As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly update your inventory spreadsheet.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open the original inventory workbook and save a separate copy so the source file remains unchanged.
   2. Gather the current stock movement records, such as delivery notes, sales exports, transfer records, returns and damage adjustments, and remove unrelated files.
   3. Write down what each relevant sheet, column, product code and location represents, including the rule used to calculate available stock.
   4. Upload the copied workbook and the movement records to a chatbot, then paste the supplied prompt with the workbook-specific rules filled in.
   5. Download the updated workbook and change log, then compare every flagged ambiguity and changed quantity with the relevant delivery note, sales record or adjustment record.
   6. Reconcile the resulting balances against a current physical stock count and investigate negative stock, duplicate products and unexplained differences before using the file for purchasing or reporting.

   Prompt

   Update the attached inventory workbook using the stock movements in the attached records.
   
   Workbook purpose: [describe what each relevant sheet and column means].
   Update rules:
   - Add receipts, sales, transfers, returns, damages and adjustments only where supported by the records.
   - Preserve the workbook structure, existing formulas, formatting and audit history unless a change is necessary.
   - Do not invent product codes, quantities, dates, locations or reasons.
   - Do not silently resolve duplicate products, missing fields, conflicting quantities or unclear transaction types. List each ambiguity separately.
   - Recalculate stock balances and flag any negative stock, missing opening balance or mismatch between movements and the existing balance.
   - Keep the original workbook unchanged and create an updated copy.
   - Add a change log containing the sheet, row or product affected, old value, new value and source record.
   
   Return the updated workbook, a concise list of unresolved issues, and a reconciliation summary. State which formulas or cells you changed. Do not treat the result as ready for purchasing or reporting until I have checked it against the source records and current stock count.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.