How do I fix lot tracking not working in Odoo?

Steps

1. Inventory → Configuration → Settings: enable Lots & Serial Numbers.
2. Set Tracking on product.template or product.category to By Lots (or serial) for each SKU.
3. On stock.picking.type for Receipts and Deliveries, enable Create New Lots/Serial Numbers and Use Existing Lots.
4. Open pickings → Detailed Operations; set lot_id and quantity on each stock.move.line before Validate.
5. For mrp.production, enable lot production and assign component lots on raw move lines.
6. Review Inventory → Reporting → Locations → Lots/Serial Numbers for on-hand by lot.
7. Reconcile untracked quants with a counted inventory adjustment that creates lot-specific stock.quant records.

Common mistakes

• Tracking enabled on sales only while receipts stay untracked.
• Validating pickings with zero lot lines while forcing quantity done.
• Duplicating lot names across vendors without unique internal references.
• Editing stock.quant manually in SQL instead of through move lines.
• Disabling tracking on category after products inherited lot settings inconsistently.

Odoo version notes

Lot traceability uses stock.lot and stock.move.line in Community and Enterprise on Odoo 16, 17, and 18. Enterprise adds advanced barcode apps but shares the same models. Custom modules that bypass move lines can break reports. After upgrades, re-test operation types because studio or migrated XML IDs sometimes reset picking type flags.

When to bring in help

If the fix touches custom modules, regulated traceability, or production outages, a focused rescue sprint beats months of trial and error. See our Odoo service.

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