# Usage

The items found under the [Product] main menu item allow you to view and manage the products on your system.

## Using product templates and variants

Tryton makes it easy to create Products <model-product.template> which have one or more slightly different Variants <model-product.product>.

A simple example of where you could use this is in a company that supplies clothes. Each type of shirt may come in a range of different sizes, but most of the properties of the shirt, such as the name, unit of measurement, categories, and so on, would be the same. So in this case you would create a single Product to represent the shirt, and a Variant for each of the different sizes. Structuring your products like this can help you manage and update them.

Tip

You may find that your products are not suited to being structured in this way. If so, don’t worry, when you create a new Product from the [Products ‣ Products] menu item a single variant is automatically created for you and displayed as part of the product.

## Categorising products

It can be a good idea to organise your Products <concept-product> into groups. This makes it much easier to find and manage them effectively, especially if you have a lot of products on your system.

The product Categories <model-product.category> are designed for this purpose. You can create categories with any name you want, and then add the appropriate categories to each product. Each product can belong to as many, or as few, categories as required. The categories can also be organised into a structure, with each category having a parent category and some subcategories. This can help you classify your products more finely.

For example, a clothes supplier may use these categories:

    Accessories
    Clothes
       Shirts
          Short sleeves
          Long sleeves
       Jumpers
    Range
       Spring Summer
       Autumn Winter
       Christmas

Based on these categories, you may decide that a particular lightweight shirt belongs in the `Clothes / Shirts / Short sleeves` and `Range / Spring Summer` categories.

Tip

To get a list of all the products in a category first open the [Products ‣ Categories] menu item. Then when you open one of the categories listed here you will get a list of all the products in that category.