How to Set Up Units of Measure (Cases vs Eaches) in QuickBooks Desktop

Before you start

• Check your edition. Single and multiple U/M: QuickBooks Accountant, Premier Contractor and Premier Manufacturing & Wholesale. Intuit also lists Enterprise Solutions and its Contractor, Manufacturing & Wholesale, Nonprofit and Professional Services editions.
• Single U/M only: Premier, Premier Nonprofit and Premier Professional Services. Intuit's list doesn't include Pro.
• If any item moves in more than one unit when you buy, stock or sell it, you need Multiple U/M Per Item. Single U/M fits only when every item keeps one unit throughout.
• Pick each base unit with care. QuickBooks counts stock in it, and the cost, price and quantity you enter on a new item are per base unit.
• Intuit says to set the smallest unit by what you sell, not what you buy.
• A unit of measure can't be deleted once you add it, so plan names and abbreviations first.

Single vs multiple U/M

Key terms

• Base unit: the first unit in a set, usually the smallest. Stock counts, most inventory reports and quantity math use it.
• Related unit: a unit defined as a number of base units, such as a case that holds 24 eaches.
• U/M set: a base unit plus its related units, with a name and default units for purchases, sales and shipping.

Step 1: Turn on units of measure

1. 1Go to Edit > Preferences.
2. 2Select Items & Inventory, then the Company Preferences tab.
3. 3In the Unit of Measure section, select Enable. No Enable button means units of measure are already on.
4. 4Choose Single U/M Per Item or Multiple U/M Per Item.
5. 5If you opened Preferences from a new or edited item, you can select Begin defining units of measure and finish the wizard now.
6. 6Select OK.

Step 2: Create a U/M set for cases and eaches

1. 1Go to Lists > U/M Set List. If it isn't there, you're in single U/M mode or units of measure are off.
2. 2Open the U/M Set menu and select New.
3. 3In the wizard, make each the base unit.
4. 4Add case as a related unit and enter 24 as the number of base units it holds.
5. 5Set the defaults: case for Purchases, each for Sales, and the unit pickers should see for Shipping.
6. 6Give the set a name your team will recognize, then finish the wizard.

You can assign one set to many items. A related unit is defined by how many base units it holds, so a product packed 12 to a case needs a different set from one packed 24.

Step 3: Assign the set to an item

1. 1Go to Lists > Item List and double-click the item.
2. 2In the Unit of Measure section, open the U/M Set list and choose your set, or add a new one.
3. 3Check that the item's cost, sales price and quantity on hand are per base unit.
4. 4Select OK.

In single U/M mode, you pick one unit for the item instead, and QuickBooks uses it for that item everywhere. For new items, see How to add inventory items in QuickBooks Desktop.

Step 4: Buy by the case, sell by the each

• On a purchase order, the item comes in with the Purchases default, such as case. You can change the unit on the line.
• On a sales order or invoice, it comes in with the Sales default. You can change that too.
• Pick lists always show the Shipping unit, whatever the order used. It can't be changed when the pick list prints.
• Stock counts and most inventory reports use the base unit.
• On a bill of materials, each component line can use its own unit.

QuickBooks converts between units in the same set. In Intuit's example, cable is stocked by the foot and comes on 500-foot spools. 10 yards on an invoice equals 30 feet, or 0.06 spools.

Changing units of measure later

• Changing the base unit of an inventory part or assembly can leave its quantity and cost wrong. In Intuit's example, 600 feet of rope switched to yards still shows 600 on hand, not 200.
• Intuit's advice: create a new item with the right quantity and cost for the new unit, then make the old item inactive.
• Rename a base unit only to fix spelling or make it clearer, never to turn it into a different unit.
• Service, non-inventory and group items can change base unit without affecting stored information.
• If you delete a related unit or switch sets, old transactions show the obsolete unit in brackets, such as [ft].
• In single U/M mode, renaming a unit changes it on every item that uses it.

Where QuickBooks Desktop leaves the work to you

• Someone has to build a set for each pack size and assign it to every item.
• When a supplier changes a pack size, the set or the item has to change too, and the base unit is hard to undo.
• Customers and suppliers don't always say which unit they mean. Someone has to check case versus each on every order.
• Intuit's migration article says units of measure don't move if you switch to QuickBooks Online.

We compare inventory features in QuickBooks Desktop vs QuickBooks Online for manufacturers and distributors.

How Logistify helps

Logistify doesn't set up units of measure. Product Catalog Cleanup turns supplier spreadsheets into clean SKUs, so the items you attach U/M sets to start consistent. The Sales Order Service enters customer orders into QuickBooks Desktop as sales orders, with a person reviewing exceptions.