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Does Matrixify support Shopify inventory transfers? No, but Altera does

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Short answer: No. Matrixify does not support Shopify inventory transfers. It has no inventory transfer columns and cannot export, create, or update transfers, shipments, or tracking numbers. Altera does all of this, and it also reads and writes regular Matrixify files. You are not learning a new app. You keep the spreadsheets and workflow you already know and add inventory transfers to them.

Matrixify vs. Altera for inventory transfers
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TaskMatrixifyAltera
Export all inventory transfers to a spreadsheetNoYes
Create draft transfers in bulk from a spreadsheetNoYes
Update existing transfers (note, tags, reference name, line items)NoYes
Add or update shipments with tracking numbersNoYes
Move transfers from Draft to Ready to Ship to In Progress to ReceivedNoYes
Cancel or delete transfers in bulkNoYes
Export received and rejected quantities for reconciliationNoYes
Import and export transfer metafieldsNoYes
Filter exports by status, location, product, tag, or dateNoYes

Matrixify’s supported data types cover products, collections, customers, orders, discounts, pages, blogs, metafields, and metaobjects. Inventory transfers are not on that list. Altera supports all of those data types and inventory transfers.

Altera is the Matrixify workflow you already know, plus inventory transfers
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Altera reads and writes the same spreadsheet format as Matrixify. Switching does not mean learning a new app or rebuilding your files. What carries over:

  • Your existing Matrixify product, customer, order, collection, and metafield files import into Altera without changes.
  • The same column conventions: an ID column to match existing records, a Command column with MERGE, NEW, UPDATE, and DELETE, one row per line item, and Metafield: namespace.key [type] columns.
  • The same export and import flow: filter, download a spreadsheet, edit it, upload it back.

Inventory transfers are added on top of that. The transfer sheet uses the conventions above, so if you have imported orders or products with Matrixify, the layout is already familiar. Altera also covers the other data types Matrixify does not: translations and market adaptations, metafield definitions, metaobject definitions, and linked product options.

You can run Altera alongside Matrixify if you prefer, since both tools read the same files. Most merchants do not need to.

What Shopify inventory transfers are
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Inventory transfers are the Shopify object for moving stock from one location to another, or for receiving stock from an external supplier. They live under Transfers in the Shopify admin (see Shopify’s inventory transfers help page) and in the GraphQL Admin API as the InventoryTransfer object.

Each transfer records:

  • Origin and destination locations. Either side can be blank to represent an external supplier or destination.
  • Line items: the variants and quantities being moved.
  • Transfer status: Draft, Ready to Ship, In Progress, Received, or Cancelled.
  • One or more shipments, each with its own status (Draft, In Transit, Partially Received, Received), tracking company, tracking number, tracking URL, estimated arrival, and barcode.
  • Received and rejected quantities per line item and per shipment.
  • Reference name, tags, and a note for tying the transfer to a purchase order or an ERP record.

Why bulk import and export matters for multi-location stores
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The Shopify admin handles a few transfers at a time. It does not scale to a warehouse restocking twenty retail stores every week, or a 3PL receiving supplier shipments for several stores. Without a bulk tool, merchants run into these problems:

  • Creating dozens of draft transfers by hand is slow and easy to get wrong.
  • Updating tracking numbers means opening every shipment one by one.
  • Reconciling received and rejected quantities across shipments is manual data entry.
  • There is no export of transfer history for reporting or auditing.
  • Agencies and 3PLs cannot script or automate transfer workflows.

The usual workaround is a parallel spreadsheet kept outside Shopify, which means in-transit stock is invisible to Shopify’s inventory reports.

How to import inventory transfers with Altera
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Altera treats inventory transfers as a standard data type with import, export, and bulk update, and the sheet works the way a Matrixify import already does. To create transfers in bulk:

  1. Create a spreadsheet with one row per line item. The first row of each transfer holds the transfer-level columns (Origin Location, Destination Location, Reference Name, Tags, Note); the following rows only need the line-item columns.
  2. Identify each line item with Line Item: SKU or Line Item: Barcode, and set Line Item: Quantity.
  3. Set Origin Location and Destination Location by name or Shopify ID. Leave one blank for an external supplier or destination.
  4. Leave the ID column blank to create a new transfer. Any placeholder value in the ID or Name column groups multiple rows into the same transfer.
  5. Optionally add a Status column to move the transfer to Ready to Ship in the same import.
  6. Upload the file to Altera and run the import.

