Customize Fishbowl
From Fishbowl Inventory
Fishbowl Inventory is a full-scale inventory control software that covers the basic processes of most companies. To accommodate the unique requirements of every company, there are a variety of ways to customize Fishbowl to meet a company's needs.
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Module Options 
Module Options are found within almost every one of the Fishbowl Modules by going to Tools | Module Options on the top toolbar of the Fishbowl Client. The Module Options allow the module to be customized in certain ways. For example, the Picking Module Options allows user to specify a pick by certain order creation or tags as well as allowing users to pick from all Location Groups within their access rights. The Accounting Module Options gives the user specific abilities when it comes to exporting data, items or orders over to QuickBooks. Module Option documentation is found in the individual article for each module. A complete list of all Module Options offered can also be found here: Module Options
Custom Fields
Custom Fields are a great way to customize the Fishbowl software because they may hold any type of data a company desires. Custom Fields are created for a specific module, then are customized to hold text, a date, quantity, money amount, a checkbox, a list, etc.
For example, a company may be in the clothing business. Aside from having a specific UOM and part description, the company decides to use the Custom Fields as a way to track Color and Size for items. They create two Lists with all of the options available for both color and size. When an employee needs to find a shirt with a specific color and size, they simply use the advanced search feature in the Part Module to pull all the items within their search parameters.
Some companies also use Custom Fields to allow minimum and maximum price parameters. For example, say a company allows their Sales Reps to sell a product at a minimum price of $45, but a maximum price of $50. So the sales rep is always aware of their limitations, the minimum and maximum prices for each item have been established as a Custom Field.
Custom Fields are for internal-use only such as Advanced Searches, saving vital information, etc. They are not found on Orders or Reports.
Additional information on how to create and manage Custom Fields can be found here: Custom Field Details
A short video on Custom Fields is found here:
User Groups/Rights
Fishbowl allows administrators to have the ability to give specific rights to their users. These rights help to give proper visibility of different Fishbowl features. For example, a user may need the ability to create Purchase Orders or Sales Orders, but might not need nor should have the ability to see specific accounting reports regarding overall sales and finances of the company. Users may also have the ability to create orders, but not to finish them, thus ensuring a manager's approval before items are received or shipped.
If, for another example, a Company has multiple warehouses, Fishbowl's user groups and rights allow the company to specify which warehouse an employee has access to. This allows employees to be fixated on the inventory and processes within their warehouse and not on the inventory within another warehouse or Location Group.
User Rights may be specified within the User Group | Rights tab of the Fishbowl Client.
A list of all the available User Rights can be found here: Complete User Rights List
A short video on Users can be found here:
Customize Reports
Fishbowl allows report filters to be customized. Reports can be duplicated, renamed, placed in different folders, and saved with different default filters. See Customize Report Filters for more information.
Reports may also be modified in more detail by using the program iReport. Fishbowl does not offer support for using iReport, but does provide some initial setup help. Please see the following pages:
Additionally, Fishbowl provides a service to create new custom reports. For questions regarding reports or to receive a quote for a custom report made by a Fishbowl report specialist, please email reports
Bookmark Tabs
The modules that open when Fishbowl starts can be customized. After opening all the desired modules, right-click on any tab and choose Save from the context menu. Now when Fishbowl starts, those tabs will automatically be opened. The same context menu also has options to close the current tab, close all tabs except the current one, close every tab, or load the saved tabs.
Customize Look and Feel
Fishbowl features several themes that affect the look, feel, and color of the Fishbowl Client:
- Go to the Tools menu and select Program Options.
- Click the General tab and then use the Look and Feel combo box to select a different theme for the Fishbowl Client.
Other changes can also be made such as layout and tab position. In most cases, the Fishbowl client will need to be restarted for the changes to be fully applied.
Quick Ship Orders
Within Fishbowl, all Sales Orders created need to be Issued, Picked, Packed and Shipped. Some companies may have different people doing this process; therefore they wish to have separate employees completing the steps mentioned above to fulfill a Sales Order. Or, perhaps the time between the creation of the Sales Order and the Shipment of the Sales Order is great enough that the order needs to be moved separately through each module for organizational purposes. Other companies, however, desire to pick, pack, and ship the Sales Order in one swift movement. The Quick Ship feature within Fishbowl was designed for one user to do just that; they have the ability to open an Issued Sales Order and go through the Picking, Packing, and Shipping process all from the Sales Order Module.
Through the Picking section of the Quick Ship wizard the user may choose tracking information, Pick from specified Locations or Tags, as well as choose and apply payments for the order.
For additional and detailed information regarding the Quick Ship features, please see Quick Ship a Sales Order
Using Multiple Tracking Methods
Fishbowl provides users with the ability to create and use multiple tracking methods for their company. A computer company may need the ability to track their equipment by using multiple serial numbers, while a candy company may need multiple tracking methods such as a bin or lot number and an expiration date. Or, a clothing company may need to create their own unique tracking method to track by a color or size. Tracking is specified within the Part Module by going to Tools | Module Options | Tracking subtab.
For additional detailed information in Tracking Methods, see the following:
- Track a Part by Multiple Serial Numbers
- Track a Part by Serial Number and Expiration Date
- Create a Unique Tracking Method
Customize Tables
A table is a column and row layout that is used throughout Fishbowl to display data such as search results, order items, inventory details, and more.
Tables can be customized to fit the needs of a user. Table customization is performed by clicking on column headers, and also by right-clicking column headers to display the context menu.
Table settings are automatically saved, so the table will load with the customized settings every time Fishbowl is used.
Rearranging columns
- The order of columns can be changed by clicking on a column header and dragging it to the desired position.
Sort order
- The sort order of a table can be changed by clicking on a column header. A small triangle will appear on the column header indicating that the table is now sorted by that column.
- A table can be sorted using multiple columns by holding the Ctrl key down and clicking each column header that should be included in the sort.
Column visibility
- Columns can be hidden by right-clicking a column header and choosing Hide This Column from the context menu.
- Additional columns can be displayed by right-clicking any column header and placing a check mark next to the desired column in the context menu.
NOTE: Some tables have many columns, so it is necessary to click More in the context menu to see all columns.
Resize columns
- Columns can be resized by clicking on the vertical line between column headers and dragging it to the desired position.
- A column can be resized to fit its contents by right-clicking the column header and choosing Auto Resize This Column from the context menu.
- To resize all columns to fit their contents, right-click any column header and choose Auto Resize All Columns from the context menu.
- To make all visible columns fit within the table width, right-click any column header and choose Fixed Width Table from the context menu.
