Categories and locations are the organizational backbone of Backstock. Categories describe what is in a bin, while locations describe where a bin is stored. Setting these up correctly makes it easy to find, filter, and manage your inventory.

Backstock uses two types of categories, and understanding the difference is important:

These come directly from your point-of-sale system and represent product types your store sells. Examples include:

POS subcategories are used as the Main Category on each bin. They are labeled with a blue POS badge in dropdowns and cannot be edited or deleted from within Backstock -- they are managed in your POS system.

These are categories you create yourself for additional organization. Examples:

Custom categories are used as Additional Tags on bins. They appear with a gray Custom badge in dropdowns and can be freely created, edited, and deleted.

Each bin has:

When you look at the bin table:

Click Categories in the action toolbar on the Backstock home page. The Custom Categories modal opens showing a table of your existing categories.

The new category is immediately available in all category dropdowns throughout Backstock.

Changes apply to all bins that currently use this category.

Warning: You can only delete a category if no bins are currently using it. If bins are assigned to the category, you must first remove the category from those bins or reassign them.

Locations represent the physical places where bins are stored. Each location is classified as either on-site (at your store) or off-site (external storage).

Click Locations in the action toolbar on the Backstock home page. The Manage Locations modal opens showing a table of your existing locations.

This distinction matters because:

All bins assigned to that location automatically reflect the updated name and type.

Warning: You can only delete a location if no bins are currently assigned to it. Move or delete bins at that location first.

A common starting configuration:

In the bin table on the Backstock home page:

Click any colored tag in the Other Categories column to instantly filter the table to show only bins with that tag. A filter bar appears at the top of the table showing the active filter. Click the X button to clear the filter.

POS subcategories are loaded from your store's POS integration. If the dropdown is empty, your POS integration may not be configured. Contact your store administrator.

Check whether you need a POS subcategory (for Main Category) or a custom category (for Additional Tags). POS subcategories come from your POS system and cannot be created in Backstock. Custom categories can be created using the Categories manager.

Locations and categories that are in use (assigned to one or more bins) cannot be deleted. First reassign or remove the bins from that location/category, then delete it.