Skip to main content

Vendor Types

Required Permission
Company Setup - You must have the Company Setup permission to access this setting.

Manage the list of vendor trade categories your company assigns to vendors.

Overview​

Vendor Types are the trade categories you assign to vendor contacts — Electrical, Plumbing, Roofing, and so on. Each company maintains its own list, so you can add the trades specific to your business and remove the ones you never use.

Adding, renaming, and deleting vendor types also requires the Manage Drop Downs permission. Without it you can view the list but not change it.

Accessing This Setting​

  1. Go to Settings > Vendor Types

Configuration Options​

Adding a Vendor Type​

  1. Select Add Vendor Type
  2. Enter the Name — the trade category as you want it to appear in vendor dropdowns
  3. Select Add Vendor Type to save

Names must be unique within your company. If you enter a name that already exists, you'll see a validation message and the type won't be created. The same name can exist in other companies without conflict.

Editing a Vendor Type​

  1. Select the vendor type's name, or the edit icon on its row
  2. Change the Name
  3. Select Save

Renaming a vendor type updates it everywhere it's used. Vendors keep their assignment — only the label changes.

Deleting a Vendor Type​

Select the vendor type, then the delete icon. What happens next depends on whether the type is in use:

  • Not assigned to any vendor — it's deleted immediately after you confirm.
  • Assigned to one or more vendors — you'll be asked to choose a replacement vendor type. Those vendors are moved onto the replacement, so none of them is left without a trade category.
  • Assigned to vendors, and it's the only type you have — there is nothing to reassign to, so you'll be asked to confirm removing the type from those vendors outright.

If a vendor is already assigned both the type you're deleting and the replacement you chose, the two assignments merge into one. That vendor ends up with the replacement type listed once, not twice.

Finding a Vendor Type​

Use the search box to filter the list by name. Long lists are paginated.

Using Vendor Types​

Vendor types appear throughout the vendor workflow:

  • On the vendor's contact record, under Company Information
  • As the Vendor Type filter and column on the Vendors tab of Contacts
  • In the Vendor Type(s) column of a contact export
  • As an option source for custom fields configured to use vendor types

Only your own company's vendor types appear in any of these places.

note

Vendor Types are different from Vendor Classification. Classification is a fixed list (Supplier, Subcontractor, Professional, Rental, Utility, Other) that describes the vendor's business relationship to you and cannot be edited. Vendor Types are the trade categories on this page, which you control.