Editing and Deleting Materials

You can update any material's details at any time. Some changes (particularly price updates) affect all products that use the material, so it is worth understanding the implications before saving.

Editing a material

1. Go to Materials and open the material you want to edit.
2. Click Edit.
3. Make your changes. The fields you can edit include:
   • Name and category
   • Supplier name and notes
   • Pricing model fields (purchase price, quantity, dimensions, etc.)
   • Stock tracking settings
4. Click Save.

What happens when you change a price

When you update the purchase price or quantity of a material, CrafterBy recalculates the cost per unit immediately. This new cost is reflected in every product that uses the material. The next time you view a product cost breakdown, it will show the updated material cost.

This is by design — it ensures your product costs always reflect current supplier prices. If a supplier raises their price, update the material once and all your product margins update automatically.

Note: Historical sales orders and production orders retain the cost at the time they were created. Only current product cost calculations are updated.

Deleting a material

You cannot delete a material that is currently used in one or more products. If you try, CrafterBy will show an error message listing the products that reference it.

This protection exists because deleting the material would leave those products with a missing cost component and an incorrect total cost.

Archiving a material instead

If you no longer buy or use a material but cannot delete it, archive it instead:

1. Open the material.
2. Click Archive Material (found in the actions menu or at the bottom of the edit form).
3. Confirm the action.

An archived material:

• Is hidden from the main Materials list by default (you can show archived materials by toggling a filter)
• No longer appears in the search when adding materials to a product
• Remains referenced in any existing products, preserving their cost history
• Can be unarchived at any time if you start buying it again

Deleting an unused material

If a material is not used in any products, you can delete it permanently. Open the material, click Delete, and confirm. This action cannot be undone.