Welcome to Excel Highway, your go-to hub for transforming spreadsheets into powerful business solutions!

If you’re managing stock or working in any kind of inventory-heavy environment—warehouse, retail, restaurant, or even a home business—you’ll love what we’re diving into today.

📹 In this video tutorial, we walk through building a barcode-powered Inventory Management System using Google Sheets—an easy-to-use, fully customizable, cloud-based solution you can access from anywhere.

🚀 The Story Behind the System

We all know the frustration of outdated inventory software: expensive, clunky, desktop-only. What if you could manage your inventory from your browser, scan items with your phone or USB barcode reader, and track everything in real time—for free?

That’s exactly what I’ve built.

In this hands-on guide, I’ll walk you through every part of the system: from scanning items in and out of stock, to automatically updating your inventory levels, to viewing historical transaction logs and generating pivot-based inventory summaries.

🧩 What’s Inside the Google Sheets Inventory System?

This system is made up of 5 smartly-designed sheets:

1. Inbound Barcode Sheet
   • Use a button to Scan Item and another to Add to Inventory
   • Each entry auto-fills with item description and price using VLOOKUP
   • Calculates total value per line and running totals
   • Uses simple formulas and Apps Script for dynamic user prompts
2. Outbound Barcode Sheet
   • Same as inbound, but for items leaving inventory
   • Uses negative quantities to subtract from inventory
   • Includes an “Available Quantity” column powered by SUMIFS to avoid over-selling
3. Inventory Sheet
   • A pivot table showing current stock levels and values
   • Real-time view based on the transaction log
   • Easy to customize for filters, totals, or stock categories
4. Log Database Sheet
   • Automatically logs every inbound and outbound transaction
   • Includes timestamps and quantities for each movement
   • Basis for powerful reporting and analysis like:
     • Inventory flow by date
     • Price change history
     • Fast vs. slow-moving items
5. List Sheet
   • Manually updated item database
   • Translates barcodes into item name and unit price
   • Fully customizable and essential for VLOOKUP functionality

🔧 Under the Hood: Key Google Apps Script Features

Using Google Apps Script, I created two main scripts:

1. Scan Item Button Script

• Prompts user for:
  • 📷 Barcode (via scan or manual input)
  • 🔢 Quantity
• Adds entry into the relevant sheet (Inbound or Outbound)
• Uses SpreadsheetApp.getUI() for clean, user-friendly prompts
• Dynamically determines where to place the next row

2. Inbound/Outbound Inventory Button Script

• Copies data from the barcode sheet to the log database
• Appends a timestamp for traceability
• Clears the form so you’re ready for the next scan
• Automatically figures out the next available row in the log using a counter

📊 Reporting & Insights (Bonus)

Because all transactions are logged cleanly in one sheet, it’s easy to:

• Build pivot tables
• Visualize inventory trends
• Flag discrepancies
• Analyze seasonal demand

Need to integrate with email, create alerts, or connect with external data? The power of Google Apps Script means you’re only limited by your imagination.

💡 Why Use This System?

• ✅ No subscriptions – 100% built in Google Sheets
• ✅ Real-time collaboration across devices
• ✅ Works with any barcode scanner
• ✅ Fully customizable
• ✅ Scalable from small biz to enterprise
• ✅ Built-in reporting capabilities

📦 Try It for Yourself!

💬 Questions? Leave a comment or connect via my contact page.