Scanning

The Scan page works with your device’s camera or a physical barcode scanner (which just types the code and presses enter), and has three modes. Whatever you scan — an item, a box, a shelf, an event QR — Kiste figures out what to do with it based on the mode you’re in and what you scanned last.

Check in / out

This is the default mode for day-to-day stock movement.

• Scan an item that’s on a shelf → it’s taken off the shelf (quantity −1, location cleared). This is a check-out.
• Scan a shelf or box first, then scan an item → the item is placed there (quantity +1, location set). This is a check-in.
• Scan an item with no location yet → Kiste asks you to scan a shelf next, so it knows where to put it.
• Scan an event’s QR code → jumps straight into Lend / Return mode with that event pre-selected as the borrower, so you don’t have to switch modes and pick it again.

Sort

Use Sort when you’re putting away a delivery or tidying shelves, without it counting as stock in/out.

• Scan a box or shelf first → it’s locked as the destination. Every item you scan afterward drops straight into it, and the destination stays locked for the next scan — so you can scan a whole armful of items into the same box in a row.
• Scan an item first (before any destination) → it’s held, waiting for you to scan a shelf or box next.
• A box is locked as the destination and you scan a shelf/site → the whole box moves there, not an item — useful for relocating a packed box to a different shelf.
• Made a mistake? An undo option appears after each sort, putting the last item (or box) back where it was.

Lend / Return

Pick a borrower once — an event, a contact, or both — then scan items or boxes in a row with no confirmation needed for each one:

1. Choose an event and/or contact, optionally set a due date, and tap Start.
2. Scan items — each scan checks one unit out to that borrower.
3. Scanning an item that’s already on loan returns it instead.
4. Tick Mark next scan as damaged before scanning a return if the item came back in bad shape — it’ll be flagged and can carry a damage note.

Lending a whole box in one scan

If several items always go out together in a box, scan the box’s own QR code instead of each item:

• If nothing in the box is currently on loan, scanning it lends the box’s entire current contents to the selected borrower in one go, and logs one loan per item inside.
• Scanning the same box again returns everything that left with it.
• Any item in the box with zero stock is skipped with a warning — the rest of the box still goes out.

Manual entry

If the camera isn’t available or a code won’t scan, every mode has a text field to type or paste a SKU/barcode instead — this also works with a plug-and-play USB/Bluetooth barcode scanner, since those just type the code and press enter.