Product Types & Categories

Product types and product categories are two labels you attach to a product to organise your catalogue. A product type describes what kind of thing the product is, for example Physical Product, Service, Raw Material, or Finished Goods. A product category describes what part of the catalogue it belongs to, for example Electronics, Food & Beverages, or Office Supplies. The bookkeeper or accountant sets both lists up once, and everyone picks from them when creating a product.

The two lists are independent master files. A product has its own Product Type field and its own Product Category field, and you can set either, both, or neither. A category is not filed under a type, and a type is not filed under a category. Each list nests within itself instead: a type can have a parent type, and a category can have a parent category.

Both are reference labels only. Neither posts to the ledger and neither carries pricing, tax, or account settings, so classifying a product does not change how its transactions are recorded. Their job is to let you slice your catalogue:

• Products carry a type and a category. The Products list can show both as columns and be filtered by either. See Products & Items.
• Reports show and group by them. You can add Product Type and Product Category columns, and group the rows by them, on the inventory reports (such as Inventory Balance Summary, Inventory Balance Detail, and Inventory Aging Summary), the sales and purchase reports that list items (such as Sales by Product Detail, Sales Detail, and Purchase by Product Detail), and the item-level detail reports for quotations, sales orders, invoices, invoice credits, delivery orders, GRNs, GRN credits, purchase orders, issue notes, and issue returns. Sales by Product Summary and Purchase by Product Summary show them as columns only.
• Reports filter by them. The Inventory Balance Summary, Inventory Aging Summary, Inventory Aging Detail, and the item-level detail reports for quotations, sales orders, invoices, invoice credits, delivery orders, GRNs, GRN credits, issue notes, and issue returns can be filtered to one or more types or categories.

Before you start

Every new business starts with both lists filled in, already active and approved:

• Product types: Physical Product, Digital Product, Service, Raw Material, Finished Goods, Consumables, Equipment, and Software.
• Product categories: Electronics, Clothing & Apparel, Food & Beverages, Home & Garden, Automotive, Health & Beauty, Sports & Recreation, Books & Media, Office Supplies, and Industrial & Construction.

For many businesses these are a good start, and you only need these screens to add your own or to retire ones you do not use.

Access is controlled by the Product Types and Product Categories permissions in your user's permission profile, under Administration → Permissions (see Users, seats & permissions). Each list has separate switches to list, create, edit, delete, and approve. You need the list permission to open its screen.

Create a product type

1. Open the Product Types list

   Go to Lists → Product Types. The table shows each Type, its Parent, its Status (Active or Inactive, and Approved or Pending), and Created By. You can search by type name, and switch to a card or list view.

2. Start a new type

   Select Add Product Type. The Create New Product Type panel opens from the right.

3. Enter the type name

   Type the Type Name (required), for example Spare Parts. Each name must be unique, and it cannot contain a colon (:), which ZyncLedger reserves for type and category paths.

4. Choose a parent type (optional)

   Use Parent Product Type (Optional) to nest this type under a broader one, for example placing Perishable Goods under Raw Material. Search for the parent and select it, or leave it blank for a top-level type. Only active, approved types are offered. A type cannot sit under itself or under one of its own child types, and a type can be nested at most five levels below a top-level type.

5. Set the status flags

   Two checkboxes control whether the type can be used:

   Field	What it does
   Active	On by default. An inactive type stays for history but is not offered when classifying a product.
   Approved	Off by default. A type is only offered for selection once it is both Active and Approved. Ticking this needs the approve permission. Once a type is saved as approved, the box is locked and cannot be cleared.

6. Save

   Select Create Product Type. The type appears in the list and, once approved, in the Product Type dropdown on the product form.

Create a product category

Categories work the same way as types, with their own labels.

1. Open the Product Categories list

   Go to Lists → Product Categories. The table shows each Category, its Parent, its Status (Active or Inactive, and Approved or Pending), and Created By. You can search by category name, and switch to a card or list view.

2. Start a new category

   Select Add Product Category. The Create New Product Category panel opens from the right.

3. Enter the category name

   Type the Category Name (required), for example Mobile Accessories. Each name must be unique, and it cannot contain a colon (:).

4. Choose a parent category (optional)

   Use Parent Product Category (Optional) to nest this category under a broader one, for example placing Smartphones under Electronics. The picker shows categories as an indented tree, and a search keeps each match's parent categories above it, so you can see where it sits. Leave it blank for a top-level category. Only active, approved categories are offered. A category cannot sit under itself or under one of its own child categories, and a category can be nested at most five levels below a top-level category.

5. Set the status flags

   The Active and Approved checkboxes work the same as on a product type: a category is only offered for selection once it is both Active and Approved, ticking Approved needs the approve permission, and once a category is saved as approved the box is locked.

6. Save

   Select Create Product Category. The category appears in the list and, once approved, in the Product Category dropdown on the product form.

You can also add either one without leaving the product form: open the Product Type dropdown and select Add Product Type, or open the Product Category dropdown and select Add Product Category. The same panel opens, and the new entry is selected on the product straight away if you saved it as both Active and Approved.

Import or export the lists

If you have the create permission for a list, it also has Export and Import. Export downloads the entries currently shown in the list as a CSV file, with each entry's name, parent, Active and Approved flags, who created it, and when. Import also needs the edit permission. It loads entries from a CSV file: you match its columns to Type Name, Parent Type Name, Active Status, and Approved Status (on the categories list, Category Name and Parent Category Name), and choose whether to skip or update entries whose name already exists. The name is required on every row. A parent is matched by its name, so list a parent above its children in the file.

Edit, deactivate, or delete

Select the edit icon on any row to rename an entry, change its parent, or change its flags, then select Update Product Type or Update Product Category. Renaming a type or category changes the name shown on every product that carries it. To stop an entry being used without losing its history, clear its Active flag rather than deleting it.

Related

• Products & Items: where you assign a product type and a product category to each product.
• Customer Types and Supplier Types: the equivalent classifiers for customers and suppliers.
• Users, seats & permissions: where the Product Types and Product Categories permissions are granted.