Create and edit items

The catalog and every field on an item.

An item is one line in the catalog: a part you buy, a part you make, or a tool you own. The catalog lives on the Items tab of Inventory, at /inventory?select=items. Stock, locations and the ledger all hang off items, so this is where a part starts.

Creating, editing and deleting items takes an Owner or Administrator role. Every other member can browse, search and open items, but the Add Item button is hidden for them and the per-item menu is disabled. If you only need one part set up end to end, the shorter path is Quickstart: add an item and set its stock.

Browse the catalog

Open Inventory and stay on the Items tab. Each row or card is one item, with its name, its SKU (your own code for the part, unique in your catalog), its tool chip if it carries one, and its quantities.

The count beside the Inventory Items heading is what the current segment and search return, not how many items you own. Pieces are not listed here. A piece is one individually tracked physical unit of an item, and it is managed on that item's detail, covered on Track serialized pieces and tools.

Select any item to open its detail drawer, where stock by location, per-piece stock, reservations and the item's own fields live.

The Items tab of the Inventory page in card mode, with the segment filter, the search box and the Add Item button in the toolbar.

On mobile. The catalog is a tab of its own in the iOS app and sits under More on Android. Both carry the same segments, the same search and the same create and adjust actions. Barcode scanning is a mobile-only extra that this documentation does not cover.

The item catalog on Android, reached from the More tab. It carries the same segments and the same search as the web.

The segments

The pill above the list narrows the catalog. It holds four segments, and only one is active at a time. The catalog opens on All.

Purchased and Manufactured are the item's type, which is what it is to you: something you buy in, or something you make. Tools is a different axis. A tool is still purchased or manufactured, so Tools narrows the list to the items ticked as a reusable tool, equipment a job takes and gives back rather than uses up.

On a narrow screen the pill becomes a dropdown labeled with the active segment, for example All types.

Get the type right. Only purchased parts are fetched for the Low Stock tab, so a manufactured item never appears there however low it runs. See Monitor low stock and reorder points.

The segment filter above the catalog: All, Purchased, Manufactured and Tools. Only purchased items are fetched for the Low Stock tab.

Search by name or SKU

Type into Search name or SKU... under the toolbar. The search runs on the server a fifth of a second after you stop typing, and it matches the item name and the SKU, so FLT and Hydraulic filter both find FLT-2004.

Search and the segment combine. Searching bar with Tools active returns only reusable items matching bar, and an empty result reads No items match your search.

The query is held in the address bar as ?q=, so a search is a link you can send to someone. Select × in the field to clear it.

Card and list modes

The pair of buttons to the right of the segment pill switches between list and card. The catalog opens in list, and your choice is remembered in the browser for the next visit.

List mode gives every item a row with four quantity columns: On hand, Reserved, Incoming and Available. Available is on hand minus what open work orders have reserved, which is the number the reorder point is measured against. Adjust stock and track locations explains where each of the four comes from.

Card mode shows the item's picture, its stock pill reading In stock, Low stock or Shortage, and Available alone.

Choose list mode when you are reconciling counts or looking for what is short, because it is the only mode showing reserved and incoming side by side. Choose card mode when you are browsing a catalog you do not know by SKU. A narrow window stacks the list into rows that read like cards.

The catalog in list mode, which it opens in, with On hand, Reserved, Incoming and Available as columns.

Create an item

1. Select Add Item in the toolbar.
2. Add an Item Image. It is optional, and it is what makes a part recognizable to whoever is sent to fetch it.
3. Enter a Name, for example Hydraulic filter, 10 micron.
4. Enter a SKU, for example FLT-2004.
5. Enter a Description, optionally. One line, for example Spin-on, replaces Parker 925039.
6. Enter a Unit. A unit is what one of the item is measured in. It is free text, it defaults to each, and box, L and kg are all valid.
7. Enter a Reorder point, or leave it empty for 0.
8. Leave both checkboxes clear unless the item is a tool or is stocked as pieces. Both are covered below.
9. Select Add Item. IoTFlows confirms with Item added, or Tool added if you ticked the tool box.

Add Item stays disabled until both Name and SKU carry text. Submitting an empty one raises Name and SKU are required. If the save fails for another reason, the toast carries the reason the server gave and the modal keeps what you typed.

Every field on the Add Item modal. Name and SKU are required, and there is no type control: everything created here starts as Purchased. Creating an item in the mobile app. Name and SKU are required here exactly as they are on the web.

Item fields

The Add Item modal offers no type control. Everything created on the web is created as Purchased, and a part you make has to be re-typed afterwards on its detail.

The two checkboxes exclude each other. Ticking the tool box clears the pieces box and disables it, because a tool is already one object that comes back whole, while pieces exist to divide a quantity of material.

Mark an item as a reusable tool

Tick This is a reusable tool in the Add Item modal to create one: a torque wrench, a fixture, a rack, a tube.

Mark an item as a reusable tool when it comes back. Tools are checked out and in rather than consumed, which is a different ledger and a different question at the end of the month. A work order reserves a tool exactly as it reserves material, but closing the work order returns the quantity instead of spending it.

A tool reads differently across the product. Its list row and card carry a sky Tool chip, its modals say Edit Tool and Delete Tool, and its incoming quantity reads coming back rather than incoming.

Serializing a tool has a scheduler consequence. Each piece is a capacity-1 resource, so two jobs needing the same physical fixture show as a conflict without anyone writing a rule. See Find and fix problems in the schedule.

The reusable tool checkbox on the Add Item modal. A tool is stocked and reserved like any material, but the quantity comes back when the work order closes.

Edit or delete an item

Two paths edit an item, and they cover different fields.

The Edit Item modal takes the picture, name, SKU, description, unit and reorder point in one pass. Select the ⋮ menu on an item's row or card, then Edit Item, then Save changes. IoTFlows confirms with Item updated, and clearing the name still raises Name and SKU are required.

The item's detail edits one field at a time. Select the item to open it, then select the name, SKU, description, Type, Unit or Reorder point: each is click-to-edit and saves on its own. A save that fails reverts the field and raises Could not update item.

Use the detail when you are changing the Type, because that is the only place it can be changed. Use Edit Item for everything else, since it saves the whole set in one request.

To delete, select Delete Item in the same ⋮ menu. The dialog names the item and its SKU: the item leaves the catalog and its stock history is retained. Deleting is not undoable here, so an item a work order still reserves is better left in place with its stock set to zero.

See also

• Track serialized pieces and tools
• Adjust stock and track locations
• Transaction types
• Link required and created parts to an operation