How to Enter Items Faster


Entering large amounts of text and data into a computer program is a keyboard centric operation. The less you have to use the mouse, the better!

The good news is that the inventory entry process (and Point of Sale) in Liberty are designed to be Mouseless. You will dramatically speed the rate at which items are entered by avoiding use of the mouse and by using other techniques described below.




Tips And Tricks To Shortcut Your Way Through The Item Entry Process


1.Keep your hands on the keyboard, using the “Enter” key to move from field to field. Liberty is specifically designed to operate in this fashion. Not only does the cursor advance from field to field when you use the “Enter” key, when you are finished entering information and press “Enter” the “Save” button will usually be highlighted. Pressing “Enter” again will both save the item and start you adding the next item. In short, you should rarely have to use the mouse when adding inventory.


2.You can customize the item entry screen by reordering the fields to suit your preferences. For details, please see Set Item Entry Field Preferences.


3.When entering the price, if the item is priced at a flat dollar amount (e.g. 10.00), just type the dollars (10) and press “Enter” - the decimal and the cents will automatically be entered. For more details see the paragraph entitled Price Extension in Define Default Information for Accounts.


4.Liberty remembers the Category of the previously entered item, so entering like types of merchandise in batches (e.g. all dresses, then all blouses, etc.) will allow you to save time.


5.Use the <Tab> key to advance the cursor from any Attribute directly to the Description field. This lets you skip Attributes you don't wish to fill in. Using the “Enter” key while in Attributes moves the cursor to the next Attribute.


6.Use the <Shift> <Tab> key combination to move the cursor back to the previous field without using the mouse. <Shift> <Tab> is the opposite of the <Tab> and <Enter> keys: press the <Tab> key while holding down the <Shift> key.


7.Many stores carry two or more items with identical Level 3 Category names that belong to a different Category Level 1 or 2.


Example: a clothing store might carry Blouses for both children and women. As a result, when Blouse is typed, the first blouse to appear is the Children's Blouse, because the C in Children comes before the W in Women's.

This is fine if you are entering a children’s blouse, but how do you avoid using the mouse to choose the women's blouse?


Simple: press the down arrow key! This will cause the next Category to show in the Category field. If you go too far, use the up arrow key to go back.


8.Make sure the Tax Codes are set up properly using Product Lines and Categories. This way you don't have to enter or change the Tax Type each time an item is entered.


9.Make sure all unnecessary Categories are either inactive or invisible.


10.If you change the date, the new date will carry forward until you either change it again or Close the screen.


11.Use the F2 Description Popup to create shortcuts for entering frequently repeated information.


12.When entering similar retail items, add them one after another and use the Duplicate button.


13.Don't go overboard - enter information only into the fields you need, and don't be redundant by, for instance, entering a color attribute and then repeating the color in the Description.





Related Topics

Keyboard Shortcuts

How to Enter Sales Faster