Why should I connect or add every account instead of only my primary checking account?

Because a transfer is only a transfer when the ledger sees both sides; leave one out and it counts like any other payment. When your checking, savings, credit cards, loans, and brokerages sync into the ledger together, card payments and transfers between your synced accounts pair up automatically and stay out of your spending reports (for manual or file-imported accounts, you can record transfers with Transfer on the Transactions page). And the cash outlook can only count money it knows about, so having every account in the ledger keeps your net worth, runway, and assistant answers complete.

How do I turn on investment holdings for a brokerage I already connected?

Open the Investments page and click Enable holdings on that brokerage account card. After you complete the one-time read-only authorization with your brokerage, Quaestor imports your positions, prices, and reported cost basis and refreshes them daily.

How do I add crypto holdings without linking an exchange or wallet?

On the Accounts page, click Add Account, choose Add Manually, set Account Type to Investment, and set Valued by to Holdings you track (crypto, priced daily). Then open the Investments page, select that account under Track holdings, search for your coin by name or ticker such as Bitcoin or BTC, and save your quantity and optional cost basis.

What happens after I upload a receipt photo from the web app or my phone?

Quaestor reads the merchant, date, currency, line items with categories from your list, tax, and total, then looks for the transaction it belongs to across your accounts. When one transaction clearly matches by amount, date, and merchant, the receipt links to it; if you paid cash or multiple charges look similar, the receipt stays on the Receipts page so you can review or link it yourself.

What do the Waiting for review card on the Dashboard and the navigation badges count?

They show items across your open accounts and receipts that are waiting for a decision: category suggestions, possible transfers awaiting pairing, posted transactions your bank later reported as removed, scanned receipts not linked to a transaction, failed receipt uploads, and bank connections that need fixing, renewal, or a new-accounts review. Clicking any line opens the matching filtered view on Transactions, Receipts, or Accounts, and the card hides once everything is clear.

Can I ask the in-app chat assistant how to set up or use features in Quaestor?

Yes. Alongside questions about your own accounts, transactions, holdings, and receipts, you can ask Quaestor Intelligence how to connect banks, import CSV or QIF files, enable holdings, track crypto, or configure the iPhone and Android receipt shortcuts.

Help & setup guide

Set up your ledger so nothing is left out.

Quaestor works best when it sees the whole picture: every checking and savings account, every credit card and loan, your brokerage holdings, your crypto, and the receipts behind what you spend. A transfer is only a transfer when the ledger sees both sides; leave one out and it counts like any other payment. And the cash outlook can only count money it knows about.

Use this guide before you sign up or while you are setting up your ledger, or ask Quaestor Intelligence inside the app to walk you through any step.

7 days free, then $12.99 a month or $89.99 a year. Card required, cancel anytime before your first payment.

Free trial for first-time customers; if your organization has subscribed before, the paid plan starts at checkout. Renews automatically until you cancel in Settings. Taxes may apply.

1. Getting started

#getting-started-accounts

Add every account for the full picture

Connect or add all of your checking, savings, credit card, loan, investment, and crypto accounts. A transfer is only a transfer when the ledger sees both sides; leave one out and it counts like any other payment. And the cash outlook can only count money it knows about.

Step-by-step

1Open Accounts, click Add Account, and choose Connect & Sync (Recommended) to link your banks, credit cards, loans, and brokerages over a read-only connection.
2After your main bank is in, connect the rest of your accounts too, including secondary checking accounts, savings accounts, credit cards, mortgages, auto or student loans, and investment accounts.
3For any account outside live bank sync, such as physical cash, a foreign bank, or a manual asset or liability, click Add Account on the Accounts page and choose Add Manually.
4To bring in past statement history from a file, open Transactions and click Import File, pick the target account, upload your CSV or QIF file, map the date, description, and amount columns, and review the preview before committing.

What to keep in mind

A transfer is only a transfer when the ledger sees both sides; leave one out and it counts like any other payment. When both the sending bank account and the receiving credit card or brokerage sync into your ledger, payments between them pair up automatically instead of inflating your spending. For manual or file-imported accounts, record transfers with Transfer on the Transactions page (or switch the transaction to a transfer when editing it).
The cash outlook can only count money it knows about. Including every checking, savings, and credit card account lets Cash Outlook project upcoming bills and runway from your complete balances.
Your net worth, multi-currency totals, and the AI Chat Assistant all read from the accounts in your ledger, so adding every account gives you one complete picture.

2. Investments & portfolios

#investments-holdings

Enable brokerage holdings & track investment accounts

Bring brokerage positions and cost basis into the same net worth as your bank accounts by turning on holdings for a connected brokerage, or create manual investment accounts valued by a balance you enter or by daily-priced crypto holdings.

