Inventory Low Stock Alert can't be disabled?

[IndoorFins]

Hi all, I feel a little bit like I am losing my mind. I am trying to turn off low stock alerts on several items (not ALL items). But this does not seem to be possible once a low stock alert has been set. I can only find ways to change the threshold. 

The support page is weakly written (or out of date) linked here. 

For starters, in items with variations at least, there is no obvious "manage inventory" section. Clicking on the variation let me get to the edit variation pop up and then the inventory tab. From there the three dot menu only lists "change tracking" (which is changing from counting to available/not available), "set low stock alert", and "stock history". 

From here I can set the low stock alert to 0, which it labels as "not set". But the item still pops up under the "low stock alert" filter. I even tried just clicking "cancel" (which anyone not reading the guide would assume backs you out of the screen). That didn't work either. 

So, how can you ACTUALLY turn this off for individual items. 

Also, while the new item creation/item screens have some improvements. I hate the changes to inventory/tracking menus. It's nearly impossible to find them on your own and like I said above the documentation is not very helpful. 

Anyway, this is part complaint, part question. Thank you. 

[TheBurrow]

Having this same issue. Have you found a solution yet? This entire new method they've stuck us with is just awful. Not efficient at all. I've sent so much feedback but I doubt it will make a difference.

[IndoorFins]

All I've found is either exporting the items and editing the alert column before reuploading. Or if the item has variations when you open just the variation from the Item Library Screen the inventory tab of the variation still has the old toggle on/off. 

[IndoorFins]

I think the community page ate my first attempt at a reply. 

All I've found is either exporting the items and editing the alert column before reuploading. Or if the item has variations when you open just the variation from the Item Library Screen the inventory tab of the variation still has the old toggle on/off. 

I don't see a way to turn them off in the item page itself (which I also hate). I spent 6 years using Airtable and Jira in my jobs before owning this business. I rather desperately wish I could edit my library like a database/table without exporting it and importing it over and over. 

[Amora_Wellness]

I've been having the same issue. After the new item library view was rolled out to me about 2 mos ago, I searched here, and found a way to get it to save by clicking "cancel" in the set low stock alert menu (which as you said is totally counterintuitive), but now that stopped working. I chatted with a rep the other day and they said the only way to do it was to export the library, change the status there and re-import, to which I replied: I am definitely NOT doing that. I've been searching around the community for the last month or so for solutions, but have only found a couple threads, and on one where a square employee was interacting, they no longer are--even when I tagged them (maybe because the thread was marked as "solved"?). This is such basic functionality, I just don't get it.

I did see in a Release Notes email yesterday that they added an item status "pill" which allows you to update the inventory without editing the specific item, which will be helpful. I didn't have the status column showing, so I went & turned that on. However, we still need to be able to turn the low stock alert (and highlighted color) OFF for things we no longer carry or are seasonal. They also shouldn't be cluttering up the low stock emails, but that's happening too.

[IndoorFins]

I'll have to check out that new feature. But agreed that this is a very basic feature that appears to have broken. I did end up doing the export/import fix, but I was also redoing a bunch of pricing so I wanted to look at margin/markup and make comparisons. In other words, I needed to do work in a spreadsheet and just also did the fix. 

For whatever reason when Items have variations you can still shut off the alert when you open the variation from the Item Library screen (rather than when editing the whole item). When you have the pop up the inventory tab is still the old style with a toggle on/off for stock alerts. 

[TheBurrow · Accepted solution]

Yeah it looks like the only way to work around this without the export/import is to change it from the main inventory screen IF the item is set as a variation. I have lots of items that aren't set as a variation but I've found you can change that without messing with inventory numbers. I'm just naming all the variations "primary" because you have to give it a name. Just ignore the second variation it thinks you're trying to create, it disappears if you don't give it a name. Currently working on this unnecessarily tedious process... thanks @Square - 10 mouse clicks to simply undo a low stock alert! Including a screenshot video to show what to do for anyone who needs it 💙

[IndoorFins]

I figured I'd loop back to this and mark your answer as a solution. (although as you note its more of a work around than a real solution.

[Amora_Wellness]

I appreciate the workaround given, but I do not consider this a solution. I don't use variations, and even if I did, I have THOUSANDS of SKUs I'd have to go through. Square needs to fix what they broke. Note to Square if anyone's listening: low stock showing "not set" is NOT the same as low stock being zero.

[IndoorFins]

Oh I agree! It's a terrible workaround. But I wanted to mark a "best answer" if other uses needed it in the meantime.

This and how purchase orders work for those of us on the mid-tier or lower are my big frustrations. POs are adding items (and variations) one by one. You can sort of create new items on the fly but not new variations of existing items and you can't set more than one category. You also can't select items from the catalog to make a PO. You can make one from your low stock alerts, but then it mixes ALL the vendors together. I don't think I can make one from the sell through report either!

You have to pay for the most expensive plan to import POs from a spreadsheet, so I can't even work around it! But I use it because otherwise updating my inventory would be one item at  a time. Either with the phone app (scans barcodes slowly or typing each one in) or one by one in the dashboard. OR by uploading a spreadsheet to the library with a "recount" meaning I'd need to add the current inventory to the new stuff myself FIRST. 

I get new items most weeks, or at least restocks. This eats up so much of my time. 

 

[Amora_Wellness]

@Katie_SQ tagging you because you had commented on another post that was similar (and says "solved" but is not solved).