Every vial. Every position. Every change.

Storage integrity · Plus for additional dewars

Make the digital layout match physical storage—not the other way around.

A layout represents real canes, boxes, row labels, column labels, and positions. Change it only after comparing CryoIndex with the physical vessel and creating a verified external backup.

Video walkthrough being refreshed

Add a dewar and review storage safeguards

We are replacing this recording with a continuous walkthrough that matches the current app. The complete written steps and annotated screenshots below remain available.

Protect the physical record

Back up first, then count the hardware.

Before resizing, relabelling, moving a box, adding a dewar, or retiring one, save a current external backup and compare physical labels with the app. Do not proceed from memory or from a count in an older spreadsheet.

Independent storage

Add another dewar only when the physical vessel exists.

  1. Open Settings → Storage and select Add another dewar. Additional dewars require CryoIndex Plus.
  2. Enter the concise identifier the lab uses on the physical vessel and in its own records.
  3. Describe that dewar's actual canes, boxes per cane, and box grid. Do not copy the first dewar unless the hardware is truly identical.
  4. Review its liquid-nitrogen fill schedule separately.
CryoIndex dialog for naming an additional physical dewar.

A name should distinguish the physical vessel wherever locations and history need it.

  1. Use the identifier already understood in the lab.
  2. Add only a genuinely separate physical vessel.
CryoIndex Storage settings showing two dewars with separate layouts and fill schedules.

Once identities matter, each dewar is managed separately and its name appears where needed to prevent ambiguous locations.

  1. Select the intended dewar before changing a layout or schedule.
  2. Keep each vessel's physical structure and fill schedule independent.
  3. Do not use retirement as a substitute for moving or resolving records.

Change the layout

Read a refusal as a safeguard, not an obstacle.

  1. Open the chosen dewar's Dewar layout.
  2. Compare the displayed cane, box, row, and column counts with the physical storage.
  3. Review the proposed capacity and the exact number of locations added or removed.
  4. If CryoIndex reports occupied locations or labels that need reconciliation, stop and correct the physical-record mismatch first.
  5. Never use resizing as a shortcut to remove a vial record or make an import fit.
CryoIndex refusing a dewar layout reduction because a vial occupies a location that would be removed.

The refusal names the conflict and confirms that the original layout remains unchanged.

  1. Review the proposed physical count and capacity.
  2. The occupied location blocks the structural change.
  3. Nothing is changed until the conflict is handled honestly.

Removing a dewar from active storage

Retirement must not strand a vial or an open finding.

A dewar cannot be retired while it contains an in-storage vial or an unresolved missing-vial finding. Move vials using the ordinary recorded workflow and resolve findings truthfully before trying again. CryoIndex retains the retired dewar's historical identity where it is needed to understand earlier records.

CryoIndex refusing to retire Reserve Dewar because one vial is still recorded inside it.

The app leaves the dewar active and tells the user what must be handled first.

  1. The named dewar remains active because a vial is still recorded there.
  2. Move or remove the vial through its normal recorded workflow before retirement.

After an approved change

Spot-check locations and create a new backup.

  1. Search for occupied positions near the affected edge of the layout and compare them with the physical labels.
  2. Confirm that dewar, cane, box, and grid coordinates remain unambiguous.
  3. Create and verify a new external backup that reflects the approved structure.
  4. Record any physical relabelling under the lab's own procedure; the app cannot verify that a label was physically changed.
Describe the first dewar layoutAudit a box before structural workCreate an external backup