Shelf positions: setting up shelves in a warehouse

Shelf positions let you record which shelf inside a warehouse holds a product's stock, not only which warehouse. A shelf is a code you choose, such as A-01-1, and belongs to one warehouse. Shelves have a single level, with no zone, aisle, rack or bin above or below them. If you want those in the name, build them into the code.

Shelves break down the stock a warehouse already holds. They never add or remove stock or change its value. Only products you switch on for shelf tracking are counted shelf by shelf; every other product works exactly as before. See Shelf positions: tracking a product by shelf.

Add shelves

1. Open Settings, then Warehouses.
2. On the warehouse row, select Shelves in the Actions column. The button also shows how many shelves the warehouse has. The Shelves window opens, with the warehouse name and its number of shelves under the title.
3. In Add shelves at the bottom of the window, type or paste shelf codes, one per line or separated by commas, for example A-01-1.
4. Select Add shelf. When you enter several codes, the button shows how many, for example Add 3 shelves.

The Add shelves box accepts one code per line or codes separated by commas, so a shelf code cannot contain a comma. After you add codes, a report under the box shows Added, with the number of shelves created, and a Skipped line with the reason for each code that was not added.

A code is skipped if it is repeated in your list, if the warehouse already has a shelf with that code, or if it is longer than 50 characters. Blank lines are ignored, and spaces at either end of a code are removed.

Codes are unique within a warehouse, ignoring capitalisation: a-01 and A-01 are the same shelf. Two different warehouses can each have a shelf called A-01.

Find shelves in the window

The window lists the warehouse's shelves grouped by aisle. The aisle is the part of the code before the first hyphen, full stop, slash or space. For example, A-01 and A-02 are listed under Aisle A, with the number of shelves in it. Codes without any of those characters are listed last, under Other.

Codes within a group are in natural order, so A-2 comes before A-10. To find a shelf, type part of its code in Search shelves. Grouping only changes how the list is shown; shelves still have a single level.

Rename a shelf

Select the pencil on a shelf to turn its code into a box you can type in. Press Enter or click anywhere else to save, or press Escape to cancel.

The new code must be 1 to 50 characters long and must not already be used by another shelf in the same warehouse. If it cannot be used, the reason appears under the box. Once saved, the shelf moves to its place for the new code. Renaming keeps the shelf's stock: the units stay where they are, under the new code.

Delete shelves

To delete one shelf, select the bin on the shelf. A confirmation asks first. It says if the shelf is empty; if it still holds stock, it tells you how many units of how many products are on it.

Deleting a shelf that holds stock does not change any stock quantity or value, and no stock movement is recorded. The units stop being on a shelf and move to Unassigned in that warehouse. You can move them to another shelf later; see Shelf positions: moving stock between shelves. Past movements that used the shelf still show its code.

A deleted shelf cannot be restored. You can add a new shelf with the same code, but it starts empty.

To delete every shelf in a warehouse at once, for example to start again with a new layout, select Delete all shelves under the title next to the number of shelves. The confirmation shows how many shelves will be deleted and how many units of how many products they hold. Type the warehouse's name exactly as shown to enable the button.

The shelves are deleted together, all or none. Their units move to Unassigned in that warehouse. As with a single shelf, stock quantities and values do not change, no stock movement is recorded, and past movements still show the shelves they used. Afterwards, the window shows that the warehouse has no shelves, with the Add shelves box ready for new codes.

Who can manage shelves

Adding, renaming and deleting shelves, including deleting all of them, requires the Manage Shelves permission. The Admin and Organization Manager roles include it, and the organisation owner always has it. Manage Warehouses covers warehouses themselves, not their shelves. Either permission shows Warehouses in the Settings menu.

Without Manage Shelves, the Shelves window is read-only: you can see and search shelves, but the rename and delete buttons, Delete all shelves and the Add shelves box are not shown. Seeing shelves needs no permission of its own.

Plans without shelf positions

On a plan without shelf positions, the Shelves button still appears on each warehouse, but a short note with a lock replaces the Add shelves box and names the plan that includes shelf positions. The owner gets a Compare plans link; everyone else is asked to speak to the organisation's owner.

If your organisation moved to such a plan after using shelves, what it already has keeps working. Shelves stay and you can rename and delete them; products already tracked keep their shelf quantities, and their movements still ask for shelves. Only adding new shelves and switching shelf tracking on for more products require a plan that includes shelf positions.

See what each shelf holds

Open Inventory, then Shelves, to see everything stored on a shelf. The page lists a warehouse's shelves grouped by aisle, with the products and quantities on each one. See Shelf positions: the Shelves page.