How to use material categories

Material categories are used to group and help identify material items. In this module, learn how to set them up and use them to track materials. Also learn how material categories are linked to the chart of accounts in your Xero accounting system.

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Step 1

Head to Materials under Global Settings and click on Material Categories. You can see here that we’ve already got several categories set up. To add another one, click New Material Category.

Step 2

Add a name and code for this new material category, then click Save.

Step 3

In your list of material items, you can filter by category.

E.g. only hardware items are seen when this filter is applied.

The filter is also available when making sales or purchase orders.

Step 4

If you select "Enable Advanced Mapping” in your Xero setup, the material categories will be linked to your chart of accounts in Xero.

In the Material Categories tab, there are columns that link categories to Xero accounts. When transactions occur, they will be posted to these Xero accounts.

Related Guides

Want to learn more? Check out these related guides.