The Line Item Category by Period report shows you how much you sold in each inventory category, broken out month by month. Each row is a category (with sub-categories listed under their parent); each column is a calendar month; each cell is the subtotal of everything you sold in that category that month. It is built for spotting trends — which categories are growing, which are shrinking, and how a month stacks up against the same month last year. The bottom footer row sums every category so you can see total invoiced subtotal by month at a glance. You can click any cell to drill into the individual line items behind it.
Filters
| Filter | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Countries | Your shop's country (HQ users only) | Limits the Locations list below to a single country. Hidden if all your locations are in one country. |
| Locations | Your shop (for shop users); all locations for HQ users | Picks which locations' sales are included. Clearing the checkbox doesn't mean "none" — it means "all locations." |
| Invoiced Date | Off — the report opens with every invoiced month in your history | Controls which months appear as columns. Turn this on and pick a range to narrow down. Without it, you may see dozens of columns going back to when you started using Shopmonkey. |
| Fully Paid Date | Off | Additional filter for when orders were paid in full. Turning this on does not change the column headers — the columns always reflect invoiced months. It just reduces which orders get counted. |
| Paid Status | All | Narrow to Paid, Unpaid, Partially Paid, or Overdue orders. |
| Type | All | Include or exclude specific line item types: Part, Labor, Tire, Subcontract, Fee. |
| Archived Status | All | Show only archived, only non-archived, or both. |
| Categories | All | Narrow to specific categories or sub-categories. "Uncategorized" is a valid pick — it matches any line item that wasn't pulled from Inventory. |
| Technicians | All | Limit to orders where specific technicians are assigned (or pick "Unassigned"). |
| Customers | All | Limit to specific customers or fleets. |
Date Filters
This report uses your Invoiced Date for the month columns. Think of it as: "I want data about completed, billed work, organized by when we finished billing it." If you also turn on Fully Paid Date, you're asking for a narrower view: only the invoiced orders that were also fully paid in that range. That is a restrictive, reconciliation-style view — most month-over-month trend analysis uses Invoiced Date alone.
Neither mode is more "correct" — they answer different questions.
Understanding Each Number
| Card | What it means | What it doesn't include | When it's useful | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category column (row label) | The inventory category and sub-category assigned to the line item when it was added to a service from Inventory. | Line items you typed directly onto a service (not pulled from Inventory) have no category — they appear in the "Uncategorized" row. | When you want to see which categories drive your sales. | To get line items out of "Uncategorized," add them to Inventory with a category assigned, going forward. Existing uncategorized line items on past orders don't reclassify retroactively. |
| Each month column (Mar 2026, Feb 2026, etc.) | The total subtotal of every line item in that category that was invoiced during that month, in your shop's local time. | Tax, order-level fees that aren't on a line item, and any order-level adjustments are not included. Discounts have already been subtracted. Estimates and Repair Orders that were never invoiced are not counted. | When comparing categories month over month, or spotting seasonal patterns. | Empty cells show $0.00. An invoice finalized late on the last day of a month lands in that month; one finalized just after midnight lands in the next month. |
| Parent-category cell with an info icon | Your parent category's cell shows the parent's own line items plus all its sub-categories combined. The info icon tooltip splits that into "Category Total" (parent only) and "Sub-Category Total" (everything under it). | — | When you want a one-number summary per parent category without collapsing sub-categories. | If you're puzzled that "Brakes" shows a bigger number than the sum of its sub-categories, it's because "Brakes" also has some line items mapped directly to the parent with no sub-category. |
| Total (footer row) | The sum of every category for that month — your grand-total invoiced subtotal for the month. | Same exclusions as each month column: no tax, no order-level fees outside line items. | The fastest answer to "how much did I sell last month?" (on a subtotal basis). | The footer totals everything correctly; don't try to reconcile it against the parent-category cells by eye (those intentionally double-count the sub-categories for readability). |
Common Questions
Q: Why doesn't this match my Sales by Line Item Category report? A: Both reports use the same line items, but Sales by Line Item Category shows additional columns like Total Retail, Total Profit, and Total Cost. "Total Retail" on that report is the pre-discount price, so it will be higher than what you see here by whatever discount you applied. To reconcile, compare this report's monthly total to Sales by Line Item Category's subtotal per row — not Retail or Profit.
Q: Why doesn't this match my Sales Summary report? A: Sales Summary works order-by-order and can include tax, order-level fees, and adjustments. This report works line-item-by-line-item and shows only the subtotals. Your Sales Summary total will almost always be higher because of tax.
Q: Why don't my Estimates and Repair Orders show up? A: This report only shows invoiced sales. An order has to be invoiced before its line items appear. There is no filter option to include Estimates or Repair Orders — by design, this is a report about what you actually billed out.
Q: Why is a big chunk of my sales under "Uncategorized"? A: Whenever someone adds a part, labor, tire, subcontract, or fee directly onto a service without pulling it from Inventory, that line has no category. It lands in the "Uncategorized" row. To reduce this going forward, save frequently-used items to Inventory with a category, and pick them from there on new orders.
Q: The same month is in two columns — why? A: It isn't — but the column header you're seeing may be formatted like "Mar 2026" across two different year totals that your eye is merging. Check the full header. Also confirm whether your Invoiced Date range crosses year boundaries.
Q: Why does my Overdue filter feel off by a day? A: The Overdue check uses UTC for "today" rather than your shop's local time. In shops far from UTC, an order can flip in or out of Overdue a day earlier or later than you'd expect.
Tips for Getting the Most Out of This Report
- Set Invoiced Date first. The report is most useful with a defined range — 12 months, a quarter, or the current year. Without a range, you can end up with two-dozen-plus columns that are hard to read.
- Click a cell to investigate. Every month cell is a link. Clicking opens the Line Item Detail report with that category and month already applied, so you can see every line item behind the total.
- Use this for trends, not reconciliation. If you're trying to reconcile to an accounting total, use Sales Summary — that report includes tax and order-level figures. This report is designed for "what categories are growing?" not "what did I deposit in the bank?"
- Assign inventory categories to cut down on "Uncategorized." The more line items you add through Inventory, the more detail this report gives you.
- Export to XLS for year-over-year. The Export XLS button turns the table into a spreadsheet you can pivot, chart, and compare across years.
Still have questions? Feel free to reach out to us through the chat icon. Thanks for reading!
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