Inventory data controls product quantities and availability in NuORDER. Use this article to download the inventory data template, prepare your file, avoid common upload issues, and troubleshoot inventory upload errors. You can set Immediate, Future, and Prebook availability, and assign quantities to multiple warehouses.
- Template download
- Prepare inventory data
- Before you upload inventory data
- Upload inventory data
- Troubleshoot inventory upload errors
- Upload shows success but inventory is zero
- Additional resources
Note: Inventory quantities in NuORDER decrease as buyers place orders. For answers to common questions, go to Inventory data FAQ.
Template download
If you're in the onboarding process, work with your NuORDER rep and download a blank template.
If you're not in the onboarding process, you can download the inventory data template in 2 ways:
- Admins can download the inventory data template from Products > Inventory.
- Admins can also download the inventory data template from Settings > Brand Admin > Data > Inventory Data.
Consider the following when making your selections for the inventory data download:
- Filters: Use filters (such as Season, Color, or Category) to refine the list of products.
- Warehouse: Choose one or more warehouses.
- Format: Both Vertical and Horizontal formats are available. Select the Vertical format if you plan to do an inventory upload.
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Type: Choose XLSX or CSV file format.
- If you download a CSV file, go to How to best access a CSV file in Excel.
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Include data (if available): Select one or more product identifier combinations: Style / Season / Color, Brand ID, or UPC.
- If your portal shows this Include data option and you’d like to manage delivery windows, go to Delivery windows overview.
When you’re ready, select Download.
Prepare inventory data
Explore this demo to learn how to set up inventory data, then continue reading for detailed instructions.
Open the exported spreadsheet. This example shows an inventory data file.
If your inventory data file includes Period Start, Period End, and Prebook instead of a Date column, go to Delivery windows overview.
Unique identifiers
Inventory uploads must match existing products in NuORDER. Choose one identifier approach and use it consistently in the file.
- Approach 1: Use Style Number, Season, Color, and Size as the unique identifier for each product. These values must match the product data exactly, including capitalization, spelling, and spacing. With this approach, delete the UPC column.
- Approach 2: Use UPC as the unique identifier for each product. Every product row must have a UPC value that already exists in NuORDER. With this approach, delete the Style Number, Season, and Color columns.
Quantity, size, and warehouse
Enter inventory quantities in the Quantity column for the product’s Size and Warehouse. If you use only one warehouse, the warehouse is listed as default.
Date
Use the Date column to set inventory availability: Future, Immediate, or Prebook. If your downloaded file includes Period Start, Period End, and Prebook instead of a Date column, go to Delivery windows overview.
Future: Enter the date when the quantities become available, using YYYY-MM-DD format. For example, enter 2025-09-01 for September 1, 2025.
Immediate: Enter immediate or at once in the Date column. This sets inventory as available now.
Prebook: Keep the Quantity column blank and enter prebook in the Date column. This allows unlimited future bookings of the product. To remove Prebook availability, upload a new row for the same product with a quantity and the correct Immediate or Future value in the Date column.
You can also set products as automatically Prebook by specifying product field values in Inventory Settings. To learn more, go to Prebook, immediate, and future availability overview.
If a product has more than one availability, add another row with the same product identifiers and a different Date value. This example shows a product with Future and Prebook availability.
Best practices
- If you're working with a blank template, the Style Number, Season, Color, and Size values must match your Product Data template exactly, including capitalization, spelling, and spacing. For example, FA25 and fa25 are different Season values.
- Complete all required fields for each product row.
- For Prebook availability, keep the Quantity value blank.
- Include all inventory statuses for the same products in one file. A new upload can overwrite existing inventory statuses for matched products. Include every status you want to keep in the file, including ATS, WIP, and Prebook.
Key concepts
- NuORDER supports three types of inventory availability: Prebook, Immediate, and Future availability.
- Each product can have any combination of Prebook, Immediate, and Future availability.
What to avoid
These issues can prevent NuORDER from importing inventory correctly or can cause inventory to appear as zero after a successful upload.
Avoid the following:
- Changing header names.
- Mixing identifier approaches in the same file.
- Using Style Number, Season, Color, or Size values that don’t match product data exactly.
