# Item Preferences

Defaults for new items, the units and decimals every item is measured in, and the two settings that decide how rate lists behave.

Item preferences decide what a new item starts out as, so you fill in less on the form every time. Two of them change more than a default: whether the item form opens in variants mode, and whether rate lists apply per document or per line.

## Settings

Go to **Settings > Finance > Items**.

![The Items settings screen. A Defaults section carries switches for creating new items as services, creating new items with variants, and allowing duplicate item names. A General section below sets quantity decimal places and the dimension unit.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/items/item-settings.png)

*Items settings. The Defaults section decides what a new item starts out as.*

### Defaults

| Preference | What it does | Worth changing when |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Create new items as services | New items open with Type set to Service instead of Goods. | You sell mostly labour rather than stock. |
| Create new items with variants | The item form opens in variants mode rather than as a single item. | Most of your catalogue comes in sizes or grades. |
| Allow duplicate item names | Chooses what an import matches on. It does not gate saving an item. | Your SKUs are complete and you want imports keyed on them. |

> **Note:**
>
> **This setting only steers imports**
>
> Despite the name, it does not decide whether you can save two items with the same name. Name checking on save was removed, because an imported catalogue legitimately reuses names when the title is the manufacturer's part number. What the setting still does is pick the field an import matches on, so turn it on only if your SKUs are complete and correct, because they become the thing an import trusts.

> **Warning:**
>
> **One name rule does survive, on products**
>
> Two active *products* cannot share a name, because a second grouping shell of the same name leaves it ambiguous which one new variants should join. Standalone items and variants may reuse names freely.

### General

| Preference | What it does | Worth changing when |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Quantity decimal places | How many decimals a quantity accepts, up to the three that are stored. | You sell by weight or length rather than by the each. |
| Dimension unit | The unit item dimensions are measured in. | Your catalogue is specified in inches rather than centimetres. |
| Weight unit | The unit item weights are measured in. | Your carrier bills in pounds rather than kilograms. |
| Barcode scan field | Which field a scanner types into when it reads a code. | Your labels carry the SKU rather than a separate barcode. |

### Inventory defaults

| Preference | What it does | Worth changing when |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Default valuation method | Pre-selected on new tracked items. | You have standardised on one method across the catalogue. |
| Default inventory account | The stock account new tracked items post to. | Stock sits in one account for everything you hold. |

> **Warning:**
>
> **A default is not a correction**
>
> Changing either of these changes what the NEXT item starts with. Items already created keep the valuation method and account they were saved with, and valuation in particular is not something to change on an item that has already moved stock.

### Rate lists

| Preference | What it does | Worth changing when |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Enable rate lists | Turns the rate list field on across sales documents. | You price the same item differently for different customers. |
| Apply rate list at line item level | Lets a single line take a different rate list from the rest of the document. | One order genuinely mixes contract and standard pricing. |
| Update selling price when a quote is sent | Writes a quote's edited price back onto the item as its new selling price. | Rarely. See below. |

> **Warning:**
>
> **Auto-update rewrites the item, not just the quote**
>
> With it on, editing a price on a quote and sending it changes the item's own selling price, and therefore every document raised from that item afterwards. It saves a step for a business whose latest quote is always the current price, and it silently reprices the catalogue for everybody else.