Skip to content
Log inStart free

Print Packing Slips for Several Orders

When you are packing a batch of orders, you can print all of their packing slips together instead of opening each order on its own. On the Orders list you select the orders, open the Print menu in the bulk action bar, and choose Print packing slips, which opens your browser's print dialog with a slip for every selected order. From there you print them or save them as a PDF. This article walks through printing packing slips for several orders at once.

Updated
Reading time
5 min
On this page

When you are packing a batch of orders, printing all of their packing slips together saves opening each order on its own. You select the orders on the Orders list, open the Print menu in the bulk action bar, and choose Print packing slips, which opens your browser's print dialog with a slip for every selected order. To print a single order or its slip on its own, use Print an Order instead. This article walks through the bulk print.

You do this on the Orders list, reached from Orders.

What a packing slip is for

A packing slip is the sheet that goes in the parcel, or on the picking trolley, for whoever is packing the order. It lists the order and the items in it so the packer can check what goes in the box, and it deliberately leaves out payment amounts, so the sheet works as a picking document rather than a receipt. If what you need is a document showing what the customer paid, that is a different job and this option will not produce it. What appears on the slip is set by its template, covered in Customize Packing Slips.

Printing changes nothing about the orders. No status moves, no notification is sent, and you can print the same slips as many times as you like.

The Print action in the bulk bar

Selecting one or more orders on the list shows a bulk action bar along the top. Its Print button opens a short menu whose option is Print packing slips, which applies to all the orders you have selected. The bar is the only place this bulk action appears, so it is hidden until at least one order is ticked.

The Orders list with orders selected and the Print menu open in the bulk action bar, with two controls boxed: (1) the checkboxes of the selected orders and (2) the Print packing slips option in the Print menu. (opens full size)

Before you begin

  • Your role includes Edit orders.
  • Open Orders and select the orders whose packing slips you want to print.

Steps

1. Open the Orders list

Go to Orders to open the list of orders.

2. Select the orders

Tick the checkbox at the start of each order's row (1) to select it. The checkbox in the header row selects every order on the page at once, which is quick but blunt: it takes whatever the page is currently showing, including orders you are not packing. Filtering the list first, for example to unfulfilled orders, makes the header checkbox safe to use, because then the page is the batch.

As soon as one order is selected, the bulk action bar appears along the top of the list, and it counts what you have selected, so you can confirm the batch size before printing.

3. Open the Print menu

In the bulk action bar, select Print. A short menu opens.

4. Choose Print packing slips

Select Print packing slips (2). Tanqory builds one slip per selected order and hands the whole set to your browser, which opens its print dialog. Nothing is printed yet at this point, so a wrong selection can still be canceled here without wasting paper.

In the browser's print dialog, choose your printer and print the slips, or choose Save as PDF to keep them as a file. This dialog belongs to your browser rather than to Tanqory, so it looks the way it does on your computer, and its options, such as the page range and whether backgrounds are printed, are your browser's own.

Saving as PDF is worth doing on a large batch. It gives you one file you can reprint if the printer jams halfway through, without going back to the list and reselecting the orders.

What you get

You get one packing slip per selected order in a single print dialog, so a whole packing session comes out in one pass instead of order by order. The slips come out in the order the list was showing, which is another reason to sort or filter the list before you select.

Verify the result

  • The print dialog shows as many pages as you selected orders, which is the quickest check that the selection was right.
  • The orders on the list are unchanged, since printing moves nothing and notifies nobody.
  • If you saved a PDF, open it and check the last page, so you know the whole batch made it into the file.

Best practices

  • Select only the orders you are packing, so you do not print slips you do not need.
  • Save as PDF if you want to keep or reprint the slips later.
  • Print packing slips as a batch at the start of a packing session, rather than one order at a time.
  • Filter the list to the orders you are packing before using the header checkbox, so selecting everything on the page selects the right batch.
  • Check the page count in the print dialog against the number of orders you selected, before you print.

Common mistakes

  • Printing slips for the wrong orders, for example using the header checkbox and printing the whole page.
  • Expecting an invoice or a receipt, which this option does not produce; it prints packing slips.
  • Looking for prices on the slip, which lists items for packing and not payment amounts.
  • Selecting orders across several pages and expecting them all to print, when the selection applies to what is on the page.
  • Printing before fulfilling, and then having to reprint because the batch changed.

If something goes wrong

  • The Print button is not there. No orders are selected. The bulk action bar only appears once at least one row is ticked.
  • The print dialog is empty or blank. Cancel it, reselect the orders, and try again. Some browsers block the dialog if the page was reloaded mid-selection.
  • You printed the wrong batch. Nothing was changed on the orders, so reselect and print again.
  • You need a document with prices. Packing slips do not carry payment amounts. See Print an Order for printing a single order.

Next steps

Still stuck?

More in Orders

  • Create Draft Order

    Create an order yourself for a phone, email, or in-person sale, then send an invoice, mark it paid, or save it as a draft.

  • Order Fulfillment Section

    The fulfillment card at the top of an order shows what needs to ship, where it is going, and how far along it is, with the actions to mark it fulfilled, put it in progress or on hold, and buy a shipping label.

  • Order Payment Section

    The payment card on an order reconciles what the customer owed against what they actually paid, showing the Subtotal, Tax, Total, the amount Paid, and the Net payment, along with the payment status and the Refund action.

  • View Orders

    Find and manage your orders from the Orders overview: metrics, status tabs, search, and a sortable table you open orders from.

All 39 articles in Orders

We use cookies

Necessary cookies keep the site working. With your permission we also use analytics and marketing cookies. Change your choice any time in Cookie settings.