Viewing inventory adjustment history
You can view the inventory adjustment history for any product that you track in Shopify. Every inventory adjustment requires you to specify an origin and destination, and is automatically recorded with complete details about the inventory movement. 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.
You can view only the last 180 days of inventory adjustment history for a product or variant on the adjustment history page. For adjustment history beyond 180 days, you can use the Inventory adjustment changes report. This report provides access to your inventory adjustment history and lets you filter and analyze adjustments across multiple dimensions, including SKU, location, staff member, app, and adjustment reason.
On this page
Understanding adjustment history information
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.
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Date | The date of the adjustment. |
| Activity | The event that caused the adjustment, such as a transfer, an order, or an inventory movement between origin and destination. If a staff member caused the adjustment, then their name is listed. The activity displays the movement details, such as "50 units from Inventory addition to Brooklyn Warehouse" or "10 units from Manhattan Store to Inventory removal". |
| Unavailable | The inventory that is unavailable after the adjustment. |
| Committed | The number of units that are part of an order but aren't yet fulfilled. Inventory units that are part of draft orders aren't counted as committed until the draft order becomes an order. |
| Available | The inventory quantity that is available after the adjustment, and that isn't committed to any orders or set aside as unavailable. |
| On hand | The inventory that is on hand after the adjustment, and that is a sum of your Committed, Unavailable, and Available inventory. |
Example of inventory adjustments history
The store Mel's Mustards has 43 spicy dijon mustards in the Available state.
A customer places an order for five spicy dijon mustards, causing the Committed count for this SKU to increase by five. 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 five 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.
View inventory adjustment history for a product
You can view the adjustment history for any product or variant from the product details page. The adjustment history displays all inventory changes from the last 180 days, including who made the changes, when they occurred, and how quantities are affected.
Steps:
Desktop
From your Shopify admin, go to Products.
Click the product that you want to view inventory adjustment history for.
Optional: If the product has variants, then click a variant.
In the Inventory section, make sure that the Inventory tracked option is activated.
Click View adjustment history.
Mobile
- From the Shopify app, tap the
icon
. - Tap the product that you want to view inventory adjustment history for.
- Optional: If the product has variants, then tap a variant.
- In the Inventory section, make sure that the Inventory tracked option is activated.
- Tap View adjustment history.
Inventory adjustment reasons
When you adjust your On hand, Available, or Unavailable inventory quantities from the Shopify admin, you specify where inventory is coming from (origin) and where it's going (destination). The origin and destination information automatically displays in your adjustment history under the Activity column.
Common origins and destinations 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.
Example of origins and destinations
The store Mel's Mustards receives 50 new spicy dijon mustards from a supplier. A staff member adjusts the inventory by selecting Inventory addition as the origin and Brooklyn Warehouse as the destination. The adjustment history displays: "50 units from Inventory addition to Brooklyn Warehouse".
Later, 10 units are transferred to another location. The adjustment history displays: "10 units from Brooklyn Warehouse to Manhattan Store".
Legacy adjustment reasons
In some areas of Shopify, you might still encounter legacy adjustment reasons. The following table displays these legacy adjustment reasons, the corresponding reason that displays on the adjustment history page, and the usage for each reason.
| Inventory adjustment reason | Adjustment history page activity | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| Correction | Inventory correction | The default option if no other option is selected. Use to correct an inventory error, or as a general reason. |
| Count | Inventory manually counted | Use after counting physical stock, where a discrepancy was found between the actual inventory quantity and the previously recorded inventory quantity. |
| Damaged | Damaged | Use to mark inventory as Unavailable because it's damaged. |
| Quality control | Quality control | Use to mark inventory as Unavailable due to quality control. For example, to review a shipment to make sure that there are no damaged items. |
| Promotion or donation | Promotion or donation | Use when you're adjusting inventory due to items that are used in promotions or as donations. |
| Received | Inventory received | Use when adding new inventory to refer to new stock. |
| Return restock | Items restocked | Use to add a returned item back to available inventory, when the item can be resold. |
| Safety stock | Safety stock | Use to mark inventory as Unavailable when you want to set aside some items for safety stock. For example, you have items that sell quickly and you want some stock set aside to release later. |
| Theft or loss | Theft or loss | Use when you're adjusting inventory due to theft or loss. |
| Other | Other | Use when you're adjusting inventory to be Unavailable for any other reason. |
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 might choose when you manually adjust your inventory. Your inventory might be adjusted by Shopify or third-party apps following certain processes to ensure that your store has accurate inventory counts.
For example, when you mark an incoming transfer as received, the inventory is automatically adjusted, and the adjustment history for these products displays Transfer created.
The following table displays the most common automatic adjustment reasons, which display on the adjustment history page along with the manually selected adjustment reasons.
| Adjustment history page activities | Usage |
|---|---|
| Data correction | Refers to an error correction that was made automatically. |
| Reservation created | Refers to an item that has been put on hold or set aside due to a draft order or third-party app and made Unavailable in the inventory count. |
| Reservation updated | Signifies that Unavailable inventory has been updated by store staff or a third-party app, such as from updating a draft order. |
| Reservation deleted | Signifies that Unavailable inventory has been deleted by store staff or a third-party app. When a third party deletes a reservation or a draft order expires, associated inventory goes back to Available. |