21. Locations and Addresses
a. Addresses
When you first set up Scanlily, you are asked to type in an address for your account. This will be the primary physical address for where you expect most of your items to be, and it becomes the default that the map homes in on. You can add additional addresses if you have a Pro or Business account.
You can view and update Addresses from the Settings page by clicking on the current address.
Selecting that will lead you to the address page:
Notice that for any address, you can select the Locations button add or update locations for that address.
If you only have one address for all your items, the address won’t even show on the Item Page. But if you have more than one address, you can choose to show it as an attribute:
b. Locations
For Scanlily, a Location is a physical space at an Address. Each address can have more than one location. For example, an address might have locations such as “Basement” or “Stock Room 1”.
Update Locations from the item page by clicking on the Location field. From there, you can add, delete or rename locations.
c. Locations vs. Containers vs. Attachments
What to consider a Location vs. what to consider a Container depends on how you want to use the system.
For example, you might make “Aisle 21” a location if it holds containers with items. But a Container stores more information and you might rather make it a container if you put a QR code on it and need to be able to scan, book or reserve it. Like an Item, a container can have many fields and you can use Attachments to represent your belongings.
Here are four sample nesting levels using these Scanlily concepts:
1. With Container
Address (a street address) -> Location (like “Store Room”) -> Container (like “Aisle 21”) -> Item (like “Tennis Racket”)
2. With Container inside another container
Address (a street address) -> Location (like “Store Room”) -> Container (like “Aisle 21”) -> Container (like “Sports Box”) -> Item (like “Tennis Racket”)
2. Without Container
Address (a street address) -> Location (like “Store Room Aisle 21”) -> Item (like “Tennis Racket”)
3. Without Container
Address (a street address) -> Item (like “Store Room Aisle 21”) -> Attachments to Item including a picture of “Tennis Racket”
Considerations for when to choose one over the other are:
- Locations do not get a QR code and do not have attributes
- Containers have QR codes and can thereby be scanned
- Containers can be booked and treated like an Item. Locations cannot be booked.
- Containers cannot contain other containers (at least not in the current system version)
- Attachments can involve a picture and a name and can be seen in the Item. They are quick to add and view but do not appear on the Item List Page.
- Containers can be nested. In other words, you can have any number of containers within each other.
- Because containers can be nested, they can be thought of like folders. However, the Category field is also like a one-level folder. You can choose which best suits your circumstances.