Option A: Horizontal Flow (4 Columns)

Right-to-left: Transactions → Rules → Line Items → Categories

Categories

💰 Income
🏠 Housing
🍔 Food
🚗 Transportation

Line Items

Paycheck ✓ 2
Freelance ✓ 1
Rent ⚠ 0
Insurance ✓ 1
Groceries ✓ 3
Gas ⚠ 0

Auto-Tag Rules

Contains "ACME" → Paycheck
Contains "SALARY" → Paycheck
Contains "UPWORK" → Freelance
No rules defined → Rent
Contains "STATE FARM" → Insurance
Contains "KROGER" → Groceries
Contains "WALMART" → Groceries
Contains "ALDI" → Groceries
No rules defined → Gas

Sample Transactions

ACME CORP 11/20 +$2,500 ✓
UPWORK 11/18 +$850 ✓
LANDLORD LLC 11/15 -$1,800 ⚠
STATE FARM 11/12 -$125 ✓
KROGER #4532 11/10 -$87 ✓
SHELL GAS 11/08 -$45 ⚠

Legend

Has matching rule
No matching rule
Income category
Expense category

✓ Pros

  • Clear left-to-right flow
  • All data visible at once
  • Easy to scan columns independently
  • Natural reading order

✗ Cons

  • Can feel cramped with 4 columns
  • Hard to show visual connections
  • Lots of vertical scrolling
  • Sample transactions disconnected from rules visually