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Items | General

An item is everything you sell, purchase or keep in stock: material, but also your hours and your machines. On the item file you record everything Robaws needs to put the item on a quotation, a supply order or a work order: the unit, the cost and sale price, the suppliers and the stock. The items module is included in all licences. You give a user access via the permissions on items in their user role.

You can find answers to frequently asked questions in the items FAQ.

Navigate quickly to:

the overview of the items
creating a new item
the item file and its fields
the cost and sale price
the different tabs
the action buttons

Overview screen

You can adjust the overview of the items via the settings: which columns you want, in which order, which quick filters? In addition, every user can create their own overviews and personalise them, for example an overview with all items of one supplier. Via the overview screen you can make bulk changes to several items at once, for example setting the minimum stock of a series of items to the same value.

Views

Besides the table view, the item overview has one more view:

Analysis: your items in charts. You only see this view if your user role is allowed to see financial info and analyses.

Creating a new item

You create a new item in several ways:

via the Add (+) action button in the overview. You immediately get an empty item.
via the Duplicate action button, if a new item closely resembles an existing one. To do so, select exactly one item. Robaws copies almost everything, including the item number and the barcode: change them straight away, otherwise you have two items with the same barcode.
by importing them from the webshop of your supplier. See Importing items from a webshop
with an import file. See Importing items.

A new item gets the item type Item, the cost type Material, a minimum amount of 1 and the cost and sale price strategy from the settings. You fill in the unit, the VAT rate and the barcode yourself.

The item file

The item file consists of the Item info, Sale price, Cost price and Overview blocks. Depending on your settings and the item type, other blocks appear as well. Below them you find the tabs.

Item info

Field	Explanation
Item type	What kind of item this is: Item, Hour code - employee, Hour code - material, Equipment, Installation or Rental item. The type determines where you can use the item and which blocks you see. If you choose a different type, Robaws also adjusts the cost type. See Which item type do I choose for my materials, hours and machines?
Name	The name of the item.
Salesname	The name on your sales documents, such as the quotation. Empty means that Robaws uses the name. Via the globe you fill in the name in other languages.
Item Nr.	Your own number for the item. You can search on it in a quotation. If the number already exists, you get a notification.
Brand	The brand of the item.
Line	The line type the line gets when you put the item on a document.
Cost type	(visible if you work with calculation) The cost type the item belongs to, see Cost type below.
Level	The layout the line gets when you put the item on a document.
Activity	(visible if you work with activities) The activity the line gets.
Item group	The group in which you classify the item. See How do I organise my items with item groups?
Type	A free classification that you create yourself in the settings.
Unit type	The unit in which you keep the item in stock and sell it by default. With the icon next to it you set up alternative sales units, for example m² for a board that you purchase per piece. See also Which units can I use in Robaws?
Minimum amount	The quantity Robaws fills in when you choose the item on a line. You can still set the quantity on the line lower afterwards.
Minimum stock, Desired stock	If the stock drops below the minimum, Robaws suggests reordering up to the desired stock. See Reordering items for your stock You set this per stock location in the Stock block.
Stockplace	Where the item is in your warehouse, for example 'Aisle A, rack 20'. See The difference between a stock location and a stockplace
Barcode	The barcode of the item. With the icon next to it you have Robaws create a unique code. See How do I work with barcodes?
Default Vat	The VAT rate the line always gets, regardless of the customer.
Wappy	Untick this if your employees are not allowed to use this item in the Wappy app. It is on by default.
Project supply route	How Robaws orders this item for a project. See How do I determine via which route the material for a project is ordered?
Gl-account Sales, Gl-account Purchase	(visible if you work with GL accounts) The GL account on a sales invoice and an incoming invoice with this item.
Weight	The weight in kg.
Photo, Internal photo	A photo of the item. You only use an Internal photo internally, not on documents for your customer.

If you work with extra fields, they also appear in this block.

Cost type

Every item belongs to a cost type. In a calculated quotation, Robaws groups the lines per cost type, and the cost type determines what you order with Quick order.

Cost type	What for	Example
Material	What you leave behind at the customer. This is the default type.	roof tiles, screws, paint
Labor	The hours you charge.	working hours, welding
Equipment	What you use at the customer but take back with you.	scaffolding, concrete drill, excavator
Subcontractor	What you subcontract to a subcontractor.	plastering, concrete drilling
Other	Costs that are not material, labor, equipment or subcontracting.	transport, insurance
Composite	(visible if you work with composite items) An item that gets its components as a substructure in a calculated quotation. See What is a composite item and when do I use it?	prewired fuse box

Sale price and cost price

In the Sale price block you choose how Robaws determines the sale price:

Sell price strategy	Explanation
Fixed price	You fill in the sale price yourself.
Margin on costprice	You fill in a Margin %. Robaws calculates the sale price on the cost price.
Margin on preferred supplier gross price	You fill in a Margin %. Robaws calculates the sale price on the gross purchase price of your preferred supplier.

