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gerdgoebel
October 8, 2025
Question

QBO test drive - Where do i find inventory control options?

  • October 8, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 18 views

I am monitoring the progress of QBO for a long time and decided to chat with a sales rep about it. Coming from QBD Prem, and using bulk and assembly items a lot, I had lots of questions how to handle this in QBO. The short answer, QBO does not handle either.

I still wanted to check out more of the QBO functionality to get a handle of what it would take to move from QBD to QBO. The person on the chat send me a link to a QBO test "advanced" test company, which supposedly should have inventory control included, but after spending about an hour going through various functions I could not find any option to look and/or adjust inventory. I also did not find an option where I could make inventory adjustments to use this function to convert bulk inventory in lbs or kilo to our sales inventory based on ounces.

I also saw lots of "bloat" and wasted space on the screen and lots of comments if I want to try KI functionality. Is there an option to switch most/all the bloat off to get more real functions on the main screen?

And is there somebody using QBO that is also using assembly items or bulk inventory? If yes, would you mind telling me how you resolved this?

And can somebody tell me where is find any inventory function in the test company?

 

One other worrying function is, that if I would go for the plus plan there is no backup/restore included? So, if I get something wrong, like imports from Square, Stripe, Paypal, or our web-orders, how an I supposed to correct it without a restore function? How are you guys handling something like this?

2 replies

SIAB
SIAB
Level 2
October 8, 2025

If you are a manufacturing company, you will need a 3rd party inventory management app with the assembly feature or a manufacturing app to sync with QBO. Why don't you stick with QB Desktop?

Tori B
Tori BQuickBooks Team
QuickBooks Team
October 8, 2025

Hey there, @gerdgoebel.

 

How are you doing today? I hope all is well. 

 

In QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced, you can only do simple tracking and managing of inventory. This includes tracking what's on hand, getting alerts when it’s time to restock, and see insights on what you buy and sell.

 

If you wish to see how it works in the Online version, you need first to turn on these settings so you can add your inventory.

 

Please do the following steps in the test account:

 

  1. Click on the Gear Icon and select Account and settings.
  2. Tap on the Sales tab.
  3. Choose Edit in the Products and services section.
  4. Turn on Show Product/Service column on sales forms.
  5. Turn on both Track quantity and price/rate and Track inventory quantity on hand.
  6. Hit Save and then Done.

 

Once done, you can start adding your inventory products. You can check out this article for more info: Set up and track your inventory in QuickBooks Online.

 

Here's a more in depth help guide that shows more information about moving your inventory from Desktop to Online: Set up inventory after converting from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online.

 

I also wanted to mention you're correct with your thinking about the backup and restore option. QuickBooks Online backup and restore is an exclusive feature of the QuickBooks Online Advanced plan. If you'd like to see more information about this feature, check out Backup and restore your QuickBooks Online Company. 

 

I want to ensure you can review as many details as possible about using inventory in QuickBooks Online. With that said, here is a list of several help articles we have available that covers each aspect of inventory:

 

 

If you have any additional questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to let me know. I'm happy to help. Take care! 

G
gerdgoebelAuthor
October 9, 2025

I found the inventory, but was not able to add additional items. I think that is due to it being a test company, where we only can look at functionality but not modify anything.

Where or how would I make inventory adjustments? If we would use QBO I would have to convert my bulk inventory to ounces, but I would also use inventory adjustments when doing physical inventories, which we do twice a year.

JenoP
JenoPQuickBooks Team
QuickBooks Team
October 10, 2025

You can create new inventory items and make other changes in the QuickBooks Online test account, gerdgoebel.

 

However, it automatically resets with its original data every time you log out or close the session. Can you tell us exactly what happened when you tried to add an item? Did you get an error message, or did the item just not save?

 

Please note that the Inventory adjustment feature in QBO allows you to change the item's quantity on hand to help you track the changes to your physical inventory. However, it does convert bulk inventories to ounces since Unit of Measure is not yet supported in QBO.

 

Here's how to access it:

 

  1. Click the + New button and select Inventory qty adjustment.
  2. Enter the Adjustment date.
  3. Choose the appropriate shrinkage or adjustment account in the dropdown list for Inventory adjustment account.
  4. For each item, enter either a new quantity or a change in quantity.
  5. In the Memo field, enter the details about the adjustment.
  6. Click Save and close.

 

 

Here's an article about this for more details: Adjust inventory quantity on hand in QuickBooks Online.

 

Don't hesitate to reply to us again if you have more questions for us.

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