CSV import, zero out inv before update

[2blindmice]

is there a way to zero out my inventory before importing new updates so that only the active or available inventory and qtys get updated and the ones that are no longer available get zero out?  Do I have to use an app to be able to do this or is there another way.

[Ablestar_Daniel]

If you're using the Shopify admin to update your inventory levels there's one trick you can use to zero out the inventory levels of products that aren't updated. The Shopify inventory CSV format allows you to include the same product more than once with the last value being the one that 'sticks'.

You can use this to do the following:

1. Export all your inventory to a CSV file
2. In the CSV, set the inventory levels for all products to 0
3. In the same file, copy the data you want to update to the end of the file
4. Re-upload the inventory to Shopify

This will cause all products to be set to zero inventory except for the ones with data that you've copied to the end of the file.

To give a visual example, here's a CSV file from a store with 3 products:

 All three products are included with the inventory levels set to 0. We only have updates for 'product-one' and 'product-three' so we copy those to the end of the file. When Shopify processes this it will set the following inventory levels:

• product-one: 12 in stock
• product-two: 0 in stock
• product-three: 14 in stock

I hope this helps, if you need more control over bulk editing your inventory I'd suggest taking a look at our Ablestar Bulk Product Editor but in your case I think you should be able to do this directly in the Shopify admin.

Best,

Daniel