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4.46. How do I create folders in retail items to sub-catagorize items?

I have many different types of retail items including step stakes, frames, ballasts, lamps, transformers and many other ingredients that I would like to categorize into folders for easy retrieval. How do I do it?

EstiMate 1.x does not directly support the creation of folders in retail items, however items in the list can be made easier to find.

The best approach to this is to create headers with a seperator between each unique list of items so you can easily scroll through the headers to get to the items you require.

Lets look at an example. Lets say we have the following multiple categories of items:

3x8 banners
banner ropes
transformers
ballasts

In these categories we have the following items:

3x8 banner style A
3x8 banner style B
3x8 banner style C

Banner Ropes - 25 ft.
Banner Ropes - 30 ft.
Banner Ropes - 40 ft.

GRI-Actown Transformer OG 12kv/30ma
GRI-Actown Transformer OG 15kv/30ma
GRI-Actown Transformer OG 3.9kv/35ma
GRI-Actown Transformer OG 7.5kv/30ma

GRI-Advance Ballast 120v 1-2 Lamp 4-12ft
GRI-Advance Ballast 120v 2-4 Lamp 12-24ft
GRI-Advance Ballast 120v 2-4 Lamp 20-40ft
GRI-Advance Ballast 120v 2-4 Lamp 6-20ft

To separate these diverse ingredients use the description together with a separator. Example:

GRI-Actown Transformer --------------------------

To create this use the following method:

1. Click edit data files > Retail items.
2. Highlight on of the ingredient you want to create a header for and click the copy button at the bottom of the screen. A copy will be made and it will have the word [COPY] in brackets at the end of the description.
3. Highlight the copy and press the edit button. Erase the sub description and insert a separator character like a hyphen "-" an underscore "_" or ")". Type the separator character multiple times until the description limit is reached.

Example:

GRI-Actown Transformer OG 12kv/30ma[COPY]

is transformed into

GRI-Actown Transformer --------------------------

4. Change the cost to one dollar and press the green OK checkmark to save the entry.
5. Repeat steps 1-4 above for all the other families of items.

In our example above a finished list would look something like:

3x8 banner ------------------------------
3x8 banner style A
3x8 banner style B
3x8 banner style C
Banner Ropes ---------------------------
Banner Ropes - 25 ft.
Banner Ropes - 30 ft.
Banner Ropes - 40 ft.
GRI-Actown Transformer -----------------
GRI-Actown Transformer OG 12kv/30ma
GRI-Actown Transformer OG 15kv/30ma
GRI-Actown Transformer OG 3.9kv/35ma
GRI-Actown Transformer OG 7.5kv/30ma
GRI-Advance Ballast --------------------
GRI-Advance Ballast 120v 1-2 Lamp 4-12ft
GRI-Advance Ballast 120v 2-4 Lamp 12-24ft
GRI-Advance Ballast 120v 2-4 Lamp 20-40ft
GRI-Advance Ballast 120v 2-4 Lamp 6-20ft

NOTE: In order for the process to work some conventions need to be adhered to:

A. You will be tempted to make singular ingredients plural. Dont do this as it will throw off its place in the database.

RIGHT: GRI-Actown Transformer -----------------
WRONG: GRI-Actown Transformers -----------------

B. Do not use generic descriptions like "banners", or "transformers" as these will not show up at the beginning of the category. The description must always maintain the beginning of the original.

RIGHT: 3x8 banner ------------------------------
WRONG: Banners ------------------------------

Following the above procedure will help you achieve your goal of subcatagorizing retail items so things are easier to find.