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Transaction Category Management
New feature

Transaction Category Management
Justin avatar
Shared by Justin • February 24, 2026

Hi there,

You can now create and manage custom categories for transactions, giving your organization more flexibility while keeping accounting compliant and consistent.

Who Has Access

  • The Transaction Categories dashboard is available only to Organization Admins.
  • Only Org Admins can create, edit, activate, disable, or delete transaction categories.

Accessing Transaction Categories

To access Transaction Categories:

  1. Open the Settings gear in the top navigation.
  2. Navigate to the Organization section.
  3. Select Transaction Categories.

Transaction Categories Dashboard

Org Admins can now access a centralized Transaction Categories dashboard to manage how transactions are categorized across files.

What You’ll See

  • A complete list of Estateably System Categories, available for reference.
  • Any Custom Categories created by your organization.

Dashboard Details

Each category displays:

  • Category Type: System or Custom
  • Category Name
  • File Type: Estates, Trusts, and or POA (multi-select)
  • Cashflow Type: Deposit and or Withdraw (multi-select)
  • Money Type:
  • Canada: Capital or Revenue
  • United States: Principal or Income
  1. Active Toggle: Enable or disable use of the category
  2. Edit and Delete Actions: Available for Custom Categories only

Additional tools include:

  • Filters for File Type, Cashflow Type, Category Type, Account Type, and Status
  • Search for quick category lookup

Note: System Categories are read-only and cannot be edited or deleted.

Adding a Custom Category

Click + Add Category to open the creation modal.

Required Fields

  • Category Name
  • File Type: Estates, Trusts, POA (multi-select)
  • Cashflow Type: Deposit and or Withdraw (multi-select)
  • Money Type:
  • Capital or Revenue (Canada)
  • Principal or Income (United States)

Once saved, the category:

  • Appears in the Transaction Categories dashboard
  • Becomes immediately available for use in files that match its configuration

Editing Categories

  • Editing the Category Name
  • Updates the name everywhere, including existing transactions
  1. Editing File Type, Cashflow Type, or Money Type
  • Applies only to new transactions
  • Existing transactions are not modified to prevent accounting imbalances
  • You may manually edit individual transactions in a file if needed

Deleting and Disabling Categories

  • A custom category can be deleted only if it has not been used in any transactions
  • If a category has already been used:
  • The delete action is disabled
  • The category can still be disabled using the Active toggle
  1. Disabling a category:
  • Prevents it from being assigned to new transactions
  • Does not affect existing transactions or historical accounting

This ensures accounting records remain accurate and balanced.

Bulk Import Transaction Categories

Org Admins can now bulk import custom transaction categories using an XLSX file, making it faster to onboard large or standardized category sets.

Accessing Bulk Import

  • Navigate to Settings → Organization → Transaction Categories
  • Click Bulk Import next to + Add Category

Uploading a File

  • Upload is XLSX files only
  • Drag and drop or select a file to upload
  • A link to a support article is available directly from the upload screen for formatting guidance

Validation

  • The file is automatically validated after upload
  • If validation fails:
  • The import is rejected
  • You will be prompted to review the XLSX file and try again
  1. If validation passes:
  • You may proceed to review the imported categories

Review Imported Categories

After a successful upload, you will see a review screen displaying all imported categories.

Review Screen Details

Each imported category includes the same fields as the dashboard:

  • Category Name
  • File Type (Estates, Trusts, POA)
  • Cashflow Type (Deposit and or Withdraw)
  • Money Type
  • Canada: Capital or Revenue
  • United States: Principal or Income

All fields are editable at this stage before finalizing the import.

Handling Duplicate Categories

  • If a duplicate Category Name is detected:
  • Within the uploaded file, or
  • Against an existing category in your organization
  1. The category will be highlighted in red with a warning
  2. You cannot complete the import until the duplicate is:
  • Renamed, or
  • Removed from the import

This ensures category naming remains unique across your organization.

Finalizing the Import

Once all categories pass validation:

  • Click Add Categories
  • The new categories will:
  • Appear immediately on the Transaction Categories dashboard
  • Be available for use in files according to their configuration

XLSX File Formatting Requirements

To successfully import categories, your XLSX file must follow the formatting rules below.

Required Columns

Each category field must be its own column in the spreadsheet:

  • Category Name
  • File Type
  • Cashflow Type
  • Money Type

Field Rules

  • Category Name
  • Text field
  • Must be unique across your organization
  1. Money Type
  • Single value only
  • Canada: Capital or Revenue
  • United States: Principal or Income
  1. File Type
  • Multi-value field
  • Use a comma-separated list for multiple values
  • Example: Estates, Trusts, POA
  1. Cashflow Type
  • Multi-value field
  • Use a comma-separated list for multiple values
  • Example: Withdrawal, Deposit

Delimiter Rules

  • Use a comma ( , ) to separate multiple values in a single cell
  • Do not use line breaks or additional spacing beyond the comma

Files that do not follow this structure will fail validation and must be corrected before importing.
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