--- title: "Inventory settings" description: "How the rental catalog is structured: a category tree with subcategories, a description for every product, and product specifications (custom fields) that customers can filter by on the client portal and your website." canonical_url: "https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/settings/inventory" --- # Inventory settings > How the rental catalog is structured: a category tree with subcategories, a description for every product, and product specifications (custom fields) that customers can filter by on the client portal and your website. **Three things shape how your catalog is organized and how customers find equipment in it: categories, product descriptions and product specifications.** Categories sort products into a tree, the description tells a customer what they are renting, and specifications such as brand, connector or weight become filters on the [client portal](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/online-booking/booking-flow#_2-choosing-items) and your website.
Building block Where you set it up What customers see
Categories and subcategories Settings → Inventory → Categories A category tree to browse, with a product count per category.
Product description The Description field on Add item and on the product edit page A Description block on the product page.
Product specifications A custom field on the Item Group level with Filter on the booking page and website switched on Filters beside the catalog and a Specifications list on the product page.
All three are available on every plan. ## Categories and subcategories Categories group products, for example *Audio Equipment* and *Video Equipment*. Each category can hold subcategories (*Audio Equipment → Microphones*), up to **five levels** deep. You set the order by dragging, and that order is what the portal and website show. - Build and reorder the tree on [Categories](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/inventory/categories). - Create, rename or move one category on [Add or edit category](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/inventory/categories/add-or-edit). - On [Manage inventory](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/inventory/manage#searching-filtering-and-sorting), filtering by a parent category also finds the products in its subcategories. - A [custom field](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/settings/fields/level-configurations) limited to a category also applies to every subcategory under it. ## Product descriptions Every product (item group) has an optional **Description** of up to 10,000 characters. Write it on [Add item](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/inventory/add-item#description) or on the product's edit page, or fill the `description` column of the [import template](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/inventory/import). The description is for customers: - the portal product page shows it in a **Description** block; a blank line starts a new paragraph, - the first 160 characters become the product page's description for search engines, - the website integration receives it with the rest of the product. Inside Requiply the description is shown on the add and edit forms only, so it never clutters the inventory tables. ## Product specifications and filters A **specification** is a custom field on the product that customers are allowed to see. *Brand*, *Connector*, *Phantom power* or *Weight, g* are typical ones. Once it is switched on, the portal and the website offer it as a filter beside the catalog, and its value appears in a **Specifications** list on each product page. Fields stay internal unless you switch them on, so purchase prices, supplier notes and other private fields never reach customers. ### Setting up a specification 1. Create the field under [Settings → Fields → Entity fields](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/settings/fields/entity-fields) ([https://app.requiply.com/settings/fields/entity-fields](https://app.requiply.com/settings/fields/entity-fields)). Pick a type that can be filtered, see the table below. For *Brand*, a **Select** with the options *Rode*, *Behringer* and *Blackmagic* works well. 2. Open [Level configurations](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/settings/fields/level-configurations) on the **Item Group** tab ([https://app.requiply.com/settings/fields/level-configurations?tab=item_group](https://app.requiply.com/settings/fields/level-configurations?tab=item_group)) and add the field from the **Add a field** chips. 3. Click the **pencil** on the field to open **Edit Field Configuration**. 4. Switch on **Filter on the booking page and website** and save. 5. Fill the value on each product: the field now appears in the custom fields block of [Add item](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/inventory/add-item) and of the product edit page.
![The Edit Field Configuration page in dark mode for the field Brand: Field Name Brand, Field Type Select, Entity Level Item Group. Below them a Categories multi-select with the placeholder Select categories, the switch Available for table view turned off, the switch Filter on the booking page and website turned on with a help icon beside it, and a Default Value dropdown. A Preview card on the right shows the Brand dropdown with 3 options. Box 1 marks the Filter on the booking page and website switch](https://requiply.com/docs/assets/settings/inventory/specifications/filterable-field.png)
**1** This switch is what makes a product field public. It appears only for Item Group fields of a type that can be filtered.
The help icon explains: *Customers can filter products by this property on your booking page and website, and its value shows in the product details. Fields without this stay internal.* ### Which field types can be a filter
Field type Filter on the portal
Select A list of the options with a count each. Options keep the order you set on the field.
Multi-select The same list. A product matches when it has any of the ticked options.
Text A list of the distinct values your products have. A text field with more than 40 different values is shown in Specifications but not offered as a filter.
Number From and To boxes. Their hints show the lowest and highest value among the results.
Checkbox A single Yes switch with the number of products that have it.
**Text area**, **Date** and **Phone** fields cannot be filters, and the switch does not appear for them. Fields on the **Item** (unit) level are never public: specifications belong to the product, not to a single unit. ### When a filter shows up The portal only offers a filter when it gives the customer a real choice for the products on screen: - at least two different values, a number range with different lowest and highest values, or at least one product marked **Yes**, - counted inside the category the customer has open, so *Microphones* shows only microphone brands, - each count already takes the other active filters into account. Ticking several values of one filter shows products that have **any** of them (*Rode* or *Behringer*). Different filters combine, so *Brand: Rode* plus *Phantom power: Yes* shows only Rode products that need phantom power. A product without a value for a specification simply has no row for it in **Specifications**. ## Common scenarios ### Letting customers filter microphones by brand The admin creates a **Select** field *Brand*, adds it on the **Item Group** level, switches on **Filter on the booking page and website**, and sets the brand on each microphone. On the portal, opening *Microphones* now shows a **Brand** filter with *Rode (3)* and *Behringer (1)*. ### Keeping a field private *Purchase supplier* is an Item Group field the team uses internally. Its switch stays off, so it never appears on the portal, the website or the public catalog. ### Writing a product page that sells For the ATEM Mini Pro the admin writes two short paragraphs in **Description**: what is in the case and what it is good for, separated by a blank line. Customers read them on the product page, and search engines show the first sentence. ## Tips and cautions **Tip:** Prefer **Select** over **Text** for specifications. Fixed options keep spelling consistent, so *Rode* and *RODE* do not show up as two filter values. **Tip:** Use **Number** for anything customers compare, like weight or power. They get a from-to range instead of a long list of values. **Heads up:** Switching on **Filter on the booking page and website** publishes the value of that field for every bookable product. Check that nothing private is stored in it first. ## Sitemap See the full [sitemap](https://requiply.com/docs/sitemap.md) for all pages.