Numbers, Apple's free spreadsheet app, opens Excel files, so the simplest inventory template for Numbers is a plain Excel file built to convert cleanly: no macros, only formulas Numbers understands, and ranges with a fixed end so nothing breaks on the way in. This one has two sheets. The Inventory sheet lists each item with its unit, supplier, cost, the stock you started with and when to reorder. The Log sheet takes one line for everything that comes in or goes out: a delivery, a batch, a shipment, a spill. On hand, stock value and a reorder flag work themselves out from the log. In the example below, a small taro chip kitchen's eight items and a week of movements leave $1,879.60 of stock, and the frying oil, down to 4 jugs, is flagged to reorder. Below is how to open it in Numbers, how the two sheets work, keeping it honest, and the free template.
The short version
- Download the file and open it in Numbers; Numbers turns it into a Numbers spreadsheet.
- List each item once, with its unit, cost, opening stock, reorder point and reorder quantity.
- Log every movement: what came in, what went out, with a note.
- On hand = opening stock + everything in − everything out.
- Value = on hand × cost per unit; status says "Reorder" at or below the reorder point.
- Count every so often, and log any difference with a reason.
- When the log gets long, or two people share it, TaroStack imports the list and keeps it for you. More below.
Opening it in Numbers
- Download the template from the link below.
- On a Mac, open Numbers, choose File > Open, and pick the file. On an iPad or iPhone, tap the file in the Files app and open it with Numbers.
- Numbers converts it into a Numbers spreadsheet. Save it, and it's yours.
It opens the same way in Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice, so someone without a Mac can still use it.
The two sheets
| Sheet | What you type | What works itself out |
|---|---|---|
| Inventory | Item, category, unit, supplier, cost per unit, opening stock, reorder at, reorder qty | In, out, on hand, value, status, total stock value, items to reorder |
| Log | Date, item, what happened, in or out, a note | Nothing; it's the record everything else reads |
The item name on the log has to match the Inventory sheet exactly, because that's how each line finds its item. Type "Frying oil" in both places, not "Oil" in one and "Frying oil" in the other.
A worked example
Windward Roots, the made-up taro business I use in these examples, keeps eight items on the list. After one week:
| Item | Unit | Opening | In | Out | On hand | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taro | lb | 500 | 400 | 420 | 480 | $537.60 | OK |
| Coconut milk | can | 48 | 48 | $88.80 | OK | ||
| Sea salt | lb | 30 | 8 | 22 | $52.80 | OK | |
| Frying oil | jug | 6 | 2 | 4 | $152.00 | Reorder | |
| Bags, 5 oz | each | 1,200 | 480 | 720 | $223.20 | OK | |
| Cases, 12-bag | each | 120 | 40 | 80 | $88.00 | OK | |
| Labels, 5 oz | roll | 4 | 4 | $160.00 | OK | ||
| Taro chips, 5 oz | bag | 300 | 476 | 480 | 296 | $577.20 | OK |
Total stock value: $1,879.60. The batch on October 5 used 420 lb of taro and 480 bags, and made 476 bags of chips, with 4 scrapped; the shipment on October 7 sent 480 bags in 40 cases. The frying oil reorders at 4 jugs, so it's flagged. How on hand is worked out, and why it drifts from the shelf, is in how to calculate inventory on hand.
Keeping it honest
A log-based list is only as good as the log. Three habits keep it right:
- Log as it happens. A delivery logged on Friday from memory is a guess.
- Count on a schedule, a few items a week, and compare with on hand. When they differ, add a log line for the difference with a note saying why, rather than overwriting the number.
- Set reorder points from use, not hope: how much you use in the time a delivery takes, plus a little extra. How to work that out is in reorder point example.
The same template idea in Google Sheets, with formulas explained, is in inventory spreadsheet in Google Sheets, and other layouts for other businesses are in inventory spreadsheet examples.
Get the template
Download the inventory template for Numbers. The Inventory sheet holds your items and works out in, out, on hand, value and status; the Log sheet takes every movement. The example is filled in; type over it. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it opens in Numbers, Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice.
Where this stops working
A spreadsheet log works for one person and a few dozen items. Then a second person logs on their iPad while the first has the file open on the Mac, a batch is logged as bags but the taro never comes off, and the chips in the walk-in belong to three different batches that the sheet can't tell apart. By the time a store asks which batch it got, the log is a long list nobody wants to search.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps the list and the log for you, and fills in most of the log itself.
Start from your Numbers sheet. Export it from Numbers with File > Export To > Excel or CSV, and import your items, suppliers and opening stock from it. A photo of a handwritten count sheet or a supplier's price list works too: it's read into the import's rows, to check before anything is saved.
The log, written by the work. Receiving a delivery adds stock with the supplier's lot and dates. Recording a batch takes ingredients and packaging off stock from the lots used, at what you paid, and adds what came out good. Shipping takes stock off by lot. Every movement is a permanent record of who, when and why, and an adjustment carries its reason.
And reordering in days. Alerts tell you when stock falls below its reorder point, the reorder list works in days of cover, and reorder points can be suggested from how stock actually moves. Every list exports to CSV, so your data opens in Numbers whenever you want it there.
| The job | Numbers | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| A batch uses taro and bags | Two log lines, if remembered | Taken off by the batch, from the lots used |
| Which batch went to this store? | Not in the sheet | One report, lot to customer |
| Two people at once | Two copies | One record, with who did what |
| What to reorder | A flag, if the log is right | Alerts and a list in days of cover |
Items, lots, receiving, batches, shipping, alerts and the reorder list are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.