Manage item details settings
About item details settings
The item details screen is where you configure items at checkout — selecting variations, choosing modifiers, adjusting quantities, and adding notes.
You can control how quickly items are added to your cart by adjusting per-item settings. For items with variations, you can have the first variation automatically preselected to speed up order entry — or require manual selection for more control. These settings let you balance speed and accuracy based on your workflow.
Per-item settings apply globally across all your devices. Separately, the item details screen also has profile-level visibility controls, see the section Item details screen settings below.
Before you begin
You need the Square Point of Sale app on iOS or Android, Square Register, Square Terminal, or Square Handheld.
Your device must be running the latest version of the Square Point of Sale app.
Item details settings are available for standard, services, retail, and F&B modes.
Manage item details settings per item
From Square Dashboard, go to Items & Services > Items > Item library and select an item.
Scroll to Manage Checkout.
Toggle Skip customization when possible on or off.
Toggle Automatically select first item variation on POS on to preselect the first variation by default.
When Skip customization when possible is enabled, customization screens (variations, modifiers, seat selection, etc.) are only shown when a selection is required. Once all required selections are made, the item is automatically added to the cart.
Change the default settings for new items
You can choose whether Skip customization when possible is enabled by default for newly created items. This setting applies to new items created in the catalog only. It does not change the setting for existing items.
From Square Dashboard, go to Items & Services > Items > Item library.
Select Settings > Item Defaults > Point of sale behavior.
Toggle Skip customization when possible on POS on or off.
Configure item details screen settings
You can control which options appear on the item details screen at checkout. Five visibility controls are available, each showing or hiding one option: item notes, fulfillment methods, taxes, discounts, and service charges. All five options are shown by default. These settings are set on the profile a device uses, so they can differ across devices. To view and configure these settings:
Open the Square POS app and tap More > Checkout > Order Entry.
Select or toggle on/off your preferred item editing details.
Hiding an option changes only what the item details screen displays. It does not turn off taxes, discounts, or service charges, does not change totals, and does not delete saved data.
When item notes are hidden, empty optional note fields are not shown. Any existing notes remain visible as read-only and are never cleared. Notes required by checkout, such as custom-amount descriptions, always appear, regardless of this setting.