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Group products and services into different categories in QuickBooks

by Intuit•29• Updated a day ago

Learn how to organise your products and services in QuickBooks Online.

When you use categories in QuickBooks Online, it helps you organise your products and services. This provides helpful insights into your sales and stock when you run reports. Use categories and sub-categories to group similar items, gain insight into your sales, and help spot popular types of products or services.

If you’d like categories to show on customer forms, you can customise your sales forms.


Create a category or sub-category

Use categories to group items of the same type. If you want to be more specific with grouping items, you can also create sub-categories.

  1. Follow this link to complete the steps in product Open this link in a new window
  2. Select More â–Ľ, then select Manage categories.
  3. Select Create New Category, then enter the name of the category.
  4. Optional: To make this a sub-category, select the This category is a sub-category checkbox, then select the Parent Category.
  5. Select Save.

Note: Stock features are available for QuickBooks Online Plus and QuickBooks Online Advanced. If you don't have Plus or Advanced, upgrade your QuickBooks plan to start tracking your stock.


Add an existing product or service to a category

If you have an item that’s not in a category, follow these steps to add it to one. You can also select a category when you add a new stock product or a service or non-stock product.

  1. Follow this link to complete the steps in product Open this link in a new window
  2. Find the product or service you want to categorise.
  3. Select Edit.
  4. Select the Category â–Ľ dropdown, then select one that fits this item. You may also select + Add new to create a new category.
  5. Select Save.

Manage categories: Edit or remove

You can make changes or delete categories directly from the Product Categories page.

  1. Follow this link to complete the steps in product Open this link in a new window
  2. Select More â–Ľ, then select Manage categories.
  3. Find the category you wish to update, then select Edit.
  4. Make the changes you want, then select Save.

To remove the category:

  1. Follow this link to complete the steps in product Open this link in a new window
  2. Select More â–Ľ, then select Manage categories.
  3. Select the dropdown ▼ next to Edit, then select Remove. 
  4. Select Yes to confirm.

How categories help on reports

Categories make your reports clearer by grouping items together.

  • Run sales or stock reports to see totals by category.
  • Expand or collapse categories to focus on the details you need.
  • Spot trends by seeing which categories sell the most.

QuickBooks Online EssentialsQuickBooks Online PlusQuickBooks Online Simple Start