How to Copy Items in Business Central – The Smarter Way to Create New Inventory Records

Managing a growing product catalog can be time-consuming, especially when you need to add items that are similar to existing ones. Luckily, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central offers a simple, yet powerful feature called Copy Item that helps you duplicate an existing item’s setup with just a few clicks.

Instead of manually entering all the details — Units of measure, posting groups, costing methods, and pricing — you can use the Copy Item function to save time and reduce errors.

 Why Use “Copy Item”?

The Copy Item function is ideal when:

• You have new products that are variations of existing ones (like size or color changes).

• You want to maintain consistent configurations for costing, posting, or planning setup.

• You want to reduce manual data entry and ensure accuracy across similar items.

Step-by-Step: How to Copy an Item

In Business Central, open the Search bar and type Items. Select the Items page from the results.

Select the item you want to use as the base. From the Actions menu, go to Home → Copy Item.

A dialog box will open asking for details of the new item. Fill in the fields. Hover over a field to read a short description.

Note: You can enter a specific item number in the Target Item No. field that you want the new item to get. Alternatively, you can select an existing number series in the Target No. Series field. The new item will then be assigned the next available number in that number series.

Copy All Information: Enable this option to copy all details from the source item to the new item.

If you don’t want to copy certain data to the new item, then keep the field set to False. Once you’ve made your selections, click OK to copy them to the new item.

Here, you can see that the copied item has been created.

Example Scenario

Imagine you sell LED bulbs and already have an item called LED-9W-CoolWhite.
Now you want to create LED-12W-CoolWhite, which shares the same posting setup, vendor, and costing method.

Instead of creating a new item from scratch:

• You open the 9W bulb’s item card.
• Choose Copy Item.
• Enter LED-12W-CoolWhite as the new number.
• Keep all the configurations the same,but change only the wattage in the description.
  Done! Your new item is ready in seconds.