recommendations for items when out of stock

Thanks for sharing your thoughts in the Community space, @clintonious.

As of now, there isn’t an option to get a notification where there is a new version of an item available in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT). Rest assured, I’ll take note of this and let our engineering team know so they’ll consider adding this in the future.

In the meantime, I recommend looking for a third-party app that notifies you of a new item to use. You can go to the App Center in your QBDT software or visit our Intuit Marketplace and look for an app that works best for your business.

Rest assured, I’ll take note of this and let our engineering team know so they’ll consider adding this in the future. Additionally, I’d recommend checking our Product Updates page regularly. Here, you get to know what our product engineers are currently working on to improve our product.

Let me also share this article that you can utilize for your future reference: Set up Advanced Inventory. This link can guide you through the steps on how to track your inventory from different sites or locations.

You’re always welcome to post in the Community whenever you have other concerns or questions with your QBDT software. It’s always my pleasure to help you out. Take care and stay safe.

Thanks for the reply. I've been looking at apps for a while and have not found anything that would work yet. 

Thoughts on sub-items? 

In many cases the change is related to the new packaging or something internal. To help us track the difference a new part number (Sku) is created.  However, the product itself is the same. 
Would changing the older item to be a sub-item of the new item allow it to pop up when trying to order the out of stock new item? 

Making the old item as a sub-item won't create a pop-up when it's out of stock, clintonious.

In QuickBooks Desktop, you can set up the preferences to remind you when the item exceeds quantity on hand or quantity available. Let me show you how:

1. Go to Edit, then Preferences.
2. Click Items & Inventory, then Company Preferences.
3. Choose how to warn the system if items are not enough to sell.
   
4. Click OK to save the changes.

When you create a transaction, this is the pop-up if the item is less than the number of quantity on hand.

On the other hand, we have this feature available in QuickBooks Online where the system alerts you when the product or service is out low. Check out the Set up alerts for low or out of stock products for more details.

Feel free to leave a comment below if you need additional information. I'm always right here whenever you have follow-up questions about the alert messages.

@MaryLandT 
Thanks for the note on sub-items, and bummer. 

As to the stock reminders, we do have those already set up and they are handy. So knowing when something is getting low or is out of stock is covered. I was just looking for a way to help the order entry staff with recommendations for other items when something is out of stock, especially when there is another item that is technically the same. 

Sigh...

@clintonious 

Explore the inventory management app with the matrix inventory feature. 

@Fiat Lux - ASIA 

Thank you for that suggestion. Do you have any app recommendations, maybe apps that you have used for this purpose?
I did find one app in the Quickbooks marketplace that listed matrix inventory. They are called Advanced Pro and I've set up a demo for next week.
I also looked up matrix inventory for Quickbooks online and found both Acctivate and Fishbowl. I am not sure we are ready to take on that software as it takes us out of Quickbooks. They force us to use their software with Quickbooks being moved into an accounting only role. Plus they have annual costs of $7000 or more. For our small business, that feels like a lot, especially when considering I can just print a piece of paper to hand to our order entry staff that tells them what skus to use when other skus shows zero inventory. 

@clintonious 

Intuit has acquired an inventory management app to join its family. Currently it only supports QB Online.

https://go.tradegecko.com/register?code=fiat-lux

If you are using QB Desktop Pro/Premier, we may recommend another app to explore. Sometime the developer might accept to make a little modification to meet your specific needs. Should you interest to explore, check our profile name and send your business email address in a private message to us. We will introduce you directly to them later.