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SettingsExpense Categories2 min read

Expense Categories List

How the Expense Categories list works, what the system rows mean, and where categories are used later.

Work Planner TeamApril 12, 2026

Open Settings > Expense Categories when you want to control the labels used for expenses, scheduled transactions, and automatic payment-fee entries. This is the master list Work Planner looks to when a later screen asks you to choose an expense category.

What You See First

  • Search expense categories: Searches by category name.
  • Business filter: Appears for multi-business logins so you can narrow the list to one business.
  • New Expense Category: Opens the create popup from the list header.
  • System categories first: When you first land on the page without searching or manually sorting, Work Planner puts protected system categories at the top.

Columns in the List

  • Name: The label staff will choose later when recording or reviewing an expense.
  • Color: The saved hex colour for that category, shown both as text and visual styling in the list.
  • Type: Shows System for protected categories that Work Planner manages for you. Custom rows show a dash here.
  • Created: The date the category record was added.
  • Actions: Custom rows show a delete button. System rows do not.

Working From a Row

  • Click a custom row: Opens the details popup in read-only mode.
  • System rows: These are protected. They do not open the same edit flow from the list, and they cannot be deleted.
  • Delete expense category: Custom rows can be deleted after you confirm the warning popup.
  • Clear Filters: Appears when a business filter is active and resets the list back to all available businesses.

What Changes Elsewhere

Categories created here appear later in expense forms, scheduled-transaction forms, ledger filtering, and any automatic expense flows that rely on a category record. That is why the protected system rows matter: they support built-in accounting behaviour such as payment-fee handling.

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