You don’t need to be good with computers to use iMagic Inventory. If you can use email, you can use this. This walkthrough assumes you’ve never opened inventory software before and tells you exactly what to click, in order.

By the end of it, you’ll have the program installed, one real item in your stock list, and one invoice created.

What you’ll need first

A Windows PC (Windows 10 or 11) and about fifteen minutes. That’s it — no setup knowledge required.

Step 1: Install the program

  1. Go to the Download page and click the download button.
  2. Once the file has downloaded, open it and follow the on-screen steps. This is the same as installing any other Windows program — click Next a few times, then Finish.
  3. Open iMagic Inventory from your Start Menu, or from the shortcut it placed on your desktop.

Step 2: Answer a few questions in the setup wizard

The first time you open the program, a Configuration Wizard appears. It asks for:

  • Your business name and contact details
  • A logo, if you have one (this appears on your invoices later — you can skip it and add it another time)
  • Your currency and date format
  • A name for your first warehouse or storage location (if you only have one location, just give it a simple name like “Main Store”)

None of this is permanent — you can change all of it later. Answer as best you can and move on.

Step 3: Add one item

This is the part people worry about most, and it’s the simplest step. You’re just telling the program that something exists.

  1. Click Inventory on the toolbar.
  2. Click New Item near the bottom of the screen.
  3. Type in a Name — that’s the only thing you actually have to fill in. Something like “Blue T-Shirt” or “Coffee Mug” is fine.
  4. Click OK.

That’s a real inventory item now. Everything else on that screen — price, barcode, category, how many you have — is optional. Fill those in when you’re ready; the program works fine without them at first. If you want to know what each of those extra fields does, the Adding Inventory Items manual page covers each one.

Step 4: Create your first invoice

An invoice is just a record of a sale. Let’s make a practice one using the item you just added.

  1. Click the New Invoice button on the toolbar.
  2. Search for a customer, or type in a new one — for a practice run, just type your own name.
  3. Search for the item you added in Step 3 and add it to the invoice.
  4. Click Save.

You’ve just created your first invoice, and the program has already reduced that item’s stock count to reflect the sale — you didn’t have to update anything by hand.

Step 5: See it all in one place

Click Inventory again and find the item you added. You’ll see the stock count is one lower than when you started, because of the invoice you just created. That automatic connection between invoices and stock is the entire point of the software — it’s what a spreadsheet can’t do on its own.

A few words explained

  • Item — anything you buy, sell, or keep stock of. Each one gets its own record.
  • Invoice — a record of a sale. Creating one automatically updates stock.
  • Stock level — how many of an item you currently have.
  • Reorder point — a number you set so the program tells you when to buy more of something, instead of you checking manually. You won’t need this on day one.

What to do next

Once you’re comfortable with the basics above, two things are worth doing early: add the rest of your real inventory (typing them in one at a time like you did in Step 3, or importing them from a spreadsheet if you have a lot), and set a reorder point on your best-selling items so you stop finding out you’re out of stock the hard way.

Download the free iMagic Inventory trial — 10 fully functional uses, no credit card required — and work through these five steps with your own first item.