Record and Track Every Stock Change

Every time stock is added or removed from an item, Officaid records it as a stock movement. These movements create a complete history of how your inventory has changed over time, making it easy to trace exactly when stock was received, sold, or adjusted.

Understanding Stock Movement Types

The Type list offers four types of stock movement: Stock In, Stock Out, Adjustment and Initial. The main ones are:

• Stock In adds inventory. Use this when you receive a delivery from a supplier, correct an undercount, or return items back to stock.
• Stock Out removes inventory. This happens automatically when an invoice is created, or you can record it manually for adjustments like damaged goods or samples given away.
• Adjustment corrects a stock count upwards. For example, a quantity of 3 is recorded as +3.00. It does not accept a negative quantity: if you enter -3, Officaid shows "Quantity can’t be negative. Use Stock Out to reduce stock." and nothing is saved.

Viewing Stock Movements

To see the movement history for an item:

1. 1 Go to Sales → Items and click on the item name
2. 2 Scroll down to the Stock Movements section on the detail page

Each movement entry shows:

• Date when the movement was recorded
• Type indicating the movement type, such as Stock In or Stock Out
• Quantity showing the number of units added or removed (displayed as +30.00 or -1.00)
• After showing the resulting stock level after the movement
• Note providing context, such as an invoice number or a reason for the adjustment

Movements are listed in reverse chronological order, with the most recent at the top.

Adding a Stock Movement Manually

To record a stock change manually:

1. 1 Open the item's detail page
2. 2 Click + Add Stock Movement in the Stock Movements section
3. 3 Select the Type: Stock In, Stock Out, Adjustment or Initial
4. 4 Enter the Quantity
5. 5 Optionally enter a Unit Cost and select the Currency
6. 6 Optionally select a Vendor if this movement is related to a supplier delivery
7. 7 Optionally add a Note to describe the reason for the movement
8. 8 Save the movement

Recording Your Initial Stock

When you first enable inventory tracking on an item, the stock level starts at zero. To set your actual starting quantity, add a Stock In movement:

1. Open the item's detail page
2. Click + Add Stock Movement
3. Select Stock In as the type
4. Enter your current quantity on hand
5. Add a note like "Initial stock count" for reference
6. Save the movement

Your item's stock level will now reflect the quantity you entered.

Editing a Stock Movement

If you need to correct a stock movement, click the Edit button on its row. You can update the type, quantity, unit cost, vendor, and note. The stock level recalculates automatically based on your changes.

To remove a movement, click the bin icon on its row.

Automatic Stock Movements from Invoices

When you create an invoice containing an item with inventory tracking enabled, Officaid automatically creates a Stock Out movement. The note field records the invoice number (for example, "Invoice #INV-20260200007"), so you can trace exactly which sale caused the stock deduction.

See How Invoices Automatically Update Your Stock for more details on how this works.

Understanding the Stock Movement Fields

Here is what each field on the stock movement form means:

• Type sets the kind of movement: Stock In and Adjustment add inventory, Stock Out removes it
• Quantity is the number of units being added or removed
• Unit Cost (optional) records the purchase cost per unit, useful for tracking how much you paid for stock
• Currency is the currency for the unit cost
• Vendor (optional) associates this movement with a specific supplier. This does not add the vendor to the item's Linked Vendors.
• Note (optional) provides a free-text description of why this movement occurred

Frequently Asked Questions

What's Next?

Now that you understand stock movements, explore these related guides:

• How Invoices Automatically Update Your Stock to understand automatic deductions
• Understanding Reorder Points and Quantities to set alerts for when stock runs low
• Linking Vendors to Items to track which suppliers provide your stock