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Product categories

Categories group your products and services and can carry default settings — a tax rate and ledger accounts — that the products inside them inherit. This guide explains what…

Product categories

Categories group your products and services and can carry default settings — a tax rate and ledger accounts — that the products inside them inherit. This guide explains what categories do and how to create one.

Before you begin

  • You need to be signed in with the organisation selected.
  • Go to Catalog → Categories in the left-hand menu. (Categories sits next to Products under the Catalog heading.)

What categories are for

A category does two jobs:

  • Organising your catalogue — grouping related products so lists and reports are easier to work with. Categories can be nested, with a Parent Category above them, and can carry a SKU Prefix used when building product codes.
  • Driving default accounts and tax — a category can set a Default Tax Rate and its own ledger accounts, which products in the category then pick up automatically. Each of those accounts falls back to your organisation defaults if the category does not set one.

Create or edit a category

  1. On the Categories page, select New Category (or the edit action on an existing one).
  2. Fill in the details:
    • Name — the category name (required).
    • SKU Prefix — an optional prefix for the product codes (SKUs) of products in this category.
    • Description — an optional note.
    • Parent Category — leave as None (Root Category) for a top-level category, or choose a parent to nest it.
    • Default Tax Rate — the tax rate products in this category use by default, or No Default Tax.
    • Status — Active, Inactive or Archived.
  3. Under Inventory Tracking, set Track Inventory if products in this category are stock you count, and For Resale if they are bought in to sell on.
  4. Under Ledger Accounts, optionally choose accounts for the category. Every account defaults to Use organization default, so you only change the ones you want to differ:
    • Sales Account — always available.
    • COGS Account and Inventory Asset Account — shown when the category tracks inventory for resale.
    • Purchase Expense Account and Purchases Account — shown for services and non-resale items.
  5. Select Save Category.

[Screenshot required: New Category modal showing the Default Tax Rate and Ledger Accounts sections]

What happens next

  • Products you assign to the category inherit its Default Tax Rate and ledger accounts unless the product sets its own.
  • The category's ledger accounts (or the organisation defaults it falls back to) determine where a product's sales, cost of goods sold, inventory and purchases are recorded.

Manage your categories

The Categories list shows each category's Name, Description, Parent, SKU Prefix, number of Products, Status and Created date. You can filter by status or parent, and use the bulk toolbar to Archive Selected or Export Selected.

Important notes

Note: The Ledger Accounts on a category are optional. Leaving them on Use organization default is perfectly normal — the category still helps organise products and set a default tax rate.

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