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In Assets, parent objects are set to zero when chidren has lots of them

Juan Carlos Pin

Hi Team!!

We're working in our inventory with Assets, and, while everything is very easy and comfortable to work with, we find this very disorienting:

Captura de pantalla 2026-04-21 a las 9.49.03.png

Parent object is counting 0, when children counts hundreds of them, and it feels really counterintuitive, because one would expect for parent show the sum of the objects in children categories, right?

Accepted answers

Arkadiusz Wroblewski

Hello @Juan Carlos Pin

That’s actually the expected behavior in Assets. The count you see in the sidebar only reflects objects assigned directly to that specific type and it doesn't roll up totals from its children.

Since your objects are categorized as 'Mac' or 'Windows' rather than 'Laptop,' seeing a zero for Laptops is normal. The tree is a type hierarchy, not a summary counter.

If 'Laptops' is just meant to be a container for your sub-types, you can set it as an 'abstract' object type to prevent anyone from creating objects there directly. For a total count across the whole branch, you'd need to use an AQL-based view or a dashboard gadget, as the sidebar isn't designed to sum up child types.

Andrea Robbins

Hi @Juan Carlos Pin

I agree with setting the parent as abstract like @Arkadiusz Wroblewski mentioned. If you want the parent to have a total count, it is possible but, you have to inherit the attributes from the parent, which may or may not be what you want.

What this means is the parent attributes get passed down as attributes on the children, so that they're shared across all child object types. This will allow the child objects to appear under the parent as well as the count, and if set to abstract, you can ensure that no parent objects will be created.

Now you will have to do some work to get this to work this way if desired. The rule is when you set an object type to inherit attributes, you cannot already have child object types, and you cannot move existing object types to become the parent object type's children either. (I have done this wrong so many times even as an assets expert!)

Therefore, you'll have to delete the child objects (and likely first export the objects themselves to import later), set the parent object type to allow inheriting of attributes (see how to do this here), and then recreate the child object types, adding the attributes now at the parent level, and importing the objects back in.

I have a set up as shown here which seems to be what you want:

Screenshot 2026-04-21 at 4.03.12 PM.png

All comments

Arkadiusz Wroblewski

Hello @Juan Carlos Pin

That’s actually the expected behavior in Assets. The count you see in the sidebar only reflects objects assigned directly to that specific type and it doesn't roll up totals from its children.

Since your objects are categorized as 'Mac' or 'Windows' rather than 'Laptop,' seeing a zero for Laptops is normal. The tree is a type hierarchy, not a summary counter.

Juan Carlos Pin

Hi @Arkadiusz Wroblewski Thx for your answer! Indeed, I understand that the parent object has its own type attributes, but, as you mentioned, setting objects as abstract could make them mere containers, or "folders", or even categories, right? just an idea.