If a few items in our inventory have serial numbers that we would like to track, the rest of our inventory does not have sn; how do we bypass entering sn in transactions?

Hi @rscmmckinley,

You can create an inventory or transaction without serial numbers by disabling the warning option. Let me show you how.

1. Go to the Edit menu.
2. Choose Preferences.
3. Select Items & Inventory and choose Company Preferences.
4. Click the Advanced Inventory Settings.
5. In the Advanced Inventory Settings window, select the Serial/Lot Numbers tab.
6. On the Default settings for inventory and assembly items section, If a serial number is blank drop-down arrow change it to Don’t warn me.
7. Hit OK.

You can check these articles on how to track inventories on your QuickBooks:

• Set up Advanced Inventory
• Multiple Inventory Sites

Feel free to add a comment below if you have any other concerns about inventory in QuickBooks. I'm always here to help!

I too was being bugged by the same thing as I try to create my first invoice in Enterprise.

I just got a call from the technical support department and he suggested that I type my suggestion in the community. I'm not sure that I'm putting it in the right place however.

My example:

When QuickBooks, the company (Intuit), needs to purchase another ream of paper, there isn't a serial number for that. If you were in the business of re-selling that ream of paper, there still wouldn't need to be a serial number associated with it. What if QB buys some new desks and office chairs? No difference, there likely isn't any serial numbers on them and even if there were, you wouldn't enter them into your bill.

My suggestion to the developer's:

How about a box inside the "Edit Item" screen that we could check-mark if we want to actually require a serial number to be associated with this item every step of its way through our inventory?

In my business, there are serial numbers on the high dollar items that I purchase for re-sale. For example, Variable Frequency Drives (VFD's), and Remote Controls. I want to be able to track these but I don't care about tracking the 9 volt battery that went into the remote nor do I care about adding a serial number to the electrical wiring that was used to wire the VFD into the panel. How about the serial numbers of the wire nuts that I used inside the J-Box of the motor? None of these expendable items have serial numbers from the get go and 97% of the things I buy and resell do either.

One more thought that I forgot to include in my original reply...

In order to do away with the inconvenience of clicking "OK" after every item that we don't want to include a serial number for, we are instructed to deactivate the very thing that is going to remind us to enter a serial number for an item that we DO want to track :-/

Thanks for sharing your concerns in this thread, @Pilerman. I appreciate your suggestions and rest assured that this is noted. I'm also sharing this with our developers for consideration in future updates. 

In the meantime, I'd suggest you visit the QuickBooks Firm of the Future to keep up with new updates. 

Visit us again and feel free to share your thoughts and concerns in the Community. I'm always here to listen and help in any way I can. 

It has been 1.5 years since this issue was raised; I am now looking at updating from a basic QB accounting system to a full ERP system for a small business.  Based on what I am seeing in the various articles and video sessions it appears QB has not yet implemented this capability.  Is there a timeline for implementation of this capability?

Thank you for joining this thread, COlive.

Currently, I'm unable to provide a specific time frame for the implementation of this feature. I can see how adding a field to the Edit Item screen that allows users to select whether or not to associate an item with a serial number would be helpful for many users. Thus, I suggest sending feedback about this functionality directly to our engineers for inclusion in future enhancements.

Here's how:

1. In QuickBooks, navigate to the Help menu at the top bar to select Send Feedback Online and Product Suggestions.
2. This action will open the QuickBooks Feedback window.
3. Tap the Type of Feedback drop-down and choose Product Suggestion.
4. Press the Product Area drop-down and choose which area in QuickBooks needs improvement.
5. Enter your product suggestions in Here is my suggestion box.
6. Fill in the remaining fields.
7. Click the Send Feedback button to submit.

I've included a link that will walk you through the process of setting expiration dates and serial numbers to track your inventory. From there, you'll learn when to use the lot number and serial number, as well as answers to frequently asked questions about the features mentioned.

Furthermore, the following resource will help you manage your inventory, products, and services more efficiently: Community resources. It covers topics such as how to adjust your inventory and troubleshoot device issues, to name a few.

Let me know if you have any other inventory concerns or questions about QuickBooks in the comments section below. I'm always available to answer your questions. Have a wonderful weekend!

COlive,

It's funny that this thread just re-surfaced. I had forgot all about it and at the same time, I don't have this issue bugging me anymore. I'm puzzled, what did I do? I don't recall doing anything different! You've got me thinking that the developers may have done something in the background that addressed the issue and sent it out in a larger update.

That's interesting!

Thank you for providing me the process to submit the suggestion from within QB.  Unfortunately I am not presently a QB user and do not have QB installed.  I am interested in purchasing a tool, QB being one option.  Would you be able to submit this request on my account.

Hi COlive,

I'm glad to hear that you are interested in using QuickBooks for your business.

We have a web page where we can both submit feedback for the feature you are requesting. Please check this out: Submit Feedback for QuickBooks Desktop.

In the meantime, you may want to look for a third-party app that can support or provide other ERP components in QuickBooks Enterprise.

Feel free to reach back out if you have other questions in mind. Take care and have a good one!