Items

Items are everything you buy, hold, sell or charge for: stocked products, goods you do not track, and services. The Items screen is your catalog. From here you create items, set how they are costed and replenished, add barcodes, images and documents, record supplier prices and variants, print labels, and see each item's stock, value and movement history.

An item's type decides whether it can ever hold stock (the type alone switches inventory tracking on or off), and its costing method decides how that stock is valued. Get these right before stock is posted: the costing method locks while the item has stock, and the type locks once the item has any stock or stock history.

Catalog owners (the owner, SolaStock Administrators and anyone allowed to edit items) maintain items. Everyone else with SolaStock access can look items up.

Where to find it

• Sidebar: Catalog → Items. URL /inventory/items.
• New item: New item (top-right of the list) — /inventory/items/new.
• An item's page: click its SKU in the list — /inventory/items/{id}.
• Edit: Edit item on the item page — /inventory/items/{id}/edit.
• Breadcrumbs: Items → item name.

Permissions: View items to see the list and pages; Create / edit / deactivate items for everything that changes an item. Without it, New item is greyed out with the tooltip "You do not have permission for this action.", and opening /items/new directly shows Access denied — "This page requires additional SolaStock permissions."

Item types

Rules that keep stock correct:

• Only active inventory items appear in the item picker on opening stock, adjustments, transfers and stock counts.
• A service or non-inventory item's page has no Adjust stock or Transfer buttons.
• Goods receipts and opening stock also refuse such a line when you save them, so an unpostable draft is never created.
• If a stock document still includes one, posting is refused per line: "Item SKU is a service or non-inventory item; it cannot have stock movements."
• The item type controls inventory tracking. Only Inventory (tracks stock) items track quantities. The form shows a read-only checkbox Track inventory that follows the type, with the hint "Required for Inventory items. Inventory tracking is controlled by the item type." for inventory items and "Non-inventory items and services do not track inventory and cannot be received or consumed as stock." for the others. You cannot tick it separately; trying to set a tracking flag that contradicts the type through an import or integration is refused with "Inventory tracking follows the item type. Choose Inventory to track stock; choose Non-inventory or Service for transactions without stock." These messages use the same type names as the form: Inventory (tracks stock), Non-inventory and Service (no stock).
• Existing stock history is protected. An item cannot switch between Inventory and Non-inventory or Service while it has stock balances or any historical stock movement, even if the quantity is now zero. The item form says "Item type cannot change while stock balances or historical movements exist. Keep this item for its history and create a new item with the required type."; an import or integration that tries the same change gets "Item type cannot switch between Inventory and Non-inventory or Service while stock balances or historical movements exist. Keep this item for its history and create a new item with the required type." To change the type of such an item: leave the old item as it is (set it Inactive if you no longer want it offered), create a new item with the correct type and the same category, and use the new item from now on. The old item keeps its movements, so reports and the ledger stay exact.
• A legacy item whose stored tracking flag disagrees with its type shows "Legacy tracking differs from the item type. Existing records remain unchanged; review the item before changing its type." Saving a name or price does not rewrite that flag.
• Costing method cannot change while the item has stock on hand: "Costing method cannot change after stock exists."
• Non-stock items need no inventory unit. A Non-inventory item or Service may be saved and synchronized to SolaCount without a Unit; only Inventory items require one.

Screen tour — the item list

Header: title Items, and New item on the right.

Toolbar (under the header):

How the stock filter decides, using the item's total available quantity (on hand minus reserved) across the warehouses you can see:

Bulk update panel (only if you can edit items) — see Bulk update.

Table — sorted by name, 25 items per view:

Empty state: No items. The list shows the first 25 matches; use search and filters to narrow it down.

Create an item

1. Go to Catalog → Items and click New item (top-right).

2. Basic information — "Name, SKU and how this item is classified."

   Field	Required	Rules / defaults	Notes
   Item name	Yes	Up to 191 characters.	Placeholder e.g. iPhone 15 Pro.
   SKU	Yes	Up to 191 characters; unique in your organization: "SKU must be unique within the organization."	Placeholder Unique code, e.g. IPH-15-PRO.
   Barcode	No	Up to 100 characters; unique: "Barcode must be unique within the organization."	Saved as the item's primary barcode. Only used when creating; later barcodes are managed on the Barcodes tab.
   Unit	Yes for inventory items	Must be an active unit: "A unit is required for inventory items."	+ Create next to the field: type a name, click Add.
   Category	Yes, every type	Must be an active category: "A category is required for every item type."	+ Create adds one on the spot.
   Brand	No		+ Create adds one.
   Description	No		Optional short description.
   Status	—	Active ticked by default.	Inactive items are not offered on new documents.

