Filters in FiQu work as you are used to: adding a category or hashtag extends the selection. On top of this standard behaviour you can add more advanced logic to your filters.
You get more powerful selection options, but understanding how an advanced filter works will take more effort. The standard filter logic is more than enough to get financial insights and improve your financial IQ. But if you want an even deeper analysis, please try out advanced filter logic.
You active advanced logic on your filters via the checkbox on the Settings screen. How you create, update or delete a filter is described in this article. The sections below explain the changes when you go for advanced filter logic.
Three types of filter element behaviour
In the screen in which you select a new element for your filter, you must choose which logic will apply to that category or hashtag:
- V this is the standard logic. Transactions (expenses or income) with one or more of the categories and/or hashtags are included. Adding another category or hashtag will expand the selection. The behaviour is therefore “any one of” (OR in boolean logic terms).
- & is used to narrow down the selection of transactions. Transactions must have every category and/or hashtag to be included in the filter selection. The behaviour is therefore “all of” (AND in boolean logic terms).
- — is used for cross-sections. Transactions with one or more of the categories or hashtags with this logic are excluded from the selection. This behaviour is best described as “none of” (NOT in boolean logic terms).
Select advanced filter element: “any one of” logic
If you tap on the blue + button in the Filter details or Add new Filter screen, you will see this screen if advanced filter logic is activated.
Using the above screen, this filter with advanced logic is created. It only contains elements (categories and/or hashtags) with “any one of” logic. Therefore this filter behaves exactly like a filter with standard logic.
Advanced filter example on Transactions list
The above filter with advanced logic will be applied on this set of 8 transactions, shown on the Transactions list screen.
The result is that only 6 of the 8 transactions remain: the two transactions with category Housing are not selected by this filter.
Advanced filter: adding “all of” logic elements
Using the above screen, a third row is added to the advanced filter:
Applying this filter will reduce the selection of 6 transactions to only three. Despite having category Household expenses or Insurances, a transaction must now also have hashtag #myself to be selected.
Advanced filter: adding a hashtag with “none of” logic
Using the above screen, a fourth row is added to the advanced filter:
This filter selects transactions that have category Household expenses or Insurances, and have hashtag #myself, but do not contain hashtag #essential.
The result is a cross-section of the three transactions resulting from advanced filter 2. Now only one remains, meeting all criteria of this most advanced filter:
Change the behaviour
If you tap on a row in the Filter details or Add new Filter screen, you have the option to remove a category or hashtag from a filter. But with advanced filter logic activated, you can also change the logic.
Many more options with advanced filtering of FiQu transactions
The above advanced filter is only one example. You can make your own combinations, like an advanced filter with only “all of” logic or only “not” logic. Go ahead and try it out!
Categories can have only one behaviour in an advanced filter
A transaction has only one category. This means that the category or categories in your advanced filter can only have one type of behaviour or logic at the same time. Otherwise your filter with advanced logic would select nothing. This means:
- V “any one of” (OR). One or more categories. And zero categories with a different logic. For a filter you can select a category only once. Filtering on category A or category B and also category C gives no results, because such a combination is impossible. Filtering on category A or category B but not category C adds no extra results versus just filtering on A or B. This is because a transcation can have only one category. F
- & “all of” (AND). Only one category. And zero categories with a different logic.
- — “none of” (NOT). Only one category. And zero categories with a different logic.
These restrictions do not apply to hashtags. Because a transaction can have any number of hashtags. So if you want fine grained analysis using boolean logic, then adding extra hashtags is the way to go.