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Guide

How to update inventory in bulk on Shopify

Updated 22 October 2026 · 4 minute read

The short answer

In your Shopify admin, go to Products, then Inventory, select the variants and use the Update quantity bulk action, or open them in the bulk editor from the Inventory page. For hundreds of variants or several locations, export the inventory CSV, fill the On hand (new) column and import it: Shopify rejects rows whose current count has changed since your export. Ecomsync can set stock at a location from a count you give it, showing the current and new quantity of each variant before anything is written.

A few variants, on the Inventory page

  1. Go to Products, then Inventory, and pick the location.
  2. Tick the variants to change.
  3. Choose Update quantity from the bulk actions, or open the bulk editor from the Inventory page for a grid.
  4. Enter the new quantities and save.

Stock for a product with several variants is bulk edited from the Inventory page, not the products bulk editor.

Hundreds of variants, with the inventory CSV

  1. Go to Products, then Inventory, and export. Choose All states for one row per variant and location, or Available for one column per location.
  2. Keep an untouched copy of the file.
  3. Fill On hand (new) for each row you are changing. Leave On hand (current) as exported: Incoming, Committed, Unavailable and Available are marked not editable.
  4. Import the file. Files can be up to 15 MB.

On import Shopify compares On hand (current) with live stock and rejects any row that changed since your export, so a sale in between does not get overwritten. Export again and redo those rows.

With Ecomsync

  1. Ask in plain words, with the location and the count, or paste the count in.
  2. Ecomsync reads the current level of every variant at that location and stages each new quantity beside it, with the reason you gave.
  3. Review and approve. Negative quantities are refused.

Undo puts back the quantity from before the run. If items sold in between, count again rather than undo.

Questions

Can I update inventory with the product CSV?

Only on a store with a single location: the product CSV's Inventory quantity column applies to one location. With several locations, use the inventory CSV from the Inventory page.

What does On hand mean in Shopify?

The units physically at a location, including ones committed to orders. Available is what can still be sold. The inventory CSV lets you set On hand (new).