Code prefixes: when the customer writes the code without the prefix

Where to find it

In your account menu, under Order reading, Reading rules tab, on the Code prefixes card.

What code prefixes are for

Code prefixes let Dri find the product when the customer writes only the number. Many catalogs register products with a prefix (DV8020, CD8020), and many customers write only the number: they ask for "8020" in a message, in a photo of a list or in a spreadsheet. Without help, the row may end up as "code not found".

With DV configured, an 8020 that doesn't exist in the catalog is also searched as DV8020. If DV8020 exists, the quote row is built with it. In a price and stock lookup in the conversation, Dri shows the product and says that she didn't find the exact code and found DV8020 through the registered prefix.

Use it when your catalog has fixed prefixes and customers tend to leave them out. If your codes have no prefix, leave the list empty: the card says that no prefix is configured, and the search doesn't try any prefix.

How to register code prefixes

1. Open Order reading, Reading rules tab, and find the Code prefixes card.
2. Type the prefix in the field (e.g. DV) and click Add, or press Enter. The prefix becomes a tag in the list.
3. Repeat for each prefix. To remove one, click the tag's x.
4. Click Save. The Prefixes saved message confirms it.

Nothing changes until you click Save: adding and removing tags only changes the screen's draft.

The rules for a prefix:

• up to 12 characters, among letters, numbers and the separators period, underscore, hyphen and slash;
• at least one letter: a numbers-only prefix is rejected;
• at most 10 prefixes;
• lowercase letters become uppercase, and duplicates are discarded.

Prefixes apply to the whole organization

The code prefix list belongs to the organization, not to the store selected in the hub's selector. Any store you choose shows and edits the same list, and each registered prefix is tested against the catalog of every store.

In practice: if store A uses FJ and store B uses DV, register both just once. An FJ8020 simply doesn't exist in store B's catalog, so the other store's prefix doesn't get in the way.

When the prefix kicks in

Four safeguards keep the prefix from swapping products:

1. It is tried only after the normal search has failed. No code that matches today starts pointing to another product.
2. A one-character code isn't expanded: it wouldn't identify anything.
3. If more than one prefix matches (for example, DV8020 and FJ8020 exist in both stores), the row becomes a question with the options for the seller to choose, never a silent guess.
4. If the code, as the customer wrote it, really exists on an active product of another store in the organization, the prefix isn't applied. In a single-store quote, the row becomes a question between the two products, instead of silently becoming another real product. See Como a Dri encontra o produto que o cliente pediu.

What the prefix doesn't fix

The prefix only adds the registered letters in front of what the customer wrote. It doesn't swap, remove or correct letters:

• Wrong or extra letters: with F registered, 0189 is tried as F0189. But the prefix doesn't turn JF0189 into F0189: it tries FJF0189, which doesn't exist.
• Space in the middle of the code: in a lookup in the conversation, AB 10070, with a space, isn't treated as a code, and the prefix doesn't kick in. Written together, AB10070, or just 10070, works.
• Word in front of the code: in a lookup in the conversation, reference 10070 isn't treated as a code either. Send only the code.

In these cases, what works is sending only the numbers, or the whole code exactly as it is in the catalog. For the seller, tips on how to write the code are in Consultar preço e estoque pelo WhatsApp.

With no prefix registered, the search still tries the fragment

When no prefix resolves it, the search still looks for codes that contain the number the customer wrote. This is the fragment rescue, and it works even with no prefix registered: 21465 is a piece of CD21465.

The difference from the prefix is what happens next:

• In a lookup in the conversation, Dri shows the product, saying "This one contains that fragment:". With several, she lists the codes that contain the fragment.
• In a quote, the fragment never builds the row on its own: the row becomes an open question with the suggestions, none of them chosen, and the seller chooses.
• A fragment that appears in many products isn't suggested: it wouldn't identify anything.

The prefix is still worth it: it is a rule you declared, and so it builds the quote row directly when only one product matches. The fragment only suggests.

When it goes wrong

"I registered the prefix and the code is still not found." Check that you clicked Save, that the code with the prefix really exists in the catalog (search DV8020 in the product list) and that the product is active.

"The screen rejected the prefix." The rejection shows up when you click Save, and the message says why: a prefix with no letter, or with a character other than letters, numbers, period, underscore, hyphen and slash. The field doesn't accept more than 12 characters, and the Add button is disabled when the list already has 10 prefixes.

"The row became a question instead of being built." Two prefixes formed codes that exist, or the code without a prefix is the code of a product in another store of the organization. It's on purpose: choose the right product on the row.

"The seller wrote the wrong letters and nothing was found." The prefix doesn't correct letters, it only adds the ones you registered. Ask them to send only the numbers, or the whole code exactly as it is in the catalog.

"Without the prefix registered, Dri found the product anyway." That was the fragment rescue: the number was a piece of a product's code. In the conversation she shows the product saying the code wasn't exact; in a quote she suggests, and the seller chooses.

Common questions

Do I need to register the prefix in each store? No. The list belongs to the whole organization and applies to the catalog of every store, whatever store is in the selector.

Can the prefix make a code that already works point to another product? No. It is tried only after the normal search has failed, and it isn't applied when the written code already belongs to a product in another store of the organization.

Does the prefix correct mistyped letters? No. It only adds the registered letters in front of what the customer wrote. With wrong letters, the way out is sending only the numbers.

If the search already finds it by the fragment, why register the prefix? Because the fragment only suggests, and the seller has to choose on each row. The prefix is your rule: when only one product matches, the quote row comes out already built.