This newest update to inventory adjustments was completely unnecessary and is now far more complicated than it needs to be and is already causing confusion resulting in inputting errors. Previously you could just add, subtract, or overwrite quantities all with one click and it was far easier to add inventory to unavailable. Why did Shopify feel the need to add so many steps to the process and complicate and confuse an issue as important and frequently accessed as inventory adjustments? This is the worst update I’ve seen in a long time - it’s incredibly frustrating that it’s not an optional change to how I manage my own inventory. Please Shopify, change it back. Business owners need to be able to keep it simple.
Yeah this is a real regression for high-frequency adjusters. The new flow doubles keystrokes on what used to be the most-used path. A few stopgaps until Shopify simplifies or rolls back:
Bulk Editor (Products > select variants > Edit columns > pick Available) still respects direct-edit per cell, no multi-step dialog. Faster when touching many SKUs at once.
For bigger nightly corrections, the GraphQL inventoryAdjustQuantities mutation via a small admin app or Postman batch handles 100+ at a time without going through the UI at all.
The Send feedback button inside the inventory dialog itself (not the forum) routes directly to the team that owns this surface. Regression-style reports usually move faster than feature requests because they carry a clear “this used to work” framing.
What kind of adjustment is it mostly: receiving new stock, daily corrections from counts, or overwrites for shrinkage? Different stopgap fits each.
I completely understand your frustration because many merchants are struggling with this exact same update. Shopify introduced these extra steps and adjustment reasons to create stricter audit trails and better sync with multiple warehouse locations, but it definitely made quick edits much more tedious.
While Shopify rarely rolls back these interface changes, the fastest workaround right now is to use the bulk editor tool. If you go to your inventory page, check the boxes next to your products, and click the bulk edit button, it opens a spreadsheet layout where you can quickly type in the new quantities without going through the new multi-step process. You should also submit your thoughts directly to Shopify support so their development team sees how this is negatively impacting daily operations.
Hope this helps.
As of now you can try bulk editing option or the CSV import for inventory which bypasses the new UI flow entirely.
Additionally keep on complaining about the same at shopify support. If dozen of complains comes for the same thing shopify will roll back the things
If you are on the higher plan try stocky app it will be helpful
Honestly, how many additional steps do we new have to do to update the inventory. It used to be quick and easy. Now it takes so many steps and alot of errors are happening, Terrible idea who ever did the new design. I’ve tried reporting it to support but they give me nothing but excuses. How going from 1-2 steps to 5-6 makes any sense is ridiculous. Also half the time it does not update. I have to go back and check. This should be filed under their developers must have too much free time on thier hands to come up with not only useless but poorly designed updated.
Having to go to bulk adds more steps that are not necessary. Every time I sell an item I check my inventory. I cant believe how much time this is causing me. Last week alone must have added 3 hours to my work load.
Now they added the same feature to Bulk. Even a go around wont help. This is the worst update I’ve seen. Plus it is hard to even get the update to work.
I’ve tried speaking with support but I might as well be talking to a wall. They give me stupid excuses. Now the BULK feature even has the time consuming error packed feature.
This feels like the same tradeoff showing up in a lot of Shopify operational workflows lately.
From a system perspective, stricter adjustment flows, audit trails, and multi-location consistency all make sense.
But operationally, there’s a big difference between:
“more controlled”
and
“faster to execute day-to-day.”
For teams updating inventory constantly throughout the day, even a few additional clicks per adjustment compounds surprisingly fast over weeks and months.
That’s probably why the frustration feels so strong here it’s less about the feature itself and more about disrupting an existing operational rhythm that staff were already optimized around.
Especially in retail workflows, small UI friction repeated hundreds of times becomes a real operational cost.
All of it, really.
- I manually input incoming inventory instead of using the PO feature because I usually put it in as available as soon as it ships, not when it arrives.
- After several years, transitioning from a different POS system, and a revolving door of employees, a lot of errors have affected the inventory, so when we’re pulling online orders we always double check (and adjust if needed) the stock when we pull the last of an item in an effort to prevent any accidental oversells due to incorrect stock.
- Pulling product out of stock for class supplies, testers, damages, theft, etc.
The bulk inventory doesn’t work for me because I order from a lot of distributors, so I’m often updating multiple brands & product types with one order.
The extra steps are tedious, yes, but what’s far more concerning is the high potential for mistakes. The new “set to” and “adjust by” toggle seems to have no default setting - but rather stays at whatever you used last (which is goofy, because I use both methods and am never going to remember which one I used last). This is resulting in constantly using the wrong one. I’m catching myself (hopefully every time) - but I guarantee you the staff won’t pay as much attention as I am.
Trying to add inventory to “unavailable” is a nightmare. I create different “locations” that I move product to whether for class materials or kits, missing product, damages, testers, etc. - that’s my audit trail. I don’t want to have to look at adjustment history for each and every item - I want to look quickly and see that I pulled inventory for a kit, tester, whatever. This also helps me avoid double pulling or over-ordering inventory - I can easily see that I already have a tester for a product, or that I’ve already allocated stock for a class - with one click.
