Getting onboard with FLUICS CONNECT

This is the hero of our story – your sample, your reagent, that special buffer you concocted. It’s the fundamental thing you want to track. You can give it a name (up to 3 lines, fitting neatly on a label!), note its storage date, and assign an owner (that’s probably you!). Want to remember what it looks like or where you got it? Attach photos or documents! Need to jot down its pH or concentration? Add custom Properties! You can even write comments. Every Item gets a unique identity, often represented by a scannable QR code label, but it can also live virtually in the app without a physical sticker.

⚡ Quick Item Power-Up! ⚡ In a rush? Create a Quick Item! The app cleverly uses the current time as its name, assigns you as the owner, and sets today as the storage date. Perfect for speedy entries – you can always edit the details later!

Watch: How to add an item

Where do your Items live? In Locations, of course! Think of them like folders on a computer, or better yet, shelves, drawers, boxes, or even specific spots in your freezer. Locations can hold Items and other Locations (we call those sublocations – nested as deep as you need!). Give your Location a clear name, maybe snap a photo so you instantly recognize that shelf, add a description, and even print a QR code label for the location itself to make moving things around super easy with a quick scan.

Watch: How to add a location
Watch: How to move locations (including items and sublocations)

Lost track of an item or want to know what is stored in your lab? The digital text search helps you find it fast! Search by name, owner, properties—or even an image. It’s your go-to tool for locating Items, Locations, and Series across your lab in seconds.

Can’t remember the name but know what it looked like? No problem—search by image to visually track down your target.

Watch: How to use text search
Watch: How to search for images

Just because an Item is gone from the freezer doesn’t mean it’s gone forever! In FLUICS CONNECT, nothing is ever truly deleted—it’s archived. Think of archiving as sending an Item, Location, or Series into a magical vault: it’s out of your daily view, but always safe and retrievable.

Need to troubleshoot an experiment? Or show records during an audit? Just unarchive with a tap, and the data returns—photos, properties, comments, and all. Every action is logged, so you have full traceability. The Archive Vault is your lab’s memory—reliable, intact, and ready when needed.

Watch: How to archive and restore items
Watch: Bulk archiving of multiple items

While FLUICS CONNECT is incredibly flexible, FREE workspaces might have some boundaries. But don’t let that worry you! These limits usually don’t affect normal use, and the friendly FLUICS team (hello!) is often happy to increase them for specific projects if you just reach out.

Oh yes, you can connect a special FLUICS Online Label Printer to print those durable, QR-coded labels directly from the app or web browser. But even without a printer, the app is a powerful tool for tracking everything virtually!

Watch: How to print labels

First things first, if you haven’t already, find “FLUICS CONNECT” in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store and install it.

Open the app. You’ll be guided through a quick registration – you’ll just need your trusty email address. This email is your key to your digital lab.

Think of a Workspace as your main digital laboratory space. It’s where all your tracked Items, Locations, and data will live.

Follow the prompts to create your very first Workspace. The great news? Your initial Workspace starts on the FREE plan, perfect for getting your feet wet! Give it a name that makes sense to you, perhaps “My Research HQ” or your lab’s name.

You’re now standing in your brand new, empty digital lab! Where to begin? A good starting point is often creating your first Location.

Look for the “Add New” button ( ‘+’ icon). Choose to add a Location. Maybe start simple, like “My Main Bench” or “Fridge Shelf 1”. This gives your future Items a place to call home.

Now’s the time to explore! Try creating your first Item (perhaps that reagent bottle right in front of you?). Or maybe create a Quick Item just to see how fast it is.

Poke around the different sections – you’ll likely see areas for Inventory, Locations, maybe an Activity feed. Don’t worry about breaking anything; you’re just exploring your own space.

As you use the app, you might notice mentions of PRO features or limits on the FREE plan. Remember, these limits are usually quite generous for starting out. If you ever feel constrained or want features like connecting a printer, you can always explore upgrading your Workspace later or reach out to the FLUICS team.

💫 You’ve successfully established your base camp! From here, you can start labeling items (even virtually without a printer!), adding more locations, and bringing order to your inventory, one scan or entry at a time. Welcome aboard!

You should have received an email invitation to join the Workspace – it’s your key to getting started!

Click the link or scan the QR code using your phone: This will usually open the FLUICS CONNECT app directly (or prompt you to download it from the App Store/Google Play if you haven’t already).

The app will now recognize you’re responding to an invitation. It will likely show the email address the invite was sent to. Confirm this is the correct email address you want to use for your FLUICS CONNECT account, or enter the one you prefer if prompted.

Verification is Key: To make sure it’s really you, the system will need to verify your email. You’ll receive another email with a PIN code. Once your email is verified, you’ll be officially added to your team’s Workspace.

Your Initials Matter: The first time you set up your profile, you are asked for your initials. These get printed on labels to show who owns or created an item – make sure they’re correct!

Welcome to the team! You now have access to the shared inventory database. Everyone sees the same Items and Locations in real-time.

Explore: Take a look around! Browse the existing Items and Locations your team has already set up. See how things are organized.

Scan Power: Grab your phone, find an item with a FLUICS QR code label in the lab, and use the app’s scan button. Zap the code – you’ll instantly see its details! This is how you’ll quickly identify things and update their status or location.

