Preferences

• This module stores preferences for various modules, all in one central place. Select any of the sections on the left and then click the EDIT button at the top corner of that section.
• After modifying any preferences, click the SAVE CHANGES button at the bottom.
• The search bar can also be used to quickly find a setting.
• Fishbowl Drive supports LIFO, FIFO, Average, and Actual costing methods. For more information, see Costing Methods.

The Preferences module is separated into seven sections:

• Sales Order
• Purchase Order
• Picking
• Tracking
• Shipping
• Account Mapping
• Company

As noted above, click the EDIT button on the top-right of any of these sections to open a popup window that enables you to edit their contents.

Sales order

This section has a variety of toggles, textboxes, and a dropdown menu that affect the Sales Orders module:

• Notify if order is not paid - A toggle that marks this field as Enabled/Disabled. If enabled, this feature launches a message when you mark a sales order as Fulfilled to inform you if it hasn’t been paid for by the customer yet.
• Notify if tax rate is ‘none’ - A toggle that marks this field as Enabled/Disabled. If enabled, this feature launches a warning message when you issue a sales order that has no tax rate assigned to it.
• Price includes tax - A toggle that marks this field as Enabled/Disabled. If enabled, this feature adds a tax amount to the unit price on sales orders.
• Sales tax - A dropdown menu to select a tax rate. It shows every tax rate you’ve created in the Tax Rates module, and you can pick one to apply to each sales order by default.
• Use customer’s sales representative - A toggle that marks this field as Enabled/Disabled. If enabled, this feature automatically fills the Sales Representative field in the Details tab of a sales order with the sales rep assigned to the sales order’s customer. That assignment is made in the General tab of the Customers module.
• Show ‘Paid’ stamp - A toggle that marks this field as Enabled/Disabled. If enabled, this feature adds a Paid stamp across a sales order that has been paid in full by a customer.
• Show markup and margin - A toggle that marks this field as Enabled/Disabled. If enabled, this feature adds three lines to the list of numbers when you click the arrow next to the Total on the bottom-right of a sales order. Those three lines are:
  • Markup - The dollar amount of the difference between the cost and price of all items in the sales order.
  • Markup Percent - The percent difference between the cost and price. This can be much greater than 100 percent.
  • Margin Percent - The percentage of profit earned from a transaction, which is always less than 100 percent.
• Next order number - A textbox that shows what the next sales order number is going to be when you create a new one. You can change it to any other number you like, though. And it will increase by one after you create each new sales order.
• Report footer - A textbox that enables you to add any copy you like to the bottom of the Sales Order report and Sales Order Summary report. It can be copyright information, your company name, or anything else you want it to say.
• Check for inventory - A toggle that marks this field as Enabled/Disabled. If enabled, this feature checks your inventory quantities for all items on a sales order to make sure they are sufficient to completely fulfill them. If there is a short quantity, you will receive a warning message about it.

Purchase order

This section has a variety of toggles, textboxes, and a dropdown menu that affect the Purchase Orders module:

• Next order number - A textbox that shows what the next purchase order number is going to be when you create a new one. You can change it to any other number you like, though. And it will increase by one after you create each new purchase order.
• Enable over receiving - A toggle that marks this field as Enabled/Disabled. If enabled, this feature lets you receive a quantity that is higher than what is on a purchase order.
• Cost includes tax - A toggle that marks this field as Enabled/Disabled. If enabled, this feature adds a tax amount to the unit cost on purchase orders.
• Purchase tax - A dropdown menu to select a tax rate from the Tax Rates module. It shows every tax rate you’ve created in that module, and you can pick one to apply to each purchase order by default.
• Only show vendor items in drop down filter - A toggle that marks this field as Enabled/Disabled. If enabled, this feature only shows vendor items in the Purchase Orders module when you’re looking to add items to a purchase order.
• Send email when purchase order is issued - A toggle that marks this field as Enabled/Disabled. If enabled, this feature automatically sends an email to the vendor and any other email contained in a purchase order when you change its status to Issued.
• Report footer - A textbox that enables you to add any copy you like to the bottom of the Purchase Order report and Purchase Order Summary report. It can be copyright information, your company name, or anything else you want it to say.

