Managing Items
The Items tab in Products & Services is the catalog for every material, service, and product your company tracks. It is a sortable, filterable table with inline stock controls, value summaries, and bulk actions.
Quick Start: Manage Items
- Select Products & Services in the sidebar
- Search or filter to find an item
- Click an item's name to open its detail page
- Edit fields, adjust stock, or review transaction history
Summary Cards
Three cards at the top of the list summarize the whole catalog.
| Card | Shows |
|---|---|
| Total Value | Quantity times unit cost across all stocked items |
| Categories | Number of active categories |
| Low Stock | Count of materials below their reorder point |
A usage chart and a Low Stock Alerts panel appear below the cards when there is data to show.
Searching and Filtering
The list supports fast search and stacked filters.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Search box | Matches item name or SKU |
| Category filter | Show one category, including everything filed under it |
| Type filter | All, Material, Service, or Non-inventory |
| Show Low Stock Only | Materials below their reorder point |
| Reset Filters | Clear search, filters, and sort in one click |
Multi-entity companies also get an Entity filter that scopes the list to one entity's items plus shared items.
Keyboard shortcuts speed up the list: press / (or Ctrl+F) to jump to search, n to open the Add Item form, and Escape to clear the search and selection.
Categories and Groups
Two different ways to organize the catalog, meant to be used together.
A category says what an item is, and categories form a tree. Fittings can hold Brass Fittings, Steel Fittings, and Banjo Fittings, and an item sits at one place in that tree. A group is a label that cuts across the tree, for the things a category cannot express: a supplier, a storage container, an expense bucket, winter truck stock. An item belongs to one category and to as many groups as you like.
To build either one, open Manage categories and groups from the category filter. The panel has a Categories tab and a Groups tab, with New top-level category and New group to start.
Filtering by a category includes everything under it
Choosing a parent category shows the items filed directly under it and the items in every category beneath it. Filtering on Fittings returns the Brass, Steel, and Banjo fittings too, so you do not have to know which child an item landed in. The count beside a category follows the same rule and counts its whole branch.
Starting from the categories you already have
If you have been typing categories into the item form, Set up categories turns those into top-level categories and files your existing items under them. It only touches items you have not already filed into the tree, so running it does not disturb work you have already organized. You can run it again later after adding more items.
Two kinds of name are left out and reported back to you rather than converted: names containing a colon, and names that are too long. Items with those names keep the category text they already had and go on working as before.
Groups from the item list
Select items in the list and use Add selected items to a group to label them all at once. That is usually faster than opening each item.
Categories and groups are optional. Until you create one, the catalog behaves exactly as it does now, and the category you typed on an item stays the value that reports, exports, the mobile apps, and QuickBooks read.
The Item Table
Columns are sortable by clicking the header.
| Column | Shows |
|---|---|
| Item | Name and description; click to open the detail page |
| Type | Material, Service, or Non-inv |
| SKU | Your internal code |
| Category | Grouping badge |
| Qty | On-hand quantity (materials only) |
| Unit | Unit of measure |
| Unit Cost | Cost per unit |
| Value | Quantity times unit cost |
| Supplier | Primary supplier, when mapped |
| Status | OK, Low, or N/A for stockless items |
Long lists are paged on the server; choose 10, 25, 50, or 100 rows per page.
Stock Status
For material items, status reflects the on-hand quantity against the reorder point.
| Status | Meaning | Action |
|---|---|---|
| OK | At or above the reorder point | None needed |
| Low | Below the reorder point | Reorder soon |
| N/A | Stockless (service or non-inventory) | Not tracked |
Material quantities update automatically as crews record usage on projects and work orders. Keep reorder points current so the Low Stock alerts stay meaningful.
Adjusting Stock from the List
Each material row has inline plus and minus controls. Click one, enter the amount, and apply it to add or remove stock without leaving the list. For a full adjustment with a reason note, open the item and use Adjust Stock.
Item Detail and Actions
Click an item's name to open its detail page, where you can:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Edit | Update name, SKU, category, unit, cost, tax, and accounting fields |
| Adjust Stock | Add, Remove, or Set the exact quantity, with a reason note |
| Transaction History | Review every recorded change for the item |
| Retail Calculator | Work out a retail price from a markup, or a markup from a target price |
| Copy Item ID | Copy the item's identifier to the clipboard |
Bulk Actions and Export
Select rows with the checkboxes to delete several items at once; the delete asks for confirmation first. Use Export CSV to download the current filtered list, or Import CSV to add items in bulk.
Troubleshooting
Can't find an item?
- Reset filters, then search again
- Try the SKU instead of the name (or the reverse)
Stock levels look wrong?
- Review the item's transaction history for duplicate usage
- Run a physical count and record a Set adjustment
A category is missing from the filter?
- Categories only appear once an item uses them; add an item with that category first
Related Topics
- Adding Items - Create new items
- Stock Level Tracking - Reorder points and status
- Transactions - Log usage and adjustments
- Reporting & Exports - Value and usage analysis