How to Receive and Store Stock in Odoo Inventory

Introduction

Managing inventory can quickly become overwhelming as your business grows. Without a proper system, you risk stockouts, misplaced items, and hours spent searching for products.

Odoo Inventory provides a robust solution to keep your warehouse organised. In this guide, you'll learn the fundamentals: how to configure products for tracking, set up storage locations, and receive incoming shipments properly.

Whether you're new to Odoo or setting up inventory management for the first time, this tutorial covers the essential workflows you'll use daily.

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Setting Up Products for Inventory Tracking

Before managing inventory, you need to configure your products correctly. In Odoo, not all products are tracked the same way.

Navigate to Products

1. Open the Inventory application
2. Click Products in the top menu
3. Select Products
4. Click New to create a product, or select an existing one to modify

Configuring Tracked Products

For items you want to monitor closely, such as furniture or equipment:

1. Set Product Type to Goods — this marks it as a physical product
2. Enable Track Inventory and choose your tracking method:
   • By Quantity — tracks the exact on-hand count
   • By Lots — groups items by batch number
   • By Serial Number — assigns a unique identifier to each item

Example: A furniture company tracking drawers would use "By Quantity" to know exactly how many are in stock at any time.

Configuring Untracked Products

Some items don't need precise tracking. Think screws, pens, or office supplies — you keep them in stock, but counting every single one is impractical.

For these products:

1. Set Product Type to Goods
2. Leave Track Inventory unchecked

When supplies run low, someone can notify procurement manually. This approach avoids unnecessary updates for low-value consumables.

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Configuring Storage Locations

Storage locations help you organise where products are stored within your warehouse. This makes finding and managing stock much easier.

Enable Storage Locations

1. Go to Configuration > Settings
2. Scroll to the Warehouse section
3. Enable Storage Locations
4. Click Save

Create and Manage Locations

1. Navigate to Configuration > Locations
2. Select an existing location or click New

For storage locations within your warehouse:

• Set Location Type to Internal Location
• Name it descriptively (e.g., "Warehouse/Stock/Shelf 3")
• Check the Is Empty field to identify available storage space

Location Types Explained

Type	Description
Internal Location	Physical spaces inside your warehouse (shelves, bins, zones)
Vendor Location	Virtual location representing your suppliers
Customer Location	Virtual location representing shipped-out goods
Inventory Loss	For damaged or lost items

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Understanding the Inventory Dashboard

The main Inventory dashboard gives you an at-a-glance view of daily operations.

Receipts Card

Shows incoming shipments from vendors that need processing:

• Orange bar — today's arrivals
• Red bars — late shipments (overdue)
• Green bars — future scheduled shipments

Delivery Orders Card

Displays orders being prepared for customers. We'll cover outgoing shipments in a future guide.

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Receiving Incoming Shipments

When a purchase order is confirmed in Odoo, it automatically creates a receipt in Inventory. This ensures purchased items are properly recorded when they arrive.

Process a Receipt

1. From the Inventory dashboard, click the number on the Receipts card
2. Select a receipt from the list (or scan the package barcode using the Barcode app)
3. Click Start Receipt

Verify and Adjust Quantities

On the receipt form:

• Demand shows the ordered amount
• Quantity shows what you actually received

If the received amount differs from the order, manually adjust the Quantity field.

Example: You ordered 8 drawers but only received 4. Update the quantity to 4.

Set the Destination Location

Before validating, specify where the products will be stored:

1. Find the Destination Location field in the operations tab
2. Change it to your target location (e.g., "WH/Stock/Shelf 3")
3. Click Save

Validate the Receipt

Click Validate to confirm the receipt.

If quantities don't match the original order, Odoo prompts you to create a backorder:

• Create Back Order — expects the remaining items in a future shipment
• No Back Order — closes the order as-is (use for samples or cancelled items)

Verify the Move

Click the Moves smart button to confirm items were transferred to the correct location with accurate quantities.

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Checking and Managing Stock

Once products are received, you'll want to monitor what's on hand and where.

View Physical Inventory

1. Go to Operations > Physical Inventory
2. View on-hand quantities for each product and their locations

Relocate Misplaced Stock

If products are stored in the wrong location:

1. Select the checkbox next to the product
2. Click Relocate
3. Set the To Location to the correct storage area
4. Add a reason (e.g., "Update stock location")
5. Click Confirm

Why Some Products Don't Appear

Products with Track Inventory disabled won't show in Physical Inventory, even after being received. If you need to track a product's stock and location, enable tracking on the product form.

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Pro Tips

• Save frequently — Don't lose your work. Click save after configuration changes.
• Use descriptive location names — "WH/Stock/Shelf 3" is better than "Location 42".
• Review late receipts daily — Red bars on your dashboard indicate issues to address.
• Set destinations before validating — Avoids having to relocate products later.
• Enable tracking for valuable items — Even if counting is tedious, knowing locations prevents loss.

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Common Product Tracking Summary

Product Type	Track Inventory	Example
High-value goods	By Quantity	Furniture, electronics
Batch-sensitive items	By Lots	Food products, chemicals
Serialised items	By Serial Number	Laptops, machinery
Consumables	Unchecked	Screws, office supplies

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Conclusion

You've now learned the basics of Odoo Inventory:

1. Configure products — Choose the right tracking method for each item type
2. Set up locations — Organise your warehouse with clear storage areas
3. Receive shipments — Process incoming goods and verify quantities
4. Manage stock — Check on-hand quantities and relocate items when needed

These fundamentals form the foundation for more advanced inventory operations like putaway rules, stock transfers, and inventory adjustments.

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What's Next

• Learn about outgoing shipments and customer delivery orders
• Explore putaway rules for automatic product routing
• Set up inventory adjustments for stock corrections