How do I print packing slips for WooCommerce orders?
WooCommerce core has no packing slip document. Its order management screens cover statuses, editing and bulk actions, and printing paperwork is not among them. The two working routes are an extension that adds slips inside WP admin, or a shipping app that generates packing slips and pick lists for the orders it pulled from your store.
What the Orders screen actually offers
WooCommerce's order documentation covers statuses, searching and filtering, editing an order and the bulk actions on the Orders screen. Printing a document for the box is not part of it. That is why every Woo store ends up either adding an extension for slips or printing them from wherever the labels are bought.
Pick list and packing slip are not the same paper
| Document | Who reads it | How it is sorted |
|---|---|---|
| Pick list | You and your packers | By item or bin, across orders |
| Packing slip | The customer | By order, one per box |
The pick list is what removes the walking, because one pass of the shelves covers the whole run. The packing slip is what proves the box matches the order.
What belongs on the slip
The order number, so a customer service message can be traced back.
The ship-to address, which is the shipping address or the billing address when no shipping address was collected.
Line items with quantities, so the packer can check the box against the paper.
Anything the buyer needs to act on, such as returns wording.
Nothing that contradicts the label, because the slip and the label should describe the same delivery.
Print before the label, not after
The slip is built from the order and the label is built from the package, so printing slips for the run first lets you pack against paper and weigh as you go. Printing them afterwards means opening the order twice. It also means a slip can quietly disagree with an address you corrected at purchase.
If you correct an address to buy the label, reprint that slip rather than taping over it.
A run that ends with an empty bench
Filter the Orders screen to Processing.
Print one pick list for the whole run and pull stock once.
Print packing slips for the same selection.
Pack, weigh and buy a label per box.
Set each order to completed with its tracking number written on it.
Key takeaways
- No packing slip ships with WooCommerce core.
- A pick list is internal and sorted by item. A packing slip is per order.
- Print from the order, not from the label.
- The ship-to address on the slip should be the one the label carries.
Slips and pick lists for the orders we pulled
I'd Ship That for WooCommerce is in early access. Your store connects with REST API keys generated in WP admin, with nothing of ours installed on the site, and the orders land in The Workbench, which is part of Pro. Pick lists and packing slips are generated there for the rows that came from a connected store, so the paper in the box and the label on it come out of the same run.
Related questions
You can, and it is a poor slip. The admin order screen is built for editing, so it carries controls, internal notes and layout that do not belong in a customer's box. It is workable for one urgent order and wrong as a daily routine.
Decide once for the way you sell. A store that ships gifts wants quantities and no amounts, and a business supplier often wants the amounts on the paper. What matters more is that the order number and the ship-to address are on every slip, because those are what a query is traced by.
The one the label carries. WooCommerce collects a shipping address separately from billing, and when no shipping address was collected the billing address is what you have. A slip that shows billing while the label shows shipping is how a gift order gets delivered to the buyer.
Under a handful of orders, no. The pick list earns its keep when the same item appears on several orders, because it turns many walks of the shelves into one. The packing slip is worth printing at any volume, since it is the only paper the customer ever sees.