Inventory Counting with non iOS devices

[ndixon]

I remember someone from Square mentioning that they were working on making it possible to do inventory counting on non iOS devices. Right now the only way to do inventory counts is on an iphone or an ipad. At the very least I feel like you should be able to do this through the dashboard on a computer. It's also crazy that you can't do this on the Square register. Are there any updates on this?

[Candlestore · Accepted solution]

@ndixon 

I was working on one with a Scanner and a Chromebook with Google sheets.  

Then I had to use Excel and formulas to make an Import file to update the information into Square.

I just found my way was a pain to SCAN every item, instead of going I have 8 or 9 there and enter that number.  So I started to add more fields.  Plus a few other counts when I would try entering say 1 case of 144 and then 8 boxes of 12, my inventory would end up being off by 1 or two when I was testing this.  This was because when I scanned an item, to say I had 15 boxes of 12, my formula counted the Scan as 1 and added that to the total of 15 times 12.  I then tried using more formulas to compensate and got all messed up.

I put the counting thing on hold because of Quickbooks messages of discontinuing / no support for Desktop.

Then I started looking for New accounting software.  Desktop versions for what I had / need went from $700 a year to about $1000 to remain with Desktop and not online.  This led me to Odoo.  I tried their Accounting, and was complicated to work with Square, BUT their inventory is awesome.  Now I can see items and where they are in my store if I assign them a location.   So it shows 10 in showroom 1, 2 on display showroom 5, 35 in basement room 3, 500 in the back barn and also shows a total.  This helps me out alot so I do not have to count all of this item but can count the items in one area and it gets updated.   This can be used with a scanner and mobile devices or chromebooks.  1 App like Inventory is free, but if you use 2 apps you pay per user, which can add up.  You can schedule Inventory Cycle counts too for every X amount of days.  So when I get the notification from Odoo to do a Cycle count I update this count in Square.  This is not perfect but now if a customer asks if I have 40 of an Item, I do not go to Basement and be 5 short then pull from showroom when I could go right to my back barn and pull all of them from one location.  Wish I could have storage locations for a Stores location in square instead of one total amount of inventory for my 1 location.

I do not work for Square but wanted to let you know what I was doing and am not sure if you were thinking of me saying I was working on this and where I am at now with it.  I still have the google sheets workbook if you want to look at it.

[ndixon]

I've never had the export/import work the way I wanted so I stay away from it. The iOS app makes inventory counting very easy. Luckily we have 4 iOS devices between us so 4 people can count at once. It would be great if we could have more hands on deck and get it done faster. Having an android app or the ability to do it on the $800 square register would be nice. Having to buy third party hardware to do something so basic is ridiculous to me. That said we did get through our inventory smoothly this year with the iOS app.

[Candlestore]

@ndixon ;

I agree that Square should make the Apps work alike between IOS and Android devices and since your original post was about someone from Square Working on this, I thought you may have saw my post before about me working on my own (non employee of Square) using a chromebook and scanner.  Yes I have also used the IOS device and Square for my inventory which works well, and would like something for Androids because we have more Android devices than Ipads.

[ndixon]

@Candlestore 

[Janet7]

Hello!  Any update on your message from 06-05-24?  Square register use for inventory count follow up and recount adjustments in bulk on Dashboard follow up?  

[Candlestore]

@Janet7 ;

I have a question for you as I use Square Stands at my checkout points and not the Register.  When Square made the Count inventory  Cycle Count availabe on an Ipad device, I realized 1 major flaw for Me.  My store is about 16,000 sq feet, and would have to walk around the store with my square stand and in the warehouse to count and scan my inventory.  This could be avoided if I brought each item to the register and entered the item and quantity.  This seemed too much but popping out an Ipad from the Stand, can work just fine if you have a scanner that is compatible with Square and is Bluetooth not usb.  So here are my questions for you and others reading this since I do not have a Register:

1. Can you pop out the display screen that you tap to carry the main screen with you when your doing inventory?
2. Does the Main screen have its own Power supply?
   1. Would you need to carry the Entire register around with you to do inventory?
   2. Do you have a portable power supply for the register?
   3. How easy would the register be to be moving around the store to do this with power cords or a power supply also?
3. What would you process look like to count inventory that is not close to a Register?

I mention this because I started working on my own Google Sheet on Chrome books that could use a USB scanner and even carring them around got to be annoying.  Lucky thing we have small shopping carts that could hold the Chromebooks and Scanner to get the item to Scan and be able to count what was on the Shelf or just do repetitve scans for lower counts.

This is why I above I suggested this for Android Devices and Apple products, since they are both able to be used on cell phones or tablets.  Just not sure how this would work with a square Register unless you have less item in your inventory to count.  My inventory is about 10,000 unique items, and 2 warehouses plus my 10,000 showroom, which is why on the stands or Register the inventory counting is not easy to do.

As I said I did something in google sheets that would do the calculations for me and create a csv that I could upload to Square.  Since this Google Sheet is on the web, my android phones or tablets can connect to it, along with my Ipads, and Chromebooks; for all of them to count inventory and create 1 csv file to upload to Square.  

[ndixon]

@Candlestore @Janet7 the best way to perform inventory counting right now is to use an iphone or an ipad. You don't even need a barcode scanner, you can use the camera on the idevice. The square register straight up cannot do inventory counting. You can only adjust the inventory item by item. You won't be able to see if your numbers are off unless you document that as you go. The square register is like a tablet version of a desktop computer. It needs to be plugged in at all times.

Android devices, the online dashboard, and the square register still can't do inventory counting like the iOS app can. I have not gotten an update since that initial one I just posted from June last year.