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How to Set Up Products and Units of Measure in Odoo 19

By · · Updated · 6 min read · Odoo Odoo 19 Setup Products Inventory Inventory Management Stock Control Purchase

Short answer: in Odoo 19, open Inventory ‣ Products ‣ Products ‣ New. Set Product Type to Goods for physical items and tick Track Inventory if you need stock counts; set it to Service for work you sell or buy. Choose the unit you count stock in, add vendors with their purchase unit, and enable Units of Measure & Packagings if you buy, store or sell in different units.

This is the step-by-step guide. For the reasoning behind product types, units and packaging, see the explainer: product types, units of measure and packaging in Odoo.

Applies to

  • Odoo version: Odoo 19 (and 18, which introduced the Goods + Track Inventory model). Odoo 17 and earlier use the older storable and consumable product types instead.
  • Edition: Community and Enterprise.
  • Apps: Inventory; Sales and Purchase add their own tabs and fields to the product form.

Before you start

  1. Decide how you count each product. Your inventory unit should be the unit your team counts on the shelf: units, kilograms, metres. Changing it once stock moves exist causes confusion, so decide first.
  2. List how suppliers sell to you. Boxes of 12, rolls of 50 metres, sacks of 25 kg. These become purchase units or packagings.
  3. Decide which products need lots or serial numbers. Traceability is set per product and is far easier to set before the first receipt.

Step by step

1. Enable units of measure (if needed)

  1. Go to Inventory ‣ Configuration ‣ Settings.
  2. Under Products, tick Units of Measure & Packagings and click Save.

Skip this if every product is bought, stored and sold in single units.

2. Create the product

  1. Go to Inventory ‣ Products ‣ Products and click New.
  2. Enter the product name.
  3. Tick Sales if you sell it and Purchase if you buy it. A component you only buy has Purchase alone; a finished product you only sell has Sales alone.
  4. On the General Information tab, set Product Type:
    • Goods for physical items;
    • Service for work such as installation or consulting;
    • Combo for a bundle of goods and services.

3. Decide whether to track inventory

For goods, tick Track Inventory if you need stock levels, valuation, reordering rules or traceability. Then choose how to track:

  • By Quantity for ordinary stock;
  • By Lots for batches, for example food, chemicals or anything with expiry dates;
  • By Unique Serial Number for individually traceable items such as machines.

Leave Track Inventory off for items you never count. Odoo treats untracked goods as always available, so they can’t use reordering rules, inventory adjustments or stock valuation.

4. Set the inventory unit, price and cost

The unit next to Sales Price and Cost is the product’s inventory unit, the one stock is counted and moved in. Changing it in one field changes the other, because Odoo keeps them the same. Enter the sales price and cost per that unit.

5. Add vendors and the purchase unit

  1. Open the Purchase tab and click Add a line.
  2. Choose the Vendor, enter the Unit Price, the Lead Time in days and the purchase Unit, for example a box.
  3. Put your preferred vendor first. Odoo uses the top line when it creates purchase orders automatically.

6. Add selling packagings (optional)

On the Sales tab, in Upsell & Cross-Sell, add the packagings customers can buy, such as a case of 12. Several packagings can be added to one product.

7. Check routes and save

On the Inventory tab, confirm the routes: Buy for purchased products, Manufacture for products made in-house. Save the product.

Worked example: bought by the box, sold by the unit

A distributor sells Hand sanitiser 500 ml.

Field Value
Product Type Goods
Track Inventory Ticked, By Lots (batches carry expiry dates)
Inventory unit Units
Sales and Purchase Both ticked
Vendor line Supplier A, purchase unit Box of 24, lead time 5 days
Selling packaging Case of 12
Route Buy

A purchase order for 10 boxes creates a receipt for 240 units, because the warehouse counts in units. A customer order for 2 cases creates a delivery for 24 units. Stock reports, reordering rules and valuation all work in units, so nobody has to convert by hand.

What you should see

  • A Forecasted smart button on the product form, showing on-hand and forecasted quantities (tracked goods only).
  • Purchase orders that default to the vendor’s unit, and receipts that show the converted quantity in the inventory unit.
  • A Lot/Serial Number field on receipts for lot- or serial-tracked products.

Troubleshooting

No stock figures or Forecasted button. The product is a Service, or a Good without Track Inventory. Tick it.

The reordering rule option is missing. Same cause: reordering rules need a tracked good.

Receipts show odd quantities. The purchase unit on the vendor line is wrong, or the conversion behind it is. A box defined as 24 units turns 10 boxes into 240 units on the receipt.

Automatic purchase orders aren’t created. There is no vendor on the Purchase tab, or the Purchase checkbox isn’t ticked.

Products were created with the wrong type. Fix it before stock moves exist where you can; once transactions exist, correcting the setup is more involved, so test with a few products before importing the whole catalogue.

Cost looks wrong after receipts. Check the product category’s costing method, which controls whether cost is standard or updated from purchases.

Official references

*How this guide was checked: menus, fields and behaviour were checked against the Odoo 19 documentation in October

  1. The example is illustrative and wasn’t run on a live database, so there are no screenshots; labels can vary slightly with your installed apps and language.*

? Frequently asked questions

What replaced storable and consumable products in Odoo 19?

Odoo 18 and 19 use the product type Goods with a Track Inventory checkbox. A tracked good behaves like the old storable product, with on-hand and forecasted quantities. An untracked good behaves like the old consumable and is treated as always available.

Can I buy a product in boxes and sell it in units?

Yes. Enable Units of Measure & Packagings in Inventory settings, keep the product's inventory unit as Units, set the purchase unit on the vendor line, and add selling packagings on the Sales tab. Odoo converts quantities on receipts and deliveries automatically.

Which products need Track Inventory ticked?

Anything you need to count, value, reorder or trace: finished goods, resale items and most components. Leave it off for low-value items you never count, such as office supplies or packing tape.

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