# Create a Inventory Sync Group manually
Manual group creation lets you choose exactly which products/variants should share inventory. This is the best option when your SKUs are missing/inconsistent, or when you want full control over the group members.
### ℹ️ What manual Inventory Sync Groups do
When you create a group manually, Tipo will:
* Link selected products/variants into one **Inventory Sync Group**
* Keep inventory consistent across items in that group (based on your group rules)
* Reduce overselling by preventing “out-of-sync” stock across related listings
* Let you control exactly what is included (no auto-detection)
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### ℹ️ When should you use manual creation?
Use manual creation if:
* You want to sync only a few specific items
* Your SKUs are missing, inconsistent, or not suitable for Smart Scan
* You want to prevent accidental grouping
* You have special inventory logic that needs careful selection
Smart Scan is faster, but manual is more accurate when you need full control.
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### 🛠️ Step to create group
1. Open the sync app > click on **Inventory Sync Groups** section on the left menu > click **New** **Inventory Sync Groups** button
2. Fill in the group details:
* **Title / Name:** A meaningful name (e.g. “Black Tee Variants”)
* **Status / Active:** Enable the group
3. Set Locations and Stock
In the **Locations** section:
* Enable one or more locations where these products are available.
* Enter the **Stock** quantity for each selected location.
Note: This becomes the shared inventory across all products in this group.
4. Add Products to the Group
You can add products in two ways:
**Option 1: Manual select**
Choose this if you only have a few products.
* Click **Manual select**, search, and add product **variants**.
* Example: To sync “Unisex Tee – M”, add both *Men’s Tee – M* and *Women’s Tee – M* variants.
**Option 2: Use Condition**
Use this to quickly find products by condition.
* Click **Use Condition** and set conditions for **Title**, **SKU**, **Price**, **Vendor**, **Type**, **Tag**, or **Collection**.
* Click **Generate matching products** to preview, then **Select** to add them.
5. **Save** the Inventory Sync Group.
Once saved, all included products will share the same inventory: when one sells, others update automatically.
### 🧪 Example
Let’s say you sell:
* **Men’s Tee – M**
* **Women’s Tee – M**
To sync their inventory:
1. Create a group named **Unisex Tee – M**
2. Add both variants using **Manual select**
3. Enable **Shop location** and set stock to **100**
4. Set status to **Active**, then click **Save**
→ Now, when one variant sells, the other’s inventory automatically updates.
### ❓ Troubleshooting (quick)
#### Inventory didn’t update
Check:
* the group is saved and active
* inventory tracking is enabled in Shopify for those variants
* you selected the correct variants (not just the product)
#### ❓ Wrong items are syncing
* remove the incorrect item from the group
* save again and re-test
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### 🔗 Related guides
* [ Smart Scan (Auto-group by SKU)](https://docs.tipo.io/inventory-sync-groups/inventory-sync-groups/smart-scan)
* [Sync events in Inventory Sync Groups (what triggers updates)](https://docs.tipo.io/inventory-sync-groups/sync-events-in-inventory-sync-groups)
* [Sell Shirt Red and Blue (Inventory Sync Group for different SKUs)](https://docs.tipo.io/sample-cases/sell-shirt-red-and-blue-inventory-sync-group-for-different-skus)
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