How a bank email becomes a categorized expense
The bank already wrote to you. This guide plays that path: inbox, scan, amount, merchant, date, card, category, chart. Then you can edit a messy notice and watch the extraction change.
Frainer EncarnaciónFounder of Viollet5 min read
The month is already in the inbox. Not as a budget. As a pile of notices: a purchase, a debit, a transfer, sometimes a promo dressed as an alert. The work is reading the message the bank already sent.
The figure below plays on its own. Sample notices drop into an inbox, a scanline reads one, and amount, merchant, date, and card fly out as tokens. They land in a row, pick up a category, and the chart grows. Further down you can pick a messy notice or edit the text. Extraction updates as you type. The figures are examples.
From the inbox to a bar
One sample purchase, played as a loop. It is a generic template, not a message from a real bank.
Inbox
Transaction
Supermarkets
Month
The alert is a categorized row and the chart has grown. Amount, merchant, date, and card are in the row.
Pipeline stage. The alert is a categorized row and the chart has grown. Amount, merchant, date, and card are in the row.
Edit the notice
Pick a sample or change the text. This teaching parser reads the words in the box. It is not the production engine.
Sample notices
Destination
Enters as a transaction
- Amount
- RD$640
- Merchant
- Delivery Ejemplo
- Date
- 2026-10-06
- Card
- 2291
- Category
- Delivery
Ignored
Flagged
What the email cannot invent
A promo is not a spend. A reversal is not a new purchase. An amount in dollars is not the same as an amount in pesos. The lab above flags those cases on purpose, so you can see the edge of the system.
Viollet processes financial notifications from the institutions and senders you authorize, through Gmail Sync or forwarding. It is not built to read personal conversations. If a category is wrong, you correct it. The link back to the original email is kept.
Credit, debit, and transfers can follow the same path when the bank emails them. Cash and the bank that never writes do not appear on their own.
What the email cannot see
If the bank did not send the alert, Viollet does not invent the transaction. Cash and some in-person payments stay out until you add them.
A change in the email layout may require an adjustment in processing. That adjustment does not ask for your bank password.
The bank app remains the official balance. This guide does not say that email replaces a statement.
Google may show an extra warning while Viollet completes the annual security assessment for restricted Gmail scopes. Continue only if the request is from Viollet and you understand the read-only access.
Questions about the email
Does Viollet read my personal mail?
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It is not built for that. It processes financial notifications from the institutions and senders you authorize, through Gmail Sync or forwarding.
Can I see the original email?
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Yes. The transaction is designed so you can go back to the notice that created it.
What data comes out of the alert?
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Amount, merchant or description, date, and enough context to propose a category. You can correct that category.
Do I need the bank password?
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No. The bank already sent the alert. Viollet does not ask for an online-banking username or password.
Gmail or forwarding?
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You can connect Gmail to sync the senders you authorize, or forward the bank notifications. In both cases you choose which institutions to follow.
What if the bank changes the layout?
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Processing may need an update in how the email is read. You do not have to hand over bank credentials for that adjustment.
Is the beta free?
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Yes. While the public beta is open, access is free, no card is required, and it includes Plus features.
Let the alert draft the line
If the bank already emails you, you can turn that message into a categorized expense. No bank password. Public beta, no card.