# Lots and serial numbers > Count items by lot or serial number, date them with expiry or best-by dates, and trace every lot and unit from receiving through the floor to shipping. Source: https://docs.floorlinehq.com/stock/lots-serials/ (updated 2026-10-14) *(Mid plan and up)* Some items need more than a count. Powder coat comes in batches that can expire; steel comes with a mill heat number you may have to trace; a control enclosure ships with its own serial number. FloorLine can count an item **by lot** (a batch number, with a quantity in each) or **by serial number** (one number per unit), and record every move each lot or unit makes: received on which purchase order, used on which work order, shipped on which delivery order. Admins and managers set items up and handle receiving, shipping, and counts. Operators enter the lots and serial numbers they use and make on the tablet. ## Count an item by lot or serial number 1. Open the item (**Stock → Items**). It must have **Track how many are on hand** ticked. 2. Under **Counted by**, choose **Lot or batch** or **Serial number** (the default is **Quantity**). 3. Set the dates, if the item has them (next section). 4. Choose **Save**. *Screenshot: A purchased powder coat item counted by lot or batch, with expiry date, a 365-day shelf life, and 60 warn days ahead* - **Counted by** changes only when the item has **none on hand**: "Changes only with none on hand: count it to zero first." Count it to zero, change it, then count its lots or serial numbers back in. - On hand and the item's stock history work just as before. The lots or serial numbers move alongside, and they always add up to on hand. - Serial numbers are unique per item; lot numbers are unique per item too, so the same lot number on two different items is two different lots. ## Expiry and best-by dates Lots and serial numbers can carry a date. Set how on the item, next to **Counted by**: - **Dates:** **Expiry date** (don't use it after) or **Best-by date** (may lose quality after). - **Shelf life (days, optional):** dates each new lot or serial number that many days from the day it comes in, unless someone enters a date. Something made on a work order is dated from the day it's finished. - **Warn days ahead:** how many days before its date it's listed under **Expiring soon** (30 unless you change it). A date is good through the end of that day, on the shop's clock. Where a lot or serial number stands shows as a badge: red once expired, amber past best-by or coming up within the warn days. **Nothing is ever blocked by a date.** FloorLine fills picks with the soonest-dated stock first and skips expired stock, but you can still choose an expired lot by hand. It then warns, for example "Lot SC-24088 is past its expiry date. Use only if it's still good." To change one lot's or serial number's date, open it (below) and choose **Change** next to its date. ## See an item's lots or serial numbers A lot item's page has a **Lots** section; a serial item's has **Serial numbers**. *Screenshot: The Lots section of a powder coat item: each lot with on hand, expiry date, and when it first came in* - **Lots** lists each lot with stock: **Lot**, **On hand**, the date (**Expires** or **Best by**), and **First in**. **Show empty lots** lists the ones used up. - **Serial numbers** lists each one in stock, with its date. **Show serial numbers no longer in stock** lists the shipped, used, and removed ones. - On the High plan with several locations, each lot shows where it is, and each serial number its location. Stock is listed soonest-dated first (undated last), then oldest first. Every picker in FloorLine uses that order. ### Trace a lot or serial number Click a lot or serial number to open its history: how much is on hand now (or whether the unit is in stock, shipped, used, or removed), its date, and **every move, oldest first**: each receipt, each work order that used it or made it, each shipment, each count, with who and when, and links to the orders. That's your traceability. If a customer reports a bad part, open the serial number and see which work order made it, then open that order to see which lots of material it used, and open those lots to see which purchase order they came in on and what else used them. ## Receive lots and serial numbers When you receive a purchase order (see [Shipping and receiving](https://docs.floorlinehq.com/stock/shipping-receiving/)), lines for lot and serial items ask for more than a quantity. Lines are marked **By lot** or **By serial number**. **For a lot item:** 1. In the **Receive now** column, type the **Lot number** printed on the delivery and the quantity in that lot. 2. If the delivery came as more than one lot, choose **Split into another lot** and add the next lot and its quantity. The lots must add up to what you're receiving on that line. 3. Optionally enter each lot's date. Left blank, a lot you already have keeps its date and a new lot takes the item's shelf life. 4. Choose **Save receipt**. A new lot number starts a new lot; one you already have adds to it. **For a serial item:** 1. Choose **Enter serial numbers**. 2. Type or paste them, separated by commas or one per line. A barcode scanner works too. Choose **Done**. 