Explains how to print packing slips, create custom packing slip templates, apply custom templates to your orders, and other important notes.
Since packing slips are often part of the shipping workflow, ShipStation includes the ability to print packing slips so you don't have to rely on printing from your various selling channels.
ShipStation includes a pre-made default packing slip that will automatically use the branding options you configure in each of your store's Branding settings (including your store logo, company name, phone number, and email address) and the packing slip footer message you add to your store's Packing Slips settings.
Figure 3. ShipStation's Default Packing Slip Sample
The packing slip uses the Company Name (top left) and Store Logo (top right) uploaded to the Branding tab of the store settings as well as any footer text added to the store's Packing Slips settings.
The default packing slip is available for all orders and for users on all plan levels. ShipStation also includes both basic and advanced methods to customize your packing slips.
You can print packing slips from several locations in ShipStation.
Orders Tab Print Menu
To print packing slips for individual or multiple orders at once, select the order(s) in the Orders or Shipments grids, and choose Packing Slips from the Print menu.
Shipments Tab Print Menu
Orders Grid Shipping Sidebar
For a single order, you can instead select the Packing Slip option from the Print menu in the Orders grid shipping sidebar, just above the Configure Shipment Widget.
Order Details Print Menu
You can also print the packing slip for an individual order in the Order Details screen.
Open the Order Details screen by clicking an order number or double-clicking an order in the Orders grid.
Shipment Details Print Menu
You can print a packing slip for an individual shipment in either the Shipment Details screen or using the Shipment Record menu in the Order Details screen.
Open the Shipment Details screen by clicking a shipment number or double-clicking a shipment in the Shipments grid.
Shipment Record Menu - Order Details
When Printing Packing Slips
If you split an order into multiple shipments and wish to print packing slips by selecting the order in the Orders grid, you must select all of the shipments in the order to print all of the packing slips.
Smart Document Tracking will display "Printed" in the Shipments grid Packing Slip column when you have printed a packing slip for a shipment.
ShipStation will alert you if you attempt to print a packing slip that has already been printed.
ShipStation allows you to customize your packing slips in two ways:
Basic customization with the Packing Slip Document Options (available to all ShipStation accounts).
Advanced customization with Packing Slip templates and the HTML editor (requires a Silver plan or higher).
Document Options allow you to choose your packing slip format, the sequence items appear on packing slips, and whether your store logo, item prices, item SKUs, and the Scan to View barcode appear on your packing slips.
Document Options for packing slips allow you to customize parts of your packing slip regardless of your subscription plan.
Packing slip Document Options are account-wide settings.
Option |
Details |
|---|---|
Packing Slip Format |
The printer you use determines the packing slip format. If you set the Label Layout to include packing slips, you cannot change the packing slip format here. Available options:
|
Order Items By |
Determines the sequence an order's items are listed on the packing slips. Order Items By:
|
Store Logo |
Will add the store logo uploaded in your Store Settings to the packing slip. On the default packing slip, ShipStation adds the logo to the top right corner of the packing slip. For customized packing slips, the logo will appear where you have designated the [Store Logo] field replacement to appear in the packing slip HTML editor. |
Item Prices |
Allows you to show or hide item prices on the packing slip. For customized packing slips, disabling this option hides any HTML element using the "price" class. |
Item SKUs |
Allows you to show or hide item SKUs on the packing slip. For customized packing slips, disabling this option hides any HTML element using the "sku" class. |
"Scan to View" Barcode |
Allows you to show or hide ShipStation's Scan to View barcode on your packing slips. The Scan to View barcode is a special barcode you scan with a barcode scanner to open the Order Details of that order while in any part of the ShipStation interface. TipIf you plan to use ShipStation's Scan to Print feature, your packing slip must include the Scan to View Barcode. |
Item Locations (Not available in ShipStation Legacy.) |
This option only selectable if Inventory Tracking is enabled. Allows you to include the product's Inventory Warehouse Location (set in the Inventory tab of the Product Details) on the default packing slip. Requirements:
NoteThere are two fields displayed as Warehouse Location in ShipStation:
This setting will only display the Inventory Warehouse Location. To display the Product Default Warehouse Location instead, you must customize a packing slip and include the [Warehouse Location] field replacement. |
For customizing packing slips beyond the basics available with Document Options, ShipStation provides a packing slip template and HTML editor so you can design your packing slips exactly as you like.
You can create as many packing slip templates as you need. For example, create a custom template for each selling channel or templates that include discount codes for customers who spend more than a set amount on a single order.
Once you create custom packing slip templates, you must to assign them to your orders. You can do this at the store level or at the individual order level.
Subscription Plan Requirement
You must be on a Silver plan or higher to create and edit packing slip templates.
Requires HTML
Packing slip templates require some basic HTML knowledge.
ShipStation does not provide custom HTML assistance. Our support team is available to troubleshoot, but they do not provide design or consultation services. Visit our user forum for custom template help from other ShipStation users.
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If the Packing Slips option is not visible in your Settings, you may be on a Bronze or lower subscription plan.
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Select which size template you'd like to edit (either 4" x 6" or 8.5" x 11") from the Type drop-down menu.
Be sure to choose the size that corresponds to the packing slip format set in
Settings > Printing > Printing Setup(indicated by the word default in parenthesis).
Next, you can choose to do one of three options:
Click the +New Packing Slip Template button to create a packing slip from scratch.
Click Copy to make a copy of an existing template and edit the copy.
