How to Use Excel as a Simple Inventory Tracker

Managing stock or inventory for a small business or personal use? Excel can serve as a free and powerful tool to track your products, quantities, and status—without any special software!

📦 Step 1: Set Up Columns

• Item ID
• Item Name
• Category
• Quantity
• Reorder Level
• Status (In Stock/Low Stock)

📊 Step 2: Add Conditional Formatting

Highlight rows where Quantity <= Reorder Level using a red fill color to mark low-stock items.

🧮 Step 3: Use Formulas

• To auto-fill the Status column:
  =IF(D2 <= E2, "Low Stock", "In Stock")
• Use SUM to track total quantities by category.

📁 Step 4: Convert to Table

Select your data and press Ctrl + T to convert it to a table. This adds filters and makes your tracker dynamic.

✨ Bonus Tips

• Add a dropdown menu for categories using Data Validation.
• Use charts to visualize stock trends over time.
• Save as a template to reuse monthly or weekly.

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