The Item Manager is where you clean up and improve your spending data. MyShopLight automatically categorizes every purchase using a built-in keyword map but not every item will be matched perfectly. Some will land in "Uncategorized" and some may be assigned to the wrong category. The Item Manager is where you fix those, back up your work, and get AI help with stubborn items. The more accurately your items are categorized, the more useful your dashboard becomes.

When MyShopLight can't find a keyword match for an item, it lands in "Uncategorized." These items still count toward your total spend but won't appear in your category charts or breakdowns which makes your dashboard less accurate. You can fix them one at a time using the dropdowns on each row, or use the AI Suggestions feature in the yellow box above to get bulk recommendations.

When your file is processed, every item title is scanned against a built-in keyword map with over 2,000 rules. Each rule has a priority level that determines which one wins when multiple keywords match the same item:

Priority 1 — Brand name (e.g. "Purina", "LEGO") — most specific, wins over everything
Priority 2 — Specific phrase (e.g. "dog food", "yoga mat") — wins over generic terms
Priority 3 — Product type (e.g. "shampoo", "puzzle") — general match
Priority 5 — Broad fallback (e.g. "toy", "book") — last resort

The longest, most specific match at the highest priority wins. When you add your own keyword rules, you set the priority yourself in the Category Map tab.

Find the item in the list and use the Category and Subcategory dropdowns on that row to select the correct values. You can also update the Audience and Spend Type on the same row. Once everything looks right, click the "Save" button — this locks all your selections to that item permanently. Locked items are protected from being overwritten the next time you click "Re-run Rules."

When you click Save on an item row, three things happen at once:

1. Your chosen category, subcategory, audience, and spend type are applied to that item immediately and the dashboard updates right away.
2. The item is locked, meaning it won't be touched if you click "Re-run Rules" in the future. Your manual choice always wins.
3. If you typed a keyword in the optional keyword field, a new keyword rule is added to your Category Map so future items matching that keyword get categorized the same way automatically.

When you're ready to save an item, look for the "+ Add keyword rule" link below the Save button. Click it to expand a text field — MyShopLight will pre-fill a suggested keyword based on the item title. You can keep the suggestion or type your own. When you click Save, the keyword rule is added to your Category Map at the same time. Future items containing that keyword will be automatically categorized the same way, so you won't have to fix similar items manually again.

The AI feature helps you categorize uncategorized items in bulk without going row by row. Here's the workflow:

1. Click "Download Prompt + Items" in the yellow box — this downloads a text file containing all your uncategorized item names plus a ready-to-use prompt.
2. Open Claude or ChatGPT and paste the entire file contents in.
3. The AI will return a CSV of suggested categories.
4. Click "Apply AI Suggestions," paste in the CSV, and click Apply — MyShopLight applies all valid suggestions automatically.

Review anything that doesn't look right afterward and use the Save button to lock any corrections.

New categories and subcategories are created in the Category Map tab (right next to this one). Click "+ New Category" or "+ New Subcategory" to expand the form, fill in the name, and click Create or Add. Your new category will appear immediately in all dropdowns in the Item Manager. Scroll down to add a specific keyword to your new Category or Subcategory to create a new rule. Note: custom categories are stored in your browser — export your customizations regularly so you don't lose them if you switch devices or download a new version.

Audience tags each item by who the purchase was likely for. The distinctions here are Household, Adult and Kids. It's automatically assigned based on category and subcategory with another layer added for Kids. You can override the audience on any item using the Audience dropdown on that row, then click Save to lock it. Your dashboard shows an Audience breakdown chart so you can see how your spending is split across your household.

Spend Type classifies each purchase by how discretionary it is:

Essential — things you need (groceries, medicine, household supplies, pet food)
Flexible — useful but not critical (clothing, home goods, personal care, fitness)
Discretionary — wants over needs (entertainment, hobbies, beauty)

Spend Type is automatically assigned based on category and subcategory. To change it for a specific item, use the Spend Type dropdown on that row and click Save — your override will be locked and protected from re-runs. Your dashboard shows an Essential / Flexible / Discretionary split in the insight strip and charts, making it one of the most useful views for understanding your real spending habits.

Exclude from analysis — the item stays in your data but disappears from all dashboard charts, totals, and breakdowns. Use this for purchases that skew your data — a business reimbursement, a gift you bought for someone else, or a return. The item is still there and you can restore it at any time by finding it in the "Excluded Only" view and clicking Restore.

Delete — the item is permanently removed from this session. Use this only for true junk data, like a cancelled order that slipped through or a duplicate. Deleted items cannot be recovered without re-uploading your CSV file.

When in doubt, Exclude rather than Delete.

No, but the more you categorize, the more accurate and useful your dashboard becomes. Uncategorized items still count toward your total spend, so your overall numbers are always correct. What you miss out on is the category-level breakdowns, charts, and insights for those items. If you have a large number of uncategorized items, the AI Suggestions feature in the yellow box is the fastest way to get them sorted without going one by one.

Your customizations such as keyword rules, locked items, audience overrides, spend type changes, and excluded items are saved automatically to your browser's local storage. This means they're tied to this specific browser on this specific device. If you open MyShopLight on a different computer, download a new version, or clear your browser data, your customizations will be gone.

To protect both your work and time, use the "Export My Customizations" button in the teal box above. This downloads a backup file (.json) containing everything you've set up. To restore it on a new device or after downloading a new version, click "Restore My Customizations," paste in the contents of your backup file, and click Restore. It's non-destructive — restoring won't overwrite anything you've already set up on the new device, it only adds what's missing.