Label Printing: When you create items or need a label for a location, you’ll have the option to print. The app will likely show you the available lab printers.

Sharing is Caring: Remember, you’re in a shared workspace now – updates you make (like moving items) are instantly seen by your teammates! Collaboration keeps everything accurate.

Your lab probably has a designated Team Admin who manages the Workspace – they’re a great first point of contact for questions specific to your lab’s setup.

You can also always reach out to the main FLUICS support team if you get stuck.

Beyond the basic name and date, Properties let you capture specific details about your Items. Think concentration, pH, batch number, supplier, expiry date, or even a status like “Needs Reordering”.

How? When viewing an Item (or Series), look for the option “Add Property”. You’ll give it a name (like “Expiry Date”) and then input the value.

Data Flavors: The app is smart! It often understands if you’re entering text, a number, a date, or maybe choosing from a predefined list (your Team Admin might set these up). This makes tracking and searching even more powerful.

Use Case: No more squinting at faded labels! Add an “Expiry Date” property. Later, you can easily search for all items expiring soon. Track “Amount Left” as a number property to know when to reorder.

Do you often create similar Items or batches (Series)? Save yourself clicks with Templates!

How? Set up an Item or Series exactly how you want it (with all its standard Properties). Then, look for the option “Use as Template”.

Next time you need a similar entry, choose “Create from Template”. Select your saved template, and poof! – a new Item/Series appears, pre-filled with the template’s details. Just tweak any specifics (like the batch number or date) and you’re done!

Use Case: Preparing weekly batches of a standard buffer? Create it once, save it as a template, and whip up new digital entries in seconds each week.

Watch: Add, use and edit templates of items and locations

Remember how tedious stocktaking used to be? Say goodbye to that! Bulk Scan is your superpower for updating many items at once, especially their location.

The Flow:

1. Go to the physical spot you’re auditing (e.g. Freezer Box C4).

2. In the app, tap and drag the regular scan button to reveal Bulk Scan.

3. Rapidly scan the QR codes on all the items in that box. Each scan builds a temporary batch.

4. Next, scan the Location label (Box C4’s QR code) to tell the app “these items belong here.”

5. Hit Confirm—and tap on the move location button.

5. Select or scan the location and voilà, every item in your batch jumps to Box C4 in one go.

Use Case: Updating the location of everything in a drawer after rearranging? Perfect. Doing that dreaded annual inventory? Bulk Scan turns hours into minutes! Just scan the location, zap everything inside, confirm. Move to the next location. Magic!

Let FLUICS CONNECT be your proactive lab assistant! Set up Subscriptions (think: automated alerts) based on rules you define.

How? Explore the “Subscriptions” area (maybe in the main menu or settings). You can create rules tied to Properties.

Examples:

• “Notify me when the ‘Amount Left’ Property on any Item drops below 10 (units).”

• “Remind me 7 days before the ‘Expiry Date’ Property on any Item.”

Use Case: Never accidentally run out of a critical reagent again! Get timely reminders for calibration dates or safety checks. Let the app watch the details so you can focus on the science.

Got mountains of old inventory data in spreadsheets? No sweat! You can bring it into FLUICS CONNECT with only a few clicks by using the Excel Import feature.

Need data out? Use the Export function to get a spreadsheet of your current inventory. Great for generating reports, offline analysis, or backups.

The Share function allows you to create a shareable link to specific inventory items, which can be sent to colleagues. Easily distribute inventory information through Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, Slack, or email.

Use Case: Need a list of all chemicals for a safety audit? Export your inventory and filter the spreadsheet.

Watch: Export inventory data
Watch: Share (mulitple) weblinks of items or locations

Full Change History: Every add, edit, move or delete shows up in a chronological log—who did it, when, and what changed.

User & Timestamp: See exact usernames and ISO‑style timestamps (e.g. 2025‑04‑20 14:32:05) for total transparency.

Use Case: Need to prove compliance for an audit or just troubleshoot your experiments? Dive in to the Activity Log to show every step of your inventory’s lifecycle.

Watch: Review item activity

Add admin, change email and leave workspaceAdmin Powers: If you’re a Team Admin, you have extra controls. You can manage user roles (who can do what), potentially customize available property lists, and generally oversee the Workspace settings to keep things running smoothly for everyone.

Macros: Imagine performing a sequence of actions (like creating an item, adding three specific properties with default values, and setting its location) just by scanning one special QR code. That’s the power of Macros! Setting these up is advanced stuff – the FLUICS team can help you craft these automation spells if you have a specific workflow in mind.

API & Integrations: Tap into our RESTful API to programmatically query, create, update or delete Items, Locations, Properties and more. Use your API key for batch calls and connect FLUICS to LIMS, ERPs, or custom dashboards for fully automated workflows.

💫 You’re now equipped with the advanced knowledge to truly streamline your lab work with FLUICS CONNECT. Play around with these features, see how they fit your specific workflows, and don’t hesitate to experiment. The more you integrate these tools, the more time you’ll save for the discoveries that matter!

Watch: Invite team members
Watch: Change permissions
Watch: Customize workspace image
Watch: Customize workspace name
Watch: Customize printer info
Watch: Add admin, change email and leave workspace
Watch: View app version
Watch: Switch between workspaces