A freezer box with 81 positions is one storage location, but "in box 3" is not much help when you are standing at an open freezer with cold hands. A grid box turns that location into numbered slots, so each item records the exact position it occupies.
Use it for anything laid out in a grid: cryo boxes, tube racks, well plates, sectioned drawers.
Turn a location into a grid box
You do this when creating the location, or later by editing it.
- Go to Storage and either click Add Location, or open an existing location and click Edit Location.
- Turn on Grid box. The help text describes it as storing items in numbered slots, like a freezer box or rack.
- Enter Rows and Columns.
- Save.
Set both or neither. If you fill in one and leave the other empty, the form rejects it. That is the only validation rule specific to grids.
Match the numbers to the physical box. A 9 by 9 cryo box is 9 rows and 9 columns, giving 81 slots.
Put an item into a slot
Once a location is a grid box, moving an item into it asks which slot.
- Open the item from the Inventory page.
- Under Actions, choose Move Location.
- Pick the grid box as the New Location.
- A Box position picker appears. Pick an open slot.
- Click Move.
The picker guides you in two steps: first choose a row, then choose a column. It shows which slots are already Occupied, and confirms your Selected slot once you pick one.
One item per slot. If you pick a slot that is already taken, the picker tells you it is occupied and asks you to choose another. It will not let two items claim the same position.
Which locations should be grid boxes
Make it a grid box when the physical thing has fixed, addressable positions and you want to find an individual item without unpacking it.
Do not make a shelf or a whole freezer a grid box. Those are containers for other locations, and what you want there is nesting rather than slots. A freezer holds racks, a rack holds boxes, and the box is the grid. See Create a storage location for nesting.
Changing a grid after items are in it
Editing rows and columns is possible, but think before shrinking a grid that already has items in occupied positions near the edge. Move those items out first, then resize, then put them back where they belong. The safe order is always to empty the slots you are about to remove.
Finding what is in a box
Open the grid box location from the Storage page. Its Contents section lists what is stored there, including anything in its sub-locations.
A grid box is an ordinary storage location with slots switched on, so Create a storage location covers everything else about building one, and Personal, group and lab covers who can see inside it. Boxes are where samples usually end up, which is why samples sit in the same inventory as everything else.