and 20-4/2 is 18.
• Rounding. The whole calculation is done exactly and rounded half up once, at the end, to the currency's decimal places: 40/3 is 13.33, and 1000/3 JPY is 333 because yen have no decimals.
• Each part is an amount. It can use k or a decimal comma: 1.5k+2 is 1,502.00 and 1,5+2 is 3.50.
• One currency for the whole token. Put the symbol or code before or after it: €12+8, 12+8 EUR. A symbol in the middle (12+€8) gives no amount.
• The result must be above zero. 5-5, 12-20 and 5/0 give no amount from that token, and their text stays in the note. A later plain amount still wins: 5/0 7 lunch is 7.

Spoken lines

Dictation from your keyboard's microphone types number words, and the bar reads them like digits in all six languages: twelve fifty lunch yesterday, zweitausendfünfhundert, dos mil quinientos, quatre-vingt-dix-neuf, дваесет и пет илјади, दो सौ.

• Two numbers below 100 side by side are units and cents: "twelve fifty" is 12.50, "nine ninety nine" 9.99, never 1,250.
• A point word is the decimal point ("twelve point five", "zwölf komma fünfzig"), and so is a currency word between the two numbers ("zwei euro fünfzig" is €2.50).
• When you correct yourself, the last figure counts: "fifteen for parking no wait eighteen" is 18.
• A lone small number word before a noun is a count, not the amount: one coffee 3 is 3.00 with the note "one coffee".
• Fillers such as "um" stay in the note and do not change the reading.

Currencies

If you type no currency, the entry uses the currency of the wallet in the wallet chip.

By symbol. Put a symbol before or after the number, or as its own word: €12.50, 12.50€, € 12.50, 250ден. Tavala knows the symbol of most currencies on its supported list, such as €, £, ¥, ₹, ₽, ₺, zł, R$ and ден.

By code. Type the three-letter code attached or as its own word: 250mkd, eur40, 250 MKD, mkd 250. Coins work the same way: 0.01 BTC.

By word. A currency word next to the amount, in the six languages: 12 euros, 20 quid, 15 dollars, 20 dollars canadiens, 12 livres, 500 лева, 250 денари, 200 रुपये, Rs. 200, 2000den. A full currency word directly before the line's only number counts the same way: euros 12 café is €12.00 and dollars 20 tip is 20.00 US dollars. The name of one of your wallets in that place stays the wallet (cash 20 coffee is €20.00 from Cash), and un livre 12 is still a book for 12.

Which codes need capitals. Many codes are also ordinary words (pen, all, cup, bob), so a code is read in any case only for:

• the 12 first currencies of the app (USD, EUR, GBP, MKD, JPY, CHF, CAD, AUD, PLN, DKK, NOK and SEK), the currencies of your spending wallets, your main currency and any currency already used in your wallets, entries or bills;
• codes that are no ordinary word, such as mxn or czk.

Every other code and coin on the supported list is read in capitals only. So 12 PEN is Peruvian sol, while 12 pen is a pen: 12 in your wallet's currency, with the note pen. A code that is not on the list (12 XYZ coffee) stays in the note.

Symbols and words that several currencies share. The $ and "dollars" belong to about 30 currencies, kr and "kronen" to the Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Czech and Icelandic crowns, "pesos" to eight. Tavala picks the first of these that fits:

1. The wallet's currency, if it uses the symbol or word.
2. Your main currency, if it does.
3. The only currency that uses it.
4. The symbol's or word's own currency: $ and "dollars" are the US dollar, £ the pound sterling, ¥ the yen.
5. The answer you gave before on this device.

When none of these decides, which happens for kr, "kronen", "pesos" or "dinari" in a space that uses none of their currencies, the amount chip shows what you typed with a question mark ("kr 50?", "pesos 800?") and the entry is not saved until you choose. Tap the chip: Which currency? offers the currencies the word can mean. Tavala remembers your choice on this device for that word, and the chip stays tappable so you can change it.

When the currency differs from the wallet. The amount stays in the currency you typed. A chip shows what the wallet is charged, such as "≈ €16.20", or "≈ ? EUR" when no rate is known yet. If no rate exists when you save, the bar says "No rate for XXX yet - finish this one in the form." and opens the form with your entry filled in. See record spending in another currency.

Income, expense and refund

• A refund word wins over an income word and over a +: +15 refund is a refund.
• A tip alone, and someone else's salary (maid's salary 300, बाई की तनख्वाह 3000), stay expenses.
• Tap the type chip to change the result: Expense, then Income, then Refund, then back to Expense. Switching clears a category you picked by hand.

See record income and refunds for what each type does to your totals.

Transfers

A line that moves money between your own wallets is read as a transfer: a transfer verb or "to" with one of your wallets, such as moved 200 to savings, 100 to cash, paid 300 off the credit card, 200 auf sparkonto überwiesen, mis 200 de côté or 200 savings me daale.

• The type chip reads Transfer and comes second, the wallet chip reads "From" and the wallet's name, and a "To" chip names the wallet the money goes to: the wallet you named, else your only savings or debt wallet. There is no category chip.
• The bar does not save a transfer itself. The round button opens the transfer form with the amount and both wallets filled in.
• If the line is not a transfer, tap Transfer: the entry is an expense again and the category chip comes back.

Wallets

A word that names one of your spending wallets picks it for the entry, and the word leaves the note:

• By name. A whole word of the wallet's name, or its first four letters or more: 20 coffee cash, 45 groceries from current account.
• By kind. A cash word picks a wallet named or set up as cash (en efectivo, in bar); a card or bank word picks a card or bank wallet (with card, mit karte, from bank, upi se).
• A wallet in another currency brings its currency, unless the line names one.
• Common words never pick a wallet, and neither does a wallet name shorter than three letters.

