Transactions properties

Transaction's details panel
Date
The date can be edited either directly in the date field, or by clicking on the "Calendar" button next to it.
Description
This field may contain different kind of information depending on how you use it. Generally, it contains information to identify your transactions. One can simply enter the nature of the transaction (i.e. "Groceries"), or enter the payee of the transaction, that is the person or entity that receives the payment for an expense, or makes it for an income.
The content of this field autocompletes as you type in. If you have opted for autocompletion in Squirrel's preferences, other field might be also automatically completed when you set the focus to another field.
Clicking on the down facing arrow on the right hand side of the text field will display the list of previously entered transaction descriptions.
Amount
This field always contains a positive number. The nature of the transaction (income or expense) is specified by the segmented button with two arrows. The down facing arrow represents an expense, and the up facing arrow represents an income.
Category & tags
Assigning a category and optionally tags to transactions allow you to analyze your finance through reports, track your expenses with budgets and more generally filter transactions.
Categories allow you to get the "global picture" of your expenses. You need to create your own set of categories in the application's preferences. Tags are used to get more detailed information. You can add as many tags as you want, while you can only assign a single category to a transaction.
Notes
You can use this field to enter any additional information you might need (the payee, a more explicit description, check number…).