Product categories

Every product in Rundoo belongs to a three-level hierarchy — Department > Class > Fineline — that drives how sales, inventory, and margin roll up in reports, labels, and the Products list. This page covers what each level is for, creating and editing categories, what happens to products when you delete one, and how to assign products to categories.

In the Admin mode, open Product in the left sidebar, then scroll to the Product categories section.

Department, Class, Fineline

The three levels nest: every Fineline belongs to a Class, and every Class belongs to a Department. Only Department is required on a product — Class and Fineline are optional refinements that let you slice the same department into finer reporting buckets.

• Department — the top level. The broadest grouping, the one reports default to, and the only level required when you add a product. A paint store typically has departments like Benjamin Moore, Cabinet Paint, Exterior Stain, Floor Coatings, Sundries. A hardware store has Building Materials, Electrical, Plumbing, Tools, Paint. A farm & feed store has Feed, Seed, Livestock Supplies, Animal Health.

• Class — a mid-level bucket inside a department. Use it when one department needs to split into meaningfully different sub-groups — Interior Paint vs. Exterior Paint inside Benjamin Moore, Hand Tools vs. Power Tools inside Tools, Horse Feed vs. Cattle Feed inside Feed.

• Fineline — the most specific level, inside a class. Use it when you want a report line for a narrow product family — Regal Select Matte, Regal Select Eggshell, Regal Select Semi-Gloss inside the Interior Paint class.

You don't have to use all three. Smaller stores often stop at Department; large stores with dozens of vendors usually ride Class too; Fineline gets serious use for SKU-by-SKU reporting in paint and chemicals.

Suggested categorization

If you're seeding a new tenant, the tables below are reasonable starting points by vertical — not prescriptive, just patterns Rundoo customers in each segment have landed on. Adjust to your store; nothing here is locked once products are imported.

Paint store

Department	Class examples	Fineline examples
Benjamin Moore	Interior Paint, Exterior Paint, Primers, Stains	Aura Interior, Regal Select Interior, ben Interior, Aura Exterior, Regal Select Exterior
Cabinet Paint	Advance, INSL-X Cabinet Coat	Advance Satin, Advance Semi-Gloss
Floor Coatings	Garage, Industrial	Epoxy, Urethane
Sundries	Brushes, Rollers, Tape, Drop Cloths, Caulk, Spackle	Wooster Brushes, Purdy Brushes, Frog Tape
Wallcovering	Wallpaper, Adhesives, Tools	—
Spray Equipment	Sprayers, Tips, Hoses	Graco Sprayers, Titan Sprayers

Hardware store

Department	Class examples	Fineline examples
Building Materials	Lumber, Drywall, Insulation, Roofing	2x4 Studs, Sheetrock, Shingles
Electrical	Wire, Outlets, Switches, Lighting	Romex, GFCI Outlets, LED Bulbs
Plumbing	Pipe, Fittings, Fixtures, Tools	PEX, Copper Fittings, Faucets
Tools	Hand Tools, Power Tools, Storage	Hammers, Drills, Tool Chests
Hardware	Fasteners, Hinges, Locks	Screws, Bolts, Deadbolts
Paint	Interior, Exterior, Sundries	Latex, Oil-Based, Brushes
Lawn & Garden	Tools, Soil, Plants	Shovels, Potting Mix, Fertilizer

For farm & feed, lumber, lawn & garden, or flooring — message Rundoo Support and we'll share starter taxonomies from comparable customers.

Adding a category

Which level you're adding depends on which top tab is selected — Department, Class, or Fineline. Pick the tab first, then click Add department / Add class / Add fineline in the top-right. The same shape of modal opens each time; the fields are slightly different per level.

Field	Department	Class	Fineline
Icon	Optional. Shows next to the department name in the list and on labels. Pick from the Add icon dropdown.	Optional, same picker.	Optional, same picker.
Name	Required. What shows up in reports, on labels, and in the Add/Edit product modal.	Required.	Required.
Department	—	Required. The parent Department this class sits under.	—
Class	—	—	Required. The parent Class this fineline sits under (and by implication, the department above it).
Set as default	Optional. Makes this the default department for new products. Only one department can be default — setting this clears the previous default.	—	—

The modal also shows a light-blue GL accounts note: This department will automatically use the highest-numbered GL account for each account type. Update this mapping in your Chart of Accounts. GL-account mapping isn't set on the category itself — it's set on the Chart of Accounts and inherited here.

Click Save to commit, or Cancel to back out without creating the category.

Editing a category

Click any row in the Department, Class, or Fineline list to open the edit modal for that category. The modal shape is the same as Add, prefilled with the current values.

The editable fields depend on the level:

• Department: Icon, Name, Set as default.

• Class: Icon, Name, parent Department. Moving a class to a different department also moves every fineline inside it and every product currently assigned to this class.

• Fineline: Icon, Name, parent Class. Moving a fineline to a different class reassigns every product on that fineline to the new class/department path.

Changes save when you click Save; Cancel backs out without committing.

Deleting a category

The edit modal has a Delete button bottom-left. What happens to products currently assigned to the category depends on the level you're deleting:

• Deleting a Department — every product currently assigned to that department falls back to whichever department is marked Default. If the department you're deleting is the default, Rundoo blocks the delete until you pick a new default first.

• Deleting a Class — every product on that class keeps its Department, and its Class is cleared. The product isn't touched in any other way.

• Deleting a Fineline — every product on that fineline keeps its Department and Class, and its Fineline is cleared.

Deletes are immediate — there's no archive state for categories and no undo. If you're cleaning up a taxonomy and you want the option to bring a category back, consider renaming (e.g. Cabinet Paint → Cabinet Paint (retired)) instead of deleting.

Assigning products to categories

Products get a Department at creation — the Add product modal requires one, and it defaults to whichever department you've marked Default. Class and Fineline aren't on the Add modal; they're filled in after the product exists.

To assign or change Class and Fineline on an existing product:

1. In the POS mode, open Products in the left sidebar.

2. Click the product's row to open its detail page.

3. Click the Settings top tab.

4. Scroll to the Categorization section.

5. Pick the Department, Class, and Fineline dropdowns. Class options are filtered by the selected Department; Fineline options are filtered by the selected Class.

6. Click Save on the Categorization section. Each settings section has its own Save — saving Categorization doesn't touch the other sections.

For bulk assignment (hundreds of products at once), use Product imports — the spreadsheet has Department, Class, and Fineline columns that match on name.

---

Recommended Rundocs

• Products — the product record itself, the detail page, and where the Categorization section lives.

• Product prices — category-level pricing rules layered on top of the tier system.

• Product imports — bulk-assigning Department, Class, and Fineline on existing products.