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Managing Expense Categories

Add-on required. This feature requires the Expense Management add-on to be active on your store. View add-ons

Categories are the labels you assign to each expense — Supplies, Rent, Utilities, Salaries, and so on. Setting up a few clear categories up front makes it easy to record expenses consistently and to filter and total your spending later.

Where to Find Them

Go to Configurations → Expense Categories. From here you can see every category, add new ones, edit them, and turn the ones you no longer use on or off.

Creating a Category

  1. Open Configurations → Expense Categories.
  2. Press Add (the + button).
  3. Fill in the fields:
FieldRequiredDescriptionExample
StatusWhether the category is Active and available when recording expensesActive
NameYesWhat the category is calledSupplies
ColorYesA color swatch so the category is easy to spot in lists and reportsBlue
DescriptionNoAn optional note explaining what belongs in this categoryCoffee beans, cups, napkins
  1. Press Save. The new category is immediately available on the Create Expense form.

Keep your category list short and meaningful — a handful of well-named categories is far easier to work with than dozens of overlapping ones. You can always add more later.

Editing a Category

  1. Open Configurations → Expense Categories.
  2. Tap the category you want to change.
  3. Update the name, color, or description.
  4. Press Save.

Editing a category updates it everywhere, including on expenses that already use it.

Active vs. Inactive

Use the Status toggle to control whether a category appears when recording a new expense:

  • Active — shows up in the category picker on the Create Expense form.
  • Inactive — hidden from the picker, but past expenses keep their label and still appear in reports.

When you stop using a category, deactivate it instead of deleting it. Deactivating cleans up the picker while preserving the history and totals of every expense already filed under it.

Deleting a Category

If you created a category by mistake and nothing is filed under it, you can delete it:

  1. Open Configurations → Expense Categories.
  2. Open the category (or use the delete action in the list).
  3. Confirm the deletion.

Deleting is permanent. For any category you have actually used, deactivate it instead — that keeps your past expenses and reports intact.

Tips

  • Set up categories before you start recording expenses so every entry lands in the right place from day one.
  • Use distinct colors for your most common categories to scan lists and summaries faster.
  • Review your categories occasionally and deactivate the ones you no longer use to keep the picker tidy.
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