Smarter Putaway with Odoo Storage Categories: No More Trips to a Full Shelf
How Hong Kong SMEs can use storage categories in Odoo Inventory to auto-route stock to available locations when a shelf is full, saving wasted trips and time.
Where Basic Putaway Rules Break Down
Standard putaway rules in Odoo tell the system exactly where a product belongs. Vinyl records go to Shelf 1. Simple enough.
The problem shows up the day Shelf 1 is full. A staff member wheels a heavy pallet to the back of the warehouse, only to find no room, and now has to improvise an alternative location on the spot. In the compact, tightly-packed units common across Hong Kong, that wasted trip is exactly the kind of friction that eats a morning.
Storage categories fix this by checking for available space before anyone leaves the receiving dock.
What Storage Categories Actually Do
Think of storage categories as smart putaway rules. They set capacity limits for storage locations — a maximum weight and a per-product quantity cap. When an incoming shipment would push a location past its limit, Odoo automatically redirects the overflow to another location in the same category.
Instead of one rigid destination, you define a group of locations and let Odoo fill them intelligently.
Setting Up Storage Categories
Step 1: Enable Storage Locations
- Open the Inventory app
- Go to Configuration > Settings
- Scroll to the Warehouses section
- Tick the Storage Locations checkbox
- Click Save
Switching on storage locations enables storage categories automatically.
Step 2: Configure a Storage Category
- Go to Configuration > Storage Categories
- Open an existing category or create a new one (for example, "Zone A")
- Set the Max Weight if relevant
- Under the Capacity by Product tab, define per-product limits
- For example, set "Vinyl Records" to a maximum quantity of 100
When incoming stock exceeds this limit, Odoo routes the overflow to another location in the same category.
Step 3: Assign Locations to the Category
Each location that should belong to the category needs to be tagged:
- Go to Configuration > Locations
- Open the target location (for example, WH/Stock/Shelf 3)
- Set the Storage Category field to your category (for example, "Zone A")
- Save
You can confirm which locations belong to a category by clicking the Locations smart button on the storage category form.
Tip: Click a location, then the Products smart button, to see current on-hand quantities.
Step 4: Update Your Putaway Rule
The pivotal change is pointing the putaway rule at the parent location rather than a specific shelf:
- Go to Configuration > Putaway Rules
- Edit the rule for your product
- Change the Store To field from a specific shelf (for example, WH/Stock/Shelf 1) to the parent location (for example, WH/Stock)
- Set the Sublocation field to Closest Location
- Set the Having Category field to your storage category (for example, "Zone A")
From here, Odoo automatically picks the best available sublocation within WH/Stock that belongs to the specified category.
Sublocation Routing Options
When configuring a putaway rule with storage categories, you have three sublocation options:
| Option | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| No | Products go directly to the location in the "Store To" field |
| Closest Location | Routes to the nearest available sublocation within the storage category |
| Last Used | Routes to the sublocation where the product was most recently stored |
For most setups, Closest Location is the one we recommend. It minimises travel distance while respecting your capacity limits.
Storage Categories in Action
Here is a practical run-through:
- Starting state: Shelf 1 already holds 90 vinyl records. The category limit is 100 per location.
- First receipt: 10 vinyl records arrive from Vendor A. Odoo routes them to Shelf 1 (90 + 10 = 100, within the limit). Shelf 1 is now full.
- Second receipt: another 10 vinyl records arrive from Vendor B. Odoo detects Shelf 1 is at capacity and automatically routes these to Shelf 2.
No manual overrides. No wasted trips to a full shelf.
What to Take Away
- Storage categories add capacity awareness to Odoo's putaway system
- Set per-product quantity limits and max weight on each category
- Assign the category to several locations so Odoo can route overflow on its own
- Point putaway rules at a parent location and let the storage category choose the sublocation
- Use Closest Location for efficient routing that keeps travel short
To get started, enable storage locations in your Inventory settings, create a storage category with capacity limits, and update your putaway rules to use parent locations with the closest-location option.
If you would like APAA to model your real shelf capacities and configure storage categories that match your floor, contact us and we will set it up around how your warehouse actually runs.