1. You can add a new product, or search for an existing one, by clicking the appropriate link on the Mailware Explorer. Or, simply click the Find or Add icon below.
    

   		View Products
   		Find    Add    Help

   If you add a new product the Product screen will open to a blank form. Skip to the next step for instructions on creating SubProducts.

   If you search for an existing product the following search screen will open.

Type a Product Number in the Search Characters field to locate your product, then click the button. The Product screen will open to the selected item.
 
Note: You can also select a different Search By field to locate a Product by its Supplier Number, or short Description.

SubProduct Information
Create a master product then clone it into SubProducts.

2. Find or Add a product as described above. Or, click a link below.
   Click here to find an existing product.   Click here to add a new product.
    

3. Click the Product tab or hold Alt and press N to switch between tabs.
    
   
    

4. Enter or edit your Product data in the screen that opens. You can use the Tab or Enter key to move between fields. When you cursor is on a button press the Space bar to activate it. Or, simply use the mouse. 
    
   You can enter a description, a long description, quantities In Stock etc. (as described under the Add/Edit a Product help topic).
    
   Tip: Click the button and select Product Types... from the menu that pops up. Type a code of CL and a description of Clothing. Click OK then select Clothing in the Product Type pulldown field. Product Types are used by reports. By assigning a product type of Clothing you can create a report of all clothing items in inventory, sold this month etc.
    

5. Subproduct -  In this field type an identifier for this SubProduct (e.g., T-Shirt) and press tab or Enter. To see a list of all the SubProducts you have created so far click the List button.
    
   
    

6. After you have set up your product including the SubProduct field, click the button. A Clone Product As dialog will open with the current product's information already entered.
    
               
   
   

7. Change at least the Product Number field and as many of the other fields below as necessary to differentiate this product from its parent:
    
   

   • Description - Enter up to 30 characters to help you identify this product when viewing your inventory. For SubProducts you will typically want to enter a description that includes the different information about the product. For example, to create several variations of a T-shirt enter descriptions for each cloned product as follows:
     

     • Medium White Tshirt

     • Medium Blue Tshirt

     • Large White Tshirt

     • Large Blue Tshirt 
        

   • Long Description - You can enter an unlimited length description of the item. This description can be viewed during order entry from the Product Lookup dialog when adding items to the order.
      

   • Retail Price - This is the amount that will be charged to customers with a Pricing Level of Retail (or none) when taking an order. You may override this price on the order entry form for any item by simply typing the new price.
      

   • Wholesale Price - This is the amount that will be charged to customers with a Pricing Level of Wholesale when taking an order. You may override this price on the order entry form for any item by simply typing the new price.
     
     Note: You can set Price Levels for customers in the Additional Info tab of the Customer screen.
      

   • In Stock - Enter the current number of items you have on hand. Thereafter, In Stock quantities are calculated automatically by Mailware when you take orders, process refunds and run the Receive Inventory and Adjust Inventory actions.
      

   • Cost - Enter a beginning cost for this product. If you use Mailware's accounting system (available in Version 2 and higher) as you receive inventory in the future Mailware calculates your average cost automatically and updates it here.
      
      

8. "Go to the new product..." 
   
   Select this checkbox and click the button. You will be taken to the Product screen for this item so you can make changes to any fields not available in the Clone As dialog. When you are finished click the button to close the Product screen or return to step 6 to clone another product.
   
   Or,
   
   De-Select this checkbox and click the button. A new Clone As screen will appear so you can continue creating similar items.
    

9. Repeat the above steps for all the SubProducts you wish to create.

 
Testing Your SubProducts
After you have created the SubProduct clones for a particular product you can select them on new orders. 

10. Enter a new order (see the Take an Order help topic for instructions on entering new orders). Click on, or tab to the Product column in the Product Grid in the center of the order screen. Click the button to open the Product Lookup dialog.
     
    

11. In the Product Lookup dialog your products are sorted by Product #. In most cases this works fine, but you want your SubProducts to be listed together. Click the Search By field (or press Alt-B) and change ProductNo to Serial (Serial is the field assigned to SubProducts in Mailware).
    

11. In the Search Characters field at the top of the dialog start typing the SubProduct code you assigned to your product (e.g., T-SHIRT). The cursor in the grid will jump to the first SubProduct you have set up. It will be followed by the other SubProducts you created so you can browse through them and select the item you want to add to the order.
     
    
     
    Complete the order if you wish, and save it (Note: When you add a product to this order it cannot be exited without saving it. You can, however, use the button to mark the order canceled if you wish. This ensures an unbroken sequence of order numbers. See the Take an Order help topic for more details on this feature).
     

Summary
Following are the key points covered and the benefits of using this feature.

• You created several similar products quickly using the Clone As feature.

• Each product was assigned the same SubProduct code (e.g., T-SHIRT). This allows you to group the items in the Order screen Product Lookup. You should use a SubProduct that describes the product so you can look it up easily (e.g., Mailware Tshirt). You can also continue to look up the item by Product # so you could swipe a bar code or type the codes you are used to now.

• Each product was assigned its own unique Product # that was independent of the SubProduct (this feature enables the use of bar codes, use of your existing product numbers etc.). Other programs require you use your Product # field for their SubProduct code thus usurping the ability to use your own numbers or bar codes.)

• You also can assign a Product Type which can be used in reports to group products. This works well for the T-shirt example. A Clothing Product Type of CL can be applied to all clothing items (Tshirts, shoes, bathing suits).
   

Now that you know how to use SubProducts you can apply the procedures above to group products by more than size and color. For example you can create: 

• Auto Parts - Enter a SubProduct for the Make of each car. Enter the Model Year in the beginning of the Description. On the order screen Product Lookup this will group your parts by Make then list each Model Year. Or, reverse the fields to sort by Model Year then Make. Both options are shown in the example below.

Note: You could further define the Toyota example to separate Toyota Corolla, Toyota Supra etc. 

• Consumables - Create food items with different flavors (Beef Jerky - plain, peppered, teriyaki), Cigars with different tobacco contents, Vitamins for different age groups etc.
   

See Also:
Add/Edit a Product
Clone a Product
Create Assemblies
Create SubProducts
Lookup Subproducts
Subproducts Utility