Requirements
VOShoppingList 2.55+

Links
VOS Homepage
VOShoppingList Product Page

Before adding items to your list, you should set the current "Category" of items.  Generally this will be a type of store (Grocery, Drug Store, Clothing) but you can call it anything you want.  By default, it will be set to "All Items" as shown below.  Once you have set up your categories, all you have to do is tap on the category pop up to quickly change between them.  Items can be in more than one category, so "Aspirin" can appear in both the "Grocery" and "Drug Store" lists.

1. Let's create some categories to get started.  Tap on "List...Categories" in the menu as shown below

2. You will now be looking at the Category/Store list.  This will of course vary depending on your own needs and the names of stores near you.  For this example, we have already created 5 categories as shown below

3. If your list is blank, that's not a problem at this point, just create categories that make sense for you.  We want to add a category called "Clothing" so enter "Clothing" in the box left of the Add Button then push the Add button to add it to the list.  Your list should now look like this:

4. Click the OK button to finish editing categories.  You will go back to the list.

5. Click on the Category pop-up menu to see a list of available categories

6. Tap on the "Clothing" category we just created.  You will now see only items in the "Clothing" category (we haven't created any yet so the list will still be empty)

7. Click on any blank line in the list to add an item to the list.  You can always do this to quickly add new items to your list.  You will see the following screen:

8. Notice that the current category we were viewing when we created the item (Clothing) is already checked.  You can check off any of the categories you want this item to appear in, so if this particular item is also available in another store, this is where you set the categories for the item.

9. Enter "Jeans for Jr." in the name field

10. Click on the arrow on the right side of the price field to pop up a list of common prices.  Enter 25 for the price either by typing it in or selecting it from the pop up list.

11. Set Quantity to 2 by clicking the up arrow right of the Quantity field.

12. Leave "Clothing" checked, but also check "Sam's Club" and "Super Target" since both of them also sell children's jeans.  Your screen should now look like this:

13. Click the OK button in the upper right of the screen to add the item to the list.  Your list should look like this:

14. Note that since our Quantity is set to 2, and each pair of jeans costs an estimated $25, the price for that line is $50.  Note also that at the bottom of the screen you see the text "Total $0.00 of $50.00 estimated" - this shows the total cost of items purchased so far (currently 0.00 because we haven't marked anything as purchased yet) and how much the total estimated bill will be for this category (50.00).

15. Now switch to the Grocery category by tapping on the category drop down and selecting "Grocery" from the list.  A few things to note: to the right of each category in the pop up list, you will see a count of the number of items needed in that category.  Since we only have one item in our list, only the categories we listed that item in will show a count (and of course "All Items" which shows the total number of items needed in all categories).

16. Now you are viewing a list of items you need at the Grocery store.  It should be blank at the moment because we didn't check off the "Grocery" category in our "Jeans for Jr." item earlier (in step 12).  Note that the text at the bottom of the screen now says "Total $0.00 of $0.00 estimated" because there are no items currently needed in the Grocery category.

NOTE: It would be very inconvenient to have to enter items this way each time you went shopping.  The SECOND time you need an item it is much easier to add it to your list.  More on that later, but for now...

17. Add the following items to your Grocery list:

• Eggs ($0.99)

• Cheese ($4.99)

• Bread (2 at $1.50 each)

• Pepsi ($0.99)

(If you don't remember how to add items, review steps 7-10)

Your list should now look like this:

Note that at the bottom of the screen it has added up the items on your list and given you a total estimated price.

18. We want to add a few more categories to the items we just added (of course, you could have done this while you were adding the new items, but let's say you forgot to do that and want to do it now...) the easiest way to quickly call up the item details screen is to click on either the quantity or the price of the item you want to change.  In this case, click on the price of the item "Bread" - you should see the following screen:

19. Notice how the price is selected for you because you clicked on the item price.  If you had clicked on the quantity that field would be selected.  This is a convenient way to quickly change the categories for an item.  Check the following categories (in addition to grocery): "Sam's Club" and "Super Target" - since you can also buy bread at either of these stores.  Now click OK to close this screen and return to your list.

20. Now click the price for Pepsi, and add the categories "Eckerds", "Sam's Club" and "Super Target" (again, leave Grocery checked as well).  Click OK to go back to the list.

21. Your grocery list still looks like it did after step 17.  What you have done, though, is added items to your other category lists.  Click on the category drop down to see how the items are being organized into categories:

There are 5 total items needed (Jeans, Eggs, Cheese, Bread, Pepsi) so "All Items" shows a count of 5.  The remaining categories show how many items are currently needed in each category.  You can use this count to determine which store would most likely have the most items you currently need.  Select "Super Target" to view that category:

Notice how both Jeans and Bread are appearing on the list for Super Target, and the price at the bottom reflects that. 

22. OK, now let's say you're shopping at Super Target and you find the jeans you wanted.  Simply click on the "Jeans for Jr." text to check it off the list (this marks it as "Puchased").  Your list will look like this:

Note that the text at the bottom of the screen now says "Total $50.00 of $53.99 estimated" because the jeans are marked as "Purchased"

If you accidentally click on an item, just click it again to mark it as "Not purchased"

23. For this example, let's say you find everything on your list, so check off Bread and Pepsi as well.  Now select "List...Remove Purchased Items" from the menu to take any items marked as "Purchased" off this list

24. You will now have a blank list at Super Target.  If you look at the categories now you will see that the purchased items no longer show up on the other lists.

25. Finally, let's briefly look at the "Chooser" mode - this is how you quickly build a list of items you need based on a list of items you've added before.  Click on the "Grocery" category to go to that list.  The items we purchase at Super Target that were also on the Grocery List (Bread and Pepsi) are no longer on the list as shown below:

26. To enter "Chooser" mode, click on the checkbox icon at the bottom of the screen.  Your screen will now look like this:

27. Note that "Bread" and "Pepsi" appear in this list, because you have previously purchased them.  To add them to your list, just click on the item description.  Click on "Bread" to add it to your list.

28. Note that items in the list show a quantity and appear in a different color than items not in the "needed" list.  To raise or lower the quantity, click just to the right of the quantity number (to raise) or left of the quantity number (to lower) the quantity.  Do this to raise the quantity of "Bread" to 3.  Your screen should now look like this:

Note that the price of the item in Chooser mode does NOT get multiplied by the quantity needed as it does when you are not in Chooser mode.  The text at the bottom of the screen does reflect the quantity price, however, as you can see it's now $10.48 as we've added another $3.00 to the list by raising the quantity of "Bread" to 3.

29. Now return to normal list mode by clicking again on the checkbox icon at the bottom of the screen.  Your list will look like this:

The more you use the program, the more useful it will be as it will start to become easier to build your list each time you shop (and more items are remembered from previous lists).  There are many more features not covered here, but this will get you started and should give you a general feel for how the program works.