Barcode stocktakes are built for speed: walk the shelves, scan every item, and EasyScan keeps the running totals for you. Nothing changes in your Shopify inventory while you count — adjustments are only made at the end, after you've reviewed and applied them.
This guide assumes you've already created a stocktake with the Barcode type. If you haven't, start with Getting Started with Stocktakes.
Before you start
Any scanner that types into a text field works — a USB or Bluetooth barcode scanner, or your device's camera.
EasyScan matches each scan against your products' barcodes and SKUs, so make sure those are assigned in Shopify for the products you're counting.
After you create the stocktake, EasyScan loads your product catalog. Counting and exports unlock once loading finishes — very large catalogs can take a few minutes.
The stocktake overview
Opening a barcode stocktake shows its overview: the location, scope, type, and inventory mode you chose when creating it, plus its list of counting sessions — called checks. From here you can:
Open a check and start counting.
Add more checks to split up the work.
Export CSV or Print PDF to get count sheets.
Select Count complete once counting is finished.
Archive the stocktake when you no longer need it. Archived stocktakes keep all their data but become read-only until you restore them.
Checks: splitting up the count
Every stocktake starts with Check 1, and for a small count that's all you need. Add another check when you want to:
give each person doing the counting their own session,
split the count by area — one check per aisle, room, or stockroom,
spread the count across several days.
All checks belong to the same stocktake, and an item's total counted quantity is simply the sum of what every check counted. If you use EasyScan's Users feature, each check also records who it was assigned to, so counts stay attributable.
Counted a section twice, or want to throw away a session? Archive that check — its data is kept, but its counts are excluded from the stocktake's totals. You can unarchive it at any time before the count is completed.
Counting items: the Scan tab
Open a check. You'll land on the Scan tab.
Click into the scan field so the cursor is blinking inside it — a scan only registers when the field has focus.
Scan an item. EasyScan finds the matching product and adds it to the count.
Keep scanning. Every counted item appears in the list with its counted quantity.
A few things worth knowing:
Counting several units at once — set the quantity next to the scan field before scanning to count a whole case in one go. It resets to 1 after every scan, so a leftover value never carries over by accident.
Quantities freeze when you count — the first time an item is counted, EasyScan records the stock figure it had at that exact moment. Discrepancies are measured against that recorded figure, so sales or deliveries later in the count won't muddle your results.
Fixing mistakes — use Edit on a row to change its counted quantity, or Delete to remove the item from the check entirely.
Looking things up: the Search tab
The Search tab lets you look products up without counting them. Search by product name, variant title, SKU, or barcode — handy for checking whether something has already been counted, or for identifying an item whose label won't scan.
Items you haven't counted: the Missed tab
The Missed tab lists every product in the stocktake that hasn't been counted yet. Review it before you finish: anything left uncounted is simply left unchanged in Shopify when the adjustments are applied.
If missed items genuinely aren't on the shelf, record them as zero:
Set selected to 0 — mark the items you've selected on the current page as counted, with a quantity of zero.
Zero all — mark every remaining missed item as counted zero in one go. On large catalogs this runs in the background while you carry on.
Zeroing doesn't touch Shopify by itself — it just records those items as "counted: 0" so that applying the adjustment sets their stock to zero.
Scan history: the Log tab
The Log tab is the check's full scan history — which item, when, and how many. Useful for auditing a count or untangling a double-scan.
Finishing the count
Make sure every check is done, and give the Missed tab a final look.
Go back to the stocktake overview and select Count complete.
Select Create stock adjustment to review every discrepancy and push the corrections to Shopify. That step has its own guide: Reviewing and Applying Stocktake Adjustments.
Remember: completing the count doesn't change any stock by itself. Nothing is written to Shopify until you apply the adjustments.
Count sheets and exports
From the stocktake overview, Export CSV and Print PDF cover everything counted so far across all active checks.
From inside a check, the same actions export just that check — handy for per-person or per-area sheets.
Exports include the columns you've enabled in the table options.
Up to 2,500 rows download straight to your browser. From 2,500 up to 25,000 rows, EasyScan emails you the CSV instead (PDF isn't available at that size).
Tips
One check per counter. Give every person their own check so sessions don't get tangled and the history stays attributable.
Very big counts: if a single check grows past about 15,000 counted items, start another check and continue there.
Multi-day counts are fine. Progress saves automatically. If stock moves in Shopify while you're counting, EasyScan flags those items during the adjustment review, so nothing slips through.