By default a build moves stock only when you Record build. For many shops that is fine. If your bench pulls materials from the shelf hours or days before the finished units exist, use Issue components so Stockroom knows the components are out - your available stock is right, nobody oversells a part that is already on the bench, and the value sitting in work in progress is real.
Issue components
On an open build, click Issue components. The dialog prefills enough for the units still to make - type a different number in Enough for and every line recalculates, or edit a line directly. Each line shows the per-unit quantity, what is already issued and what is here right now. Click Issue components and:
the components leave your available stock at the build's location immediately (Shopify's history shows the build number),
they stay with the build - the components table gains an Issued column,
the Cost card shows "issued and in progress" - the value of what is out, at the cost it carried when you issued it,
a draft build starts (it becomes In progress).
You can issue in several goes, and you can issue more than the shelf shows - the Here column simply goes negative until stock is corrected.
Record build uses what you issued first
When you Record build, each component's consumption comes out of what was issued first; only anything beyond that leaves the shelf at that moment. A fully issued build therefore moves nothing but the finished units when you record it. The components' cost follows the same rule: issued components keep the cost they were issued at, even if the product's cost changed in between.
Return to stock
Issued but not used? More actions > Return to stock puts components back on the shelf - the dialog lists what is out per component, capped there. A build that reaches Built with components still issued shows a warning until you return them or record what was used. Mark as built and Cancel build wait until nothing is left out, so a closed build never has value stranded in progress.
Undo
The Issued components table lists every issue and return with its value and who did it. Undo reverses one completely and keeps it in the list marked Undone. An issue can be undone only while everything it issued is still out - once a build record has used some of it, undo that record first, or return what is left instead.
Where else it shows
Short and Can build N now count issued components as in hand.
The Work in progress report has an Issued value column - the real work-in-progress balance across your builds (see Build reports).
The printed build sheet shows an Issued column on the pick list.
The Activity list records every issue, return and undo.
Good to know
Issuing is for builds only - a disassembly (unbuild) takes the finished units apart instead.
The Here number is your Shopify available at that location; it drops a few seconds after you issue, once Shopify confirms the change - refresh the page if it looks unchanged.
If a component has no cost, the value in progress reads "some costs missing" rather than a number that is too low; it becomes known again once that component is used up.
On the product page timeline and the Inventory movements report, issued components appear on the day you issued them, marked issued, and leftovers you bring back appear as returned to stock; a build record then shows only what came off the shelf at that moment. The Inventory roll-forward and COGS reports value those movements at the same cost the build page shows, so the reports and your books agree.
If you sync to QuickBooks or Xero with MyWorks, issuing and recording are exactly the movements that post to your components, work in progress and finished goods accounts - see Builds in QuickBooks and Xero with MyWorks Sync.