Picking

This section has several toggles, dropdown menus, and a textbox that affect the Picking module:

• Notify if picking expired item - A toggle that marks this field as Enabled/Disabled. If enabled, this feature launches a warning message if you attempt to pick an item that is beyond its Expiration Date.
• Enable over-picking - A toggle that marks this field as Enabled/Disabled. If enabled, this feature lets you pick a quantity that is higher than what is on a pick ticket’s order.
• Pick creation - A dropdown menu that lets you choose how picks are created. There are two options:
  • By Order - A single pick will be created containing all items in a sales order or credit return purchase order.
  • By Scheduled Date - A pick will be created for items with the same scheduled date.
• Pick method - A dropdown menu that lets you choose which inventory is picked by default. There are three options:
  • FIFO - The oldest inventory will be selected first to pick for an order.
  • LIFO - The newest inventory will be selected first to pick for an order.
  • Pick from Fewest - Similar to Pick to Clean in Fishbowl Advanced, this option selects inventory from the tag, lot number, or group with the smallest quantity available to bring it to zero ahead of any other grouping.
• Maximum order to group - A textbox that lets you enter the highest number of orders you can group together in the Picking module.

Tracking

This section is different than the ones above and below because it enables you to add and modify tracking criteria. By default, there are three tracking criteria already in this section:

• Lot Number
• Expiration Date
• Serial Number

Once you click EDIT, click ADD NEW to create a new tracking criterion. In the New Tracking Type wizard that pops up, you will find the following required fields:

• Name* - The name of the tracking criterion. The character limit is 35.
• Type* - The kind of tracking criterion this one is. There are three options:
  • Text
  • Date
  • Serial Number
• Description* - A brief explanation of what the tracking criterion is. The character limit is 255.

To delete tracking criteria, click the checkboxes next to them and then click the DELETE button. A message will pop up asking if you really want to go through with it. Click the red DELETE button to complete the deletion. However, you can only delete tracking criteria that are not associated with any items in your inventory. If you have enabled a tracking criterion on even a single item, you won’t be able to delete it without first removing it from that item.

Shipping

This section has a variety of toggles and dropdown menus that affect the Shipping module:

• Fulfill service and misc items on ship - A dropdown menu that lets you choose an option to mark service and miscellaneous items as Fulfilled on an order’s shipment. Since service and miscellaneous items aren’t necessarily physical in nature, they likely won’t be shipped with inventory items. There are three options you can select from the dropdown menu:
  • Confirm
  • Never Fulfill
  • Always Fulfill
• Fulfill ship items on ship - A toggle that marks this field as Enabled/Disabled. If enabled, this feature marks all items in a shipment as Fulfilled as soon as they are shipped.
• Print packing list on ship - A toggle that marks this field as Enabled/Disabled. If enabled, this feature opens a window to print the Packing List report for a shipment as soon as it is shipped in the Shipping module.
• Print packing list on pack - A toggle that marks this field as Enabled/Disabled. If enabled, this feature opens a window to print the Packing List report for a shipment as soon as it is packed in the Shipping module.
• Batch selection default - A dropdown menu that lets you choose an option to control the type of orders included when using the Batch Shipment feature. There are three options you can select from the dropdown menu:
  • All
  • None
  • Packed
• Auto pack shipments - A toggle that marks this field as Enabled/Disabled. If enabled, this feature automatically marks orders as packed, so you don’t have to do that manually each time.
• Notify if order is not paid - A toggle that marks this field as Enabled/Disabled. If enabled, this feature launches a message when you ship an order to inform you if it hasn’t been paid for by the customer yet.
• Show paid stamp - A toggle that marks this field as Enabled/Disabled. If enabled, this feature adds a Paid stamp across a shipment that has been paid in full.

Account mapping

Account mapping facilitates the process of integrating your inventory and accounting records together. When you transfer information from Fishbowl Drive to QuickBooks Online, for example, your account mapping tells each system where to put information. Since they likely refer to some accounts by different titles, it’s crucial that you define what those titles are in this section.

You can map the following accounts in Fishbowl Drive to various options in dropdown menus:

• Accounts Receivable - Debts owed to you by customers and vendors.
• Accounts Payable - Debts owed by you to vendors and customers.
• Undeposited Funds - Money you’ve received and not yet deposited into your bank account.
• Non-Inventory - The value of items that are not considered physical inventory.
• Service - The value of items that are not physical but still provide value to customers.
• Sales Retail - The value of sold items.
• Discount Expense - The amount of money reduced from the full price for items.
• Discount Income - The amount of money reduced from the full cost of items for buying in bulk or some other reason.
• Miscellaneous Expense - A cost that doesn’t fit into a regular category in your business.
• Shipping Income - The amount of money paid to you for providing shipping.
• Shipping Expense - The amount of money paid by you for shipping.
• Shipping Accrual - The amount of money billed by a carrier for shipping that hasn’t been paid yet.
• Cost of Goods Sold - The amount of money it cost you to obtain items that have been sold.
• Scrap Inventory - The value of items that have been scrapped and removed from inventory because they are unusable.
• Inventory Adjustment - The value of an increase or decrease in inventory quantities to account for theft, damage, loss, or errors in bookkeeping.
• Cost Variance - The difference between the estimated costs at the start of a time period and the actual costs accrued during that time period.
• Inventory Asset - A piece of equipment or hardware that isn’t intended to be sold, but it is used by your business. This can include furniture, computers, printers, tools, appliances, and manufacturing equipment.
• Flat Rate Tax - A tax rate that doesn’t change, but it remains the same no matter what item is being sold.
• Holding - The value of all receipts that have not been fulfilled. This only applies when items are received, but the bill is not yet reconciled in Fishbowl.
• Sales Tax Payable - The amount of tax money accumulated from sales that has not yet been paid to the appropriate government body.
• Labor - The amount of money paid to employees in the form of payroll, bonuses, and overtime, etc.
• Overhead - The amount of money paid for fixed costs, such as real estate, rent, utilities, debt repayment, etc.

