Items vs. Item Units

Find Boxes uses a two-layer model to represent your gear:

Why does this matter? When you create a pull list, you're reserving specific item units — not just the product type. This lets Find Boxes check availability precisely: if you own 10 projectors and 8 are out on jobs, only 2 will be available to reserve.

The Item Catalog

The item catalog is your master list of all product types. Each item record stores product-level information shared across all units of that model.

Item Fields

FieldDescription
NameThe full product name or model number.
Friendly NameAn optional short nickname displayed in lists and searches.
MSRPManufacturer's suggested retail price. Used for reference and reporting.
Watts / BTU / Rack UnitsTechnical specs for power and rack planning.
ManufacturerFlag indicating this item is a manufacturer/brand entry rather than a product.
TagsSearchable labels for quick filtering. See Tags section below.
Photo URLA URL pointing to a product photo displayed in the item detail view.

Item Units

Each item unit represents a single physical piece of equipment. Units are created under their parent item and tracked independently.

Unit Fields

FieldDescription
Storage LocationWhich storage room this unit lives in when not on a job.
Serial NumberManufacturer serial number for this unit.
PO NumberPurchase order number associated with this unit.
MAC AddressNetwork MAC address, useful for networked AV gear.
Custom FieldA free-text field for any additional identifier or note.
Unit PriceWhat your organization paid for this specific unit.
Purchase DateDate this unit was acquired.
StatusA free-text status label (defaults to "Available").
NotesInternal notes visible to your team.
In ServiceMarks a unit as currently being serviced — excluded from availability checks.
InstalledMarks a unit as permanently installed — excluded from availability checks.
In BundleSet automatically when the unit belongs to a bundle.
Availability exclusions Units marked as In Service, Installed, or In Bundle will never appear as available when checking out or building a pull list.

Photos

You can upload photos directly to individual item units. Photos are visible on the unit's detail page and help staff identify equipment in the field.

Service History

Track service events for any item unit. Each service history record logs what happened and when, giving you a maintenance trail for each piece of gear.

Storage Rooms

Storage rooms are the containers your inventory lives in. Every item unit must be assigned to a storage room.

Categories

Categories group items by type (e.g., "Projectors," "Cables," "LED Panels"). They appear throughout the app wherever you browse or search inventory.

Tags

Tags are freeform, searchable labels you attach to an item — useful for finding gear by a quality that isn't in the model name (e.g. "wireless," "outdoor," "4K"). Unlike categories, an item can carry any number of tags, and a tag applies to the catalog item itself, so every unit of that item shares the same tags.

Adding and Removing Tags

Managing the Org Tag List

Org admins and the org owner can view, search, and remove tags for the whole organization from Settings > Tags. Removing a tag here deletes it — and its assignment to every item — for the whole org.

Searching by Tag

Tags exist so you can find gear without remembering exact model numbers. Any search box that searches items — the global search bar, the main inventory search, and the item picker used when adding equipment to a pull list — also matches against tag names. A partial match on a tag returns every item carrying a tag that contains that text.

Org-specific Tags belong to a single organization. Tags you create are never visible to, or searchable by, other organizations.

Bundles

A bundle is a kit made up of multiple item units that always travel together. When a bundle is checked out, every unit in it is reserved at once.

Good use cases for bundles Camera rigs, truss kits, fly pack cases — any set of gear that ships as a complete unit and should always be checked out together.

QR Codes

Find Boxes generates QR codes that link directly to check-in and check-out workflows.

Per-Unit QR Codes

Every item unit gets its own QR code. Scanning it on a mobile device opens the check-in or check-out page for that specific unit. QR codes are generated automatically when you add a unit and can be regenerated at any time from the unit's detail page.

Per-Category QR Codes

Each category can generate a printable QR code sheet for all items in that category. Useful for printing labels in bulk after adding a large shipment of gear.

Bulk Print Jobs

If you need to regenerate QR codes for many items at once, Find Boxes queues bulk print jobs in the background. You can view the status of all print jobs and download the resulting sheets from the QR print jobs page.

Searching Inventory

The inventory search works across item names, friendly names, and tags. Results are scoped to your organization's items plus any global catalog items shared across all organizations.