How to Categorize Transactions in Wave Accounting
- Melissa Mittelstaedt
- Oct 6, 2025
- 3 min read
Our accounting systems are near and dear to our hearts, but sometimes they like to provide a little bit of drama to our bookkeeping process. My goal here is to lessen the drama… fingers crossed!
Go ahead and get yourself logged into Wave, head to the Transactions Tab, then meet me at Step One.
Step One
I always recommend looking at one account at a time. So, where it says “All accounts” with a down arrow, change that to the account you want to work in. This makes it a lot less confusing!
Step Two
Scroll down to where you last stopped categorizing (or go all the way to the beginning if you need to clean up anything).
Once you find your starting point, head on to the next step!
Step Three
Open the transaction by clicking on one of two things:
If it’s Uncategorized, click on the category field
If Wave prefilled a category, click on the down arrow (on the far right), then click “Edit more details”
From here, you’ll review the transaction itself by:
Adjusting the description if you’d like
Selecting (or changing) the correct category
Here's an example...
If you don’t have your categories set up correctly, pause what you’re doing and head to your Chart of Accounts to fix that first!
And, if you aren’t sure what you should be using for categories, check out my “Tax Basics Guide for Solopreneurs.” This guide walks you through the most common categories (with examples) & the dates you need to pay attention to for paying your quarterly taxes.
Step Four
Decide if you want to add a vendor to your transactions.
I personally do, so I can run a report to see how much I’ve spent with a specific business.
If that’s too detailed for you, skip it! The simpler the better is my bookkeeping motto.
But if you wanna, click on the blue “Add vendor” link.
Select the vendor or click the “Create new vendor” link to add a new one.
If this is your first time adding a vendor, you can import a list of them from a spreadsheet, or you can input them one by one as you go through your transactions.
Step Five
Add any notes if you need to remind yourself of anything. I’ve never used this section in six years, so don’t overthink it.
Step Six
Decide if you’d like to upload a receipt to this transaction.
Wave offers a variety of ways to do this: upload it directly to the transaction from your computer, take a photo of it and scan it in, or forward an emailed receipt.
Personally, I just keep a folder in my email for all my receipts for the year… one less step for me. However, if you plan to use a bookkeeper, having the receipt in Wave would be extremely helpful for them.
Step Seven
Click the Save button.
Step Eight
This is where you get to cross off that to-do list item!
Once I’ve double-checked the category (and vendor), I click the checkmark & turn it green. That’s my signal to know where I last left off in my bookkeeping process. Ta-Da!
How to Categorize Transactions in Wave: That's a Wrap
There you have it, a quick and easy overview of how to categorize transactions in Wave Accounting.
And if this process surfaced some bigger questions about your setup, that’s exactly what I’m here for.
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Melissa Mittelstaedt
Financial Consultant | Accredited Financial Counselor®