> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://sims-bae272dd.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Categories

> Grouping products, and the margins they inherit.

Categories do two jobs: they group products for reporting, and they carry the
**default margin** that decides suggested shelf prices.

## Create a category

**1. Go to Catalog → Categories**

Then **New Category**.

**2. Name it, and pick a parent if it has one**

Categories nest — Beverages → Energy Drinks → Single Cans.

**3. Set the default margin**

Either a **percentage** or a **fixed amount** added to cost.

## How margin is inherited

A product with no margin of its own uses its category's margin. If that category
has none, PRODUCT\_NAME walks up the tree to the nearest ancestor that does.

That inheritance is what makes scanned invoices useful: when a cost changes, a
price can be suggested without anyone having decided a margin for that specific
product.

> [!NOTE]
>
> If a suggested price never appears for some products, the usual cause is a
> branch of the category tree with no margin anywhere in it. Set one at the top
> of that branch and everything under it is covered.

> [!WARNING]
>
> Changing a category's margin does not re-price existing products by itself.
> It changes what gets **suggested** from the next cost change onward.


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