Step-by-step

1If your brokerage is already connected on Accounts for balances and transactions, open Investments and click Enable holdings on that brokerage account card.
2Complete the one-time read-only permission prompt with your brokerage so Quaestor can read your positions, quantities, prices, and reported cost basis, refreshed daily.
3For a brokerage or retirement account outside live bank sync, open Accounts, click Add Account, choose Add Manually, set Account Type to Investment, and set Valued by to A balance you enter to track its balance in your net worth.
4To track individual cryptocurrency positions with daily market prices instead of a single balance, set Valued by to Holdings you track (crypto, priced daily) when creating the new Investment account, then add each coin under Track holdings on the Investments page.

What to keep in mind

For a connected brokerage, the account total reported by the brokerage is what counts in your net worth; the individual positions break down that total rather than adding on top of it.
Use the Account filter on the Holdings panel on the Investments page to focus on a single brokerage or tracked account, or expand Combined across accounts to see totals per asset.
Connection access is strictly read-only: Quaestor can read your positions and balances, and can never place trades or move funds.

3. Crypto holdings

#crypto-tracking

Add & price cryptocurrency holdings daily

Track coins held on an exchange or in a hardware or software wallet by coin name or ticker, priced daily and converted into your display currency without connecting a wallet or keys.

Step-by-step

1Open Accounts, click Add Account, choose Add Manually, set Account Type to Investment, and set Valued by to Holdings you track (crypto, priced daily).
2Open Investments and scroll to the Track holdings panel (or click Add a holding on your tracked investment account card).
3Select your Account, then under Find an asset by name or ticker type the coin name or ticker symbol (for example, Bitcoin or BTC), click Search, and select the matching coin.
4Enter the Quantity you hold, optionally fill in Location (such as the exchange or wallet label) and Cost basis (total paid in the account currency), and click Save holding.

What to keep in mind

Quaestor refreshes daily market prices for your coins, converts the value into your display currency, and includes it in your net worth and gain or loss.
You never connect a crypto exchange login, wallet seed phrase, or private key; you simply record the coin and quantity you hold.
When your quantity changes after a buy or sale, click Edit on that row on the Investments page and update the quantity and cost basis.

4. Receipts & line items

#receipts-matching

Scan receipts & understand transaction matching

Upload a receipt photo on the Receipts page or from your phone. Quaestor reads the merchant, date, line items, tax, and total, then looks for the transaction it belongs to.

Step-by-step

1Open Receipts and drop a receipt image into the upload box, choose an image file from your computer, or tap the camera button on a phone browser. A photo is enough.
2Wait a moment while Quaestor reads the merchant, purchase date, currency, individual line items with categories from your own list, tax, total, and payment method.
3Quaestor then looks for the transaction it belongs to across your accounts by comparing the amount, the date around the purchase, and the merchant name.
4If one clear match stands out, the receipt links to that transaction. If a receipt was paid in cash or has several close candidates, open the receipt on the Receipts page to review candidate transactions and link or unlink with one click.

What to keep in mind

When a receipt links to an uncategorized transaction, the transaction takes the receipt's category, or splits across categories in proportion to the receipt's line items when the receipt spans more than one category.
If a transaction already has a category or split you chose, linking a receipt keeps your existing category intact.
Cash receipts without a corresponding bank or card transaction stay in your Receipts list as searchable itemized records.

5. Mobile integrations

#ios-shortcut

Set up iPhone Shortcuts & Android receipt sharing

Send receipt photos straight from your phone camera or share sheet using a personal upload token from the Integrations page.

Step-by-step

1Open Integrations (/mobile-setup) in Quaestor and click Generate Token (or Regenerate Token if replacing an existing one). Copy the token right away and keep it private.
2On iPhone: open the Apple Shortcuts app, tap + to create a new shortcut named Upload Receipt, tap the info (i) icon, enable Show in Share Sheet, and set it to accept Images.
3In that shortcut, add the Get Contents of URL action, paste the upload URL shown on the Integrations page, set Method to POST, add an Authorization header with Bearer followed by your token, and set Request Body to File.
4On Android: install the free open-source HTTP Shortcuts app, click Download Config on the Integrations page (which includes your upload URL and token), and import the downloaded JSON file into HTTP Shortcuts.

What to keep in mind

Once set up, snap a photo of any receipt on your phone, tap Share, and pick Upload Receipt to send it straight to your ledger without opening the browser.
If you replace your phone or suspect a token was shared, click Revoke or Regenerate Token on the Integrations page to issue a fresh one.

6. Ledger review

#review-inbox

Stay on top of items waiting for review

Check the Waiting for review card on the Dashboard and the count badges on Transactions, Receipts, and Accounts to jump straight to category suggestions, possible transfers, transactions removed by your bank, unmatched or failed receipts, and bank connections that need attention.

