Count stock with scanners

Once someone has built a stock adjustment and shared it with your team, this is where the counting happens: open the adjustment, scan or search each product, and tell Qoblex how many you found. The scanner is built for the shelf floor rather than the office, with a search field that stays ready for the next barcode.

This article covers everything you do as a counter: getting to the adjustment you were given, opening the scanner, searching by SKU or barcode, recording a count with Add or Set, reading the Scan Log and Missed Scans, and what changes once more than one person counts the same adjustment.

Get to the adjustment you were given

Whoever set the adjustment up shares its Number or ID with you, for example by message or on a printout. To open it:

1. Go to Stock Control > Adjustments in the sidebar.
2. Filter the list by ID or Number and open the one you were given.

See Find and filter adjustments for the full list of filters. Opening the list and the adjustment only requires the View Adjustments permission; counting on it doesn’t need anything more (see “If you can only count”, below).

Counting one brand only

If you only need to count one brand, that is set up when the adjustment is built, not while you’re scanning: the person creating the adjustment filters the Add Products dialog by Filter by brand, adds every matching variant, and saves before sharing it with you. See Create an adjustment and add products.

The scanner’s own search box does not filter by brand. If you scan something that was never added to the adjustment, Qoblex still adds it, whatever brand it belongs to, so a brand-scoped count still depends on scanning only the products you were asked to count.

Open the scanner

1. Open the adjustment you were given.
2. Select Start Scan. This opens Scanner, a panel that stays open while you work through your shelf.

Start Scan is no longer available once the adjustment has been authorized.

Search for a product

1. In the Search by SKU or barcode field, scan the product’s barcode, or type its SKU or barcode.
2. Select Search, or press Enter. Most handheld barcode scanners do the typing and the submitting for you, so you may never need to touch Search yourself.

This search box only matches a product’s SKU or barcode, never its name. If more than one product matches what you entered, Qoblex shows you the first one it finds, so scan the full barcode rather than a partial one when you can. The field clears itself as soon as Qoblex has an answer, ready for your next scan.

What you’ll see

• Before you search anything, the panel reads Scan a product to get started.
• While Qoblex looks up what you entered, you’ll see a brief loading state.
• When Qoblex matches a product, it records one unit for you immediately and shows the product’s details together with the Add / Set panel described below, so a single scan is enough to count one item.
• Product Not Found shows when nothing matches what you entered: No product found., with the exact term you typed.
• Scan Error shows when something goes wrong looking up or recording your count: An error occurred. Please try again. A failed lookup can also show up as a separate error message rather than this card.
• Not Supported Yet shows when the product you scanned is batch or lot tracked. See the callout below.

This is unrelated to assigning a line to specific batches, which is a separate step covered in Authorize an adjustment, not something you do while scanning.

Any of these misses is also collected under Missed Scans, described below: Product Not Found, Scan Error, or Not Supported Yet.

Record what you counted: Add or Set

Once Qoblex has matched a product, choose one of the two tabs before entering a quantity. Add is the tab selected for you by default. Enter the quantity, then select Add (or Set), or press Enter in the quantity box, to record it — typing a number and moving on without doing one of these records nothing.

• Add adds the number you enter to your own running count for that product. Scan the same barcode three times, or enter 3 and select Add, and either way your count for it goes up by 3. Add won’t accept a quantity of zero.
• Set replaces your own running count for that product with the number you enter, for when you want to state the total you actually counted rather than add to what you already logged. Set is also how you record an empty shelf: enter 0 to say you counted none.

Switching between Add and Set resets the quantity box back to 1, even if you had already typed a different number — check the quantity again after switching tabs.

Every time Qoblex matches a product, including when you search the same SKU again just to check your running total, it records one more unit under Add. If you only searched to look, correct the total with Set rather than adding more on top.

Your Scan Log

The Scan Log lists your counts for the product currently on screen: each entry shows whether it was an Add or a Set, the quantity, the running total that resulted, and when it happened. It reads No items scanned yet. until you record your first count for that product, and it switches to a different product’s history as soon as you search for that product.

Missed Scans

Missed Scans collects anything you scanned or searched that didn’t produce a count: a Product Not Found, a Scan Error, or a batch or lot tracked product Qoblex can’t scan yet. It’s a collapsible list below the Scan Log, with a badge showing how many misses you have, and it only appears once you have at least one. Expand it to see each missed term, why it missed, and when it happened.

Work through it before you finish counting:

• For a batch or lot tracked miss, count that product by hand and tell whoever reconciles the adjustment.
• For Product Not Found, check you scanned the correct barcode, or that the product exists in Qoblex with that SKU or barcode set on it, then search again.
• For Scan Error, try scanning that product again.

Missed Scans only holds the misses from your current scanning session. It clears when you close the scanner.

Counting with other people

More than one person can count the same adjustment at the same time. Qoblex keeps every counter’s scans as their own separate record against each product rather than merging them as they arrive, so two people counting the same shelf never overwrite each other, and each is compared later rather than blended.

The moment a second, different person also records a count on the adjustment, it changes character: reconciliation stops being optional and becomes a required step before the adjustment can be authorized. See When a stocktake needs reconciliation for what that promotion means and what to expect once it happens; this article doesn’t repeat it.

Your own Scan Log always shows only your own counts for the product on screen. You never see what another counter has recorded for it from inside the scanner.

If you can only count

Some roles can search, scan, and record counts but cannot reconcile lines or authorize the adjustment. If that’s you:

• The scanner behaves exactly as described above.
• Anywhere the app would otherwise show who else has counted on the adjustment, you only ever see yourself.
• No Reconcile or Authorize control appears for you. Those steps are handled by teammates with the Reconcile Adjustments or Authorize Adjustments permission, see Reconcile counted lines and Authorize an adjustment.