An item variant is a version of an existing item, for example a colour or a size, that shares the item number but whose stock is tracked separately.
An item variant is a code attached to an item that distinguishes versions of the same product without creating a new item number. Colour, size and finish are the usual cases. Quantities, item ledger entries and stockkeeping units are kept per variant, so stock of item 1928-S in black is separate from stock of 1928-S in grey, while unit of measure and posting groups come from the item itself. The variant carries its own description, and Business Central copies it onto the document line when you enter the variant code.
Search Items with Alt+Q, open the item card and use the action that opens the variants of that item. A variant record is essentially a code and a description. Once it exists, the variant code field can be filled on sales and purchase lines, on item journal lines, on transfer orders and on stockkeeping units, and it appears as a column on item ledger entries.
Item 1928-S is an office chair sold in two colours, so you create the variants BLACK and GREY. A purchase order line for 20 pieces of 1928-S with variant BLACK, received at location BLUE on 03.03.2026, creates an item ledger entry for the black variant only. A customer ordering GREY on 12.03.2026 will not consume that stock, while a stock figure for 1928-S without a variant filter still shows 20 because it covers both variants.
The frequent mistake is a variant code left empty on a document line: the posting goes through, the quantity lands under a blank variant, and it never matches the variant stock people are looking at. Cost is the second: variants share the item's unit cost and, unless the average cost calculation type includes the variant, they share the average cost too, so a fabric chair and a leather version that costs twice as much should not be variants of the same item. Finally, a variant with posted entries cannot simply be deleted, so agree the coding scheme before creating hundreds of them.
Keep variant codes short and consistent across the catalogue, because they are typed on order lines and grouped in reports; a mixture of BLACK, BLK and NOIR makes analysis impossible later. For a large assortment, load variants with a configuration package instead of by hand, and if you replenish per colour and per warehouse, create stockkeeping units per item, location and variant so planning works at the level you actually buy.
A variant shares the item number, posting groups and unit cost, and it separates only stock and entries. It does keep its own description, which Business Central copies onto the document line when you select the variant. Create a separate item when price, cost, unit of measure or accounting really differ.
Yes. Existing entries keep a blank variant code, so decide whether to move that stock onto a variant with an item reclassification journal or to let it run out.
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