Effect of updating categories using a spreadsheet...

smartDigs

I am just beginning to use Expensify as a custom Home Builder and I am loving the software and the community has been incredibly helpful! Thank you!

I set up categories using a spreadsheet, uploaded them to my account and am using them.

After using Expensify for a while, I need to make changes to the categories - add some new categories and delete a few I won't be needing.

So, if I make these changes to the spreadsheet, and upload, will the new categories show up without changing the old ones?

What happens to the expenses I had against a category that I deleted?

Sheena Trepanier

Hi @smartDigs, welcome to Expensify and I'm so glad you're finding the Community helpful!

Let's talk about uploading category CSVs.

When you upload a new CSV of categories, it will override the previous file you uploaded. It's important to keep and work from a single master file that you update and upload each time. If you're only adding one or two categories, you can add them individually and skip uploading the file entirely.

When you make changes to your categories, expenses already categorized should keep the category they already have applied. If the category used on an expense is removed from the category list, the expense should have an "Out of policy category" violation during submission. At this point the expense can be recoded by the approver or rejected back to the employee for proper coding and resubmission.

smartDigs

Sheena,

Thank you very much for your answer! It is very clear and answers my question!

Just as an note - I am actually using Expensify to track every expense in the business! This has become my primary tool to track all my invoices and expenses for all of my projects! This is very easy to use and has really simplified my process!

Sharad