Attaching a screener to a strategy

Before you start

You need a strategy open in Asset selection — either while building one (the Screener or Full setup strategy type, see Create a strategy) or later in Editing a strategy: the settings cards. Having a screener already saved in your library isn't required — you can also attach a blank one and build it directly on the strategy. If the strategy is public, you can open Asset selection but can't save an attach — make your own copy first, then attach and save on the copy.

Steps

1. Open the strategy's Asset selection card and select Browse library, or, in Pro mode, select Attach to In or Attach to Out next to the pool you want to add to. Each opens the Attach a screener sheet — "Pick a screener to attach to this strategy."
2. In the sheet, switch between the My screeners and Templates tabs, or search, to find a screener. Selecting one shows a preview of its filters.
3. Select Attach screener to use it, or select Insert empty screener to attach one with no filters yet and build it directly on the strategy instead.
4. In Pro mode, repeat steps 1–3 for each extra In or Out screener you want — the sheet stays open so you can attach several without reopening it.
5. Save the strategy to keep the attachment — see Saving and running a strategy.

What you should see

The attached screener's name and its filter count (for example "3 filters") appear in Asset selection, with Change and Remove actions next to it. In Pro mode, each screener you attached sits in its In or Out group, and you can open it again to edit its filters without detaching it. Fincanva doesn't tell you which screener to attach or whether it's a good fit for your money — see Is this financial advice?.

Easy vs Pro: what each mode lets you attach

Easy and Pro are the two attach modes on Asset selection, and they set how many screeners a strategy can use. In Easy mode, a strategy uses a single screener — if more than one In screener was attached (for example after switching down from Pro), Easy shows and applies only the first one. In Pro mode, you can attach multiple In screeners and multiple Out screeners to the same strategy, and you can also restrict the universe each screener draws from. Switching Pro down to Easy can drop what Easy can't represent — extra In screeners beyond the first, any Out screeners, and universe restrictions on the kept screener — so Fincanva asks you to confirm before it does.

What In screeners and Out screeners do

An In screener narrows the strategy to instruments that match it, and an Out screener removes any instrument that matches it — you can only set both in Pro mode. Fincanva states the rule for each directly: "Instruments must match an In screener to be considered." and "Instruments matching any Out screener are excluded." With more than one In screener attached, an instrument only needs to match one of them; with more than one Out screener, matching any single one is enough to exclude it. Building and tuning a screener's own filters has its own guide.

Does editing the saved screener update strategies that already use it?

No — attaching a screener copies its filters into the strategy at that moment, so a later edit to the saved screener in your library does not change strategies that already have it attached. Each attached screener becomes its own copy inside the strategy: you can edit that copy's filters directly in Asset selection, and the change only affects this strategy, not your saved screener or any other strategy that used it. Fincanva remembers which library screener an attachment came from, but only to support one manual, one-directional action: from the strategy, you can select Update source screener to push that strategy's copy back onto the saved screener in your library, overwriting its filters and universe. Nothing pushes the other way — saving a change to the library screener itself never reaches back into strategies you've already attached it to.

Common problems

Why is "Update source screener" unavailable for a screener I attached?

You'll see "No source screener tracked — use Save as new instead." Fincanva only offers Update source screener when the attached copy still traces back to a screener in your library. An Insert empty screener attachment never had a library origin, so it has nothing to update — use Save as new… to add it to your library instead. A screener whose library original was later deleted loses the same option, for the same reason.

What happens to my extra In or Out screeners if I switch from Pro to Easy?

Fincanva warns you first: "Easy mode hides these Pro settings. They're kept and restored if you switch back to Pro." Nothing is deleted — the Pro-only settings covered under Easy vs Pro above simply stop applying in Easy mode, and switching back to Pro brings them back exactly as you left them.