Warehouse inventory in Google Sheets: Automating stock alerts and order routing with Sheetgo

Managing warehouse inventory for a growing retail or wholesale business gets chaotic fast. If you’re running your fulfillment center on a single shared Google Sheet, things break. The packing floor is shipping orders, the receiving dock is unloading new pallets, and inevitably someone accidentally overwrites a cell.

Worse, your purchasing team doesn’t know stock is low until a customer order bounces — warehouse inventory chaos is one column-overwrite away.

You don’t need to buy an expensive, heavy Warehouse Management System to fix this communication gap. You just need a better way to route your data.

This is where Sheetgo comes in. Sheetgo is a no-code automation platform that lets you connect spreadsheets and web apps to create automated data pipelines — known as workflows. While you can build a workflow entirely from scratch, a pre-built template saves hours of configuration. The architecture is ready to use, and you can expand and customize it as much as you need.

In this tutorial we’ll build a decentralized warehouse inventory system right inside Google Workspace using Sheetgo’s Inventario con notificaciones template. Here’s how the architecture works:

• Inputs: warehouse workers use simple, mobile-friendly forms to log incoming pallets and outgoing orders. They never touch the master spreadsheet.
• Processing: a central spreadsheet ingests those form responses and calculates live stock balances.
• Outputs: the system constantly monitors stock. When an item drops below a safe threshold, or an order is processed, specific email alerts fire to the right department automatically.

Below, we’ll customize this template for an apparel warehouse — wipe the default data, set up SKUs, and configure the exact email routing for the purchasing and fulfillment managers.

Deploying the template

To build this automated workflow, you’ll need a Sheetgo account to act as the routing engine.

1. Click here to sign up for Sheetgo.
2. Click here to install the Inventory with notifications template directly.

Nota: if your warehouse has a highly specific supply chain and this template isn’t the perfect fit, the Sheetgo team can help you design a custom workflow. Book a free expert demo session.

Step 1: Deploying the architecture

Once you click install, Sheetgo automatically builds the necessary Google Sheets and Forms and wires them together. When the workflow canvas loads, you’ll see how the data moves. There are three core areas:

• Inputs: three forms (Añadir un nuevo elemento, Compra de discos, Venta de discos) act as data entry points for the warehouse floor.
• Processor: the central Inventory manager spreadsheet ingests all form responses.
• Outputs: the processed data pushes to a visual dashboard and, more importantly, routes to three separate email nodes (Sales automation email, Purchases automation email, Low stock automation email) — the heart of warehouse inventory communication.

Step 2: Clearing placeholder data for a custom setup

Out of the box, the Inventory manager sheet is pre-loaded with dummy data for consumer electronics to show how the formulas work. Since we’re building an apparel fulfillment center, we need a clean slate before logging real inventory.

1. Open the Inventory manager Google Sheet.
2. Ir a la Items tab. Select rows 2 through 10 and delete them. Leave row 1 (the orange header row) completely intact so you don’t break the formulas.
3. Repeat the same process for the Purchases y Ventas tabs to clear out the dummy transaction history.

Step 3: Configuring the email routing engine

Now to set up the rules for the automated emails. This is what turns a basic spreadsheet into a dispatch system. Go to the Customisation tab in your Inventory manager sheet.

Update your product categories. In Column A (Category dropdown values), delete the default electronics tags and enter your apparel classifications: Apparel, Accessories, Footwear. The dropdown choices in your forms update automatically.

Map the email dispatch paths. This ensures the right teams get the right data without cluttering anyone else’s inbox. Update the email addresses in the corresponding columns:

• Email for sending sales report: the fulfillment team’s address (e.g. [email protected]). They get an automated receipt every time an outbound order is logged.
• Email for sending purchases report: the receiving dock’s address (e.g. [email protected]). They get an alert confirming inbound pallets have hit the database.
• Email for sending low stock report: the procurement manager’s address (e.g. [email protected]). When a SKU drops below its safe threshold, they get the alert to cut a new purchase order immediately.

Step 4: Building the warehouse inventory master catalog

With routing rules in place, you can build your actual database. The entire automated email system depends on accurate reorder thresholds set right from the start. Open the Añadir un nuevo elemento Google Form (link is on your workflow canvas) and submit your initial warehouse inventory catalog.

Two items to see how the system handles different scenarios:

• The fast mover: SKU HOODIE-BLK-L, Item Name Signature Pullover Hoodie – Black (L), Initial Stock 200, Minimum stock alert 40, Category Apparel.
• The staple: SKU CAP-NY-NVY, Item Name Classic Baseball Cap – Navy, Initial Stock 100, Minimum stock alert 20, Category Accessories.

