Add or edit a pricebook item
Items are the reusable line items in your pricebook that you pull onto quotes and invoices. On Settings -> Items Pricebook, the Items tab holds your catalog: use Add Item to create one with a required code, name, and type, plus a price, an optional cost, an optional category, and whether it's taxable. (The Rate Sheets tab beside it is where you build reusable sets of negotiated prices — see Create a rate sheet to price many items at once.)
Choose the type that categorizes what you sell:
Service for labor, consulting, inspections, monitoring, fees, software, licenses, and other nonphysical offerings.
Physical Item for equipment, products, parts, and materials, whether or not you track their stock in Essential.
You can also give an item an optional Category — a free-form grouping label such as "Installation", "Repairs", or "Inspections". The Category box is a searchable dropdown: pick one of your existing categories so the same group isn't split by a typo or different capitalization, or type a new name and choose Create "…" to add it (pick (No category) to clear it). Categories are internal — the customer never sees them — and they power the By category view of the Revenue by line item report. Categories are internal — the customer never sees them — and they power the By category view of the Revenue by line item report, which totals your invoiced revenue by the category on each item. Leave it blank for items you don't want to group; those roll up as "Uncategorized" in the report (which is a reserved name you can't use for a category of your own).
You can also give an item an optional description. The description shows under the item's name in the pricebook list and is copied onto the line whenever the item is added to a quote, invoice, or subscription — where you can still edit it for that one document without changing the pricebook. Descriptions appear under the line's name on the document the customer sees.
If your business uses purchase orders, an item also carries two supplier-facing defaults: Name shown to supplier and Code shown to supplier. These replace the item's name and code on the purchase order PDF a supplier receives — useful when a supplier knows the part by their own name or catalog number. Leave them blank to send your item's own name and code. A name or SKU entered for a specific supplier on a purchase order takes precedence over these defaults.
Type and Essential inventory tracking are separate. If inventory is enabled for your business, choosing Physical Item reveals Track inventory in Essential. Turn it on only when Essential should maintain on-hand quantities and history for the item. A tracked item can also have a reorder level. Turning tracking off keeps the item's Physical Item type but removes its reorder level and takes it out of Essential's inventory pages.
Use the search box to find an item by code or name, the edit icon to change one, and the delete icon to remove it - deleting takes it out of your items list but leaves existing quotes and invoices unchanged.
You can also save a custom quote or invoice line to the Pricebook. Select Save to Pricebook, then choose its required type. If you choose Physical Item and your business has inventory enabled, you can separately choose whether Essential should track it.
Where to find it: Settings -> Items Pricebook, the Add Item button (or the edit icon on a row)
Add a photo to an item
Photo is the last field on the Add Item and Edit Item forms. A photo helps technicians and office staff recognize the right part or piece of equipment. It's internal: it never appears on the quotes, invoices, or customer portal your customers see.
Open Add Item, or select the edit icon on an item.
Under Photo, select Upload Photo and choose an image (JPG, PNG, HEIC, WEBP, or GIF, up to 15 MB and 40 megapixels). If Essential can't read a HEIC photo's size, it asks you to export it as a JPEG and try again.
Check the thumbnail, file name, and size shown under Photo. Use Replace to choose a different image or Remove to take the photo off.
Select Save (or Create for a new item).
The photo is uploaded only when you save. If you close the form without saving, the item keeps its current photo. Removing a photo and saving takes it off the item.
Once an item has a photo, a small image icon appears right after its name:
In the Items list on Settings -> Items Pricebook.
On quote and invoice lines, and in the Find or add item search when you add a line.
On a job or visit's Parts, Labor & Items list in the scheduling form, and in its item search.
In the item search in Custom Pricing and on rate sheets.
Hover over the icon to preview the photo, and click it to see it full size. The full-size view shows the item's name and code. If you can edit pricebook items, Edit Item at the bottom left of that view opens the item's Edit Item form on Settings -> Items Pricebook. A line can still point to an item that was since removed from the pricebook (for example on a scheduled visit); its photo still opens, without Edit Item.
Technicians see the photo in the Essential app when they add or view the item.
To add photos to many items at once, see Bulk upload pricebook items from a spreadsheet.
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