Non Inventory Description To show as Column

Hi! Just noticed the new updated non-inventory layout with the Line description now optional.

How do I turn it on to show as a column on the main Non Inventory Items page like before?

Thank you,
Lyvia

1

The form has changed to better reflect how the field is used. So instead of calling it Description, it is now Autofill - Line Description and the only purpose of this field is to autofill line description when item is selected on transactions.

I’m not against showing this field as a column on non-inventory item list but it wouldn’t be consistent with rest of the program. The question is, any reason why you are not using Item name field?

Thanks for the response.

I am not against using the Item Name but everything else (Sales Order, Sales Invoice) is using the description as a column as has been for the past 5 years. So we’ve been using description as it’s intended to show the item description for the customers and ourselves.

Item Name currently don’t have it’s own column in Sales order and invoices and it’s not quite as appropriate as description?

We’ve been using Item Name for notes that is not shown to the customers but is useful for our price calculations while filling in sales orders.

We also have nearly 10,000 non inventory items so to swap Item Name and Description will be more of a hassle. So wondering if there’s an option to show the description before going down this path.

Thank you,
Lyvia

Well, you wouldn’t want to be swapping anything because Autofill - Line Description field is still what you want to retain. When creating new orders and selecting item, you want Description on line items be autofilled. Is that correct?

@Lyvia, there are two “descriptions” in the program. The Description column you mention on other transaction tab listings (at least that is what corresponds to the screen shot you have shown for non-inventory items) is the summary-level description of the entire transaction form, not the description of any line item on it. The line-level Description does not appear in the tab listings, but only on completed forms. And descriptions for non-inventory items (now labeled as Autofill - Line description) occupies the same place in the program’s structure as other line-level descriptions.

You should use a custom field for that. Item names are used (and will probably be used even more in the future if recent suggestions are implemented) for reports and form selection purposes. Using the item name for notes runs the risk of everything falling apart for you in the future, because new features will not take into account your unusual use of that field for notes.

Hi Lubos,

Yes that’s correct.

@Lyvia ok, why is Description column important to be shown on the list of non-inventory items? I mean, if it’s not shown, how does it impact you?

I see. I’m not sure if it’s the transaction tab listing. I click on Setting and click on Non Inventory Items. And it shows all our created non inventory items. It was convenient having the description showing on this page as when searching similar items I can see it straight away and compare the information and there’s no point having another Description custom field with the same information just for it to show up as a column. But I will consider this if there is no way to make the Autofill Description show up as it’s own column.

For the second part I have considered moving these information to a customs field but as customs field you have to turn off and on to get the information up, it’s an extra step in the pricing process. So it has been more convenient using the Item Names field so far.
For the future if there are more changes to the Item Name I will move them to their own customs field.

Hi Lubos,

It was convenient having the description showing on this page as when searching similar items I can see it straight away and compare the information and there’s no point having another Description custom field with the same information just for it to show up as a column. But I will consider this if there is no way to make the Autofill Description show up as it’s own column.

Also when I do a search for a specific items - i will use words in the descriptions to find items. It’s no longer possible to do this.

Thank you,
Lyvia

I am not sure what you mean by this. If you define a custom field to show as a column, it will always show on the listing of non-inventory items. If you do not check the box to show on printed documents, it will not appear on the final, completed form.

OK, I get that. I do not want to show all columns automatically. But then I do not want to make arbitrary decision which columns are worthy enough to show and which are not.

I’m working on a concept which would allow you to select which columns to show. This is not just for non-inventory item screen but other screens too. Maybe until I implement that, I will make description column to show not to break anybody’s workflow (even though in the future it wouldn’t be shown by default).

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Hi Tut,

Yes I know what you mean.

As the information is needed for to price the item but I don’t want it to show to the customer. The Item Name is currently perfect as it shows up when I enter the item but I can hide it from being printed to not show the customer.

If I create a custom field I will need to turn this custom field on and off for every sales order. I can work with that too it’s just an extra step compared to the Item Name currently.

Thank you,
Lyvia.

Thanks Lubos.

Also thank you for constantly improving the program.

This is what I don’t understand. Why would you need to turn anything on or off?

So it doesn’t print to show the customer? As this is internal information. I will need to turn on so I can do the calculations and then off when sending the document to the customer.

Unless I’m missing something?

There is an option(checkbox) to allow or disable printing custom field info in view forms when creating custom fields from settings, which can later be changed as well if required by editing the same custom field.

As @romangarg wrote, use the checkbox. Read about it in the Guide: Use custom fields | Manager.