About material BIN locations
BIN locations are not the same as the Locations feature. BIN locations are a storage label for a single material — they don't track stock movements or multi-location inventory. For tracking finished product stock across physical locations, see About locations.
Record where each material is stored in your workspace
Searching your studio for that jar of coconut oil you know is somewhere on a shelf? BIN locations let you attach a precise storage address to each material so you always know exactly where to find it.
A material BIN location is a storage label made up of three components: Zone, Section, and Position. Together they describe exactly where a material lives in your workspace — down to the shelf, bin, or container. You can use one, two, or all three fields depending on how specific you want to be.
Material BIN locations are available on the Studio plan and above. If you don't see the BIN location fields on your material, check your subscription plan.
In this article:
- BIN locations vs. the Locations feature
- How BIN locations work
- Setting a BIN location on a material
- Updating BIN locations in bulk
BIN locations vs. the Locations feature
the app has two separate location concepts. They serve different purposes and work with different record types — understanding the difference will save you time.
| Feature | BIN locations | Locations |
| What it tracks | Where a material is stored in your workspace | Where your finished product stock lives across physical places |
| Applies to | Materials (raw materials) only | Finished products only |
| Tracks stock movements? | No — label only | Yes — transfers stock between locations |
| Shows on | The material's detail page | The Locations page and product's Locations tab |
| Available from | Studio plan and above | Studio plan and above |
the app does not support tracking raw materials across multiple locations. BIN locations are a single storage label per material — they don't move stock or track quantities at different sites.
How BIN locations work
A BIN location has three optional fields that build up a storage address from broad to specific:
- Zone — the room or area (e.g., "Studio", "Garage", "Shelf A")
- Section — a grouping within the zone (e.g., "Top shelf", "Drawer 2")
- Position — the exact spot within the section (e.g., "Bin 3", "Left side")
When all three are set, Craftybase displays them joined with hyphens — for example, Studio-Top shelf-Bin 3.
You can use just one or two fields if that's enough detail for your workflow. There's no requirement to fill all three.
Setting a BIN location on a material
To set a BIN location on a single material:
- Go to your Materials page and open the material you want to update
- Click the Edit button
- Scroll down to the BIN Location section
- Fill in the Zone, Section, and/or Position fields
- Click Save Material
The BIN location will now appear on the material's detail page for quick reference.
Updating BIN locations in bulk
If you have many materials to update, use the CSV import to set BIN locations in bulk — much faster than editing each material one at a time.
- Export your materials to CSV
- Add or update the Zone, Section, and Position columns in the file
- Re-import the file using the Updating materials via CSV guide
Need more help?
Check out these related articles:
- About locations — for tracking finished product stock across physical places
- Introduction to location management
- Adding and editing materials
- Updating materials via CSV
Still have questions? Contact our support team — we're happy to help.