One feature in Advanced Inventory is the option to use bins in QuickBooks Enterprise. Bins are a great option to help organize inventory in your warehouse.

What are bins? QuickBooks defines these as rows, shelves, or bins within a warehouse. Each warehouse can have a unique set of bins.

Setting up Bins in QuickBooks Enterprise

First, bin location tracking must be selected in Preferences. From the Edit Menu, select Preferences, and from the Company Preferences tab (at the top), select Items & Inventory (at the left). You will need to be in single-user mode to do this. Then select “Advanced Inventory Settings” at the bottom of the screen.

Advanced Inventory Preference Settings in QuickBooks Enterprise

You will then see the following screen.

Advanced Inventory Preference Settings in QuickBooks Enterprise to Track Bin Locations within Inventory Sites

Select the Multiple Inventory Locations tab and click “Track Bin Locations within Inventory Sites.” You have now activated bins in QuickBooks Enterprise.

Creating Bin Locations

Bins are considered locations within a warehouse. As such, they can be considered a sub-location or sub-warehouse. From the main menu, select Lists > Inventory Site List. Warehouses are listed first, and bins are listed below each warehouse.

The Inventory Site List within QuickBooks Enterprise multiple warehouse setup and bin locations

Bins appear as indented locations since they act as a “sub-warehouse.” Click on the “Inventory Site” button at the bottom left of the Inventory Site List to create a new bin. You will see the following window:

Make sure to click the option “is a bin within site.” That lets QuickBooks know that you want to create a bin and not a warehouse. Enter the new bin name on the first line. The bin name can be alphanumeric, can contain special characters, and can be 31 characters long. On the second line, select the warehouse from the list. Add any description for the bin that you like. Select “OK,” and you have created a new bin in QuickBooks Enterprise.

Bins are considered locations within a warehouse. As such, they can be considered a sub-location or sub-warehouse.

Using Bins in QuickBooks Enterprise

So now what? You will now see bin locations on both purchase and sales forms. Let’s look at an example. We are going to use a Purchase Order to order some inventory.

Purchase Orders with Bins in QuickBooks Enterprise

You must first select a warehouse in the “Ship To” field at the upper right-hand corner. You cannot select a bin until after you have selected a warehouse in the “Ship To” field. Not sure which bin to select? On this screen, you can actually see a count per bin for the item within the warehouse you selected. In the bin field, select the drop-down arrow.

We now see a window that shows us the quantity on hand for that item by bin location.

Also note that if you do not see all the bins for the selected warehouse, you may have to click “Show All” at the top. From this window, you can also select “Add New” and create a new bin without having to leave the purchase order form.

When you receive the inventory, the item receipt includes the bin you selected on the purchase order. There is a new print option in the Receive Inventory window: Sorted Stock List. You will see this option after you have received the inventory.

An example of this report is shown below.

This allows you to sort by bin. In our warehouse, Bin #2 is actually the first bin, so we sort in that order. This option is also available on Sales Orders where you can print a Sorted Pick List.

Assigning more than one item to a Bin

When assigning inventory to bins, it would be unusual to put more than one type of item in a bin. You may have 50 bolts of the same size in one bin, but it’s less likely that you’ll have a mix of sizes. QuickBooks will allow either but will give you a message:

Selling Inventory from Bins

Sales forms such as Estimates, Sales Orders, Invoices, Sales Receipts and even Statement Charges all include the option to sell inventory from a particular bin. So QuickBooks will update the inventory count in each bin when a sale is made. Here is an example of an invoice with a column for bins.

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Reports using Bin Locations

There are several ways to see information for bins in QuickBooks Enterprise. If you customize the columns on the Items List, you can add “Bin Location” to the view.

QuickBooks Bin Locations on the Item List

Click on the Activities button at the bottom of the Items list, and you will see an option to show Current Availability.

Current Availability by Bin in QuickBooks Enterprise

After clicking this option, you will see the following window listing Quantity on Hand for each location. You can select any inventory item by using the drop-down option at the top.

Current Availability by Item in QuickBooks Enterprise

From the Reports menu, select Inventory, and you will see a new report, “Items By Bin Location.” Here is an example.

Items by Bin Location Report in QuickBooks Enterprise

Transfer Bins

If you need to move your inventory to a new bin, simply select “Transfer Inventory” from the Inventory menu. Then fill out the transfer form and include the bins being changed.

Setting Default Bins

Is there a way to set default bins in QuickBooks? This can be done from the Items list by selecting “Add/Edit Multiple Items.” If you customize the columns on the screen, you will see the option to add default columns. Make sure to select a warehouse at the top.