Organize Inventory

Organizing your inventory in departments and categories not only makes it easy for you to find items in the Items List but also helps you track sales trends. Once items are entered into BackOffice, it’s easy to manage departments and categories.

Watch our Organize Inventory video below:

Organize Inventory

Table of Contents

Items List

The Items List contains every stock item that has been added to your account. You can search, browse the entire list or sort by specific parameters to quickly find what you’re looking for.

Access the Items List

Follow the instructions below to navigate to your Items List.

  1. Log into BackOffice.
  2. In BackOffice, click 'Items' and select 'Items List'.

Search for Items

You can search for items by description, UPC code, store code, department, category, or supplier.

  1. Use the 'Search' field to find an item or group of items.
  2. Click 10, 25, 50, or 100 to set the number of items you’d like to display on each page.
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If you notice issues with items on your Items List, visit our Items Troubleshooting guide for help.

Sort the Items List

The Items List can be sorted by item name, cost, price, or quantity on hand.

  1. Click one of the headings to put the list in ascending order (A to Z, least to greatest).

    In the example below, the Items List is sorted in ascending order by item name.

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  2. Click that same heading again to put the list in descending order (Z to A, greatest to least).

To learn how to view details about items with variants on the Items List, visit our Items with Variants in BackOffice article.

Departments & Categories

Browse the sections below to learn how to manage BackOffice departments and categories. Departments and categories cannot be renamed or edited, but you can delete those which you are not using.

  • Departments are a general grouping of items used for organization, reporting, and ticket printing. Ex. All coats sold in a retail clothing store could be assigned to a department called “Coats”.
  • Categories are subgroups within Departments that are used for item organization, ticket printing, and reporting. Ex. All winter coats sold in a retail clothing store could be assigned to the department called “Coats” and the category called “Winter Coats”.

    • Departments and categories can help reveal which types of items are most popular. Visit the Sales by Department & Sales by Category Report articles to learn how to view sales in terms of these groupings.

    Departments and Categories

    Follow these steps to get started managing departments and categories.

    1. In BackOffice, click 'Items' and select 'Departments & Categories'.

    Delete a Category

    Use these instructions to remove unneeded categories.

    1. Make sure there are no items in the category you’re deleting.

      If necessary, use Bulk Management to move items out of the category.

    2. Click the 'Delete' button.
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    3. Click the button to confirm you’d like to remove the category.

    Delete a Department

    Deleting a department is just like deleting a category. Follow these steps to get started.

    1. Make sure there are no items in any category within the department.

      If necessary, use Bulk Management to move items into another department.

    2. Click the 'Delete Department' link.
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    To learn more about inventory in ShopKeep, check out our Inventory FAQ.

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