3. Optionally set their date. 4. Choose **Save receipt**. You need one serial number per unit received. A serial number already in stock is refused ("Already in stock: …"); one that was shipped can come back in. ## Ship lots and serial numbers When you ship a delivery order: - **Lot items** come pre-filled with lots, **soonest-dated first, then oldest first**, skipping expired lots. Pick a different lot from the list (each shows how much is on hand, and "(expired)" or "(past best-by)" where it applies), change the quantities, or choose **Take from another lot**. A lot can't ship more than it has: "Lot … has only … on hand." - **Serial items:** choose **Pick serial numbers**. Find them by typing, tick each one going out, or choose **Pick the first N** (soonest-dated first, expired last), then **Done**. Only serial numbers in stock can ship. Then choose **Save shipment**. The order's history lists each shipment's lots and serial numbers. ## On the floor Lot and serial items on work orders need two things entered: the lots or serial numbers of the **materials** used, and those of what the order **makes**. Both show in a **Lots and serial numbers** section on the tablet's step and under the work order page's bill of materials. ### Materials used A lot or serial material isn't taken from stock when its step starts, as other materials are. It's taken when someone enters which lots or serial numbers were used. 1. On the tablet at the station where the material is used, with that step current, find the material in **Lots and serial numbers**. It says "Needed before step N completes". 2. Tap **Enter lots** or **Enter serials**. 3. Lots come pre-filled from what's in stock, soonest-dated first, skipping expired lots. Change them to the lots actually used, and use **Add another lot** if it came from more than one. They must add up to exactly what the order needs. For serial numbers, scan or type them, or tap **Fill from stock**. 4. Tap **Save**. They come out of stock now. A manager can also enter them from the work order page at any time while the order is active. Entering them again before the step completes replaces the earlier entry: what was taken goes back first. ### What the order makes A work order that makes a lot or serial item needs its lot number, or a serial number for every unit, before its last step completes. It can be entered at any step. - **Lot item:** tap **Enter lot** and type the **Lot number for these** units. Once some finished units have gone into stock in that lot, the lot can't change. - **Serial item:** tap **Enter serials** and enter **A serial number for each unit** still to make. New serial numbers must not already exist for the item. - Optionally set an **Expiry or best-by date**. Left blank, the item's shelf life is counted from the day it's finished. When the order completes, the lot's quantity or the serial numbers go into stock. ### Complete step waits for them Until the lots and serial numbers for a step are in, the tablet won't complete it and says "Enter the lots and serial numbers above before completing the step." On the last step that includes what the order makes. **Mark complete** on the work order page needs all of them. **Caution:** Entering lots and serial numbers needs the connection. Unlike starting and completing steps, they aren't saved on the tablet to send later. ### Finished early, waste, scrap, and reopening - **Report finished** (units into stock before the order is done) asks which serial numbers are finished. - **Report waste** and **Scrap units** ask which lots or serial numbers were lost. Lots coming back from scrap go back to the lots the order took, latest first, unless you name them. - **Reopening** a done order takes its lot or serial numbers back out of stock. If any of those serial numbers already left stock (shipped, for example), it can't be reopened. ## Count a lot, or add and remove serial numbers by hand For a lot or serial item, stock is changed lot by lot or serial by serial. The on-hand button at the top of the item page opens the same dialog as the button in the section. **Count or adjust a lot:** 1. Choose **Count or adjust a lot**. 2. Pick the **Lot number**, or type a new one to start a lot (you can give a new lot its date). 3. Choose **A count (set the lot's on hand)** or **An adjustment (add or remove)**, and enter the amount (a minus sign removes). 4. Add a **Note** if it helps, and choose **Save**. *Screenshot: The Lots dialog: pick lot SC-24117, record a count or an adjustment, and Save* **Add or remove serial numbers:** 1. Choose **Add or remove serial numbers**. 2. Under **Put into stock**, list serial numbers to add (and optionally their date). Under **Take out of stock**, list ones that were lost or damaged. Commas or one per line. 3. Add a **Note** and choose **Save**. On the High plan, both dialogs have **At** to choose the location. If the item shows "… on hand aren't in any lot" (or serial number), some stock moved while lot tracking was off, for example after a downgrade. Count its lots or serial numbers so they match on hand. ## Expiring soon **Stock → Expiring soon** lists every lot and serial number in stock that's past its date, or within its item's warn days, soonest first: the item, the lot or serial number, how much is on hand, and its date. Each line opens its item. Use what's listed first, and decide what to do with what's expired. *Screenshot: The Expiring soon page listing lots past or near their expiry date* Home has an **Expiring soon** card too, and the [daily summary](https://docs.floorlinehq.com/reports/daily-summary/) email lists stock dated today or tomorrow, or already past. **Download all lots and serials** on that page gives a CSV of every lot and serial number in stock, with its date and where it stands. See [Export to CSV](https://docs.floorlinehq.com/reports/export/). ## Below Mid Lots, serial numbers, dates, and Expiring soon are on Mid and up. If a shop moves below Mid, its lots and serial numbers are kept but items move by quantity alone until it's back on Mid. ## Related - [How stock moves](https://docs.floorlinehq.com/stock/how-stock-moves/) - [Shipping and receiving](https://docs.floorlinehq.com/stock/shipping-receiving/) - [Use the tablet](https://docs.floorlinehq.com/floor/tablet/) - [Work orders](https://docs.floorlinehq.com/floor/work-orders/) - [Set up items](https://docs.floorlinehq.com/setup/items/)