Items

Items

An item is the record for a kind of thing you track. This page covers creating and editing items and the fields they can hold. For the ideas behind items and stock, see Core concepts.

Where to find it: Inventory → Add item (or select any item to open its details).

Creating an item

Select Add item in Inventory. Only a name is required — everything else is optional and can be filled in now or later.

Common fields at creation:

• Name — what the item is called. The only required field. Name it by what it is, specifically and consistently (M3 × 10 socket screws, not screws), so similar things sort together.
• Tracking — how its quantity behaves (Bulk, Serialised, Consumable, Untracked). This is the one choice worth getting right up front; see Tracking modes.
• Initial quantity — how many you have now (Bulk items). Consumable items instead ask for a unit, a full capacity and a tare (empty weight); serialised items track units individually and ask how many to create, one record each — see tracking modes.
• Unit cost and acquired date — used for valuation, spend and the insurance schedule. Type a plain figure like 8 and it tidies itself to your currency's decimal places when you move on (8.00 for pounds, dollars or euros; whole numbers for yen). The tidy-up only adds the trailing zeros — a more precise figure you type, like a fraction-of-a-penny unit cost for parts bought in bulk, is kept exactly as entered; see Language & region.

ℹ️ Note The maker has its own Manufacturer field and part codes go in MPN, so you needn't repeat them in the name. Leading with the brand (ASUS Q27 monitor) is fine when it's how you'd recognise the item — just stay consistent. The (i) next to the Name field says the same, right where you're typing.

💡 Tip Manufacturer and Unit are type-in boxes that suggest values already in your catalogue. Click the arrow at the end of the box to browse the whole list, even when the box is already filled in; start typing and the list narrows to what matches. Whatever you type is accepted either way: the suggestions are a shortcut, never a restriction. (Tracking, Category and Condition look similar but are pick-one lists — there, the choice is the whole answer.)

💡 Tip For a one-off, always-available supply (tap water, sunlight, a shared mains outlet) you can mark a discrete item as unlimited supply — it shows as ∞ with no counter.

Editing an item

Opening an item's Edit details… shows everything about it, organised into a rail of tabs so a simple item stays simple while a complex one has room to grow.

The tabs you see depend on which modules you have enabled:

Tab	Holds
Details	Name, description, notes, part number (MPN), manufacturer, barcode, serial number, unit cost, category, weight and dimensions. Weight and size are typed and shown in the units you prefer — grams or pounds, millimetres or inches. Recording the weight of a single unit also lets you count a handful on a scale.
Supplier & ops	Supplier parts & prices, reorder points, and whether this item is watched for dead stock.
Lifecycle	Warranty & depreciation, current value, maintenance, test records, and variants.
Kit	Define the item as a kit of other items.
Related	Cross-links to other items (works with, accessory, spare-for).
Substitutions	Interchangeable stand-ins for this item.
Media & docs	Photos and linked datasheets/attachments.
Classification	Tags, capabilities and custom fields.
Activity	This item's change history.

ℹ️ Note You'll only see tabs for capabilities you've enabled. If an item is missing something described here, the relevant module may be switched off on the Modular UI screen — turning it back on restores the tab and any data it held.

The order above is the default. An item's category can bring its custom fields much further forward — moving Classification up to sit directly after Details, or giving the fields a tab of their own there under a name the category chooses. That is why a Movie opens with a Film details tab where a Fastener has none.

Each section is saved on its own — fill in what you want and press that section's Save. Edits you haven't saved yet are held while you move around the rail, so you can click across to check a photo or a supplier's part number and come back to find everything still typed in.

ℹ️ Note If you close the dialog — with Close, the Esc key, or by clicking outside it — while a section still has unsaved edits, Gubbins asks first and lets you go back to finish rather than quietly throwing the work away.

💡 Tip Description and Notes grow as you type, and you can drag the handle at a box's bottom-right corner to make it taller still. Gubbins remembers the height you drag to and reopens that box at your size next time; shrink it right back down to return it to the standard size.

Also set on an item: Condition — a structured grade (Mint / Good / Needs Repair / Out for Calibration); see Condition grading.

Adjusting stock

From an item's card you can nudge the quantity up or down, or open its actions to move, loan out, sell, or write off stock. Every change is recorded — see the activity log.

Archiving

Finished with an item but don't want to lose its history? Archive it instead of deleting. Archived items drop out of the everyday lists but can be restored at any time, with all of their data intact.

Archiving takes one click and asks nothing first, so the message that confirms it offers an Undo — press that and the item is back in your active inventory straight away. See Undoing a change.

Related pages

• Tracking modes — choosing how an item is counted.
• Locations & stock — where an item's stock sits.
• Counting by weight — count small parts on a scale from their unit weight.
• Units of measure — the weight and dimension units an item is shown in.
• Bulk edit & clone — change or duplicate many items at once.
• Deduplicating items — the same thing recorded twice, found and merged.
• Inventory views — card, list and table layouts.
• How long a text field can be — the ceiling on a name, a description or a note.