Step-by-step

1Open the Dashboard when a count badge appears on Transactions, Receipts, or Accounts in the navigation bar. The Waiting for review card lists each kind of open item and disappears automatically once everything is handled.
2Click a transaction line in Waiting for review (or open Transactions, click Filters, and check Has a suggestion, Possible transfer, or Removed by bank) to focus on one decision at a time across your open accounts.
3For category suggestions, accept or dismiss the suggested category on the row; for Possible transfer rows, leave the row to pair when the other side posts, or click Not a transfer; for Removed by bank rows, delete a reversed charge or mark it reviewed to keep it.
4Click the receipt or bank-connection lines in Waiting for review to open Receipts with Unmatched only turned on, retry or dismiss a failed upload on Receipts, or click Fix Connection, Renew connection, or Review accounts on Accounts.

What to keep in mind

Active review filters appear as removable pills above the Transactions list even after you close the Filters panel, so you can clear a filter with one click.
When Waiting for review is visible and you also have open-account transactions with no category yet, a quiet footer link opens Transactions filtered to Uncategorized.
Items clear from Waiting for review and the navigation badges automatically as soon as you resolve them on Transactions, Receipts, or Accounts.

7. Quaestor Intelligence

#chat-assistant

Ask the AI Chat Assistant about your money or how to use the app

Open Quaestor Intelligence from the tab on the right edge of any desktop screen (or the chat button in the bottom-right corner on mobile) to cross-examine your spending, balances, holdings, and receipts, or to ask how any feature works.

Step-by-step

1Click the Quaestor Intelligence tab on the right edge of any desktop page, tap the chat button in the bottom-right corner on a phone, or click Ask Quaestor Assistant on the Help page to open the assistant panel.
2Pick one of the suggested questions for the page you are viewing, or type your own question in plain English.
3Ask about your ledger data: spending by category or merchant with internal transfers excluded, account balances across currencies, investment holdings and cost basis, upcoming recurring bills, Cash Outlook runway, or specific items on scanned receipts.
4Ask how to do anything in Quaestor, such as connecting all your accounts, enabling brokerage holdings, adding crypto, or setting up the iPhone receipt shortcut, and the assistant will give you step-by-step instructions and a link to the right page.

What to keep in mind

The assistant is strictly read-only and scoped to your own ledger. It can read your accounts, transactions, holdings, and receipts to answer your questions, and it can never move money or edit your records.
On desktop, click the expand icon in the chat header when you want a wider view for detailed tables or multi-part breakdowns, or click the New assistant chat (pen) icon anytime to start a fresh conversation.

Related pages:AI chat assistant Security & trust

Direct support

Need help with a connection, statement file, or account question?

Email us anytime at support@quaestorledger.com or call +1 (682) 688-8361.

Contact Support

Frequently asked questions

Why should I connect or add every account instead of only my primary checking account?: Because a transfer is only a transfer when the ledger sees both sides; leave one out and it counts like any other payment. When your checking, savings, credit cards, loans, and brokerages sync into the ledger together, card payments and transfers between your synced accounts pair up automatically and stay out of your spending reports (for manual or file-imported accounts, you can record transfers with Transfer on the Transactions page). And the cash outlook can only count money it knows about, so having every account in the ledger keeps your net worth, runway, and assistant answers complete.
How do I turn on investment holdings for a brokerage I already connected?: Open the Investments page and click Enable holdings on that brokerage account card. After you complete the one-time read-only authorization with your brokerage, Quaestor imports your positions, prices, and reported cost basis and refreshes them daily.
How do I add crypto holdings without linking an exchange or wallet?: On the Accounts page, click Add Account, choose Add Manually, set Account Type to Investment, and set Valued by to Holdings you track (crypto, priced daily). Then open the Investments page, select that account under Track holdings, search for your coin by name or ticker such as Bitcoin or BTC, and save your quantity and optional cost basis.
What happens after I upload a receipt photo from the web app or my phone?: Quaestor reads the merchant, date, currency, line items with categories from your list, tax, and total, then looks for the transaction it belongs to across your accounts. When one transaction clearly matches by amount, date, and merchant, the receipt links to it; if you paid cash or multiple charges look similar, the receipt stays on the Receipts page so you can review or link it yourself.
What do the Waiting for review card on the Dashboard and the navigation badges count?: They show items across your open accounts and receipts that are waiting for a decision: category suggestions, possible transfers awaiting pairing, posted transactions your bank later reported as removed, scanned receipts not linked to a transaction, failed receipt uploads, and bank connections that need fixing, renewal, or a new-accounts review. Clicking any line opens the matching filtered view on Transactions, Receipts, or Accounts, and the card hides once everything is clear.
Can I ask the in-app chat assistant how to set up or use features in Quaestor?: Yes. Alongside questions about your own accounts, transactions, holdings, and receipts, you can ask Quaestor Intelligence how to connect banks, import CSV or QIF files, enable holdings, track crypto, or configure the iPhone and Android receipt shortcuts.

Keep exploring

Ready to put every account in one ledger?

Connect your banks, turn on holdings, snap a receipt, and see the whole picture.

7 days free, then $12.99 a month or $89.99 a year. Card required, cancel anytime before your first payment.

Free trial for first-time customers; if your organization has subscribed before, the paid plan starts at checkout. Renews automatically until you cancel in Settings. Taxes may apply.