Setting up the Device Catalogue
How administrators set up the Device Catalogue: the brand, category, sub-category and model levels, routing repairs to queues, adding models, renaming, and choosing what customers can pick in the portal and booking app.
Audience: Fixably administrators (an Admin login, or a role with the Manage device catalogue permission). For how front desk staff and technicians work with it, see Completing a device's details with the Device Catalogue.
The Device Catalogue is the list of devices your business repairs, organised from broad to exact: brand, category, sub-category and model. Each entry in the catalogue decides which queue a repair joins, which devices your customers can pick in the Customer Portal and the booking app, and which spare parts are suggested for a device. It replaces the older device types (device definitions).
Device Catalogue availability: The Device Catalogue is being switched on account by account. Enterprise and Depot customers are moving first, followed by Premium and Basic. Fixably converts your existing device types and devices for you before switching it on, so there is nothing to prepare. If Device Catalogue does not appear in System Settings yet, your account has not been moved over. Until then your device types are managed by Fixably Support, as before.
Prefer to watch? Here's a 3-minute video walkthrough.
How the catalogue is organised
Every entry is built from up to four levels:
| Level | Example | An entry that stops here covers |
|---|---|---|
| Brand | Apple | every Apple device |
| Category | Phone | every Apple phone |
| Sub-category | iPhone | every iPhone |
| Model | iPhone 17 Pro | that one model |
An entry can stop at any level. Broad entries are where you set things once for many devices; model entries are what staff pick for a device. When you add a model, Fixably also creates the brand, category and sub-category entries above it, so they are always there to use.
A model entry can also carry features, such as capacity or colour (iPhone 17 Pro, 256GB). These are variants of the model. Most businesses do not need them: queues and booking options are decided by the plain model entry (the one without features), so only add variants when you want staff or an import to record the exact configuration.
What an entry controls
- Queue. Which queue a new repair for the device joins.
- Customer Portal and booking app. Which brands, categories and models customers can choose from when they create an order or book an appointment.
- Spare part suggestions. If your account uses device-linked part suggestions, the parts attached to an entry are suggested on repairs for every device under it.
- Price lists and service types can be limited to entries in the catalogue.
Before you start
- You need an Admin login, or a role with the Manage device catalogue permission (System Settings > Security > Roles & Permissions).
- Your account must be on the Device Catalogue (see the rolling-release note above).
Step 1: Open the Device Catalogue
- Click your name in the top right corner, then System Settings.
- Type Device in the Filter settings box and click Device Catalogue.

Each row is one entry. The columns show its Brand, Category, Sub-Category and Model, where a dash (-) means "any". A variant shows its features in grey under the model name. The Queue column shows where repairs for that entry go:
- A queue name on its own: the entry has its own queue.
- A queue name with from Apple › Phone › iPhone underneath: the entry has no queue of its own and uses the queue of that level above it.
- Default queue: nothing above the entry has a queue either, so repairs go to the queue your older device types give them, or to your default queue.
Use the Search box to find entries by brand, category, sub-category, model name or a feature value such as 256GB.
Step 2: Decide where queues go
You do not need a queue on every model. Set a queue once, as high up as it applies, and every entry beneath it uses it. A model without its own queue looks upward in this order: its plain model entry (for a variant), then its sub-category, its category and its brand.
- Find the entry for the level that should decide, for example the row Apple › Phone › iPhone with no model.
- Click the pencil button at the end of the row. The entry opens on the right.
- In Queue, pick the queue, for example iPhone.
- Click Save.

Every iPhone model without a queue of its own now shows iPhone with from Apple › Phone › iPhone in the Queue column. To send one model somewhere else, give that model entry its own queue. To take a queue off an entry, open it, clear the Queue field and save; it then uses the level above again.
Step 3: Add the models you repair
- Click Add Device Catalogue.
- Choose the Brand, Category and Sub-Category from the lists.
- In Model Name, type the model and pick it from the list. Fixably suggests common model names.
- When you pick a suggested model, Fixably may fill in suggested Features such as the screen size. For an entry that covers every device of that model, remove them with the x button next to each one. Keep or add features only for a variant (for example capacity = 256GB).
- Leave Queue empty to use the queue of the level above, or pick one for this model only.
- Leave Show in Customer Portal and Show in Booking App ticked if customers should be able to pick the model.
- Click Save.