Click Edit to edit an existing packing slip.
No matter which option you choose, a window will then display an editor where you can customize your packing slip HTML.
The packing slip editor contains is divided into four sections. Click a section header to access and edit the HTML for each section of the packing slip.
In the default template, each section contains specific order information:
Order Header: Store logo, Ship From and Ship To address, Order #, Order Date, customer Username, Ship Date
Order Items Header: Item (Sku), Description, Price, Qty, Ext. Price labels for the Order Items list.
Order Items: A list of the items contained in the order with item SKU, description, item price, quantity, and total price.
Order Footer: Order Notes, Sub Total, Tax, Shipping, Total, Packing Slip Message, Scan to View Barcode.
You can edit each section using HTML and CSS (both inline and internal).
ShipStation's packing slips rely heavily on HTML tables for formatting. Some of the table elements are hidden and cannot be edited. If you are experienced with HTML and CSS, download the sample template file at the bottom of this article, open in a browser, and view the source code to understand all elements, style attributes and classes, and the overall structure of the packing slip.
If you are not experienced with HTML and CSS, don't worry! We have several articles in our FAQ section with sample HTML for commonly requested customizations and step-by-step instructions on how to implement them.
Field Replacements dynamically add order-specific content to packing slips, including the order number, recipient address, item details, and your store logo.
ShipStation lists most of the available field replacements in the right-hand sidebar of the template editor.
To delete an existing field replacement from the template code, highlight it and press Delete.
To add a field replacement, place your cursor where you wish the content to go and either click the field replacement button in the list or type the field replacement text into the editor exactly as it appears in the list (including the square brackets, capitals, and spaces).
Item-specific Field Replacements
You can only add item-specific field replacements (like [Sku] or [Image URL]) to the Order Items section. These field replacements will not be available when editing other sections.
View the Field Replacements list below for more details on what information each field replacement adds to a packing slip.
Packing Slip Editor Notes
ShipStation does not currently have a visual editor for packing slips.
ShipStation uses a specific toolkit library to convert the HTML into a PDF for printing. The toolkit does not support all HTML tags and also relies on quirk mode. However, the editor will validate your code when you save it.
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The Packing Slip editor does not support Javascript or any other scripting. If you need to show or hide certain content based on specific criteria, we recommend creating multiple packing slip templates and using Automation Rules to assign the templates to orders based on that criteria.
You can also create some conditional styling using CSS pseudo-selectors.
Use the Download Sample button in the editor to view your packing slip as you work. Your browser will download a PDF of your packing slip with ShipStation's sample packing slip details.
After you have created custom packing slip templates, you can apply them to orders in a few ways.
Apply the template at the store level. This method will apply the same template to all orders importing from that selling channel.
Apply the template at the order level. This method allows you to change the template used on individual orders while leaving the store's default template in place.
Apply the template using Automation Rules (advanced feature). Use Automation Rules to apply a template to an order when it imports if it meets certain criteria. For example, apply a template that includes a coupon code if the order exceeds a monetary threshold.
To ensure all orders that import from a specific store use the same packing slip template, assign the template in the store's Packing Slips setting.
Repeat the above steps for each connected store. The selected template will then apply to all new orders when they import from the store.
Previously Imported Orders Will Not Be Affected
Orders that have already imported will not be affected by this change. To change the template used on orders that have already imported, follow the instructions in the next section: Apply to Individual Orders.
You can change the packing slip template used for each shipment on an order either in the Order Details screen (for a single order) or using a bulk action (for multiple orders).
ShipStation will now use the selected template for the shipment when you print the packing slip.
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Resize Store Logos: By default, the 8.5" x 11" packing slip templates set a max-width of 300 and a max-height of 80 pixels, and the 4" x 6" packing slip templates set a max-width of 150 and a max height of 60 pixels to your store logo image.
For methods on how to resize your store logo image, review the How do I adjust the size of my logo? article.
The [Store Logo] field replacement only uses the image uploaded to your Store's Branding tab in ShipStation. However, you can use externally hosted image URLs in your <img> tags if you choose. Please note that ShipStation may be limited by the image host's response time.
Large logo files: ShipStation must query our databases for all the data to include on each packing slip. If image files are too large (whether hosted in ShipStation or externally), this can cause ShipStation to generate the packing slip before the full image has loaded.
ShipStation does not cache packing slip PDFs. This means ShipStation generates a new packing slip PDF every time you select the option to print a packing slip. This allows ShipStation to always print the most up-to-date information on the packing slips.
To troubleshoot common issues with ShipStation's packing slips, please review our Packing Slip Troubleshooting Guide.
If you are using ShipStation's Legacy Layout, follow the instructions below to print packing slips or adjust the packing slip that is selected for the order.
The process to customize packing slips is the same in both the new and legacy layouts.
There are several locations where you can print packing slips.
To print packing slips for individual or multiple orders or shipments at once, select the order(s) or shipment(s) in the Orders or Shipments grids, and choose Packing Slips from the Print menu.
Orders or Shipping Tab Print Menu
Select orders from the Order or Shipments grid and click Packing Slips from the Print menu.
Order Details Print Menu
Print the packing slip for an individual order in the Order Details or Shipment Details screen.
Order Details Shipments Menu
Use any of the above methods to print or reprint a packing slip for an order.
You can change the packing slip template used for individual orders either in the Order Details screen (for a single order) or using a bulk action (for multiple orders).
