Create Shipment Manifests

ShipStation Content Team

Updated January 15, 2024 21:24

Explains how to close and print shipment manifests in ShipStation, how electronic submission works, which carriers support it, and other important notes.

Some carriers require shipping manifests, which is a form that list all shipments for that carrier each day. Carriers may refer to this list of shipments as a shipment manifest, SCAN form, Order Summary, or End of Day (EOD) form.

For certain carriers, ShipStation provides the ability to close shipments and print the carrier's manifest, which can then be handed to the carrier's driver and scanned.

Manifest Requirements per Carrier

Each carrier has different requirements for shipment manifests, and not all carriers require you to close your shipments.

In some cases, you must close and print the forms each day. In others, ShipStation submits the shipping data electronically. When submitted electronically, some carriers will send a PDF to ShipStation you can print out if necessary, but others will not.

When a carrier requires you to close and/or print this form, in most cases you can do so directly in ShipStation.

For details on your carrier's requirements, please check with your carrier account representative. You can also find additional information in the Manifests by Carrier section at the bottom of this article and in the Integrations Help guide articles.

Create Shipment Manifest Demo Video

Watch this demo video to learn how you can close your shipments and print a shipment manifest in ShipStation.

Manifest Process

To manually manifest your shipments, you will need to locate the shipments, close them, and print the form. The following steps will walk you through that process within the ShipStation app.

Close via ShipStation Mobile

You can also close your shipments through the ShipStation Mobile app. Review the ShipStation Mobile End of Day article for details.

Locate Open Shipments

Which Shipments Are Displayed?

The shipments displayed are the ones you can close manually in ShipStation. Shipments that were closed automatically or electronically will not be listed as open. See the Details by Carrier section for further details.

You are now ready to select the shipments to close.

Close and Print Shipments

When you click Close Shipments, the Close Shipments screen will appear and list all available shipments to close for that carrier from all Ship From Locations. All shipments will be selected by default.

To close them all at the same time, click Close All.

The close shipments screen shows shipments selected.

Once the Shipments are closed, they will be listed under the Closed tab and ready to print.

As soon as you have closed a set of shipments, you'll see a Print Form link.

Close Shipment menu with arrow pointing to Print Form link.

Click Print Form and select the printer from the Print pop-up window.

Set Shipping Cutoff

If your shipment pickup or drop-off time is early enough in the day that you'd like to continue creating labels for shipments that will be picked up the following day, you'll want those later shipments to have a ship date of the next day so they end up on the correct manifest.

To automatically set a time of day when the ship date for a label will be set to the following day, set the Shipping Cutoff time in your Label Document Options.

Reprint the Manifest

You can then print via ShipStation Connect or download the manifest to print through your preferred PDF viewer.

Electronic Manifest Submission

Some carriers do not require a physical manifest because it is all done electronically through ShipStation. For more information about a specific carrier, review the Details by Carrier section below or the carrier-specific article in our Integrations Help Guide.

UPS End of Day Report

When you print UPS labels through ShipStation, there is no need to provide an End of Day report to your UPS driver. Likewise, you do not need to manually send UPS a Package Level Detail (PLD). ShipStation does this automatically.

All shipment information is sent to UPS (through their API) when a label is created. The corner of each UPS label includes a package icon, which indicates that the package has been pre-scanned. Drivers are not required to scan each package individually.

UPS label sample with package icon indicating EOD submission

Print a UPS Shipment Manifest

If your driver wants you to provide a printed form, or your UPS rep wants to review your PLD file, just let them know that ShipStation is a Certified UPS Partner and sends this information directly to UPS electronically.

If you would like to have a physical copy of the day's shipments, go to Insights > Reports > Shipping Manifest. This manifest is not scannable, but you can use it to verify that you are sending out the correct packages.

Manifest Details by Carrier

The following tables list manifest details by the carrier and any additional notes relevant to the forms in ShipStation.

US Carriers

Carrier	Notes
Access Worldwide	Required! You must close your shipments in ShipStation. The form is then available to print in ShipStation.
Amazon Buy Shipping	Not required. Amazon does not support closing shipments in ShipStation. However, Amazon has a beta program available for users to print SCAN forms through Amazon directly.
Amazon Shipping Program	No manifests required. No forms available in ShipStation.
APC	No manifests required. Shipment details submitted electronically to APC.
Asendia	ShipStation submits shipments electronically each day. You can submit manually, if needed, using ShipStation's manifest process. No form available to print from ShipStation.
DHL Express	Requires all shipments be manifested, but it's done electronically and automatically in ShipStation. No form available.
DHL eCommerce	Printed manifests are required for both domestic and international shipments. Ship From Locations that use the exact same address will consolidate into a single manifest.
FedEx	Not required. Manifests available for FedEx Ground shipment and Home Delivery (domestic).
FirstMile	Electronically submitted. No need to print a physical manifest.
Globegistics	Electronically submitted. The form is then available to print in ShipStation.
Landmark	No manifests required. No forms available in ShipStation.
LSO	No manifests required. No forms available in ShipStation.
Newgistics	Electronically submitted. No form available to print in ShipStation. You can create a Shipping Manifest report for your Newgistics shipments using the Shipment Report in the Insights tab. This manifest is not scannable.
OnTrac	No manifests required. No forms available in ShipStation.
RR Donnelley	Manifests not required, but the form is available to print in ShipStation.
SEKO	No manifests required. No forms available in ShipStation.
UPS	Submitted electronically via EDI (Electronic Data Interchange). You must apply to UPS for this service via the UPS Paperless Invoice Enrollment Page. No scannable form is available in ShipStation. If driver insists, create a Shipping Manifest report for your UPS shipments using the Shipment Report in the Insights tab. This manifest is not scannable.
USPS from Stamps or Endicia	SCAN forms are recommended but not required. Close and print the form using the EOD process. USPS shipments can't be closed after their ship date has passed. We recommend closing the EOD by 9pm local time. To access your SCAN form directly through your Stamps.com account: Go to `Settings > Shipping > Carriers > Your Carrier Account`, then choose Carrier Settings from the action menu. Select the Online SCAN form option. The SCAN form page for your Stamps or Endicia account will open in a new browser tab.
USPS from ShipStation	SCAN forms are recommended but not required. Close and print the form using the EOD process. USPS shipments can't be closed after their ship date has passed. We recommend closing the EOD by 9pm local time. All SCAN forms for USPS from ShipStation must be closed and printed in ShipStation. Contact support if you are unable to process SCAN forms through the EOD process.

