Duplicates and merging
For managers. Each till keeps working without a connection. So two tills can each add the same thing while offline, say the same customer by phone number, and when they sync, your business has two of them. ByteBarn POS keeps both, marks the newer one, and lets you merge it into the original.
On one till, a duplicate is refused
Section titled “On one till, a duplicate is refused”Adding something that clashes with what this till already has is refused straight away, with a message such as:
- a category named “Networking” already exists
- a supplier named “…” already exists
- a customer with that phone number already exists
- a product with that SKU already exists
- a user with that username already exists
Names are compared ignoring capital letters. Use the existing record, or choose another name.
From two tills, it’s marked Duplicate
Section titled “From two tills, it’s marked Duplicate”A clash that arrives by sync can’t be refused, since both tills already saved theirs. The record created first stays as the original; the later one shows a Duplicate tag, which explains: “Another till created the same … while offline. Merge it into the original, or rename it.”
Every till works out the same original, so they all agree on which one to keep.
Customers, categories and suppliers marked Duplicate have a Merge button. Select it and confirm:
- A customer: their credit balance, loyalty points and history are added to the original, past sales stay as recorded, and the duplicate disappears from the list.
- A category: its products move to the original, and the duplicate is archived.
- A supplier: its product links move to the original, and the duplicate is archived. Purchase orders already placed with it keep showing it.
The duplicate always merges into the original; there’s no choosing which way. If it isn’t really the same, Edit it and give it a different name (or phone number) instead.
Managers and admins can merge.
Products with the same SKU and users with the same username are marked Duplicate too, but can’t be merged: change the SKU or username on one of them.