To update existing transfers, fill in the ID column (or the Shopify-assigned Name, such as #T123) and include only the columns you want to change. Line Item: Command = DELETE removes a line item, Command = DELETE deletes a draft transfer, and Status = Cancelled cancels a transfer that has already left draft.

Download the sample inventory transfer file to see the layout, or read the inventory transfer field reference for every column.

How to add shipments and tracking numbers in bulk
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Shipments use numbered column prefixes (Shipment 1:, Shipment 2:, and so on), so one transfer can carry several shipments in a single row. For each shipment you can set:

  • Shipment 1: Status (Draft, In Transit, Partially Received, or Received)
  • Shipment 1: Tracking Company, Tracking Number, and Tracking URL
  • Shipment 1: Arrives At (estimated arrival)
  • Shipment 1: Barcode
  • Shipment 1: Date Shipped and Date Received

Altera walks each shipment through the required transitions, for example from Draft to In Transit to Received, and moves the parent transfer along with it. If a sheet has no Line Item: columns, a shipment applies to every line item on the transfer at its full shippable quantity, which is the quickest way to ship a whole transfer.

How to export inventory transfers with Altera
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An export writes every transfer, line item, and shipment to one spreadsheet. Exports include:

  • Transfer-level columns: ID, Name, Status, Reference Name, Date Created, Note, Tags, Origin Location, Destination Location, Total Quantity, Received Quantity
  • Line-item columns: SKU, Barcode, Product and Variant titles, Quantity, Shippable Quantity, Shipped Quantity, Received Quantity, Rejected Quantity
  • Shipment columns: Name, Status, dates, tracking fields, Total Quantity, Accepted Quantity, Rejected Quantity
  • Metafields on the transfer, for ERP references, freight account numbers, or handling instructions

Exports can be filtered by transfer ID, name, status, origin location, destination location, product, variant, tag, or creation date.

Frequently asked questions
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Does Matrixify support Shopify inventory transfers?

No. Matrixify cannot export, create, or update Shopify inventory transfers, shipments, or tracking details. Altera supports all of these using the same Matrixify-compatible spreadsheet format.

Do I have to learn a new app to use Altera for inventory transfers?

No. Altera reads and writes the same spreadsheet format as Matrixify, so your existing product, customer, and order files import unchanged. The inventory transfer sheet follows the same conventions you already use: an ID column, a Command column with MERGE, NEW, UPDATE, and DELETE, one row per line item, and Metafield columns in the namespace.key [type] format. You keep what you know and add inventory transfers to it.

Can I create new inventory transfers with Altera, or only update existing ones?

Both. Leave the ID column blank to create a new draft transfer from line items matched by SKU or barcode. Fill in the ID (or the Shopify-assigned Name, such as #T123) to update an existing transfer’s note, tags, reference name, line items, and shipments.

Can Altera set tracking numbers and shipment statuses in bulk?

Yes. Each shipment has columns for tracking company, tracking number, tracking URL, estimated arrival, barcode, and status. Altera walks each shipment from Draft to In Transit to Received in a single import.

How do I represent a transfer from an external supplier?

Leave the Origin Location column blank. Altera treats a blank origin or destination as an external party, which matches how Shopify handles transfers to and from suppliers.

Can I keep using Matrixify for other data and use Altera only for inventory transfers?

Yes. Altera reads and writes the same spreadsheet format as Matrixify, so you can run both side by side. Most merchants find they do not need to, because Altera handles the regular Matrixify data types (products, customers, orders, metafields, and so on) as well as inventory transfers.

Does Altera export received and rejected quantities?

Yes. Exports include shippable, shipped, received, and rejected quantities per line item, plus total, accepted, and rejected quantities per shipment, so you can reconcile what was sent against what arrived.

See the full Altera vs. Matrixify comparison for every difference between the two tools, or the FAQ for more common questions.

Import, export, and update inventory transfers with Altera. Available on Shopify App Store