thread Re: Item type suddenly defaulting to food and beverage in Feedback Discussions

Item type suddenly defaulting to food and beverage

shopmingei — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 23:46:53 GMT

I'm very frustrated, all of a sudden every new item I input defaults to food and beverage and tracks as "available". I have to go in and change each item so it tracks by quantity.

I have already gone into the Items/Settings and checked defaults to make sure it's set to Physical goods, and gone into Settings/Inventory and made sure Enable inventory tracking for new items is on. It still keeps happening.

UPDATE: Square support assistant says: items created through purchase orders currently do not use the global item defaults set in your Item Settings. This means they may default to a specific item type, such as "Prepared food and beverage," regardless of your default settings.

It suggests going into the item after to change it. I've been adding items directly in a purchase order for over 2 years. Super disappointed I now have to add in a new step for EVERY item I add

How can I fix this? It's taking up a ton of my time as we're entering our busiest season. Any help would be appreciated! This started last Thursday

Re: Item type suddenly defaulting to food and beverage

SVLFever — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 16:31:20 GMT

Hey @shopmingei ,

In Square Dashboard, go to Items & services > Items > Settings > Item Defaults

From there, click Edit next to "Item type" and choose the default you want — Physical good, Event, or whichever type applies to most of your new items. This setting applies automatically to every new item you create going forward.

Hope this helps. If it does, mark this as the solution.

Have a great day!

Re: Item type suddenly defaulting to food and beverage

shopmingei — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 17:03:04 GMT

Hi,

Thank you for replying. I did that before posting, also went into Settings/Inventory and checked "Enable inventory tracking for new items". Unfortunately it's still happening.

Re: Item type suddenly defaulting to food and beverage

Alexronlad — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 08:48:28 GMT

If this only started recently and affects items created from purchase orders, it sounds more like a Square-side workflow change than a setting you missed. I’d report it as a regression and ask whether there’s a way to restore the previous behavior or bulk-change the item type/tracking afterward. Having to edit every new PO item manually is a big step backward during a busy season.

Re: Item type suddenly defaulting to food and beverage

shopmingei — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 22:53:45 GMT

Hi,

Thank you so much for the helpful reply. I don't know how to report it as a regression, but will look into it so I can. It definitely has made a lot of extra work for us during crunch time.

Thanks again!