- About Copying Menu Items to Another Menu
- Step 1: Ensure Your Menu Exists to Copy Items To
- Step 2: Selecting Menu Items to Copy
- Step 3: Selecting Where to Copy
- Step 4: Previewing Changes
- Step 5: Finalizing Copy
About Copying Menu Items to Another Menu
You can copy menu items to another menu. This can be used to copy full weeks, copy days to days, copy meals to meals, flip meals (e.g., breakfast to lunch).
Step 1: Ensure Your Menu Exists To Copy Items To
Ensure the menu to copy items to exists in your MealSuite account. Existing menus in your MealSuite account can be viewed on the Menus Listing screen.
If you do need to create a menu for your MealSuite account, the following options are available to do so:
Step 2: Selecting Menu Items to Copy
- From the left navigation pane, select Menus > Copy Menu. The Copy Menu screen appears.
- If you want to copy a “my menu” (i.e., menu owned by your account), select the My Menus option. If you want to copy a menu not owned by your account, select Other Menus.
- From the field in the Select Items to Copy tab, select the menu from which to copy items (i.e., the “copy from” menu). The screen refreshes with the various menu filters fields.
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- Use the filter fields listed below to select the items that will be copied. The screen refreshes accordingly with the items with each filter selection you make (note that a meal service will have to be selected for the items to show).
- Weeks (not available if “copy from” menu is a single day menu (i.e., special event menu or an also available menu set as a single day)) - select the weeks from which to copy items.
- You are viewing - select the specific week to view its items onscreen (the week you select to view does not affect what items will be copied).
- Days (not available if “copy from” menu is a single day menu (i.e., special event menu or an also available menu set as a single day))
- Meals - select the meal service (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner) to copy from.
- Menu Categories
-
Choices
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- With the menu items selected to copy, your next step is to select the menu to copy to (i.e., the “copy to” menu). Proceed to the Selecting Where to Copy instructions below.
Step 3: Selecting Where to Copy
- With Step 2: Selecting Menu Items to Copy complete, click the Next button. The screen refreshes with the Select Where to Copy tab selected.
(Right-click image to open and expand in new tab) - From the Copy To Menu drop-down, select the menu to copy items to (i.e., the “copy to” menu). When you select the “copy to” menu, the screen refreshes with a section for each week selected from the “copy from” menu, with each section consisting of the days and meals that were selected to be copied from the “copy from” menu.
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Note that the “copy to” menus available in the Copy To Menu drop-down depend on the “copy from” menu. For descriptions of each menu type, see Menu Types.
"Copy From" Menu "Copy To" Menu Standard - Standard
- Also Available Weekly
Special Event (note that a special event menu is a single day menu) - Standard
- Special Event
- Also Available Weekly
- Also Available Single Day
Also Available Weekly - Standard
- Also Available Weekly
Also Available Single Day - Standard
- Special Event
- Also Available Weekly
- Also Available Single Day
Snack Snack Liquid Liquid
- Select the desired copy mode by selecting the appropriate button at the top of the screen:
- Add to Existing Menu Items - will add copied items to the “copy to” menu.
- Replace Existing Menu Items - will replace any existing items in the “copy to” menu (but still copy even if there are no existing items to replace).
- Your next steps are to select the weeks, days and meals to copy to, or to not copy if needed. Refer to the appropriate sections below:
Copying a Week
To copy a week:
- Scroll to the week that you want to copy.
- From the Week X to drop-down, select the week or weeks to copy to.
Note that a “copy to” week will not be available for selection if another week of the “copy from” menu is copying to it. For example, in the screenshot below, Week 2 of the “copy to” menu is being copied to from Week 3 of the “copy from” menu.
Therefore, Week 2 is not available to copy to from other “copy from” weeks. In the example screenshot below, Week 2 is not available to copy to from Week 1 of the “copy from” menu.
To Not Copy a Week
To not copy a week, deselect any currently selected weeks in the drop-down, and it states Do Not Copy.
Copying a Day
To copy a day:
- Scroll to the section week of the day you want to copy.
- From the appropriate [Day] to drop-down, select the day or days to be copied to.
Note that a day will not be available for selection if another day of the “copy from” menu is copying to it. For example, in the screenshot below, Tuesday and Saturday of the “copy to” menu are being copied to from Tuesday of the “copy from” menu.
Therefore, Tuesday and Saturday are not available to copy to from other days. In the example screenshot below, Thursday of the “copy from” menu cannot select Tuesday and Saturday of the “copy to” menu.
To Not Copy a Day
To not copy a day, deselect any currently selected days in the drop-down, and it states Do Not Copy.
Copying Meals
To copy a meal:
- Scroll to the section week of the meal you want to copy.
- From the appropriate [Meal] to drop-down under the desired day, select the meal or meals to copy to.
To Not Copy a Meal
To not copy a meal, deselect any currently selected meals in the drop-down, and it states Do Not Copy.
Swapping (i.e., Flipping) Meal Services
With the ability to copy and not copy meal services, you can swap (i.e., flip) meal services, such as swapping breakfast for lunch. For more information on swapping meal services, see Swapping Meal Services for a Whole Menu
Previewing a Week of the Copy From Menu
The Quick Preview of Week [X] button opens a pop-up with the items from the menu being copied.
What Does the Blue Border Mean?
When a week, day or meal of the “copy from” menu is not equal to the week, day or meal of the “copy to” menu, the field border is blue to indicate such. For example, in the screenshot below, Tuesday is being copied to Saturday, which are not equal days.
Step 4: Previewing Changes
With Step 3: Selecting Where to Copy complete, click the Next button. The screen refreshes with the Preview Change tab selected to allow you to preview the items that will be copied. Items in orange will be copied. You can select the different weeks being copied via the Week drop-down.
Step 5: Finalizing Copy
- With Step 4: Previewing Changes complete, click the Start Copy button. The screen refreshes with the Finalize Copy tab selected and copy process begins with the following message:
”We are preparing your menu and will notify you once it’s completed.”
- When the copy process is complete, the message changes to “Copy successful!”, and you can then go to the “copy to” menu to see the results.
- During the copy process or after the copy process, you can choose to copy the same “copy from” selections to another menu by clicking the Copy Same Selection to Another Location button. Or to begin a new copy process using a different “copy from” menu, click the Copy Other Menu Items button.