3. Inventory setup — "How stock is tracked, costed and replenished."

   Field	Required	Rules / defaults	Notes
   Available for sale	—	Ticked by default.	Untick for materials you only use internally. A sales order line (when saved and when confirmed) and a posted shipment cannot use an item that is not available for sale: "This item is not available for sale. Enable Available for sale in item settings to use it on a new sale." The Sales price field is hidden while it is unticked, and the item is not offered in the sales order picker.
   Available for purchase	—	Ticked by default.	Untick for items you never buy. A purchase order line with it is refused: "This item is not available for purchase." The purchase order picker does not offer it.
   Track inventory	—	Read-only; follows Item type.	See Item types.
   Consumption expense account	No	A searchable account picker: type part of the code or name in Search account code or name, then choose the account, shown as code · name, from the expense accounts of the connected SolaCount organization. The first choice, Resolve automatically, leaves it empty. The picker is greyed out unless you hold Override internal-consumption expense account, and it is saved only if the organization is connected.	The default expense account for Internal Consumption. Leave it on Resolve automatically to use the category or connection default.
   Item type	Yes	Defaults to Inventory (tracks stock).	See Item types. Locked once stock history exists.
   Costing method	—	Weighted average (default) or FIFO (cost layers). Disabled for services.	The form always starts at Weighted average; choose FIFO explicitly.
   Reorder point	No	0 or more, up to 4 decimals. Placeholder Alert when below.	Drives the Low badge on the item page, the Dashboard low-stock alerts and the Low Stock report.
   Reorder quantity	No	0 or more. Suggested top-up.
   Minimum stock, Maximum stock, Safety stock	No	0 or more.	Planning levels shown in reports.
   Tracking	No	Lot, Serial, Expiry.	Expiry can only be ticked after Lot ("Expiry requires lot tracking."). Services cannot track: "Service items cannot have stock tracking enabled."

   About Expiry: expiry dates are captured per lot on stock documents. The Expiry tick is checked when you save but is not stored on the item, so it shows unticked when you edit the item again.

4. Opening stock (optional) — shown for new items that are not services. Only Inventory items can take opening stock; for a Non-inventory item the item is saved but the opening stock is refused ("Item X is a service or non-inventory item; it cannot have stock movements."): "start this item with quantity on hand. Posted as an opening-stock entry after the item is created."

   Field	Notes
   Opening warehouse	— none — by default.
   Opening quantity	Greater than 0 to use this section.
   Opening cost / unit	Blank means 0.

5. Physical attributes — "Used for shipping, bin planning and carton decisions." Weight, Length, Width, Height (optional, 0 or more).

6. Pricing — "Default purchase and sales prices." Purchase price, Sales price. "Leave a price blank to save it as 0 — you can set it later."

7. Notes — "Internal notes for your team."

8. Click Create item (top-right; Cancel next to it returns to the list).

   • If you filled opening stock, a dialog Post opening stock? asks you to confirm: "Posting writes stock movements to the inventory ledger and locks this document. It cannot be edited afterwards." Click Post to continue, or cancel to go back to the form.

9. You see "Item created." and land on the item page.

If the item saved but its opening stock could not post, you see "Item saved, but opening stock could not be posted: …". The item is kept; add the stock from Opening Stock. The entry gets the next opening-stock number (for example OS-000012).

Right-hand panel while you type:

• Item image — "Save the item first, then add private photos from its Media tab."
• Setup checklist — Basic info complete (name and SKU), Inventory configured, Pricing set (optional), Ready to save (name, SKU, category, and a unit for inventory items).
• Live preview — name (Untitled item), SKU (No SKU yet), Unit, Costing, Starting stock, Starting value (opening quantity × cost).

Errors are listed at the top under Please fix the following: and next to each field. A general failure shows "Could not save the item."

Quantities and prices

Purchase price, sales price, quantities, costs and planning levels accept up to four decimal places (for example AED 12.3456) and are stored as entered.

Edit an item

1. Open the item and click Edit item (greyed out if you cannot edit).
2. Change fields and click Save changes. You see "Item updated."

