Viewing inventory adjustment history

You can view the inventory adjustment history for any product that you track in Shopify. Inventory changes are automatically recorded so that you can see who made the change, when it happened, and how it affected your quantities. If the product has variants, then you can view the inventory adjustment history for each variant that is being tracked, but you can't view the inventory adjustment history for all of the variants simultaneously.

Understanding adjustment history information

You can view only the last 180 days of inventory adjustment history for a product or variant. For adjustment history beyond 180 days, you can use the Inventory adjustment changes report. This report lets you filter and analyze adjustments across multiple dimensions, including SKU, location, staff member, app, and adjustment reason.

When you view the inventory adjustment history for a product or variant, you can view detailed information about each inventory adjustment. The numbers under each of the inventory states display the adjusted quantity first, and the new total quantity second. A dash indicates that the adjustment didn't affect that column. Learn more about inventory states.

Review the following table to learn more about the information displayed in your adjustment history.

For example, the store Mel's Mustards has 43 spicy Dijon mustards in the Available state. A customer places an order for 5 spicy Dijon mustards, causing the Committed count for this SKU to increase by 5. On the inventory adjustment page, the first number under Committed for this order is (+5), and the second number under Committed reflects the total quantity of units for this SKU that are committed to all orders.

Because 5 units were committed to this order, they're subtracted from the Available state. The first number under Available for this order displays (-5). The second number that displays is 38, which is the total quantity of Available units after the order was placed. The Available quantity has decreased from 43 to 38.

Understanding adjustment activities

You can view what caused each inventory adjustment in the Activity column. The displayed text depends on what triggered the adjustment.

Manual inventory adjustments

When you or a staff member adjust inventory, the activity describes what you did. The displayed text depends on the method that you used to update inventory:

• Set to: The activity displays the reason that you selected. If you didn't select a reason, then the activity is displayed as Manually adjusted. For a full list of reasons, refer to Adjustment activities for each reason.
• Adjust by: You select where inventory is coming from (origin) and where it's going (destination). The activity displays this movement, such as Moved to Safety stock or Moved from Quality control. You can also select a reason for the adjustment, but the activity continues to display the movement. The unit change is reflected in the column for each state.

Common origins and destinations for the Adjust by method include:

• Inventory addition: Used as an origin when adding new inventory from suppliers or external sources.
• Inventory removal: Used as a destination when removing damaged, lost, or expired inventory.
• Location names: Your store locations appear as both origins and destinations when transferring inventory between locations or adjusting inventory at a specific location.
• Unavailable states: Damaged, Quality control, Safety stock, and Other can be used as origins or destinations when managing unavailable inventory.

For example, Mel's Mustards has 2 spicy Dijon mustards in the Safety stock state at their Brooklyn Warehouse. A staff member wants to make them available for sale, so they select Safety stock as the origin and Brooklyn Warehouse as the destination. The adjustment history displays the activity as Moved from Safety stock. The unit change is reflected in the Unavailable column as (-2) and in the Available column as (+2).

Automatic inventory adjustments

Some adjustments happen automatically through orders, apps, and system processes. For example, when a customer places an order, when an incoming transfer is received, or when a draft order reserves stock, the adjustment history displays a system-generated activity, such as Reservation created or Transfer created. Third-party apps can also automatically adjust your inventory.

For descriptions of these activities, refer to System inventory adjustment activities.

View inventory adjustment history for a product

You can view the adjustment history for any product or variant from the product details page.

Steps:

Adjustment activities for each reason

You can select a reason that describes why you're making an inventory adjustment, in both the Set to and Adjust by methods. The following table displays each reason and the corresponding adjustment activity that's displayed on the adjustment history page when you use the Set to method. For descriptions of each reason and guidance on when to use them, refer to Inventory adjustment reasons.

System inventory adjustment activities

You might encounter adjustment activities on your adjustment history page that don't match the self-selected reasons that you or your staff choose when manually adjusting inventory. System processes or third-party apps might automatically adjust your inventory to keep your store's inventory counts accurate.

For example, Mel's Mustards has 25 spicy Dijon mustards on the way to their Brooklyn Warehouse, displayed in the Incoming column. When a staff member marks the incoming transfer as received, the units are automatically added to the Available state at the location. The adjustment history displays the activity as Transfer created. The unit change is reflected in the Incoming column as (-25) and in the Available column as (+25).

The following table displays the most common automatic adjustment activities that you might see on your adjustment history page, along with the manually selected adjustment reasons.