Items

Items are the basic unit of products you manage in BoxHero. Easily add, edit, or remove items through the Data Center. BoxHero makes it simple to keep your inventory accurate and up to date.

Adding Items

A. On Your Computer

You can add a new item from the Item List by clicking Add Item.
Alternatively, you can go to Data Center > Items and click Add Item.

Item Details

SKU: A unique code used to identify your item. For new items, an SKU is automatically generated, but you can also enter your own SKU details.
Name: This is a required field when adding items to your team.
Barcode: Use an existing barcode or generate a random barcode number.
Photo: You can upload an item photo (up to 3MB).
Attribute: You can add custom attributes like brand, size, color, and more.
Quantity: Enter the initial stock quantity. You can update the quantity later through inventory transactions.

B. On Your Phone

In the bottom menu, tap Items. Then tap the + (plus) icon in the bottom-right corner.
On the next screen, enter your item details and set the initial quantity. Tap Save.

Note: There is a limit to the number of items you can register in your team. Please refer to our pricing to choose the plan that works best for you.

Using Excel

Excel is the fastest way to work with your items in bulk. From Data Center > Items > Import from Excel, you can:

Add new items at once from a spreadsheet.
Edit the details and quantities of existing items in bulk.
Update SKUs to replace the SKU codes on existing items.

A little setup before you begin:

Set up your custom attributes (e.g., Brand, Size, Color) under Data Center > Attributes. Attributes added after you download the template won't appear as columns.
Set up your locations under Data Center > Locations. If you track inventory across multiple places. Each location becomes its own quantity column.
Confirm your item identifier. BoxHero's Excel features match rows to items by "SKU" by default. To match by "barcode" instead, change this under Settings > Team >Excel Import Settings before you start.

Add Items via Excel

If you already have a spreadsheet with your item details — or want to add many items at once — use Add via Excel to upload them all to BoxHero.

Download Excel Template

Go to Data Center > Items.
On the top right, click Import from Excel > Add via Excel.
Click Download Template. The file is pre-formatted with the correct column structure for your team — including your custom attributes and locations.

Review Excel Columns

Open the downloaded file. You'll see three types of columns:

Fixed fields: Built-in columns that can’t be renamed or deleted. (SKU, Item Name, Barcode, Cost, and Price)
Custom attributes: Attributes you've set up under Data Center > Attributes.
Quantity by location: Locations you've set up under Data Center > Locations.

If you haven’t added any locations, only the Qty (Default Location) column appears.

Fill in Item Data

Enter your item details into the template, referencing the example row at the top of the file.

Things to Note:

Item Name — required. All other fields save as blank if left empty.
SKU and Barcode — leave blank to auto-generate.
Cost and Price — leave blank if you don't use Purchases & Sales.
Quantity — defaults to 0 if blank.

Upload and Confirm

Return to the Add via Excel screen and upload your completed Excel file.
Check Generate to auto-fill any blank SKU or Barcode cells.
Review the items in the preview screen. Rows with errors are flagged — fix them in your Excel file and re-upload, or proceed with only the valid rows.
Click Done at the bottom to finish.

Edit Items via Excel

Use Edit via Excel to change the details and quantities of many existing items in one pass. Unlike adding, this starts from a file of your current data, so you edit what's already there rather than entering items from scratch.

Download Current Data

Go to Data Center > Items.
On the top right, click Import from Excel > Edit via Excel.
Click Download Template. The downloaded file contains all your item currently in BoxHero, along with its details and stock quantities.

Edit Excel File

Change only the cells you need to update, then save the file.

For example, after a stock count at your "Houston warehouse," you might set every item's quantity there to "20." Just update that one column and leave the rest as they are.

Leave the cells you want to keep unchanged. If you clear a cell and upload, that value will be overwritten — text fields become blank and quantities become 0.

Upload and Confirm

Return to the Edit via Excel screen and upload your edited file.
For any column you didn't intend to change, select Keep as is in the dropdown. This protects those fields from accidental changes, even if a cell was edited or cleared.
Review the changes in the preview, then click Done to apply them.

Update SKUs via Excel

Use Update SKUs via Excel to replace the SKU codes on existing items in bulk. Because BoxHero identifies items by SKU, this is the safe way to rename SKUs — a regular Edit via Excel would read a changed SKU as a different item.

Download Excel File

Go to Data Center > Items.
On the top right, click Import from Excel > Update SKUs via Excel.
Click Download Template. The file lists every item in your team. Each row's current code is pre-filled in the SKU(Before) column, with an empty SKU(After) column beside it.

The other columns show each item's current details so you can identify the right rows. Leave them as they are — this step only updates SKUs.

Enter New SKUs

In the SKU(After) column, type the new code for each item you want to rename. Leave SKU(After) blank on any row you want to keep unchanged.

Things to note:

Don't edit the SKU(Before) column. It's how BoxHero matches each row to an existing item.
Each new SKU must be unique. You can't reuse a code that's already assigned to another item.

Upload and Confirm

Upload the completed file on the Update SKUs via Excel screen.
Review the changes in the preview, then click Done .

Adding Item Variants

If you have items with different options like size or color, you can add them to your BoxHero team with Item Variants. This feature allows you to quickly create multiple versions of the same item.

For example, if a sweatshirt comes in four colors and three sizes, you can add all variations by going to Item List > Add Item > Add Item Variants.

You’ll have 12 different combinations of the same sweatshirt in your inventory:

Brown

Yellow

Gray

Red

Updating Item Details

Edit Each Item

Select an item from the Item List and click the Edit or ... (more) to make changes.

Edit Multiple Items

You can update multiple items by going to Data Center > Items. This is helpful when adding or modifying attributes a large group of items.

Change History

Select an item in your Item List > ··· (more) > Change History.

You can view the change history of item information — such as SKU, Name, Barcode, Cost, Price and any custom attributes.

Deleting Items

Delete Multiple Items

To delete multiple items, go to Data Center > Items.

You can change the View settings at the bottom to display 500 items per page, select all, and delete them in batches of 500.

Recover Deleted Items

If you accidentally deleted an item, you can recover it by going to Data Center > Items > ... > Recently Deleted > Restore.

How to recover recently deleted items in boxhero via the data center

Managing Item Photos

Upload Photos in Bulk

You can upload multiple item photos at once by going to Data Center > Items > ... > Upload Photos.

Make sure that the file names match the SKUs of the items.
Drag and drop the photo files to BoxHero.
Click the Submit button to complete the process.

Download Photos in Bulk

You can download all item photos compressed into a single file at Data Center > Items > ... > Download Photos.

Exporting Items

Export Item Details

Download your item data into an Excel file by going to Data Center > Items > Export to Excel.

In addition to your item information, you can export data such as your team’s Inventory Reports and Transactions history. Just look for the “Export to Excel” button in the top-right corner of each page.

Export Item Photos

To export your inventory list with item photos and barcode images, navigate to Data Center > Items > ... (more) on the top right > Export to HTML.

Press Ctrl + A to select all items. (Mac: Command + A)
Press Ctrl + C to copy the data. (Mac: Command + C)
Open an Excel file and press Ctrl + V to paste the data. (Mac: Command + V)
Save your Excel file, which will now include item photos and barcode images.

You can filter and select specific data to save in Excel by searching for items in Data Center and using the Export as HTML feature.

Frequently Asked Questions

Still need help? Check out our FAQ on managing items.

Items & attributes

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Last updated 2 months ago