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natalie4
Level 2

Using expiration dates for Inventory Items

We use assemblies to make our products and sell goods, but a few of our inventory Items have expiration dates, is there a way to track these dates and have them every time we purchase this product? so we know when our inventory is close to expiring so we dont use it? 

Solved
Best answer February 11, 2019

Best Answers
AldrinS
QuickBooks Team

Using expiration dates for Inventory Items

Hi there, natalie4.

 

It's a pleasure to see you here in the Community. I'm here with some insight to provide regarding this matter.

 

At this time, QuickBooks Online doesn't have the option to track the expiration date of your items. For additional insight about this, you can visit this article: Add, edit, and delete items

 

I can see how having this option could help you keep track of your items and make sure that you have a sufficient quantity all the time. Rest assured, I'll be sending feedback to our Product Development Team based on this interaction. After all, enhancements to QuickBooks functionalities are largely the results of feedback provided by users, such as yourself.

 

Lastly, I don't want you to go empty-handed. You may want to visit our Apps Center. In here, you can look for a third-party app, that will help you keep track of the expiration, and integrate it with QuickBooks.

 

Please don't hesitate to keep in touch if there's anything else I can do for you in the meantime. I always have your back and am always happy to help. Have a great day!

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9 Comments 9
AldrinS
QuickBooks Team

Using expiration dates for Inventory Items

Hi there, natalie4.

 

It's a pleasure to see you here in the Community. I'm here with some insight to provide regarding this matter.

 

At this time, QuickBooks Online doesn't have the option to track the expiration date of your items. For additional insight about this, you can visit this article: Add, edit, and delete items

 

I can see how having this option could help you keep track of your items and make sure that you have a sufficient quantity all the time. Rest assured, I'll be sending feedback to our Product Development Team based on this interaction. After all, enhancements to QuickBooks functionalities are largely the results of feedback provided by users, such as yourself.

 

Lastly, I don't want you to go empty-handed. You may want to visit our Apps Center. In here, you can look for a third-party app, that will help you keep track of the expiration, and integrate it with QuickBooks.

 

Please don't hesitate to keep in touch if there's anything else I can do for you in the meantime. I always have your back and am always happy to help. Have a great day!

wkittani
Level 3

Using expiration dates for Inventory Items

Dears ,,

 

do you have the function of multi unit of measure , specially for products that has more than one packing .

 

Example : We buy one carton of product A , but this carton has 10 dozens and each dozen has 12 units of the product . 

We sell either by dozen or unit or carton . do you have this option in the online QB .

Angelyn_T
QuickBooks Team

Using expiration dates for Inventory Items

Thank you for joining the thread, @wkittani.

 

I'd be glad to help share information about the unit of measure in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

 

As of now, we don't have the multi-unit of measure in QBO, what you can do is add the product per unit and just specify the quantity. (Example you've bought 1 case of soft drinks, add the product and input 24 under the Quantity column.)

 

I want to ensure customers like you are having the best possible experience while working with QuickBooks. If you think the option of having the multi-unit of measure is what you need for your business, I suggest sending this idea straight to our product developers to be considered in the future updates.

 

To send your feedback, go to the Gear icon and select Feedback under User Profile.

 

We value your feedback and want your voice to be heard by addressing all of your concerns. As always, feel free to add a post/comment if you have any other QuickBooks questions. I'm always here to help you!

wkittani
Level 3

Using expiration dates for Inventory Items

Thanks a lot for your quick answer and response , i would appreciate having such feature in QB.

wkittani
Level 3

Using expiration dates for Inventory Items

Thanks Angelyn for your quick reply . Having such option will add value to QB software .

MD20816
Level 1

Using expiration dates for Inventory Items

Hello Do you now have the possibility to add expiration dates for inventory items?

Best,

M.

MichelleBh
Moderator

Using expiration dates for Inventory Items

Thanks for following up on this thread, @MD20816.

 

The possibility to add expiration dates for inventory items in QuickBooks Online (QBO) and QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) is still unavailable. I can see how these additional options and functionality would be helpful for both you and your business. Allow me to take note of this idea.

 

I also encourage you to submit another feedback. These requests and suggestions are forwarded directly to our Product Development Team for consideration in a future updates. 

 

See the screenshots below for your guidance: 

 

feedback qbdt.PNGFeedback.PNG

 

The closest workaround that I can think of right now is utilizing our integrated apps about tracking expiration dates. You can visit these links below and type Reminders or Notes. 

 

 

 Meanwhile, I'm adding these essential materials for QuickBooks. It provides articles, tutorials, blogs, and an overview of the product.

 

 

If you have any follow-up questions about your inventory list, please let me know. I’ll be here to help. Take care.