Notes:

• The opening stock section is not shown when editing.
• The Barcode field on the edit form does not add or change barcodes. Use the Barcodes tab.
• To deactivate, untick Active and save. The item stays in history and reports but is not offered on new documents.
• Every create, edit and bulk change is written to the inventory audit log (visible to administrators on Stock Ledger → Activity audit, actions item.created, item.updated, item.bulk_updated).

Bulk update items

The bulk panel sits above the table when you can edit items.

1. Tick items (or the header checkbox). Selected shows ":count items selected".

2. Choose a Bulk field:

   Bulk field	Value
   Status	Yes / active or No / inactive.
   Category	A category, or Clear category.
   Brand	A brand, or Clear brand.
   Reorder alerts	Yes / active or No / inactive. Stores a flag on the items; low-stock alerts and reports are driven by the reorder point, not this flag.
   Reorder point	A number, 0 or more (required).
   Reorder quantity	A number, 0 or more (required).

3. Click Apply (disabled until something is selected). You see "Updated :count item(s)." or "Bulk update failed."

Up to 500 items can be updated in one go.

The item page

Header (hero): primary image, name, Active/Inactive badge, a Low badge when stock is low, and SKU, Barcode (primary), Type, Costing (FIFO, Average or — for services), Category, Brand.

Header buttons:

The Low badge appears when the item has a reorder point above 0 and its total available quantity (all your warehouses) is at or below it.

Tabs

Stock figures cover only the warehouses you can see.

Valuation drawer

Open it with View valuation or FIFO layers & valuation. Title Stock valuation, subtitle SKU · FIFO/Average costing.

• Explanation: FIFO — "This item is valued using FIFO. Each inbound batch retains its own unit cost, and stock issues consume the oldest remaining layer first." Average — "This item is valued using weighted-average cost."
• Cards On-hand value and, for comparison, Same stock, average (FIFO items) or Same stock, FIFO (average items).
• Per warehouse: On hand, Value, Average cost / unit, the other basis, and Reconciled or Needs review.
• FIFO items: Remaining FIFO layers — oldest first, one card per layer: Received date, Source document link, Original quantity, Consumed quantity, Remaining quantity, Unit cost, Remaining value, Warehouse.
• Footer line: "Cost layers add up to the on-hand quantity." or "Cost layers do not add up to the on-hand quantity and need review."
• No stock: No stock to value yet — "Once you receive or open stock, its value and FIFO layers appear here."

Movement drawer

Click a movement row or View. Movement detail shows Type (Stock in / Stock out), Warehouse, Quantity, Unit cost, Total cost, On hand after, Value after, Source. For a stock-out of a FIFO item, FIFO consumption lists each layer used (Consumed quantity, Unit cost, Consumed value, Layer remaining after this, Layer original quantity, Consumed at) and Total cost of stock used. Average items show "Weighted-average costing does not consume specific layers."

Barcodes

Barcodes let the Scanner and other lookups find the item.

Add a barcode

1. Open the item → Barcodes.
2. Type or scan the code in Scan or type barcode.
3. Choose the type: Internal (default), EAN, UPC or QR.
4. Click Add barcode. You see "Barcode added." A code already used by any item is refused: "Barcode must be unique within the organization."

Make primary — on a non-primary row. The previous primary becomes Internal. The primary barcode shows in the header.

Delete — confirm the dialog Delete barcode — "This barcode will no longer identify the item."

Scan lookup (right panel) — scan a barcode and press Enter (or Lookup). Shows Found with a link to the matching item and its SKU, or "No item matches that barcode."

Empty state: No barcodes — "Add EAN, UPC, internal or QR codes for scanner lookup."

Images and documents (Media tab)

Images

1. Click Upload images (or + Add images when images exist) and choose one or more files.
2. Allowed: "JPG, PNG or WEBP · up to 5 MB each · stored privately · ★ sets the primary image."
3. Progress shows Uploading :done/:total…; then "Image uploaded." or ":count images uploaded." Rejected files: ":file: only JPG, PNG or WEBP files are allowed.", ":file: must be 5 MB or smaller."
4. ★ makes an image Primary (shown in the list and header).
5. 🗑 deletes an image after the dialog Delete image — "This image will be removed from the record." ("Image removed.")

Documents — Upload attachment: images or PDF up to 10 MB ("Attachment must be 10 MB or smaller."). PDFs with active or embedded content are refused. The table shows Name, Type, Size; Delete asks Delete attachment — "This file will be removed from the document." Empty: No attachments — "Item documents, specification sheets and supplier files appear here."

Images and files are private: only people who can see the item can open them.