The Minimum stock alert is the trigger point. If live inventory ever dips below that number, the system flags the row and pushes it to the procurement manager’s email.

Step 5: Logging inbound and outbound inventory from the floor

Now you can hand the system over to the warehouse floor. Your staff interacts strictly through the forms, completely protecting the master spreadsheet from accidental edits.

Inbound. When a supplier delivery arrives, the dock workers use the Compra de discos form on a tablet or phone.

1. Select the SKU (CAP-NY-NVY).
2. Log the quantity purchased (e.g. 300 units).
3. Submitting the form routes the data into the Purchases tab of the manager sheet, adding it to the available balance.

Outbound. When the packing team processes a large outbound shipment, they use the Venta de discos form.

1. Select the SKU (HOODIE-BLK-L).
2. Enter the quantity sold (e.g. 175 units).
3. Submitting deducts the stock from the central balance.

If you look at the math, the hoodie inventory started at 200. After a sale of 175 units, the live balance drops to 25. Because the minimum stock threshold was set to 40 in the previous step, this transaction has officially pushed the hoodie into a low-stock state.

Step 6: Seeing the automated email dispatch in action

To see the dispatch system run, head back to the Sheetgo web app and click the blue Ejecutar todas las automatizaciones botón.

When the workflow runs, it pulls data from your receiving and fulfillment forms, updates the central database, and triggers the configured email nodes. Each of the three inboxes you set up in Step 3 receives a targeted, formatted table:

• Sales email: the fulfillment team sees a receipt that 175 hoodies were successfully logged out of the system.
• Purchases email: the receiving dock sees confirmation that 300 caps were added to active inventory.
• Low stock alert: because the hoodie inventory dropped to 25 (below the 40-unit threshold), the procurement manager receives a dedicated alert showing the exact SKU, the minimum threshold, and the current balance — signaling an immediate reorder. The screenshot below is what that low-stock alert looks like in the procurement manager’s inbox.

Step 7: Automating the dispatch schedule

You don’t want your operations manager manually clicking Ejecutar every time a pallet moves on the floor. To make this a truly hands-off WMS, set up background triggers.

1. On the Sheetgo workflow canvas, click the Disparadores icon (clock symbol) on the right-side panel.
2. Under schedule settings, set the automation to Ejecutar automáticamente.
3. Choose a frequency that matches your warehouse throughput (e.g. every hour, or daily at 4 PM).
4. Haga clic en Guardar cambios.

Once the trigger is active, Sheetgo silently processes every form submission from the floor, updates the central dashboard, and dispatches the necessary emails — warehouse inventory tracking runs without human intervention.

Scaling beyond basic stock counting

Once your core receiving and fulfillment loops are running smoothly, the same Sheetgo workflow can scale to handle more complex logistics:

• Automated purchase orders. Instead of just alerting the internal procurement manager, add a Vendor Email column to the master list. Sheetgo can automatically generate and email a PDF purchase order directly to the supplier the moment stock drops.
• Quality control routing. Add a Damaged / QC Hold option to the inbound receiving forms. Sheetgo can route those items to a separate spreadsheet tab, isolating them from active fulfillment inventory until they’re inspected.
• Multi-warehouse tracking. If you expand to a second location, you don’t need new software. Duplicate the input forms for Warehouse B. Sheetgo can consolidate data from multiple locations into one master dashboard so you see the entire network’s throughput at a glance.

The point of building this in Google Workspace isn’t just avoiding expensive WMS licenses — it’s that the architecture stays yours to extend. You’re never waiting on a software vendor’s roadmap to add the feature your supply chain actually needs.

If you’re standing up other inventory workflows alongside warehousing, our IT asset tracking guide y restaurant inventory guide walk through the same form-to-spreadsheet pattern for different verticals. For the broader picture on workflow architecture, see our comparación de automatización de flujos de trabajo empresariales, and our free Google Sheets inventory templates guide covers the wider template landscape.

Build your automated WMS today

You can run a high-volume fulfillment center entirely on Google Workspace if you use the right middleware to route the data. Your floor workers get focused data entry forms, your purchasing team gets automated low-stock alerts before you oversell, and you keep ownership of the data architecture.

If you hit a snag during setup or want a workflow that fits your specific supply chain, the Sheetgo team can help you map it out. Book a free expert demo session.

Ready to streamline your warehouse inventory? Install the Inventory with notifications template and build your automated warehouse system today with Sheetgo.