I always put these products in “unavailable” because when I’m placing restock orders, I don’t want to have to click into every single item to see where the inventory is - I only want to see what’s available for sale in a quick overview (in the product list view). The new method has me so frustrated - it’s confusing and I keep going negative by accident, then overcorrecting when I try to fix it, or adding it to “available” by mistake and then it’s impossible to move from available to unavailable. You have to subtract it from available, save it, then add it to unavailable, and save it again.
If Shopify wants stricter audit trails, what I’d love to see is a change to the POS. I have to have the Shopify app open on the iPad - and be signed into an admin account in order for the POS to work. So there is zero control over which employees can access and adjust inventory. And when they do, it shows up as me in the adjustment history, so if someone makes a mistake (or were to steal something), there’s zero accountability.
By the way, this means nothing to me - it might as well be a foreign language. I’m not a tech idiot, but I’m not exactly advanced either - and I shouldn’t have to be in order to make an adjustment to inventory. Shopify is supposed to be user-friendly - this new update is anything but.
P.S. I’m sorry if it sounds like I’m directing my frustration at you - I’m not, but I am aware I tend to come across harsh in text. I appreciate that you’re trying to help me find a workaround!
This actually highlights why the frustration goes beyond “extra clicks.”
What you described isn’t just inventory adjustment it’s an operational workflow system you’ve built over time around how your business actually runs.
Using locations for:
• class allocations
• testers
• damaged inventory
• missing stock
• kits
creates a very visible operational state model that helps with:
purchasing,
oversell prevention,
staff coordination,
and inventory confidence.
The difficult part is that the new adjustment flow seems optimized around stricter transaction control, while your workflow is optimized around operational visibility and speed.
That’s why it feels so disruptive day-to-day even if the underlying inventory math technically still works.
The employee accountability point is important too. Once audit trails stop reflecting who actually performed adjustments, the system starts losing operational trust, especially with larger teams.
I see it is incredibly annoying that even the Bulk Editor has been pulled into this new system. Shopify is pushing this audit trail logic to appease larger enterprises that need strict accounting for every single inventory change, but they have clearly overlooked how much this slows down daily operations for agile business owners. It feels like they are trading efficiency for unnecessary paperwork, and unfortunately, they rarely provide a way to opt out of these fundamental interface changes once they are rolled out.
Since the standard workarounds are being blocked, the most effective way to regain control is to bypass the visual admin interface as much as possible. Many merchants in your position are switching to using a barcode scanner to automate the lookup or utilizing a dedicated inventory management app that offers a fast, spreadsheet-style entry. If you have any technical resources, using a simple API script to push inventory updates can skip all the popup steps and adjustment reasons entirely. It is a tough transition, but finding these shortcuts is the only way to protect your time right now.
Hope this helps.
agreed - totally unnecessary
Yes, they are catering to the 10% that have multiple inventory locations whiles the 90% of the smaller business are made to triple our work and be plagued with inventory errors. The program does a terrible job updating the count. we don’t have much value to Shopify. Guess that’s why they have a 1.3 star rating on Trust Pilot. I filed a complaint with support. It took 3 attempts over 3 days for someone to make the effort to file the complaint.
Just tossing my comment into the ring - This rollout was poorly executed and is an absolute nuisance to daily operations for smaller shops.
Using bulk edits is just one more step to make using Shopify more time consuming and difficult to use. It was much faster and simpler to use a year ago.
Or maybe move to a different system
The new workflow seems designed around more detailed tracking and inventory state management, but for stores handling frequent manual adjustments, it definitely adds extra clicks and slows things down. Especially when you’re updating unavailable stock, doing bulk corrections, or receiving inventory throughout the day.
One thing that may help in the meantime is using the bulk editor or CSV inventory updates for larger adjustments since the new interface can feel cumbersome for repetitive edits. I’ve also noticed some merchants are accidentally applying changes to the wrong inventory state because the UI now separates actions more aggressively than before.
Hopefully Shopify takes the feedback seriously because inventory management is one of those areas where speed and clarity matter more than added complexity. You’re definitely not the only merchant feeling this after the update.
Feels like the tension here is less about the individual clicks themselves and more about workflow interruption.
For teams doing occasional inventory adjustments, the added controls and audit structure may not feel like a huge change.
But for stores making frequent operational adjustments throughout the day:
receiving inventory,
moving damaged stock,
allocating class/tester inventory,
correcting counts during picking,
or handling rapid sell-through,
small UI changes compound very quickly into operational friction.
What’s interesting is that Shopify seems to be optimizing more toward inventory governance and multi-location consistency, while a lot of smaller operators are optimizing for speed, simplicity, and low-error daily execution.
That balance is probably harder than it looks because the workflows between:
single-location retail,
multi-location retail,
and warehouse-style inventory management
are operationally very different even though they all sit inside the same product.