Company

This section has a variety of textboxes, dropdown menus, and a toggle that affect every module in Fishbowl Drive:

• Logo - The ADD IMAGE button lets you add a JPG, PNG, or other image file as your company logo. This will be automatically added to numerous reports and other parts of the software.
• Name - A textbox to enter the name of your company. The character limit is 50.
• Tax Number - A textbox to enter the identifying number your company uses in connection with the IRS.
• Website - A textbox to enter the URL of your company’s website. You don’t need to add http://, https://, or even www. in front of the URL. Just type in the main part of the URL and end it with .com, .net., .edu, et cetera, and it will work fine.
• Email - A textbox to enter the main email address for your company. You may want this to go to your Support department or Sales department because it will likely appear on reports sent to customers and vendors.
• Main contact phone - A textbox to enter the main phone number for your company. This will be automatically added to numerous reports.
• Business number - A textbox to enter another phone number for yourself or your company.
• Country - A dropdown menu that lets you choose the country your company is located in.
• Use Multicurrency - A toggle that adds the Currency module to the list of ones under the Setup module group.
  • Display Currency Code for Reports - A toggle that appears after the Use Multicurrency toggle is switched on. This adds the three-letter code for each currency after its numerical value on all reports. For example, $1.00 USD and $1.00 CAD.
• Time zone - A dropdown menu that lets you choose the time zone your company operates within.
• Default home currency - A dropdown menu that lets you choose the currency you will value your inventory in and use in all transactions. US Dollar is currently the only option, but this will likely change in the future.
• Default location - A dropdown menu that lets you choose the main location for your company. It will list all of the Parent Locations you have created in the Locations module.
• Default weight unit - A dropdown menu that lets you choose the default unit of measure for weight that you will use in the Items module and many other parts of the software. Your options are:
  • Ounces
  • Pounds
  • Tons
  • Grams
  • Kilograms
• Default dimension unit - A dropdown menu that lets you choose the default unit of measure for length, width, and height that you will use in the Items module and many other parts of the software. Your options are:
  • Inches
  • Feet
  • Yards
  • Millimeters
  • Centimeters
  • Meters
• Default payment term - A dropdown menu that lets you choose the default length of time to allow for payments for customers, vendors, etc. The list includes all payment terms you have created in the Payment Terms module.
• Default shipping term - A dropdown menu that lets you choose the default time at which you are required to pay carriers for shipping items. Your options are:
  • Prepaid & Billed
  • Prepaid
  • Freight Collect
• Default FOB point - A dropdown menu that lets you choose the point at which Free On Board costs for shipments must be paid. Your options are:
  • Destination
  • Origin
  • Port of Entry
• Default priority - A dropdown menu that lets you choose the level of importance to assign by default to an order or any other applicable thing in the software. Your options are:
  • Highest
  • High
  • Normal
  • Low
  • Lowest
• Costing method - A dropdown menu to select the costing method you will use to measure inventory values. This field is changeable only in the Sandbox environment. Once you go live, this will remain set in stone forever. There are four options you can choose from:
  • LIFO - Last In First Out applies the cost associated with the newest unit of an item you have in stock to a unit being sold.
  • FIFO - First In First Out applies the cost associated with the oldest unit of an item you have in stock to a unit being sold.
  • Average - Average Cost adds up the cost of every unit you have in stock and divides that total cost by the number of units. It applies this average to every unit that is sold. An item's average cost resets to 0 if its on-hand quantity falls to 0.
  • Actual - Actual Cost uses the actual cost of each unit being sold, and it reverts to FIFO if no tracking criteria are assigned to an item.
• Go live - If you are in the Sandbox environment and have not yet gone live with your Fishbowl Drive account, this toggle will give you the option to do that. Rather than having test data, all data you add to your account will be used in actual transactions. After you go live, this will record the month, day, and year (MM/DD/YYYY) you flipped the switch.