Create Units for Item Quantity and Selling Labels

What Units Are For

A unit tells staff and reports what a quantity means. A stock count of 10 is clearer when the item says 10 pieces, 10 bottles or 10 packs.

• Use units for product quantity labels, not for categories or variants.
• Use familiar staff language such as Piece, Bottle, Pack, Box, Cup, Plate, Portion or Serving.
• Use a short Value because it appears in compact places such as bills and stock rows.
• Assign the unit while creating the item so stock and selling screens read correctly.
• Keep service units separate: service items use Fixed price, Per hour or Per day from the item form, not the Inventory Units list.

Screen Map

Inventory -> Units uses a split page. The list stays on the left and the right pane changes between details and editor.

Create a Unit

1. Open Inventory -> Units.
2. Click New.
3. Enter Name, such as Piece, Bottle, Pack or Carton.
4. Enter Value, such as piece, bottle, pack or 12.
5. Keep Value short. The controller accepts compact values and rejects overly long ones.
6. Click Save.
7. Open Inventory -> Items and assign the unit to one item.
8. Check New Sale and reports to confirm the label is understandable.

Name and Value

The unit has two operator-facing parts. Name is what staff recognize. Value is the compact stored/display value used by item rows and pickers.

Assign Units to Items

1. Create or verify the unit first.
2. Open Inventory -> Items -> New or edit an item.
3. Find Item Units near the reorder point and category/supplier area.
4. Choose the right unit from the dropdown.
5. For a variant item, review the unit on every generated variant row.
6. Save the item.
7. Open Item Details, New Sale and Inventory Logs to confirm the unit label reads correctly.

Used by Items

The Units detail pane loads item usage before the operator edits or deletes. It checks both newer item records with unit_id and older records that only stored the unit name.

• Click a unit row before cleanup.
• Read the Used by items list and note product name, SKU, price and stock.
• If many items use the unit, update those products first before renaming or deleting the unit.
• If no items use it, deletion is lower risk but still worth exporting first.

Edit or Delete a Unit

Before editing or deleting a unit, check where it is used. The page is designed this way because a unit affects how stock and sales quantities are read.

• Fix spelling early, before many items use the unit.
• The add flow refuses duplicate unit values, so do not create Piece and Pieces with the same value by accident.
• Keep Value changes small because the value is what item pickers store and display.
• Do not delete a unit that still appears on active products.
• Move affected items to the replacement unit before cleanup.
• Deleting removes the unit from the picker, but older item records may still display the stored name or id until they are edited.
• Export the unit list when preparing a larger catalog cleanup.

Unit Examples