---
title: "Attaching a screener to a strategy"
description: "Attach a screener to a strategy to pick its instruments by rule: Easy vs Pro mode, In/Out screeners, and why editing the saved screener later doesn't change it."
canonical_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/strategies/attaching-a-screener-to-a-strategy"
last_updated: "2026-08-02"
md_url: "https://fincanva.com/docs/strategies/attaching-a-screener-to-a-strategy.md"
---

# Attaching a screener to a strategy

You attach a screener to a strategy from its **Asset selection** card, so the strategy's instruments are chosen by a rule instead of picked by hand.

↗ See this in Fincanva — a strategy's Settings, on the Screening card

## 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](/docs/strategies/create-a-strategy-and-choose-its-instruments)) or later in [Editing a strategy: the settings cards](/docs/strategies/editing-a-strategy-the-settings-cards#the-settings-cards-one-by-one). 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](/docs/strategies/saving-running-and-copying-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?](/docs/investing-theory/is-this-financial-advice#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.