In the Cost price block you choose how Robaws determines the cost price:

Cost price strategy	Explanation
Fixed price	You fill in the cost price yourself.
Preferred supplier purchase price	The purchase price of your preferred supplier.
Lowest purchase price, Highest purchase price	The lowest or highest purchase price of all your suppliers in the Suppliers tab.
Composite items cost price	The sum of the cost prices of the components. See What is a composite item and when do I use it?

Your preferred supplier is the top line in the Suppliers tab. Drag another supplier to the top to make it your preferred supplier. If a supplier works with a different unit, Robaws converts its price to the unit of your item. See Calculating the correct price when your supplier uses a different unit

Other blocks

Depending on your settings and the item type, you also see these blocks:

Block	When you see it	Explanation
Composite item	if you work with composite items	The components of a composite item. See What is a composite item and when do I use it?
Additional line items	if you work with additional line items	Lines that Robaws automatically adds below the item, for example a Recupel contribution. See What are additional line items and when do I use them?
Time norms	if you work with time norms, with the item type Item	How much labor placing the item takes. See Can I use time norms on an item?
Tier prices	if you work with tier prices	A different price from a certain quantity or for a price group. See How do I give a different price from a certain quantity with tier prices?
Stock	if you work with stock	The stock per stock location, with the minimum and desired stock per location. At the top you see the Available, Reserved and Total stock, and the Backorder: what has been ordered but not yet delivered. Via the info icon you see those supply orders.
Maintenance	with the item type Installation	The maintenance schedule that every installation with this item follows.
Rental Tariff	with the item type Rental item	The price at which you rent out the item. See [Rental tickets	General](https://support.robaws.com/en/article/rental-tickets-1awij99/#2-rental-tariffs).

Overview

Here you see where the item is used: in Calculated item, Work orders, Stockchanges, Installations, Supply orders, Equipment, Invoices, Incoming invoices, Stockreservations and Maintenance services. Click a module to see the documents with this item. With the plus sign you immediately create a stock change, installation, equipment or stock reservation. The plus sign next to 'Supply orders' opens Quick order for this item.

Tabs

Suppliers

From which suppliers you purchase the item, and at what price. The top supplier is your preferred supplier.

Column	Explanation
Supplier	The supplier.
Webshop	With the pencil you link the item to the webshop of the supplier. See Importing items from a webshop
Reference	The item number at the supplier. This appears on your supply order.
Date	When the price last changed.
Gross purchase price, Discount, Purchase price	The prices of this supplier.
Unit type, Quantity in package	The unit in which the supplier sells, and how many units of your item it contains. See Calculating the correct price when your supplier uses a different unit
Min. supply order	The minimum quantity you have to order from this supplier. Robaws takes it into account when ordering.

If you create supplier extra fields in the settings, they appear as extra columns in this tab.

Description

The extended description of the item. It is added to the line when you put the item on a quotation or invoice. Via the globe you fill it in in other languages.

Files

Here you add files that belong to the item, for example a technical data sheet.

Remarks

You use remarks to communicate internally about this item and as a reminder.

Tasks

As in all modules, you can also create a task from the item.

Price evolution

A chart with the sale price, the cost price and the purchase price per supplier over time.

Action buttons

In the overview screen

For most action buttons in the overview, you first tick the items on the left on which you want to perform the action.

Action button	Explanation
Add	Create a new, empty item.
Duplicate	Create a new item based on the selected item. To do so, select exactly one item.
Excel	Export the items from the overview to Excel.
Stock locations	View your stock locations and the stock at each location.
Quick order	Order the selected items from your suppliers. See How does the Quick order window work?
Stockreservations	(visible if you work with stock reservations) View all stock reservations.
Webshops	Open the webshop of a supplier you have an integration with, to import items from it.
Item groups	Manage your item groups.
Calculated item	(visible if you work with calculation and posts) Open the overview of your posts.
Delete, Archive	See the explanation in the table below.

On the item file

At the top of the item file there is a row of action buttons. The name of an action button appears as soon as you hover over it with your mouse.

Action button	Explanation
Barcode	Show the barcode of the item in a new tab, to print it.
Default documents	Draw up a default document from the item, for example a product sheet.
Update prices	Fetch the prices from the webshop of your suppliers now. Robaws also does this automatically, every day at 8.30 pm.
Delete	The item disappears from the overviews. Use this for an item that was created by mistake. More explanation in Archiving and deleting.
Archive	The item disappears from the overviews, but stays on existing documents. Use this for items you no longer sell. More explanation in Archiving and deleting.
Audit log	(visible to administrators) The history of retrieving and saving the item.

Don't see Delete or Archive? Then your user role does not have the right to edit or delete items. Archived and deleted items can be found again via the advanced filters in the overview.

Updated on: 05/11/2026

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