How to retire a box

Use this when a physical box is being taken out of service — emptied out and gone, repurposed for something else, or thrown away. Retiring marks the label as no longer in active use: scanning the QR code shows a friendly “retired” notice instead of a contents list, and the box stops showing up in the default catalog view. The box's history stays in the audit log so it's still traceable.

Don't retire if the box is staying in service. Three flows look similar and aren't:

• Damaged sticker but the box itself is fine — use the replace-a-damaged-label flow instead. Retiring this box and assigning a fresh one would split the box's history across two records.
• Box has been moved to a new shelf — just update the box's Location field on the edit page. The box stays in service.
• Box's contents are changing — same answer: edit the items list. Retire only when the physical box itself is going away.

If the box's items are being redistributed to other boxes, do that work first: assign or update the destination boxes so the items are tracked under their new homes. Then come back here and retire the now-empty box.

What you'll need. Access to the Box Tracker editor (the link the church gave you), a desktop or laptop, and the box ID or name so you can find the box in the system.

Step 1: Find the box in the catalog and open its edit page. On the home page, click Browse catalog of boxes. Scroll, or use your browser's find-on-page (Ctrl-F on Windows, Cmd-F on Mac) to jump to the right entry. Click the box to open its edit page. (If you'd rather look the box up by name or contents first, see the find-the-box section of how to enter or change the contents of a box — the same options apply here.)

Step 2: Scroll to the bottom of the edit page. Below the items list and the Add a new item form, there's a separate section with an orange-bordered Retire this box button.

Step 3: Click Retire this box. A confirmation dialog appears that re-states what's about to happen — the box name and the consequences. Read it, and if it's right, confirm.

What happens next. The page reloads to a “Box retired” confirmation with the box name. From there you can head back to the catalog or the home page.

After retirement. Anyone scanning the QR code will see a “retired box” notice (with a friendly explanation, not an error). The box no longer appears in the default catalog view — you can still find it via the catalog's Retired or All filters. The audit log retains the box's whole history.

Removing the physical sticker. Optional. The system handles a scan of a retired label gracefully, so there's no harm in leaving the sticker on a box that's been emptied out. If the box has been thrown away, the sticker goes with it; if the box is being repurposed for something else, peeling the sticker off avoids later confusion. Use your judgment.