Moving inventory software has a reputation it does not deserve. The catalog is the easy part: it is a list, and a list moves. What trips people up is the last step, and it is the step that decides whether your numbers mean anything afterwards.
Step 1: export from Sortly
Take the CSV export out of your current account. You do not need to tidy it first — no renaming headers, no deleting columns, no splitting the file by category. Export it as it comes.
Step 2: look at the columns once
Open the file and glance at the header row. You are checking one thing: that the columns you care about are actually populated. Barcodes are the usual surprise — plenty of catalogs have an empty barcode column because nobody ever scanned anything into the old system. That is fine, but it tells you how much labelling is ahead of you.
trakr recognises a Sortly export and lines the columns up for you, so there is no mapping screen to work through. Names, barcodes, cost and retail price, minimum levels, notes, categories and storage areas all come across as they are.
Step 3: import
Import the file in the app. The limit is 5 MB or 5,000 rows per import, so a large catalog is a few files rather than one. Split it by category if you need to; the categories merge on arrival.
Step 4: count once — this is the important one
trakr does not import stock quantities, and that is deliberate rather than a missing feature. Stock levels in trakr come from counting. If we copied the old numbers across, you would inherit every drift and every miscount your last system had accumulated, and you would never know which figures to trust.
So run one count after the import. A storage count per area is the fastest route: walk the walk-in, walk the dry store, walk the shelves, scan or tap each item. When the last area is finalised, every number on your dashboard is a number somebody physically saw this week.
What to expect the first week
- Items with no barcode. Print QR labels for them, or tap them from the list. Most catalogs end up with a mix of both, permanently.
- Minimum levels that need a second pass. Whatever came across from the old system was set under different assumptions. Revisit them once you have a count to look at.
- Categories that do not match your rooms. Categories are what a product is; storage areas are where it lives. Keeping the two separate is what makes storage counts quick later.
After that, the move is done. There is nothing to migrate a second time, and you can export any list back out to CSV or PDF on every plan — so if you ever want to leave, you can take the same afternoon back.