AutoCat Min Max don't work as expected for negative values

Google Sheets
1

I want to match on an expense that is between -$100 and -$200. Notice the - because it is an expense.

So, in the AutoCat tab, I would expect to put:

  • Amount Min = -200
  • Amount Max = -100

However, this does not work. To make it work I have to put:

  • Amount Min = -100
  • Amount Max = -200

But that’s not mathematically right because -200 is less than -100.

2

According to the AutoCat doc, Amount Min, Amount Max expect absolute values.

Polarity filter criteria

If you’d like to have one of your AutoCat rules search based on the polarity of the Amount column (positive or negative amounts) you can add an Amount Polarity column to your AutoCat sheet. Otherwise the Amount Min and Amount Max columns that are default columns in the AutoCat sheet are expecting absolute values.

If you want AutoCat to look for negative amounts (expenses or outflows) put the word “Negative” (without quotes) in the Amount Polarity column for that rule. If you want it to look for positive amounts (inflows, income, or refunds) put the word “Positive” (without quotes) in the Amount Polarity column for that rule.

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3

Got it. That’s confusing as heck but I think I get it now. Thanks!

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4

Thanks @Mark.S for being so on this— and everything!

I totally get the confusion, @imthenachoman… I checked the code and one unintuitive thing about our Autocat implementation is that amount-values are captured by the software as absolute values. So, essentially, the signs you’re inputting in min and max are stripped off and then, as you note, the magnitudes are backward.

I’d recommend just leveraging the Polarity filter, as @Mark.S suggests, then, if needed entering the max and min as 200 and 100, respectively.

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