Shipping Orders

Shipping orders manage outbound inventory to customers, from initial order entry through issue, packing, and completion. The standard order is the full-featured path. Quick Orders, Quotes, and Drop Shipments are separate entry points covered below.

Access: Orders → Shipping → Shipping Orders

Quick Start

• Open Orders → Shipping → Shipping Orders and click Add Order.
• Save the header, then work from the Line Items tab.
• Use Issue to start fulfillment. If packing is enabled, complete the packed shipment from the order after issue.
• Use the order action icons for packing slips, invoices, pick lists, and bills of lading.

Understanding Shipping Orders

Order Types

Set the order type in the header when creating or editing. The default is Order.

Order Status

Order Tabs

Open orders display four tabs:

Creating and Editing Orders

Navigate to Orders → Shipping → Shipping Orders and click Add Order. There is no separate Create Shipping Order menu item.

The create form collects the core fields. On save, the system redirects directly to the Line Items tab.

Key header fields:

On an existing order header, additional actions appear, including Copy, Check Save, and More.

Completed orders show Restore and Return in the toolbar instead of issue-related actions. Use Restore to reopen a completed order. Use Return for post-completion corrections or returns.

Working with Line Items

The Line Items tab is where items are added, priced, committed, packaged, and issued.

Visible line-item columns include Item, Ordered, Shipped, Amount, Price Level, Commit, Package, and Image.

Actions on the Lines toolbar:

Bulk Line Loading

Three bulk-loading options are available when their Admin Options are enabled.

The Commit column links a line to the commit-reservation workflow before issue. See Transaction Workflows for the detailed commit process.

The Package column associates a line item with a package record on the Packages tab.

An inline help accordion, Shipping Order Line Items Help, is available on the Lines tab.

Line Item Edit Modes

Access to line-item fields changes based on role and order state.

Approval Gating

If approval workflows are enabled, the order must be approved before issue. An order in partial approval state restricts line-item edits and blocks issue until the approval chain is complete. The Approved By field on the header shows the current approval state.

Packing Workflow

When Admin Option 153 is enabled, issuing sets order status to Packed instead of completing the order immediately. Orders where some lines are packed and others are not show Open, Partial Pack. Orders with all lines committed and ready for issue show Ready To Issue.

After packing, open the order and use the shipping completion action to finalize it. If a shipment must be reversed after completion, reopen the order with Restore before making changes.

Documentation and Printing

Print and document actions appear as icon buttons within the shipping order, not as list columns. Output is typically a PDF download, not a browser popup.

A shipping admin-options gear icon on the order opens shipping-specific configuration options when available.

Package Management

The Packages tab manages package records for the order. Package weight and shipping controls are visible there. Assign line items to packages using the Package column on the Line Items tab. Labels and bills of lading are generated from this tab.

Quick Orders

Quick Orders provide a shopping-cart interface for building multi-item orders with minimal data entry. Select a warehouse and customer, add items from the cart view, then place the order to create a standard shipping order.

Access: Orders → Shipping → Quick Order

Quick Orders and standard shipping orders are separate entry points. See Quick Orders for view modes, search options, and mobile quick-order workflows.

Multi Pick List

Generates a consolidated pick list across multiple open shipping orders for batch warehouse picking.

Access: Orders → Shipping → Multi Pick List

Select the orders to include, then click View to generate the pick list. See Multi Pick List for deeper coverage.

Shipping Manifests

Groups multiple shipping orders into a carrier manifest for freight pickup coordination.

Access: Utilities → Ordering → Shipping Manifests

On the manifest form, the customer field is Ship To and the carrier field is Ship By. Orders are managed on the SO Manifest tab. Use Add Shipping Manifest to create a new record.

Contact History

Logs customer communications associated with shipping activity.

Access: Orders → Shipping → Contact History

Click the plus icon next to a customer to add a note. Clicking the contact count drills into the full history for that customer.

Bulk Import

Import shipping orders in bulk from a spreadsheet.

Access: Utilities → General → Import and Export → Shipping Order row

Template: InventoryPro_ShippingOrders.xlsx

Accepted formats: CSV, XLS, XLSX

Key import rules:

• Ship To and Bill To customers must exist before import.
• Warehouse must be valid and shippable. All Warehouses is rejected.
• Discontinued and non-sellable items are rejected.
• Import pricing uses the spreadsheet Cost column or the item’s current cost, not the customer price level.
• Negative prices are reset to 0.
• When auto-numbering is enabled, the spreadsheet order may be stored as the Customer PO field instead of the system order.

After import, the order follows the normal shipping-order issue and completion workflow.

See Import & Export for broader import coverage.

Validation and Business Rules

Admin Options

Related Topics

• Quick Orders for cart-based order entry
• Multi Pick List for batch warehouse picking
• Issue Stock for issue-engine and staging details
• Transaction Workflows for commit reservation and allocation
• Returns for shipping-order returns and credits
• Customers for customer master data and pricing configuration
• Mobile Orders for mobile picking and issuing
• Import & Export for broader import tooling