Inventory

What this section is for

Every physical thing you want to keep an eye on (products, parts, raw materials, tools, supplies) lives as an inventory item. Each item carries four running counts, a unit value, optional reorder links, a photo, notes, and its own QR code. Assemblies, Orders and Snapshots all build on top of these items, so this is usually the first section you set up.

The four counts on every item

Each item tracks four separate numbers so “how many do we have” never gets ambiguous:

• Stock: what you physically have on hand right now.
• Receiving: how many are on order and expected to arrive.
• Sending: how many are committed to go out / are in use.
• Damaged: how many are unusable and shouldn’t be counted as sellable stock.

Adding an inventory item

1. Open Inventory in the sidebar (on a phone, tap the Inventory tile) and click New item.
2. Give it a name, whatever your team actually calls it. If it has a barcode, scan or type it into Barcode / SKU.
3. Set the Unit cost (what one unit costs you). This is what the app uses to total up the worth of your stock.
4. Enter the Opening stock: how many you have right now.
5. Set a Warning level and Critical level if you want low-stock alerts (see below), and optionally a Reorder point. Leave them at 0 to turn them off.
6. Optionally add a photo and, under More details, an Order link (and an alternative order link) and any notes.
7. Click Save.

Already have a spreadsheet of what you stock? Import CSV adds many items at once.

Finding an item: search and scan

Type in the Search or scan box to filter the list as you type, or click Scan to read an item’s QR label or barcode with your phone or laptop camera; the item opens as soon as the code is read. A USB or Bluetooth barcode scanner works too: scan into the search box. If no item has that code, click Create an item with this barcode and the code is saved as its barcode, so the next scan finds it.

Changing counts

Click any item to open it. Each of the four counts shows its number and value, with these controls:

• The −1 / +1 buttons beside the number nudge a count by one (on items counted in pieces).
• Adjust adds or removes an amount. Type it (use a minus sign to remove) or click a quick amount, and the dialog shows the New total and whether the item becomes Low or Critical before you apply it. A change that would take the count below zero is blocked.
• Set exact sets the count to an exact value, handy after a physical recount.

Both let you add an optional Reason (for example “Weekly count” or “spoiled”) before you click Apply change. Every change is recorded in that item’s History, with the reason when one was given, so you can always see who changed what, when and why.

Low-stock warnings

Set a Warning level and the item is tagged Low and its stock number turns yellow once Stock drops to or below it. Set a Critical level and it is tagged Critical and turns red. This makes it obvious at a glance which items need reordering. Set either to 0 to turn that alert off.

To see only those items, click Show the items that need attention above the table (the Needs attention card on the Overview opens the same view). Reorder suggestions lists the items whose Stock plus Receiving is at or below their reorder point, or their warning level when no reorder point is set. To get an email or a Teams message when an item crosses a level, set up low-stock alerts.

Tracking by weight, volume or length

Not everything comes in pieces. Flour, resin, cable and cleaning fluid are easier to track as 10 kg, 2.5 L or 150 ft than as “10 units”. Open an item’s editor and pick a Unit of measure: leave it on Each (pieces) for discrete items, or choose a weight, volume or length unit (g, kg, oz, lb, ml, L, fl oz, gal, cm, m, in, ft). Custom lets you type your own label, such as “bag” or “pallet”.

• With a unit set, every quantity on that item is in that unit: the four counts, the warning and critical levels, the reorder rule, order lines, assembly components and snapshots.
• Quantities can be fractional, so you can record 2.5 kg or 0.75 L. The Adjust dialog offers fractional quick amounts (0.1, 0.5) for these items.
• The unit shows next to the number everywhere (“2.5 kg”), including in email and Teams alerts, reports and the AI assistant’s view of your inventory.
• The unit is a label, not a converter. Changing an item from kg to lb does not recalculate its quantities; set the new unit and then correct the counts.
• Items with a unit can still be tracked as individual stock lines (lots): each line holds a quantity in that unit, such as “Lot A, 25 kg”.

For the longer version, read inventory by the kilo, and see a bakery, a makerspace and a shop floor set up in real units.

The inventory summary

Summary (in the More menu at the top of the Inventory section) opens a roll-up of your whole catalog: the total Stock, Receiving, Sending and Damaged counts across every item, with the value of each, grouped by unit of measure so kilograms and pieces are never added together. It’s the quickest way to see what your inventory is worth right now. For files you can download or print (valuation, low stock, change history), use Reports; see the Reports guide.

QR codes for quick access

Open any item and scroll to QR code for this item, then click Print label (or Download PNG). Stick it on a shelf or bin, and anyone can scan it with a phone camera to jump straight to that item and adjust its count, with no app to install. The Scan button in the Inventory section reads the same labels.

Next: Assemblies · Inventory Snapshots · Orders · Team