Copy Specifications from another product

Introduction

Managing products with shared specifications can be challenging and error-prone when updates must be applied individually to each product.

ChainTraced's Copy Specifications feature solves this by letting you maintain specifications in one source product and copy them to multiple target products.

How to Copy Specifications

This feature works by copying specifications from a source product to one or more target products.

Copy to a single product

1. Navigate to the product you want to Copy Specifications to and ensure you are on the Product data tab.

2. Click the Menu button in the top-right corner of the product details card.

3. Select the Copy Specifications menu item in the list.

This will open a window from which you can choose what product to copy from, read more in The Copy Specifications Window.

Copy to multiple products

1. Navigate to the Product list by clicking the Products side-menu item

2. Select the target products using one of these methods:

   • Individual selection: Click checkboxes next to specific products

   • Page selection: Click the checkbox in the table header once to select all visible products

   • Filter selection: Click the header checkbox again to select all products matching the current filter

3. Verify the selection count shows the expected number of products

4. Click the "Edit" menu, then select "Copy Specifications"

This will open a window from which you can choose what product to copy from, read more in The Copy Specifications Window.

The Copy Specifications Window

1. Select a source product: Search for and select the product you want to copy specifications from using the dropdown list

2. Review what will be copied:

   • Characteristics - Shows all the Class Standards and Groups from the source product

   • Material - Shows all the Material Standards and Groups from the source product

3. Choose how to handle existing specifications:

   • Default behavior: Previously copied specifications will be overwritten, but custom specifications added directly to the target product are preserved.

   • Alternative option: Select Remove existing product specifications to clear all current specifications on the target product before copying.

Managing Copied Specifications

Copied specifications are generally read-only, but there are some exceptions:

What you can modify:

• Reorder Standards and Groups

• Toggle the Allow linking results from Bill of Material checkbox

• Update Standards to newer versions (when available)

What you cannot modify:

• The actual specification content

• Add or remove individual items within copied specifications

How existing specifications are handled

Products with copied specifications can still maintain their own specifications alongside the copied ones.

Adding custom specifications:

1. Navigate to the Characteristics or Material section

2. Add Standards or Groups as you normally would

3. These custom specifications function normally with no restrictions

Disconnecting a product’s copied specifications

To remove copied specifications from a product:

1. Navigate to the target product

2. Click on the Specifications tab

3. Look for the container titled Specifications from another product

4. Click the Remove connection button in the top-right corner

5. Choose one of two options:

   • Keep the specifications

     • The copied specifications remain on the product

     • They become fully editable (no longer linked to source)

   • Remove the specifications

     • All copied specifications are deleted from this product

     • Only product specific specifications (if any) will remain

6. Click Disconnect to confirm your choice

Finding Products with Copied Specifications

Use this filter to find all products that have copied specifications from a specific source product.

Steps:

1. Navigate to the Products list (via side menu)

2. Click Additional Filters in the search bar area

3. Use the Specifications copied from dropdown filter

4. Search for and select the source product

5. The list will show all products with specifications copied from that source

This helps you understand impact before changing source specifications or identify products that need re-copying after source updates.

Troubleshooting/Reference

Common Issues - Duplicate group names

Problem: You get an error when copying specifications to a product that already has Standards or Groups with the same names as the copied specifications.

Solutions:

1. Remove existing specifications first

   • Enable Remove existing product specifications when copying (see The Copy Specifications Window )

2. Rename conflicting items

   • Change names of conflicting Standards or Groups on either the source or target product

API Access

API control for Copy Specifications is currently in development and will be available in a future release.