A few things to know:
- Pick existing names from the lists. Typing a name that does not exist yet adds a new brand, category, sub-category or model. A slightly different spelling ("T Mobile" instead of "T-Mobile") therefore creates a second brand. If Fixably is about to add something new, or the save affects other entries, it asks you to confirm first and tells you what will happen. Click Cancel to go back without changing anything.
- Duplicates are refused. Two entries cannot have the same brand, category, sub-category, model and features. To add another variant, change at least one feature value; otherwise edit the existing entry.
- Adding features to a plain entry adds a variant next to it. The plain entry keeps its devices, queue and parts.
Step 4: Fix a misspelled name with Rename
If a brand, category, sub-category or model is spelled wrong, rename it instead of adding a new one:
- Open any entry that uses the name (pencil button).
- Click Rename next to the field.
- Type the new name. The dialog shows how many entries and devices use it, and tells you straight away if the name cannot be used (for example, because another level with that name already exists in the same place).
- Click Rename.

Every entry and device that uses the name shows the new one, and keeps its queue, parts, prices and visibility. Picking a different value in the field instead moves the entry; it does not rename anything.
Step 5: Choose what customers can pick
New entries are shown in the Customer Portal and the booking app by default. To change that:
- On the Device Catalogue page, click Portal and booking app visibility.
- Click your way down: a brand, then a category, then a sub-category, to see its models.
- Use the switches on each row:
- Portal: shown or hidden in the Customer Portal.
- Booking: shown or hidden in the booking app.
- In use: whether the entry is used at all (see below).

Hiding a level hides everything beneath it on that surface. If entries beneath it are shown, Fixably asks before hiding them; Cancel changes nothing. A row hidden by a level above it says Hidden by and names that level. The Portal and Booking switches only affect customers: staff can still pick a hidden entry, and repairs still route through it.
In use reaches staff too. An entry taken out of use, and everything beneath it, is no longer offered to staff for new devices, routes no repairs, suggests no parts and is hidden from customers. Devices already linked to it keep their link. Use it for models you no longer service. Entries cannot be deleted.
The booking app only lists entries that have a service type linked to them (System Settings > Service types).
Linking spare parts to devices
If your account uses device-linked part suggestions, you can attach parts to any entry, and they are suggested on repairs for every device under it. An Apple-wide part is attached to the Apple entry; a part for one model to that model's entry.
- System Settings > Product Lists: filter by an entry, click Attach products, tick the parts and click Attach.
- On a product's edit form: Devices this product is offered for.
- In bulk: the products import (
deviceCatalogueIdscolumn).
If you do not see Product Lists in System Settings, contact Fixably Support to ask about device-linked part suggestions.
Typical setups
A store that repairs one brand
For example an Apple-only store in Austin with an iPhone queue, an iPad queue and a Mac queue. Set each queue on the sub-category entries (Apple › Phone › iPhone, Apple › Tablet › iPad, and so on), or on the category entries if one queue covers several sub-categories. Add models as new ones come out; they route automatically.
A repair shop that handles many brands
For example a multi-brand shop in Dallas with a Phones queue and a Computers queue. Set the queues on the category entry under each brand (Samsung › Phone, Google › Phone, and so on). Categories belong to a brand, so a queue on Apple › Phone does not cover Samsung phones. Hide brands you do not service from the portal and booking app with the visibility page.
A depot or high-volume service center
Load your full model list with the import (see Importing and exporting the Device Catalogue), including model codes as features where your manifests or order imports identify devices by model code. Keep queues on the higher levels and give individual models their own queue only where the work really differs.
What the Device Catalogue does not do
- Entries cannot be deleted. Take an entry out of use, or hide it from customers, instead.
- An entry has one queue. Leaving the queue empty is not a way to say "do not route": the entry then uses the level above, your older device types, or the default queue.
- Two brands (or two levels) cannot be merged by you. If you have duplicates, contact Fixably Support.
- Routing does not look at features. Two variants of one model use the queue of the plain model entry unless a variant has its own queue and the device is filed on that variant.
Troubleshooting
| What you see | Why, and what to do |
|---|---|
| Device Catalogue is missing from System Settings | Your account has not been moved to the Device Catalogue yet, or your role lacks Manage device catalogue. |
| Repairs go to the wrong queue, or to the default queue | Check the Queue column for the device's entry. Default queue means no level above it has a queue: set one. A queue shown as (Disabled) is skipped. |
| "A catalogue entry with this exact combination and the same features already exists" | Another entry has the same levels and features. Edit that entry, or change a feature value to add a separate variant. |
| A brand is missing from the Brand list | It may be out of use. Put it back in use on the visibility page rather than typing it again with a different spelling. |
| A model is not offered to customers | A level above it is hidden (the row says Hidden by), it is out of use, or, for the booking app, no service type is linked to it. |
| Customers still see a model I hid | Your portal or booking app may still list the older device types. Contact Fixably Support. |