Fiat Lux - ASIA
Level 15

Using expiration dates for Inventory Items

@MD20816 

Consider having an additional app to manage expiration date.

prettybee23
Level 1

Using expiration dates for Inventory Items

NO the feature is NOW available in Intuit's QuickBooks Enterprise (v23) Accountant

here is how to turn it on and manage it: i did have pictures but it wont let me attach in this comment >< 

 

Using the new Expiration Date feature

The new Expiration Date feature is only available to subscribers within the US and Canada of QuickBooks Enterprise Platinum, Diamond and Enterprise Accountant.

Activating the Feature

To activate the new Expiration Date feature:

  1. Log in to your QuickBooks Company file as the Admin user in Single-user mode
  2. From the Edit menu, select Preferences
  3. In the Preferences, choose Items & Inventory
  4. Open the Company Preferences and click Advanced Inventory Settings (shown below)
  5. Open the Lot/Serial Numbers & Expiration Dates tab
  6. Check-mark the Activate Expiration Date preference
  7. Choose how you wish to Show expiration dates for each option
  8. Choose how you wish to be notified about Expiration Dates in Sales Transactions
 

Note: If you use site/bin tracking, "do not" activate Expiration Date tracking, the feature currently is not working in the initial release.

Creating Purchase Transactions with Expiration Dates

Obviously, the next step in your workflow of tracking expiration dates is to add expiration dates to inventory items with serial or lot numbers during receiving/purchase. You will not know expiration dates in most cases until you receive products into your stock.

So I'm going to take you through those steps:

  1. From the Receiving Inventory drop-down, select Receive Inventory (with/without a Bill, as appropriate); we assume this is without a Bill.
  2. On the Item Receipt, select the Vendor from the drop-down.
  3. Select YES to receive against an open Purchase Order.
  4. Choose the correct Purchase Order, then select OK.
  5. The Line Items will populate from the Purchase Order; review them line by line against the receiving information. In our case, we are recording Serial Numbers for each quantity received.
  6. Click on the Serial Number drop-down to enter the Serial Numbers number's; notice the new Expiration Date field adjoining the Serial Number field (shown below).
  7. Enter the Serial Numbers for each of the receiving quantities of the Item.
  8. Enter the Expiration Date corresponding to each Serial Number.
  9. Click OK when you have entered all Serial Numbers and Expiration Dates (the count must equal your line item quantity).
  10. Repeat for each line item in your Item Receipt with Serial Numbers and Expiration Dates (if an item does not have expiration dates, the expiration date column will not be active in the serial number window).
  11. When you have finished recording all line items, be sure to Save & Close the Item Receipt.
 

Note: If you are using Lot tracking rather than Serial-number tracking, the process almost is identical, except you will enter a single expiration date corresponding to each entire lot you receive. Every lot can have different expiration dates, but no single lot can have multiple expiration dates.

Checking Expiration Dates Of Sales Items

The third use of the new expiration date feature is to check or view the expiration date of serial or lot numbers for items during sales transactions.

Below is an example of how I used an item with an Expiration Date in the distant future in a Sales Receipt, and everything worked just fine:

 

But you really need the ability to verify you are never selling something outside the expiration date. Does the new feature really work for that? "Not yet, in my opinion." —Murph   

I tried another Sales Receipt example in which I intentionally set an item with an expiration date the day before the date I knew I would be trying to sell it. Again, the Sales Receipt processed normally despite the expiration date being exceeded, and QuickBooks picked this serial number because I had chosen the autofill option. This is a problem.

 

One reason it is a problem is because there is not a warning. There needs to be a 'Pop-up' that says Expiration Date Exceeded (or something like that).

This is especially true if you use the option to autofill from existing inventory when selecting Serial (or Lot) Numbers because the expiration dates default automatically.

The second reason it is a problem is that QuickBooks should make you select an alternative Serial (or Lot) number with an Expiration Date that is not expired. Furthermore, if you are using autofill, then QuickBooks should select a Serial (or Lot) number with a valid Expiration Date and skip any/all expired serial (lot) numbers.

While the new Expiration Date tracking feature within QuickBooks Enterprise v23 has a few bugs in this early release, it is a great new functionality that's been needed to bolster the inventory capabilities of Enterprise for the mid-market. 

 I am confident that the Advanced Inventory Team working on this feature can resolve these minor issues quickly, and also provide the additional reporting users need to offer Expiration Date quality controls within the upcoming maintenance release cycles. (Murph)

I believe the Advanced Inventory Team working on this new feature understands the importance of Expiration Dates. I am confident that these are issues that can be easily resolved and will be forthcoming in a future maintenance (R) release.

Reporting on Expiration Dates of Serial/Lot Numbers for Inventory Items

Below is an example of a Serial Numbers in Stock Report with Serial Numbers included on the Report. Unfortunately, the only way you can currently view the expiration dates is to click on the Item's Serial Numbers while viewing the Report to open the Quick View window, which will provide the Expiration Dates 

 

 

I am aware that the team working on this functionality understands the need for additional reports using this new Expiration Date feature, including a specific Expiring Products Report, and will be working to make other feature-related reports available in upcoming maintenance (R) releases

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