Introduction to Quick Add — Create Items on the Fly During a Sale
Quick Add is a productivity feature that lets cashiers and sales staff create new inventory items on the fly when an item is not found in the system. Instead of stopping the sale, calling a manager, and manually adding the item through the Inventory module, Quick Add lets you enter the minimum required details and keep the sale moving.
The Problem Quick Add Solves
Without Quick Add, if a customer brings an item to the counter that hasn't been entered in the inventory system:
- The cashier scans or searches for the item
- The system says "No Items Found"
- The cashier has to pause the sale
- Someone has to go to the Inventory module and create the item
- Then come back to the POS and search for it again
- This process can take several minutes, frustrating the customer and holding up the line
With Quick Add, the process becomes:
- The cashier scans or searches for the item
- The system sees no match and opens the Quick Add dialog (instead of just showing "No Items Found")
- The cashier enters the item name and price (takes about 10 seconds)
- The item is created in inventory and added to the sale immediately
- The sale continues without interruption
Who Can Use Quick Add?
Quick Add requires two things to be enabled:
- Machine Setting — The POS machine must have "Enable Quick Add" turned on in Machine Settings (Payments & Accounts tab)
- User Permission — The user must have the Quick Add Items permission assigned to their role
By default, the following roles have the Quick Add permission:
- Super Admin
- Location Admin
- Manager
Regular employees do not have this permission by default, but an administrator can grant it.
Where Quick Add Works
Quick Add is available in three places:
| Screen | When It Triggers |
|---|---|
| Standard POS (FrmPointOfSale) | When a barcode scan or search returns no results |
| Compact POS (FrmPointOfSaleCompact) | When a barcode scan or search returns no results |
| Invoice Screen (FrmInvoice) | When an item search in the invoice returns no results |
In all three cases, the Quick Add dialog replaces the "No Items Found" message.
What Quick Add Creates
When you use Quick Add, the system creates a full inventory item with these default properties:
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Item Name | What you enter |
| Selling Price | What you enter |
| Cost | What you enter (optional, defaults to $0.00) |
| Barcode/SKU | What you enter (or auto-generated QA-timestamp) |
| Category | What you select (optional, defaults to Uncategorized) |
| Tax Type | Taxable (default) |
| Stock Tracking | Enabled |
| Allow Orders Exceeding Stock | Yes |
| Display in POS | Yes |
| Unit | Each |
| Starting Stock | 0 |
The item is immediately usable across the entire system — it appears in inventory searches, can be sold at other registers, and can be managed through the Inventory module.
Manager Notification
When an item is created via Quick Add, the system automatically sends a notification to all managers at the location. The notification includes:
- The item name
- Who created it
- The price and SKU
- A reminder to review and complete the item details
This ensures that items created on the fly get properly set up later (with descriptions, supplier information, reorder points, images, etc.).
Is Quick Add Right for Your Business?
Quick Add is especially helpful when:
- You're just getting started with AccuArk and haven't entered all your items yet
- You frequently receive new products that may not be in the system when they first arrive
- Your catalog changes often and items appear faster than they can be entered
- You want to minimize checkout delays and keep lines moving
Quick Add may not be ideal if:
- Your inventory is fully cataloged and rarely changes
- You prefer strict control over what items exist in the system
- You want all items to have complete details before they can be sold
See the related articles for detailed step-by-step instructions on using Quick Add at the POS and in invoices.