How can I move a "variation" out from under an item?

[NAHSPTO]

We use square for an annual PTO supply sale.  Previous board members set it up so that books are all under a class category.  For example, there is an items for "Acting books" and then it has 10 variations listing the actual book titles.  We have found that it takes too long in the checkout process to find the book names that way.  We would like to move the "variations" out from under the item so they are their own item.  I just can't figure out how to do it.  I don't really want to delete the variations and start over by creating new items for each individual book because i would lose the sales history to do YoY comparisons.  Any ideas?  Thanks.

[AmyS]

We are a pet boutique.  Some of our Christmas dog toys were entered into inventory in the everyday dog toy category, but for report accuracy they should be in the Christmas category.  The item is listed by the brand name, then the variations are item/size descriptions with varying prices.  I only need to move 5 of the 40 variations to the Christmas category.  Is this possible, or do I need to manually enter them in the new category & delete them from the old category?  

[EJ_]

Hey @AmyS

Welcome to the Seller Community 🙌🏼

Unfortunately only the items themselves are categorized, so you'd need to move the entire item from one category to the other, or create a new item with the right variations in the correct category to separate it out. 

You can then delete the variations that don't belong in the everyday dog toy category. 

I hope this helps, and let me know if you have any other questions around this. 

[bloodyrosebtq]

@EJ_ I have a similar situation. But the other way around. Because of poor planning, I have items that I need to change into variations of another item. If I do as you say here, and then delete the previous item, will I lose the previous inventory tracking and sales?

[EJ_]

@bloodyrosebtq your previous sales and reporting information would still be present, however once you delete the item itself it would change your inventory counts for that item (since it's no longer a stand alone item).

You'll want to make sure the inventory of the newly created variations is correct before you delete the items. 

[VSN-Spokane]

I have created Item in the library with variations.  I have since reorganized, and now two items are being combine into one along with their variations.  How can I combine them without having to delete one item and then rewite all of it under the other?

[Helen]

Hey @VSN-Spokane. There isn't a way to combin two existing items into one - you'd need to edit an existing item or create a new one.

If you change an item or category it won't alter your past reports, so you'll still have records of the sales for the separate items before you created a new one/made changes.

[VSN-Spokane]

Thanks Helen!  I figured as much but was hoping there was magic out there that I was not aware of.

[kellyj]

@NAHSPTO

Unfortunately - the only real way to move these variations is to create them as New Items (which can be assigned under a category to track the kinds of books if wanted).

You can learn more about Creating and Managing your Items with this link. 

[neptuneaquatics]

Would like to submit a feature request:

Would like to be able to move a variation of an Item into another Item using perhaps a pull down menu or the "..." on the right side of the variation.

[AshleyK]

Hi! I've merged your post to an existing thread so we can keep all of the feature requests in one place. Thank you for posting!!

[rdemonds]

I second that. That would be very helpful!

[hikeikimuseum]

I'd like to bump this thread and say it needs to be a feature request. I had some staff inadvertently create items when they should have created variations. It's a non-intuitive hierarchy and makes it complicated for reporting to delete items instead of simply being able to move them. 

Feature request: to please allow items to be converted to and from a variation.