With the absolute stock import, you enter in the CSV file the stock a product should have afterwards. This is the right approach when you know the counted actual stock – for example after a stocktake or when you fill your stock in your Pickware Admin for the first time.
If, on the other hand, you only know the difference, meaning how much the stock changes, the relative stock import is the right approach (see How do I book stock out or in via CSV?).
Attention: The value in the Stock column becomes the new total stock of the product at the respective bin location – it is not added to the existing stock. A typo therefore overwrites your real stock, and a 0 books the stock at this bin location out completely. So check your file carefully before you import it.
Which stock import do I need?
Both imports write stock, but they handle it differently. This overview helps you choose:
Relative stock import | Absolute stock import |
You know the difference: book out 30 units of breakage, 15 units of a follow-up delivery, correct shrinkage. | You know the actual stock: counted quantities after a stocktake, initial filling of a new warehouse. |
Stock movements between export and import are preserved – your quantity is applied to the then-current stock. | Stock movements between export and import are overwritten. |
Change column | Stock column |
When in doubt, use the relative import. Between downloading the template and importing, orders, returns, or stock transfers can change the stock. The relative import takes these movements into account, the absolute one discards them – and the longer you work on the file, the more likely this becomes.
Beforehand: What a CSV file is and what to keep in mind when saving it (UTF-8 encoding, semicolon as separator) is explained in Tips for working with CSV files. Read it once before you start.
1. Download the template
Go to Warehousing → Stock overview.
The template takes over the view currently set in the stock overview. By default, this is Per product: the file then contains one row per product, but no bin locations. If you want to overwrite the stock per bin location, first click the filter icon at the top right and select the option Per product and bin location in the View dropdown menu.
Then click export and select Export with stock (as a template for the absolute stock import). In the downloaded file, there is one row per product (or per product and bin location) with the Stock column, which contains the current stock.
Tip: Using the menu on the right, you can show/hide columns and filter beforehand. Your template then only contains the products you are interested in.
Safety net: Put aside an unchanged copy of this file before you edit it. It contains the stock your products had before the import. If anything goes wrong during the import, you can restore the original state by running another absolute stock import with this copy.
2. Enter the actual stock
Open the file in your spreadsheet program (e.g. Excel) and enter the counted actual stock for each product in the Stock column – that is, the quantity that should be in the system after the import.
Products you do not want to touch, you simply delete from the file or leave their value unchanged. The import only changes the products and bin locations that are in the file; all other stock remains untouched.
Example
Suppose you have counted the following: of product PW10001, 42 units are still on bin location A-01-02, and of product PW10002, none are left on bin location A-02-01. A valid file then looks like this:
Product number | Warehouse code | Bin location | Stock |
PW10001 | HL | A-01-02 | 42 |
PW10002 | HL | A-02-01 | 0 |
or:
Produktnummer;Lagerkürzel;Lagerplatz;Bestand
PW10001;HL;A-01-02;42
PW10002;HL;A-02-01;0
The columns Product number and Stock are mandatory. Using Warehouse code and Bin location, you specify which bin location the stock applies to. If you work with batches, you can additionally use the Batch number column.
Attention: Always take over the column headers unchanged from the export. If the columns for warehouse, warehouse code, or bin location are named differently, Pickware ignores them. The import then sets the total stock across all warehouses and can create unexpected stock additions or removals.
3. Save the file
Save the file as a CSV file again (UTF-8 encoded, with a semicolon as separator). How to set this up in your spreadsheet program is described in the Tips for working with CSV files.
4. Import the file
Go back to Warehousing → Stock overview and click import. Upload your file and select Absolute stock import (requires the column "Stock") as the format. Optionally, you can add a comment. Then click import.
Important: Be sure to select the correct format. If you accidentally select Relative stock import (requires the column "Change"), the import does not match your file – and your stock will no longer be correct.
5. Check the result
Under Settings → Shop → Import/Export (Pickware), you can see all imports and – if something went wrong – the errors that occurred. You can also find the individual changes in the product details in the Stock tab under Stock movements.
Transfer stock and empty Unknown
To transfer stock from one bin location to another via CSV, you need two rows: one for the destination bin location with the new stock and one counter row for the source bin location. If the counter row is missing, the stock remains on the old bin location in addition.
The destination bin location must be created beforehand. The import does not create bin locations that do not exist yet.
If the stock is currently on Unknown, the counter row absolutely needs the column Warehouse or Warehouse code. Unknown alone is not a unique location, because it exists in every warehouse. In the Default bin location column, this row must contain no.
Set stock on Unknown to 0
This is how you remove stock that is on Unknown:
In the stock overview, select the view Per product and bin location and filter by the bin location Unknown.
Click export and select Export with stock (as a template for the absolute stock import).
In the Stock column, enter the value 0.
Import the file as Absolute stock import.
This books the stock on Unknown out. If the goods are actually on another bin location, transfer them with two rows instead, as described above.