Creating and managing item categories

In this article, you'll learn how to create item categories, put items in them, and keep them tidy. Categories group the items in your price book, so when you're adding items to a job you can open one category instead of scrolling through everything.

To open item categories:

  1. In the menu, click Price book.
  2. Click the Item categories tab.

The tab reads "Item categories help manage and streamline your items, making it easy to navigate your price book and inventory". Under it you'll see the Add new button, a dropdown set to Active, and a table with the columns Name, Description, Parent category, No. of active items and Actions.

Note: You need price book access to open this page. If you don't see Price book in the menu, ask an admin.

Creating an item category

  1. On the Item categories tab, click Add new.
  2. The Create new category form opens. Fill it in:
  • Upload Image (optional). Click the + on the dark square to add a picture. It shows as a thumbnail in the table and on the category tile when you browse the price book.
  • Category name. This is the only required field.
  • Choose parent category (optional). Click Browse, click the category you want as the parent, then click Apply. Click × on the field to clear it.
  • Category description (optional).
  • Enable category. Leave this on. Turning it off hides the category from pickers, but the items inside keep their own on/off switch, so turning it back on brings everything back as it was.
  1. Click Save.
Note: A category can't be its own parent, so it won't appear in the Browse list when you're editing it.

Assigning items to a category

You pick the category on the item itself, either when you create the item or later.

  1. Click the Items & products tab.
  2. Click Add New, or click an existing item in the table to open Edit Item.
  3. Under Choose category (optional), click Browse.
  4. Click the category, then click Apply.
  5. Click Save.

The Category column in the items table shows where each item lives, and the No. of active items column on the categories tab counts the enabled items in each one. An item with no category sits at the top level of the price book.

Note: There's no bulk assign. Each item is moved from its own form.

Editing, disabling and deleting a category

  1. On the Item categories tab, click the category's name or the pencil under Actions to open Edit category.
  2. Change what you need and click Save.

To hide a category without losing it, open it and turn off Enable category. To see hidden ones again, change the dropdown above the table from Active to Inactive or All.

To delete a category, click the trash can under Actions. If the category still has active items, the CRM asks whether to delete it anyway and leave those items uncategorised. The items themselves aren't deleted. Any categories that used it as their parent lose the parent and stay in the list.

Categories when browsing the price book

Categories are what you'll see first when you add items to a job or estimate. On the web, click Price book on the job's items section. The browser opens with a Categories row of tiles, each showing its picture and item count, with uncategorised Items below. Click a category to open it, pick an item, and click Apply. The Categories link at the top takes you back out.

On the phone app

The phone app has the same Price book screen with an Item categories tab. Tap Add new to open Add New Category, which has Name, Description (optional), a Parent category (optional) dropdown, a Picture (optional) row with Take photo and Choose, and an Enable category switch. Tap a row in the table to edit it. On an item, the category is a dropdown under Choose category (optional).

When you add an item to a job in the app, the price book sheet has a Categories fold. Tap a category to show only its items, and tap All items to go back to the full book.

Note: The app doesn't have a delete button for categories. Use the web to delete one.

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