What Shopify admin prints
Shopify gives you two ways to print for picking, before you install anything:
- Packing slips. Select orders on the Orders page and choose Print packing slips from the More actions menu. Each slip lists the items in one order’s package, with the addresses, SKUs and quantities. You can change the template with Liquid.
- Batches. Shopify’s batch fulfillment groups up to 250 orders, for example by product type or shipping destination, and prints a pick list for the batch. The bin name is one of its default fields. Batches need a location you manage, in a country where you can buy shipping labels in Shopify admin.
Shopify’s Help Center has the current steps and limits: packing slips and batch fulfillment.
When Shopify admin is enough
Start with what Shopify gives you if:
- you ship a handful of orders a day, and picking one order at a time doesn’t slow anyone down;
- most orders have one or two items, so there’s little to combine;
- your stock fits on one table or one short shelf;
- your location can use batches, and the batch pick list matches how your team walks.
If that’s you, an extra app adds a step without giving much back.
The question isn’t which tool prints. It’s how many times your team walks the same aisle.
When a pick list app saves time
A dedicated pick list starts to pay off when your team walks the shelves more than it needs to. That’s what we built Pick List for:
- One list for many orders. Items are merged by product across the selected orders and sorted by bin location, so the list is the route through your shelves. Bins come from a product metafield.
- Totes to sort back. Every order gets a tote number, so batch-picked items go straight back into the right order.
- Barcodes. Code 128 barcodes for items and orders, ready for a scanner.
- Templates for your printer. Five templates, from a classic order sheet on A4 or Letter to a batch grouped by zone, vendor or product type, and a 4×6 in thermal slip.
- A record of what’s picked. Every print is a numbered batch, and marking it picked adds a tag to its orders in Shopify, so nobody picks them twice.
It works from your orders and a small copy of your catalog, so it doesn’t depend on Shopify Shipping being available where you are. And you still print from Shopify’s own Print menu, or from the app.
A simple test
- Take one morning’s orders and print them the way you do today.
- Note how many times someone walks back to a shelf they’ve already visited.
- Next morning, print the same kind of orders as one batch sorted by bin, and sort into totes.
- Compare the walks and the mistakes at packing, not just the minutes.
If the second morning isn’t clearly easier, stay with Shopify’s own printing. If it is, bin your bestsellers first and grow from there. Pick List is free for 100 orders a month, so the test costs nothing.
Questions
Can I use Shopify’s packing slips and a pick list app together?
Yes. You can pick from a batch list and pack each order with its packing slip. Pick List prints from Shopify’s Print menu, next to Shopify’s own packing slips.
Where does Pick List read bin locations from?
From a product metafield, so each product’s bin travels with it. Name bins in walking order, and the sorted list becomes your route.
