Categories

Organize your equipment into named groups, with optional parent categories for a tidy hierarchy.

Categories are the folders that keep your inventory organized. Each category has a name, an optional description, and can sit under a parent category to build a hierarchy — for example "Hand Tools" under "Tools". From this screen you can see every category along with how many items it holds, and you can add, edit, or delete them. Changes save instantly and send up automatically, even if you make them offline.

Overview

The header reads Categories. Each category appears as a white card (dark grey in dark mode) with four lines of text and two round buttons in the bottom-right corner.

Line on the card	What it shows
Name :	The category's name, in bold.
Items :	How many items are filed under this category.
Parent Category :	The category this one sits beneath. Blank if it is top-level.
Description :	The optional note. Blank if none was entered. Shows at most two lines.

Button	Color	What it does
Pencil (Edit)	Blue	Opens Edit Category with the existing values filled in.
Trash (Delete)	Red	Asks you to confirm, then removes the category.

The three-dot button at the top right holds a single menu choice: Add Category.

Getting Here

1. Open the Account tab and tap the Inventory module.
2. On the Inventory landing screen, tap Categories.
3. The screen opens with the header Categories and a card for each one, painted instantly from saved data and then refreshed from the server.
4. Tap the Back arrow to return to the Inventory landing screen.

An agency administrator can also reach this screen from Agency Settings → Inventory → Categories.

Adding a Category

1. Tap the three-dot menu button at the top right of the screen.
2. Choose Add Category from the menu that appears. The New Category screen opens.
3. Enter a name in the Category Name field. This is the only required field — leaving it blank brings up the message "Please enter a category name." when you try to save.
4. Optionally type a note in the Description box.
5. Optionally tap Select Parent Category to nest this category under another one. The list starts with None, followed by every existing category. Leave it on None for a top-level category.
6. Tap Save. The new category appears in the list right away.

Fields on the New Category form

Field	Required?	Notes
Category Name	Yes	Leading and trailing spaces are trimmed before saving.
Description	No	Multi-line free text.
Select Parent Category	No	Defaults to None. Choosing None makes it a top-level category.

Editing a Category

1. Find the category you want to change and tap its blue pencil (Edit) button.
2. The Edit Category screen opens with the existing name, description, and parent already filled in.
3. Change any of the fields. The category you are editing is automatically left out of the parent list, so it cannot be set as its own parent.
4. Tap Save.

If you tap Back with unsaved changes, the app asks "Data Updated — Do you want to save changes?" with two choices:

Choice	What happens
Save	Runs the same checks as the Save button, then saves and returns to the list.
Cancel	Discards your edits and returns to the list.

Tapping Back with nothing changed returns to the list without asking.

Deleting a Category

1. Find the category and tap its red trash (Delete) button.
2. A confirmation appears titled Delete with the message "Are you sure you want to delete this category?"
3. Tap Delete to remove it, or Cancel to keep it.
4. The category disappears from the list immediately.

note

Deleting a category does not delete the items inside it. Those items become uncategorized and show up under the Uncategorized folder on the Browse Items screen. Their Category field is simply left empty.

Saving Online and Offline

The Save button behaves the same way whether or not you have a signal — only what happens behind the scenes changes.

Situation	What the app does	What you see
Online, save succeeds	Sends the category to the server and mirrors it into the saved copy on your device.	A brief "Category added" or "Category updated" message, then the list.
Online, save fails	Falls back to the offline queue so your work is not lost.	No error — the category appears in the list and sends later.
Offline	Saves on your device and queues it.	The category appears in the list immediately.
Parent still queued	Queues the child too, regardless of your connection, and holds it until the parent has a real identity on the server.	Both appear in the list immediately.
Offline delete	Marks it for deletion on your device and queues the deletion.	A brief "Category deleted (offline)" message.
Online delete fails	Shows the error the server returned and keeps the category.	An alert with the server's message.

tip

You can build a parent category and its children entirely offline. The app is smart enough to wait for the parent to reach the server first before sending its children, so the hierarchy comes out right.

Loading, Empty, and Offline States

Situation	What you see
Opening while online	The saved list paints instantly, then a spinner runs and the list refreshes.
Opening while offline, with saved data	The saved list appears. No error message.
Opening while offline, never synced	An empty screen with no cards. Connect once and reopen.
Server does not answer but you have cards	Your cards stay on screen with no alert.
Server does not answer and the list is empty	An alert shows the error the app received.
Returning from Add or Edit	The list re-paints from saved data and, if you are online, refreshes from the server.

A category with no description or no parent still shows those lines on its card — they are simply blank after the label.

How This Connects

• Where the data comes from. Categories live on your agency's server and are kept in a saved copy on your device, which is what lets this list appear instantly and work offline.
• What updates it. Saves on this screen, saves from a teammate's device, and edits made by an agency administrator in Agency Settings. The Items : count is calculated on the server from your item records — you cannot type it in.
• Categories feed the item form. Every category you create here shows up in the Category dropdown on the Items and Templates forms, with -- None -- at the top of the list.
• Categories build the Browse tree. Browse Items uses the Parent Category field to build its folders, starting with top-level categories at Home.
• Categories drive the dashboard cards. Each category on the Inventory Dashboard gets its own card, titled with the name you set here. Rename a category and the card title follows.
• Deleting orphans items, not deletes them. Items lose their category and collect in the Uncategorized folder in Browse. Re-file them by editing each item on the Items screen.
• Offline and reconnect. New and edited categories appear in the list straight away and are queued. The queue drains when you reconnect and also whenever you reopen this screen, so returning here nudges anything still waiting. Once the queue empties, the list refreshes from the server to reconcile the Items : counts.

Troubleshooting

If this happens	What to do
"Please enter a category name." appears	The Category Name field is empty or only spaces. Type a name and save again.
The parent list does not show the category you want	You cannot set a category as its own parent, so it is left out. Pick a different one, or restructure using a third category.
A new category is not in the Category dropdown on the item form	Close and reopen the item form — the dropdown is filled in when the form opens.
Items : shows 0 for a category that clearly has items	The count comes from the server. If you added those items offline, the count updates after they sync and the list refreshes.
A category you deleted keeps coming back	The deletion may have failed on the server. Go online, reopen this screen so the queue sends, and check for an error alert.
A teammate's new category is missing	Go online and reopen the screen. Server changes arrive on refresh, not instantly.
The Parent Category line is blank	That category is top-level. Edit it and pick a parent if that is not what you wanted.
Items vanished after you deleted their category	They are in Uncategorized in Browse Items. Edit each one to set a new category.

Related Pages

• Items
• Browse Items
• Templates
• Inventory Dashboard

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