Adding items
Codes, barcodes, prices and opening stock — and why cost is not something you type.
An item is the unit everything else refers to: every sale line, purchase line, stock movement and margin figure points at one. Its code and barcode must be unique — the system refuses duplicates and spaces — and once it has history, the code cannot change. Take a minute over each item now; it is referenced thousands of times later.
Open Catalog → Items → New. Enter the code, the Arabic and English names, the category and the base unit.
Add the barcode from the packaging so the register can scan it. If the item is also sold by the carton, add that unit with its own barcode.
Set the selling price. Cost is deliberately not a field you fill in — it is calculated as a weighted average from your purchase invoices, so margin reports reflect what stock really cost.
For an item you already hold, enter its opening quantity per warehouse. For anything new, leave it at zero and let the first purchase invoice bring it in — that is what gives it a real cost.
Open the item afterwards to see its stock per warehouse and its full movement history — every sale, purchase, return and transfer that touched it.
Good practice
- Use a code scheme you can read at a glance: a category prefix and a number. You will type these into purchase invoices for years.
- An item with sales history cannot be deleted, only deactivated — so old invoices always resolve.