How to add books and stationery items in BooksPOS

Everything you sell is an item in Catalog: a book, an exercise register, a box of pencils, a school bag. This guide shows how to add books and stationery one by one, what each field is for, and the few rules that keep the shelf and the records in agreement. To bring in a whole list at once, see Importing items, customers and suppliers from Excel or CSV.

How to add a book

Open Catalog (under Stock in the menu).
Choose New book.
Type the Title / item name and, if the book has one, the Edition (for example 2026 ed.).
Fill in what you know of the book fields: ISBN (optional), Author(s), Publisher, Class / grade, Subject, Board / curriculum, Medium / language, Publication year and Binding (paperback, hardback).
Set a Category and a Shelf / rack if you use them. Both help with searching, counting and reports. Type a Reorder level (base units) if you want BooksPOS to tell you when the item runs low (see below).
Under Units, prices and barcodes, type the Retail price of one copy, and the Wholesale price if you sell to schools or other shops.
Leave the Tax rate (%) at 0 unless your tax adviser gives you a rate for this item (see below).
Choose Save item.

BooksPOS gives the item its own code, the SKU, for example BK-MAIN-000123 ("added as BK-MAIN-000123"). The SKU never changes and is printed on labels for books that have no ISBN.

How to add a stationery item

Choose New stationery item instead. The book fields are replaced by stationery ones: Brand, Model, Size, Colour, Pages, Paper GSM, Ruling and Variant. Stationery SKUs start with ST-.

An 80-page single-line register and a 120-page one are two items: they have different stock and prices. Colours can be one item each, or one item with the colour in Variant, depending on whether you need to know how many of each colour are on the shelf.

Each edition is its own item

The 2025 and 2026 editions of the same reader are two items, with separate stock, prices and ISBNs, exactly as they are two different books on the shelf. Never change the edition of an existing item to "update" it: add the new edition as a new item.

This matters most in the school season. A parent who asks for the 2026 edition must get the 2026 edition, and a school list that names one edition never takes the other by accident. When a barcode matches two editions at the till, BooksPOS asks which one is in the customer's hand ("Several items carry this code (often two editions of one title)").

The Old editions report lists items that have a newer edition of the same title and publisher in the catalogue, while copies are still in stock.

ISBNs

The ISBN is optional. Many school books and local titles have none.
When you type one, BooksPOS checks its check digit (ISBN-10 or ISBN-13, with or without dashes). A wrong one is refused: "This ISBN's check digit is wrong. Leave it empty if the book has no ISBN."
BooksPOS never invents or guesses an ISBN. A book without one gets its SKU as a barcode label instead.
The ISBN is added as a barcode of the item automatically, so scanning the book's own barcode finds it.

Tax rate and the FBR fields

Every item has a Tax rate (%): 0 unless you set it, from 0 to 100 with up to 4 decimals. Tax is added on top of the price, so a Rs 100 line at 5% comes to Rs 105, and it shows on the till, the receipt, the A4 invoice and the reports. BooksPOS does not choose tax rates: set them as your tax adviser tells you.

When FBR POS integration is switched on, the form also shows:

PCT code: 8 digits, optional. Blank uses the default PCT code from Settings › FBR POS.
Third Schedule item: tick it for goods your tax adviser says are Third Schedule items; they are reported to FBR as such.

While FBR reporting is off, these two fields are hidden. See FBR POS integration.

Finding and changing an item

Type in the search box at the top of Catalog (title, author, ISBN, SKU, publisher or brand) and press Enter. Narrow the list with the filters under it: kind (books, stationery, other items), publisher, category, class, stock (in stock, out of stock, or low stock), place (the shop floor or the godown) and status (active or discontinued); Clear filters shows everything again. The list shows SKU, Title / item, Author / brand, Publisher, Units, In stock (sellable copies at every place, with the shop floor's share under it when some are elsewhere; Low when at or below the reorder level) and Retail, 50 items to a page with the arrows at the bottom.

Choose a row (or press Enter on it) to open the item's own page; choose the pencil on a row to change the item.

A price change is kept as history: the new price applies from that day, and bills already made keep the price they were sold at.
If someone else saved the same item while you had it open, your save is refused: "Someone else changed this product after you opened it. Reload and apply your change again." Nothing is overwritten.
Tick Discontinued (keep selling what is in stock, stop reordering) for an item you will not buy again. It can still be sold while stock lasts; the till marks it Discontinued.

Items are never deleted: an item that was once bought or sold is part of the stock ledger and the books. Mark it discontinued instead.

The item's own page

Opening an item from Catalog or Stock shows everything about it on one page:

On hand, every place, Stock value at cost (the shop's own copies at average cost), Consigned copies (on sale or return, by consignor) and Last sold, with when it was last received, from whom and at what cost;
Stock by place: sellable, damaged and consigned copies and their value on the shop floor and in the godown, with the reorder level;
On sale or return: each consignor's copies received, sold, sent back and still here, and what is owed for them;
Units, barcodes and prices, and the price lists and quantity prices that price the item;
Movements (every change to its stock, with who made it), Bills and Purchases, 25 to a page. Choose a bill or purchase to open it.

Edit, Adjust, Move and Labels open the usual windows with the item already filled in. Excel, CSV, PDF and Print save or print the page. Bills need the reports permission and purchases the purchasing one; someone without them sees the stock only.

An item's page. Stock by place, units and prices, and the price lists and quantity prices that apply. Screenshot of the current build (28 Sep 2026), synthetic demo data.

Reorder levels

The Reorder level is a number of base units (copies or pieces). When the sellable copies at every place, shop floor and godown together, are at or below it, the item is low on stock:

Catalog and Stock mark it Low, and Low stock in the stock filter lists only such items;
the Dashboard says how many titles are at or below their reorder level, with a link to the report;
Reports › Low stock & reorder suggests how many to order. See Reports for the owner.

Leave it empty for no reorder level; clearing it removes the level. Discontinued items are never listed as low.

Who can add and change items

Owners, managers and warehouse staff have catalogue editing. Cashiers, accountants and auditors can search the catalogue but not change it. See Staff, roles and counters.

Common questions

A book has no ISBN. What do I do?

Leave the ISBN empty. BooksPOS prints a label with the item's SKU as a Code 128 barcode, which the till scans like any other. See Printing barcode labels.

The same title comes in Urdu and English medium. One item or two?

Two. They are different books with their own stock. Put the language in Medium / language so both are easy to tell apart when searching.

Can I type titles in Urdu?

Yes. Titles, authors and publishers can be in Urdu, and the till's search finds Urdu text. On an ESC/POS receipt printer, a receipt with Urdu is sent as an image; the BooksPOS team has checked Urdu receipts on a real receipt printer.

What reorder level should I set?

Enough copies to last until the next delivery arrives. For a title that sells ten a week and takes two weeks to come, 20 is a good start. The low-stock report shows what sold in the last 30 days to help you adjust it.

Where do I set the price for a box or a dozen?

In the same form, under Units, prices and barcodes, with Add unit. See Units, packs, prices and barcodes.

Last updated 30 September 2026. Still stuck? Contact us.

Adding books and stationery items