Locations
Add shop locations and branches, set the default, and use the location switcher in the header.
Do this when your business runs more than one branch, yard, or service-truck base. Each location keeps its own inventory counts, orders, and books, and a switcher appears in the header once you have two or more. A single-location shop never has to touch this page.
Open Settings → Locations. Only owners and managers can open Settings. The page lists your locations, with the default one marked by a star and an Orders count on each row.
Add a location
Click Add Location. A blank row (or a card on a phone) opens for the new location's details.
Enter a Name and CODE. Both are required. The CODE is a short tag — MAIN, TRUCK1, NORTH — and it's what shows in the header switcher, so keep it tight. Codes are forced to uppercase and capped at 10 characters.
Add the Address, City, ST, and Phone. These are optional and are just for your own reference on this list.
Check Default if this is your home base. The default location is where new records — orders, parts, employees — start from. Every shop keeps exactly one default; checking it here clears the star on the previous default.
Save the row. Click the green check (or Save on a phone). The location appears in the list right away. To change one later, use the pencil icon; to remove one, use the trash icon.
Switch which location you're viewing
Once you have two or more active locations, a location switcher appears in the header on every page. Use it to focus the whole app — stock counts, lists, reports, and exports — on one location at a time.
Find the switcher in the header. With two to five locations it's a row of pills, each showing a location's CODE. With six or more it becomes a dropdown that lists each location as CODE — Name.
Click a location to focus on it. The page reloads showing just that location's numbers. Your choice sticks as you move around the app until you change it again.
Click All (or "All locations") for a combined view. This rolls every location's numbers into one — the right choice for a whole-business snapshot.
What happens behind the scenes
Each location holds its own inventory counts and its own orders, so the same part can show a different on-hand quantity at MAIN and at TRUCK1. New records are created against the default location unless you've switched the header to another one first. When you pick a location in the switcher, Meridian remembers it for you across pages; All locations simply sums every location together for display. Retiring a location is deliberately gentle — a location that has order history is kept as (inactive) so its past orders and reports stay intact, rather than being erased.
Troubleshooting
The switcher only appears when you have two or more active locations. A single-location shop has nothing to switch between, so the header stays clean. Add a second location and it shows up.
Two rules protect your history. The default location can't be deleted — edit another location and check Default first, then delete the old one. And a location that already has orders is deactivated (shown as (inactive) and kept for reporting) instead of being fully removed.
Codes are automatically uppercased and limited to 10 characters, because the header switcher shows the CODE in a small space. Use something short and recognizable like MAIN or TRUCK2.
New records start from whichever location is marked Default (unless you've switched the header to a specific location). Edit the location you want as home base and check Default — the star moves to it.