How do you print a packing slip in QuickBooks Online?
A packing slip in QuickBooks Online is printed from an invoice, not created on its own. You first need an invoice entered in the program, then you print the packing slip from that invoice or from the customer’s transaction list. There is no separate packing slip template, no packing slip from a sales receipt, and no bill of lading feature.
How do you print a packing slip from an invoice?
Open the invoice you want to ship against. At the bottom of the invoice screen, choose the print or preview option and select the packing slip choice from the menu. The slip prints with the items and quantities from that invoice, which is why the invoice has to exist first.
If you ship before invoicing, this order of operations matters. Enter the invoice first, even if you send it later, so the packing slip has something to draw from.
Can you print packing slips for several invoices at once?
Yes, from the customer’s transaction list. Go to the Sales or Invoices area and open the customer’s profile by clicking their name. Check the box next to the invoice or invoices you are shipping, then use the batch actions dropdown and choose the packing slip option. This prints one slip per selected invoice, which is handy when a single customer has several orders going out together.
What will QuickBooks Online not do here?
A few limits are worth knowing before you build a workflow around this feature:
- You cannot print a packing slip from a sales receipt. If your sales are recorded that way, the packing slip option simply is not offered for them.
- There is no bill of lading template, and you cannot convert a packing slip into one. Businesses that need a formal bill of lading usually prepare it outside QuickBooks Online.
- There is no dedicated sales order or order confirmation feature. If you need to record a sale before invoicing, the closest fit is an estimate, which you send for approval and later convert to an invoice. The packing slip then prints from that invoice.
If any of these gaps matters to your business, Intuit accepts feature requests through the Feedback option under the Gear icon in QuickBooks Online, or on Intuit’s own QuickBooks Online feedback site. Those are Intuit’s channels, not ours, and Intuit decides what gets added.
Can you customize how the packing slip looks?
The packing slip inherits the design of your sales forms, so customization happens on the invoice template rather than on the slip itself. In settings, open the sales form content section to control which fields appear, such as shipping fields or tracking numbers. The customize option on any open invoice changes the visual side: logo, colors, and fonts.
These options are more basic than what QuickBooks Desktop offered. Custom templates imported from Desktop, such as those built for older Desktop versions, do not carry over to QuickBooks Online. If you are moving from Desktop and relied on a heavily customized packing slip template, expect to rebuild the essentials with the built-in tools rather than importing the old design.
A practical workflow that fits the limits
Because the packing slip depends on an invoice, a workable sequence is: enter the invoice, print the packing slip when you pack the order, and send the invoice when you bill. If you use estimates, convert the approved estimate to an invoice first, then print the slip. For documents QuickBooks Online does not produce, such as a bill of lading, keep a separate process outside the program.
If your records are still in Desktop and you want them moved into QuickBooks Online, that conversion is something we do handle, and getting the historical invoices across cleanly is what makes packing slips usable from day one after the move.