What would deleting an item or category do to previous sales and reports......would the deleted item sales still show on reports?

You can delete any items or categories and they will still display in historic sales and reports. 

there is no trash can on my screen; no way to delete a category.  I can edit it,  I can add items, but I cannot delete the category

Hi @wildedgefelt - welcome to the community!

The instructions @EJ posted are to make changes to your categories from the Dashboard. You can definitely delete a category from the Point of Sale app too.

From the Point of Sale app:

1. select Items from the menu
2. tap Categories
3. tap the category you would like to delete
4. tap Edit Category
5. tap Delete Category

I hope this helps clear things up. Post again with any other questions!  

@Lilymaes This should help.

https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/5404-create-and-manage-items-with-square-point-of-sale

I'm not seeing how to delete the category on this link you posted. 

In the dashboard just go to Items / Categories and find the category you don't want and click the trash can next to it.

When I try to delete the category this is the warning I get: "The 2022 Wine & Chocolate category has 12 items assigned to it. Deleting it may affect reports and printer routing settings. This action cannot be undone."  Any thoughts?

@webbwinery All that means is that your category has items still assigned to it. You have two choices to continue forward:

-delete the category then go into your item library and find all the items that are now labeled Uncategorized and update their category info

-go into your item library, click All Categories, select the “2022 Wine and Chocolate” category, then move the items out before deleting the category. 

all historical reports will still show that category and items assigned to it so don’t worry about losing the data

Hello @TLD813 !

This is by design. Categories are independent from the items. If you are wanting those items out of your item library, you'll need to delete the items themselves, not just the category. I agree the wording on the category deletion could be a little better.

To bulk delete items, you can export your item library to Excel, delete the item rows, and import your library. More info on this can be found in this help file.

At this time bulk editing categories is a Feature Request @WalindaK. I recommend you submit a Feature Request here. This will help our product team get visibility and track other Sellers' interest in your request.

In the meantime, you are able to bulk assign the correct categories to your item by exporting your current directory and using Search and Replace in Excel or your preferred spreadsheet editor, for the necessary categories. After you're done you may upload the file again to have your item fall in the correct categories. I know this isn't as friendly or convenient but wanted to let you know of this alternative.

Important: When submitting a request, make sure to include the desired feature, and provide the details of how this feature will help your business succeed (how would you use it and what you expect from it).

P.S. Welcome to the Seller Community