The wallet chip wins over a word in the line. A word wins over the Spend from wallet of a trip you are on, and over the wallet the same note used last time.

Categories

Tavala looks for a category in this order and stops at the first match.

1. Your own category names. A word of 3 or more letters that equals a word in one of your category names, or a word of 4 or more letters that starts one. Names are split at spaces, & and /, and compared across scripts, so hrana matches a category called Храна and khana one called खाना. Income entries look at income categories; expenses and refunds look at expense categories.
2. The built-in words and shops of the six languages, listed in part below. Each points to what a category is for, not to its English name, so a starter category you renamed to a common name in one of the six languages (Essen & Trinken, Comida, Courses, Храна, खाना) still gets its words.
3. A remembered choice. If you saved the same note before with a category you picked, that category is used. A one-word note you taught also counts inside a longer line: teach kiosk once, and kiosk station 2 follows it. This replaces a built-in guess or no match, never a match on your own category name. The memory is kept on this device only.
4. A small typo. A word of 5 or more letters one slip away from a built-in word: a letter missing, extra or wrong, two letters swapped, or a key pressed twice: coffe, lnuch, cafeee. A four-letter word with a dropped vowel or two swapped letters reads too: edka is Edeka (Groceries) and taix is taxi.
5. No category. The chip says "No category" and the entry saves as Uncategorized.

The category chip is outlined and in italics while it is only a built-in guess. It turns upright when it matches your own category name, comes from the remembered choice, or when you pick it. In the picker, Often used shows up to four categories you file under most, once you have eight or more categorised entries of that kind in the last 90 days.

Some of the built-in words

A word that is not in the tables, such as a small local shop, finds nothing until you pick its category once. A category you removed is never matched. See create, rename and remove categories and the capture bar picked the wrong category.

Dates

• On a phone set to US English, numeric dates are read month first: 10/4 is 10 April elsewhere and 4 October there.
• A numeric date later than today stays in the note. 3 oct alone is an amount of 3, because a date never takes the line's only number.
• A small slip in a date word is read: yesteday, ayre, kall.
• French hier is yesterday, and the Macedonian "ден" is the denar, not a day.
• Hindi कल / kal is yesterday and परसों / parson the day before, alone or with a past word (diye, liya, tha). With a future verb in the line (bharna hai, dena hai, jana hai, hoga, milega, chahiye) they mean tomorrow and the day after, and the bar asks first like tomorrow: kal 500 bill bharna hai.
• The time of day stays the current time. The date words are removed from the note.

Days that have not come yet

tomorrow, morgen, mañana, demain, утре, next friday and Hindi kal with a future verb are read as that day, but the bar does not save them: the date chip reads "Tomorrow?" (or the weekday with a question mark) in copper, and the round button opens the form with that day set. You can also tap the date chip and pick a day. The date sheet opens on the day the chip shows, with Today, Yesterday and the weekday before that as quick choices, and lets you pick any day from 2015 up to tomorrow.

Estimates and catching up

An estimate marks an amount as approximate. The Estimated chip appears next to the amount, and the entry shows an Estimated tag in Activity.

A lapse phrase logs a stretch of days as one entry:

• since <weekday or yesterday>, such as since friday or since yesterday, and in the other languages seit freitag, desde el viernes, depuis hier, од петок, कल से.
• last N days, with N from 1 to 365, and letzte 3 tage, últimos 3 días, les 3 derniers jours, последните 3 дена, पिछले 3 दिन.

A lapse phrase marks the entry as estimated and dates it today, never one entry per day. The phrase stays in the note, so you can see later what the entry covers: in English tidied (since Fri, last 3 days), in the other languages as you typed it. Its words never become the amount, a date, a category or a trip. See log a rough amount or catch up after a few days.

Trips and projects

While a trip or project is open, a word in the line that equals a word of its name selects it, or a word of 4 or more letters that starts one: 45 dinner lisbon selects the trip Lisbon, and so does 45 dinner lisb, but lis does not. The word stays in the note and the trip chip shows the name. Details:

• Common words (a, an, the, to, of, in, on, at, for, and, or, my, our, with, from, by, new) never select a trip, so a trip called "Trip to Rome" answers to trip and rome, not to to.
• When several trips match, an exact word beats a partial one, then the latest start date wins.
• It works for expenses and refunds, not income, and only for trips that are open today. Upcoming and finished trips are not matched by name. Use the trip chip for those.
• A trip named for a place, or a project named with a common word such as "Apartment", is also selected by that word in the other five languages: the trip Italy by italien, italia, italie, италија or इटली, the project Apartment by wohnung, piso, appart, стан or फ्लैट. An exact or partial match on the name as you wrote it still wins.

See put spending on a trip or a project.

What the bar does not read

• A split of one purchase across categories.
• Two entries in one line. monoprix 23 and pharmacy 12 shows "€23.00?" and hands the first amount to the form; add the second on its own line.
• Days further ahead than the coming week: in in 2 weeks 50 dinner the 2 is read as the amount. Use the form for those.

Worked examples

All examples assume a Current account and Cash in euros, Dollar savings in US dollars, euros as the main currency, the starter categories, an open trip named Lisbon, and today as Saturday 24 October.

Good to know

• A guess is not a rule. The bar always lets you change a chip before you save. Anything it got wrong is also editable afterwards: see edit, delete or undo a transaction.
• Keyboard. Return saves when the line can be saved, on every platform.
• Offline and on the device. The bar works with no connection and reads the line on the device; nothing you type is sent anywhere to be read.