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For the complete documentation index, see llms.txt. This page is also available as Markdown.

Items

Items are the basic unit of products you manage in BoxHero. This page covers everything you can do with them — adding, importing, editing, organizing, and exporting.

Adding Items

On Your Computer

  • From the Item List, click Add Item.

  • Or go to Data Center > Items and click Add Item.

On Your Phone

  • In the bottom menu, tap Items, then tap the + (plus) icon in the bottom-right corner.

  • Enter your item details, set the starting quantity, and tap Save.

Item Fields

Whether you add items on the web or on mobile, these are the fields you'll fill in:

  • SKU* — Short for Stock Keeping Unit, this is the item's unique identifier. BoxHero generates one automatically, or you can enter your own. No two items can share the same SKU.

  • Name* — The primary name used to identify the item.

  • Barcode — Add a barcode to look items up instantly by scanning. Enter an existing one (typed manually or scanned with a USB scanner or your phone camera), or select Generate to create a random 13-digit number.

  • Photo — Upload an image for quick identification (max 3 MB).

  • Attributes — Add custom details like brand, size, or color to help categorize and filter your inventory.

  • Quantity — Enter the starting stock. You can save an item at zero and add stock later through inventory transactions.

Note: There's a limit to how many items you can register in a team. See 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 from a spreadsheet.

  • Edit the details and quantities of existing items.

  • 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 of item details — or want to add many items at once — use Add via Excel to upload them all to BoxHero.

1

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.

2

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.

3

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.

4

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 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.

1

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 items currently in BoxHero, along with their details.

2

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.

Before: The current "Houston Warehouse" quantities.
After: The whole column updated to "20."

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.

3

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 stock keeping unit 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.

1

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.

2

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.

3

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 an item comes in different options like size or color, use Item Variants to create all versions at once instead of adding them one by one.

For example, if a sweatshirt comes in four colors and three sizes, it has 12 combinations. To add them all, go to Item List > Add Item > Add Item Variants.

Brown
Yellow
Gray
Red

S

S

S

S

M

M

M

M

L

L

L

L

You can group item variants by attribute (e.g., Size or Color) in your Item List.

Editing Items

Edit a Single Item

Select an item in the Item List and click Edit to make changes, or ... (more) to duplicate or delete it.

Edit Multiple Items

To update many items at once, go to Data Center > Items. This is helpful when adding or modifying attributes across a large group of items.

Edit History

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

You can view the edit history of an item's information — SKU, Name, Barcode, Cost, Price and any custom attributes.

Deleting Items

Delete Multiple Items

To delete items in bulk, go to Data Center > Items.

You can change the View settings at the bottom to show 500 items per page, then 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.

Managing Item Photos

Upload Photos in Bulk

You can upload multiple item photos at once under Data Center > Items > ... (more) > Upload Photos.

  1. Make sure each file name matches the SKU (or barcode) of its item.

  2. Drag and drop the photo files into BoxHero.

  3. Click Submit to finish.

Download Photos in Bulk

You can download all item photos as a single compressed file under Data Center > Items > ... (more) > Download Photos.

Exporting Items

Export Item Details

Download your item data as an Excel file under Data Center > Items > Export to Excel.

You can select which columns to export to Excel.

You can also export your team's Inventory Reports and Transactions history — 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, go to Data Center > Items > ... (more) at the top right > Export to HTML.

  1. Press Ctrl + A to select all items. (Mac: Command + A)

  2. Press Ctrl + C to copy the data. (Mac: Command + C)

  3. Open an Excel file and press Ctrl + V to paste. (Mac: Command + V)

  4. Save the file, which now includes 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 to HTML feature.

Frequently Asked Questions

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

Items & attributes

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