Open topic with navigation
The Inventory pane is a visual representation of all the various items that are in your inventory. Inventory items are stored in locations that you can specify by using the Define Inventory Locations dialog. At least one location must be defined (a location that is named "Storage" is defined by default).
When you create an inventory item, it is given a category (Media, Pigment, or Hardware) and a type. Several predefined types are provided, and you can add custom types by using the Define Types dialog.
You can define or edit an existing item by using the Item Properties dialog.
When you receive a new shipment of an item, you can use the Receive Item dialog or the Receive Item by Part Number dialog to increase the quantity of an item. If an item is moved from one location to another, use the Move Item dialog to specify the new location. Use the Use Item dialog to decrease the quantity of an item each time it is used.
To represent the process of loading an item into a printer, you can drag an inventory item from the Inventory pane to a printer in the Printers pane to open the Move Item to Printer dialog. If you are using usage tracking, an item usage meter for the item is displayed in the Printers pane. You can remove items from a printer by using the Remove Item From Printer dialog, which you can access from the Information pane.
When you configure Printer Maestro to manage inventory, it stores information about the inventory events as fields in its database. You can view this information by adding or removing columns in the Inventory pane. The following information is available.
|
Field
|
Description
|
|
Description
|
Displays a description of the inventory item. This field is required and is included in the default view.
|
|
Part Number
|
Displays the part number of the inventory item.
|
|
Notes
|
Displays notes about the inventory item.
|
|
Total Stock
|
Displays the quantity of inventory items that are currently in stock at all locations. Point to the inventory entry to display a tooltip that indicates quantity by location.
|
|
Attributes
|
Displays user-defined attributes of the inventory item. Attributes are separated from one another with semicolons.
|
|
Type
|
Displays the type of inventory item.
|
|
Category
|
Displays the category of the item. Entries are classified as Media, Pigment, or Hardware.
|
You can configure usage tracking for your inventory items so that after you load them into a printer, the current usage is monitored and alert messages are sent to the Events pane when the levels run low. Usage levels can be tracked
by pages, length units, or time units.
To load an inventory item into a printer, drag the item from the Inventory pane to the printer that you want in the Printers pane.
To configure the default usage tracking
settings for an item
-
Right-click the item, and then click Edit Item to open the
Item Properties dialog.
-
On the Usage tab, select a tracking method in the Tracking Method list, and then configure the other settings as needed.
-
Click OK.
To edit the usage settings for an item that is loaded into a printer
-
In the Printers pane, select the printer that has the inventory item that you want to edit.
-
In the Information pane, expand the node for the inventory item.
-
In the Actions row, click Usage to open the Item Usage dialog.
-
In the dialog, edit the settings as needed, and then click OK.
You can right-click various locations in the pane to display a context menu. The options in the menu vary depending on the pane element that you clicked, as follows:
-
When you right-click a column header, the menu displays a list of the columns that are available to add or remove from the pane. For more information, refer to Working with Columns.
-
When you right-click the pane's title bar or in a blank area of the pane when no rows are selected, the menu displays the following options:
-
New Item: Opens the New Item Properties dialog, which you can use to create a new inventory item.
-
View: When you point to this option, a menu is displayed that you can use to change view settings for the pane and to print the contents of the pane.
-
Fields: When you point to this option, a list of available column headers is displayed that you can use to add or remove columns from the pane.
-
Group By: When you point to this option, a menu is displayed that you can use to change how the rows are grouped.
-
Collapse All Groups: Collapses all groups. Available when groups are used and one or more groups are expanded.
-
Expand All Groups: Expands all groups. Available when groups are used and one or more groups are collapsed.
-
When you right-click an individual inventory item or select a group of inventory items and then right-click, the menu displays the following options:
-
New Item: Opens the New Item Properties dialog, which you can use to create new inventory items.
-
Edit Item: Opens the Item Properties dialog for the selected inventory item, which you can use to edit the item's attributes. Available when only one inventory item is selected.
-
Receive Item: Opens the Receive Item dialog, which you can use to increase the quantity of the selected item. Available when only one inventory item is selected.
-
Use Item: Opens the Use Item dialog, which you can use to decrease the quantity of the selected item. Available when only one inventory item is selected.
-
Delete Item: Deletes the selected inventory items.
You can hide the pane by using one of the following methods:
-
On the View menu, click the name of the pane.
-
In the top right corner of the pane, click the 
icon.
To close the pane, click the 
icon in the top right corner of the pane.