- Changing capitalization in Season values.
- Entering unsupported values or an incorrectly formatted date in the Date column.
- Entering a quantity for Prebook availability.
- Uploading ATS and Prebook inventory in separate files for the same products.
- Using scientific notation for UPCs.
Before you upload inventory data
Before you upload inventory data, check that your file is ready to import. Inventory uploads update existing products, so product identifiers and availability values must match existing product records in NuORDER.
Before uploading, confirm that:
- You downloaded a fresh inventory data template from NuORDER.
- You didn’t rename, delete, merge, or reorder header columns unless this article instructs you to delete columns for your identifier approach.
- Product identifiers match existing product data exactly.
- Season, Style Number, Color, and Size values use the same capitalization, spelling, and spacing as the product data file.
- The Date column uses
immediate,at once,prebook, or a date inYYYY-MM-DDformat. - Prebook rows have a blank Quantity value.
- All inventory statuses for the same products are included in one file.
- For detailed Excel cleanup steps, go to Fix Excel upload errors caused by formatting, special characters, or extra sheets.
Upload inventory data
If you're in the onboarding process, work with your NuORDER rep before uploading inventory data.
Admins can upload inventory data from Settings > Brand Admin > Data > Inventory Data. Drag the saved spreadsheet into the Drag file here area.
A prompt confirms that NuORDER queued your inventory data request. You’ll receive an email when the process finishes.
The confirmation email shows the inventory upload result: Success or Error.
The email also includes a link to a results CSV. Open the file and match each error to its row number and message. Use the message to identify the field that needs correction, update the affected row in your inventory file, and upload the file again.
Troubleshoot inventory upload errors
If your inventory data upload doesn’t import, use the error message and results CSV to find the issue in your file. Check the affected row, correct the value, save the file, and upload it again.
Common inventory upload errors usually relate to missing values, invalid headers, unsupported Date values, UPCs changed to scientific notation, or product identifiers that don’t match existing product data. Use the table below to identify the issue and fix it.
| Issue | What it means | How to fix it |
|---|---|---|
| Missing required field | A required value is blank. | Add the missing value to the affected row. |
| Invalid header | A header doesn’t match the template. | Download a fresh template and keep the original headers. |
| Invalid Date | The Date value isn’t supported or uses the wrong format. | Enter immediate, at once, prebook, or a future date in the supported format. |
| Product not found | The identifier values don’t match an existing product. | Check the Style Number, Season, Color, Size, or UPC values against the product data. |
| Invalid UPC | The UPC is missing, incorrect, or changed to scientific notation. | Format the UPC column as text and confirm that each UPC exists in NuORDER. |
| Invalid quantity | The quantity is blank when required or has an unsupported value. | Enter a valid quantity. Leave the Quantity value blank for Prebook rows. |
For detailed Excel cleanup steps, go to Fix Excel upload errors caused by formatting, special characters, or extra sheets.
Upload shows success but inventory is zero
If the upload shows Success but inventory appears as zero, NuORDER may not have matched the inventory rows to existing product records.
Check the following:
- Product identifiers: Confirm the inventory file uses one identifier approach and that the values match existing product data exactly.
- Season: Confirm the Season value uses the same capitalization, spelling, and spacing as the product data file.
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Date: Confirm the Date column uses
immediate,at once,prebook, or a date in the supported format. - UPC: If you use UPC as the identifier, confirm each UPC exists in NuORDER and hasn’t changed to scientific notation.
- Prebook: Confirm Prebook rows have a blank Quantity value.
- Separate uploads: Confirm ATS, WIP, and Prebook inventory weren’t uploaded in separate files for the same products.
If inventory still appears as zero, check each warehouse separately. Confirm that the Warehouse value in the file matches the warehouse assigned to the product in NuORDER. Make sure the file includes a separate row for each product, size, availability, and warehouse combination. Then download inventory data from NuORDER and check whether the quantities saved.
If the issue continues, contact NuORDER Support with the file name, upload time, affected Style Number, Season, Color, Size, UPC, Warehouse, and Date value.
Additional resources
Admins can manage how inventory is displayed with Inventory preferences. For answers to common questions, go to Inventory data FAQ.