# Set up a branch and a distributor

Create a branch, which brings its own warehouses and cash journal, then a distributor who works for it, with the user and the password he signs in with on the road.

A branch is the place the stock leaves from and the cash comes back to; a distributor is the person who drives the goods to the shops. Both are created from the configuration menu, and each one creates on saving what it needs to work.

## Before you start {#before-you-start}

- You need the **Distributor Manager** access right on **Distributors**.
- The cash accounts of [Distributors settings](distributors-settings) must be set; installation fills them. A distributor cannot be saved while the **Distributor Cash Default Account** is empty.

## Create the branch {#branch}

1. Open **Distributors/Configuration/Branches** and click **New**.
2. Type the branch **Name** and a **Short Code**, such as HRB. The short code is shown on the branches list and cards.

![A new branch needs only a name and a short code.](https://jaah.app/web/image/9708-ca0aa562/distributors-branch-and-distributor-branch_new-en.png)

3. Click **Save manually**. The branch gets at once:
   - two warehouses named after it: "Main" for the stock to hand out and "Returns" for what comes back;
   - an analytic account under the **Branches** plan;
   - a **Branch Cash Journal** on a cash account of its own, numbered after the **Branch Cash Default Account** of the settings. It receives the cash of the closings.

![On saving, the branch gets its two warehouses, an analytic account and a cash journal.](https://jaah.app/web/image/9712-d391da8a/distributors-branch-and-distributor-branch_saved-en.png)

The buttons **Main WH**, **Returns WH** and **Analytic** open them. The **Actions** menu of the branch offers **Record Production**, **Internal Transfer** and **Record Scrap**; [Add products and stock a branch](add-products-and-stock-a-branch) uses the first one.

## Create the distributor {#distributor}

1. Open **Distributors/Configuration/Distributors** and click **New**.
2. Type the **Name**, choose the **Branch**, and give the **Phone** and the **Email**. The phone is checked and written in international form for the **Country**. The email becomes the login of the distributor's user: saving without it stops with a message.
3. The **Expense Officer**, who approves his expenses, comes from the settings; choose another user if someone else reviews them.

![The distributor with the branch he works for; the email becomes his login.](https://jaah.app/web/image/9716-5a6b0e39/distributors-branch-and-distributor-distributor_new-en.png)

4. Click **Save manually**. The distributor gets his own Sale and Returns warehouses, an analytic account under the **Distributors** plan, a **Cash Journal** on a cash account of his own (its balance is the cash he holds), and a **User** with the **Distributor** access right.

![The saved distributor with his warehouses, cash journal and user.](https://jaah.app/web/image/9720-2f31a5ff/distributors-branch-and-distributor-distributor_saved-en.png)

## Set his password {#password}

1. Open the **Actions** menu and choose **Set Password**.
2. Type the **New Password**, the same again in **Confirm Password** (four characters at least), and click **Set Password**.

![The password the distributor will sign in with, typed twice.](https://jaah.app/web/image/9724-95350c6b/distributors-branch-and-distributor-set_password-en.png)

On a phone, the dialog opens full screen with the same fields and buttons.

The distributor signs in with his email and that password. He sees **Distribution** and **Expenses** only, and in them only his own records.

## FAQ {#faq}

### Saving the distributor stops and asks for an email. {#email}

The distributor's user is created when he is saved, and the email is its login. Fill the **Email**; two distributors of the same company cannot share one.

### What does renaming a branch or a distributor change? {#rename}

Its warehouses, analytic account, cash journal and cash account take the new name, and so does a distributor's user.

### Can I delete a branch or a distributor? {#delete}

A branch with distributors or stock moves, or a distributor with openings, distributions, expenses, closings or stock moves, is archived instead; a distributor's warehouses are archived with him, a branch's stay active. One without any history is deleted with what was created for it, and a distributor's user is archived.

### The distributor has no user. {#no-user}

When his user was not created, the **Actions** menu of the distributor offers **Create User**, which creates it from his email.

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- Source: https://jaah.app/docs/distributors/set-up-a-branch-and-a-distributor
- Updated: 2026-10-23
- Version: Distributors 19.0.1.1.0
- Verified: 2026-10-23