Canada Carriers

Carrier	Notes
Canada Post	Commercial accounts: Required! Must print a hard copy for the driver. SMB (Small Business Accounts): Not required. Learn more about Canada Post's End of Day Processing.
Canpar Express	Required! You must close your shipments in ShipStation. ShipStation returns a printable copy in ShipStation as proof we received an 'OK' response from Canpar, but a physical copy is not required by the carrier.
DHL Express	Requires all shipments to be manifested, but it's done electronically and automatically in ShipStation. No form available.
FedEx	No manifest required. Forms are available for FedEx Ground shipment and Home Delivery (domestic).
FleetOptics	Required! You must close your shipments in ShipStation. Forms electronically submitted. You do not need to print them.
Purolator Canada	Submitted electronically. The form is available to print in ShipStation.
SEKO	No manifests required. No forms available in ShipStation.
UPS	Submitted electronically via EDI (Electronic Data Interchange). You must apply to UPS for this service via the UPS Paperless Invoice Enrollment Page. No scannable form is available in ShipStation. If the driver insists, create a Shipping Manifest report for your UPS shipments using the Shipment Report in the Insights tab. This manifest is not scannable.

Australia Carriers

Carrier	Notes
Australia Post	Required! Manifests must be manually submitted in ShipStation each day. Failure to do so could result in a surcharge on your monthly invoice. Learn more about this in the Requirements and Troubleshooting Tips sections of our Australia Post help article.
DHL Express	Requires all shipments to be manifested, but it's done electronically and automatically in ShipStation. No form available.
DHL eCommerce	Printed manifests are required for international shipments. Ship From Locations that use the exact same address will consolidate into a single manifest.
FedEx	Not required.
SEKO	No manifests required. No forms available in ShipStation.
Sendle	No manifests required.
Star Track	Required! Manifests must be manually submitted in ShipStation each day. Failure to do so could result in a surcharge on your monthly invoice. This form is not scannable.

UK Carriers

Carrier	Notes
DHL Express	Requires all shipments to be manifested, but it's done electronically and automatically in ShipStation. No form available.
DPD (Corporate, Local)	Not required. No forms available in ShipStation.
FedEx	Not required. Form is available to close and print in ShipStation for FedEx Ground shipment and Home Delivery (domestic).
Hermes	Not required. No forms available in ShipStation.
Parcelforce Worldwide (Corporate)	ShipStation does not support these manifests. Follow this link to learn more about Parcelforce documents.
Royal Mail	Required! You must close and print using the ShipStation EOD process. Royal Mail calls this a Sales Order Summary.
SEKO	No manifests required. No forms available in ShipStation.
Shipping by Amazon	No manifests required. No forms available in ShipStation.
UPS	Submitted electronically via EDI (Electronic Data Interchange). You must apply to UPS for this service via the UPS Paperless Invoice Enrollment Page. No scannable form is available in ShipStation. If the driver insists, create a Shipping Manifest report for your UPS shipments using the Shipment Report in the Insights tab. This manifest is not scannable.

Notes About Shipment Manifests

Some carriers with electronic submissions do not provide printable Manifests.

ShipStation will indicate the format in the End of Day Form column in the Shipments tab:
For USPS shipments: USPS guidelines prevent you from creating SCAN forms for shipments with a Ship Date in the past. You can close only the present day's or future days' shipments.

Be sure to close USPS shipments before 9 p.m. local time, as this is often the cut-off time to close that day's shipments.
Open shipments are shipments that have not yet been manifested, while closed shipments are shipments that have been manifested. Once manifested, you can no longer void that shipment's label through ShipStation. You may be able to contact the carrier to void the label, but ShipStation can no longer make changes.
Not all carriers require you to manifest your shipments. Review the list in the Details by Carrier section to see your carrier's requirements, or contact your carrier for more details.
For FedEx shipments, only Ground and Home Delivery (domestic) will be included in manifests.
UPS End of Day and PLD submitted electronically.

When you print UPS labels through ShipStation, there is no need to provide a manifest to your UPS driver. Likewise, you do not need to send UPS a Package Level Detail (PLD) manually. ShipStation does this automatically. The bottom right-hand corner of each UPS label includes a package icon that indicates the package has been pre-scanned. Drivers are not required to scan each package individually.
If you receive an error when attempting to close your shipments, contact ShipStation Support.

We also recommend contacting your carrier to see if the shipments have been manifested in their system.