Details tab

Supplier prices

1. In Commercial, pick the supplier, type Supplier SKU (optional), the unit cost and the Minimum quantity (default 1).
2. Click Add supplier price — "Supplier price saved."
3. The table shows Supplier, SKU, Cost (with its currency code), Minimum quantity. Delete asks Delete supplier price — "This supplier price will be removed from the item." ("Supplier price removed.")

The add form has no currency field; check the currency shown in the Cost column after saving. Empty: No supplier prices — "Add supplier-specific costs for buying decisions."

Variants

1. Fill Variant SKU (required, unique: "Variant SKU must be unique."), Option (for example, Size), Value (for example, Large) and an optional Variant barcode (must be unused).
2. Click Add variant — "Variant added."
3. Delete asks Delete item variant — "This item variant will be deleted. Existing stock and usage restrictions still apply." ("Variant removed.")

Labels — Print labels builds one label per barcode (name, SKU, a scannable Code 128 barcode, the code and its type) and opens your browser's print dialog. With no barcodes there is nothing to print. Empty: No label preview — "Generate item and barcode labels for printing."

Statuses

Items are never deleted from the screen; deactivate instead.

Permissions

Plan limits: when your plan's item limit is reached, creating shows "Your plan limit for this resource has been reached. Upgrade to add more." Existing items stay usable.

Worked examples

Example 1 — Add a service (quick)

Omar Haddad at Al Noor Trading LLC adds Screen installation: SKU SRV-INSTALL, Item type Service (no stock), Category Services (created with + Create), Sales price 75.0000. Costing and tracking are greyed out. Create item → "Item created." It can be sold but never appears on adjustments or transfers.

Example 2 — A serial-tracked phone with opening stock (full)

1. Omar clicks New item: name iPhone 15 Pro 256 GB, SKU IP15P-256, barcode 194253401234, unit PCS, category Mobile Phones, brand Apple.
2. Costing method FIFO (cost layers), Reorder point 10, Reorder quantity 40, Tracking ticks Serial.
3. Purchase price 3,850.0000, Sales price 4,299.0000.
4. He leaves opening stock blank, because serial items need serial numbers that are entered on an Opening Stock entry, then clicks Create item.
5. On Barcodes he adds the carton EAN 0194253401241 as EAN. On Media he uploads two photos and stars the front view.
6. He posts opening stock for 25 serials at AED 3,850 in Dubai Main. The Overview now shows On hand 25, Total stock value 96,250.00 (FIFO basis); Inventory → FIFO layers & valuation shows one layer Opening stock OS-000003, 25 remaining at 3,850.00, Reconciled.
7. A shipment later takes 18. Available is 7, below the reorder point of 10: the header shows Low and the Overview banner "Available stock (7) is at or below the reorder point (10)."
8. Omar tries to change costing to Weighted average: "Costing method cannot change after stock exists."

Example 3 — Fixing a wrong item type

1. Omar created Bubble wrap roll (PKG-BW) as Non-inventory by mistake. It has never held stock, so he opens Edit item, changes Item type to Inventory (tracks stock), picks Unit Roll and Costing method Weighted average, and clicks Save changes. Track inventory now shows ticked and the item can take opening stock.
2. Later he wants the retired heater HTR-OLD (an inventory item that once held 12 units and is now at zero) to stop tracking stock. Save changes with Item type Non-inventory is refused: "Item type cannot change while stock balances or historical movements exist. Keep this item for its history and create a new item with the required type."
3. He sets HTR-OLD to Inactive so it is no longer offered on new documents, and creates HTR-2026 as a Non-inventory item for future purchases. The old item keeps its movements and its value history; no report changes.

How it connects

• Stock documents (Opening Stock, Adjustments, Transfers, Purchasing, Sales & fulfillment) pick items from this catalog.
• Balances and history appear in Current Stock and Stock Ledger.
• Lot/serial tracking feeds Traceability; reorder levels feed the Dashboard and Reports.
• Barcodes are what the Scanner looks up.
• Units, categories and brands are maintained in Settings; items can be linked to SolaCount through the SolaCount integration, and item changes are delivered to SolaCount as described on Catalog Synchronization.
• Stock items can be issued to the business on Internal Consumption; their received cost can be topped up with Landed Costs.

Tips & common problems

Related

• Opening Stock · Current Stock · Stock Ledger · Scanner
• Settings (units, categories, brands) · Adjustments · Transfers · Traceability