Create items with variants
Item variants are a great way to keep your list of products under control. For example, you have a large number of items that are almost identical and vary only in color. You can define each variant as a separate item. Instead, you decide to set up one item and specify the various colors as variants of the item.
To add variants to an item, follow these steps:
Select the Search (Alt+Q) icon, enter Items and choose the related link.
From the item list, open the relevant item.
On the item card, select Related > Item > Variants.
In the Item Variants page, enter the variants.
You can block items and item variants from being entered on lines in sales or purchase documents, and you can block them from being posted in transactions. For example, this is useful when an item has a known defect. If someone chooses a blocked item or variant on a sales or purchase document a message informs them that the item is blocked.
On the Item Variants page, you have the following options:
Blocked: You can't include the item or variant when you post transactions.
Sales Blocked: You can't choose the item or variant on a sales document or a sales item journal.
Purchasing Blocked: You can't choose the item or variant on a purchase document, a purchase item journal, or in purchase planning processes.
Blocked items can always be returned. This means that none of the above settings apply to return orders and credit memos.
Add attributes to variants
You can assign attributes that are specific to a variant. Variants inherit the attributes that are defined for the item, and you can change or delete the inherited values when a variant requires different information. To review or edit variant-specific attributes, open the Item Variant Attribute Values page from the Item Variants list or from the Item Variant Card page.
If you change the attributes on the item and want the variants to use the same values, select the Update Variant Attributes action on the item card to sync the attributes from the item to its variants.
Use items with variants
You can use items with variants by entering the variant code on document and journal lines. On some pages, you may have to add the Variant Code field first.
To purchase an item with variants, follow these steps:
Select the Search (Alt+Q) icon, enter Purchase orders and choose the related link.
Choose New to create a new purchase order.
Enter the vendor number.
On the Lines FastTab, select Item in the Type field.
In the No. field, enter the item to which you added variants.
In the Variant Code field, enter the variant that you want to purchase.
In the Quantity field, enter the quantity.
The same applies to other documents and journals, like sales orders and item journals.
Item availability by variant
When you use item variants, Business Central automatically maintains inventory by variant. To track how many items of each variant you have available, you can use the Item Availability by Variant page as follows:
Select the Search (Alt+Q) icon, enter Items and choose the related link.
From the item list, select the relevant item.
Choose Item > Item Availability by > Variant.
When you open the Item Availability by Variant page from a document line, you can insert a variant in the document line by selecting the line with the variant that you want to insert and then selecting OK. If you've only used the page to view availability and don't want to insert a variant, then close the page without selecting OK.
Require use of variants
You can require that users specify the variant in documents and journals for items that have variants as follows:
Select the Search (Alt+Q) icon, enter Inventory Setup and choose the related link.
On the General FastTab, enable the Variant Mandatory if Exists field.
You can override this global setting for a specific item. On the item card, the Variant Mandatory if Exists field has the following options:
Default (No): The setting on the Inventory Setup page applies to this item.
No: Users aren't required to specify a variant for this item.
Yes: If the item has one or more variants, users must specify the relevant variant. Otherwise, they're blocked from posting the transaction.
These settings don't affect items that don't have variants.