A stocktake is a counting session: pick a location, count what is actually on the shelf - solo or with a whole team - review the differences, and apply corrections to Shopify in one step. Stocktakes are free, and no POS Pro subscription is required.
Start a stocktake
Go to Inventory → Stocktakes and click New stocktake:
Location - each stocktake counts one location.
What to count - everything at the location, or a narrower slice: products matching filters, specific products you pick, one vendor, a bin, and more.
Blind count - hides expected quantities from every counter, so people record what they see instead of confirming what the system says.
Name (optional) - "Year-end count", "Floor 1", anything that helps you find it later.
Stockroom snapshots current stock levels and builds the count list. Products that are not tracked, or not stocked at that location, are left out automatically.
You can also change what a count covers part-way through, without losing anything anybody has counted. For every choice in the box and what each one takes in, see Choosing what a stocktake counts.
If you count the same slice again and again, you do not have to start it by hand each time. Cycle counts, next to New stocktake, opens the session on a schedule and emails your team a link to it - see Cycle counts: count on a schedule.
Stocktakes count on hand - what is physically on the shelf - not available. Open, unfulfilled orders never throw a count off.
Count items
If you record bin locations, they help here two ways while you count. An Order select appears above the table so you can walk the list in bin order instead of by product title, and every export gains a Bin column (the count sheet follows the same order when you have it selected).
Scan to count - scan a barcode (or type a SKU) and press Enter; each scan adds 1. Scanning something that is not on the list tells you why - no match, not tracked, or not stocked at this location.
Scans make a sound, so staff can keep their eyes on the shelf: a short beep when a count lands, and a low buzz when the code matched nothing or needs a choice (several products share the barcode). A Sound on / Sound off button appears next to the field after the first scan, and the choice is remembered on that device. Counting links make the same sounds; the POS count tile does not.
Type a count - enter a quantity directly on any line, for shelf counts done on paper.
Confirm - on a non-blind count, one click accepts the expected quantity for a line.
Skip - set a line aside; it will not be corrected when you apply. Skipping does not erase the count: skipped lines wait on the Skipped tab, and Include brings one back exactly as it was counted, while counting or in review.
Every count is saved the instant it lands - close the tab, switch devices, lose signal for a moment; nothing is lost. The progress bar tracks items counted, units, and the value counted at cost and at retail.
Import counts from a file
Counting with an external scanner app, or on paper? Press Import counts (in the header, next to Export) while counting. A quantity column makes the file a count sheet - same-item rows add together, and the file's total sets each item's count. Without a quantity column every row counts as one unit, so a raw scan dump imports as-is - even with no header row - and you can paste rows straight from a spreadsheet instead of uploading a file. Unmatched codes come back as row errors, and every imported count lands in the scan log like any other count.
Count as a team
Any number of people can count the same stocktake at once - in the app, on the POS tile, or through a counting link for staff without a Shopify login - and every count is attributed to whoever recorded it. See Count with a team: the app, POS and counting links.
Review and apply
Click Finish counting to move to review. You will see every difference between counted and expected. From here you can skip lines, or Reopen counting if a number looks wrong.
This article covers the review step in outline. For what Skip and Include actually do, what happens to items nobody counted, and what becomes permanent when you apply, see Reviewing and applying a stocktake.
Click Apply stocktake and the count is saved as a stock adjustment, which is what writes to Shopify - the difference for each item, not the counted number on its own, so a sale part-way through the count cannot skew it. The adjustment is linked from the finished stocktake, and Shopify's inventory history records the change against it.
Exports
While you count or review, the table narrows by Product type and Vendor - two dropdowns beside the search, shown when the count spans more than one - as well as by the Counted and Uncounted tabs. The stocktake list itself filters by location, scope and created date.
Four CSV exports are available at any stage, each stamped with the stocktake and date: counted items with cost (every counted item with its unit cost, counted value and the difference in value - the line-by-line breakdown of the Value at cost figure, ready for accounting), the full scan log (every count, with who and when), the differences, and items not counted.
Good to know
Cancelling a stocktake never writes anything to Shopify, at any stage. Cancel stocktake asks for an optional reason, which the next person to open the session sees in a banner - and every session has a Notes box, Tags, team comments and a History card of who did what: see Notes, comments, history and tags on stocktakes and adjustments.
Applied stocktakes are permanent history - they cannot be deleted.
A count that finds no differences writes no adjustment - there is nothing to change. It still counts as counted, so your last-counted dates move.
Because the count becomes an adjustment, it reaches QuickBooks like any other adjustment if you sync with MyWorks Sync. See Syncing Inventory Adjustments from Shopify (Stockroom) to QuickBooks Online.
Blind counts are enforced by the server, not just hidden on screen - expected quantities never reach a counter's device.
Products added to Shopify mid-session join the count list automatically.
The Location field pre-fills with your last stocktake's location, and locations hidden in Settings → Inventory & COGS are not offered.
Shopify POS only passes scans to apps from the scanner models it supports, so a generic Bluetooth scanner paired to a phone often will not reach the Count stock tile. Type the code on the POS count screen instead, or count from a counting link or the app - both accept any scanner that types a code and presses Enter.
For an overview of inventory and stocktakes, see Inventory & stocktakes on stockroom.app.