Creating a manual order

Applies to: All tiers  ·  Last reviewed: 2026-10-11

What this is

Most orders flow in from a sales channel, but you can also enter one by hand: a phone order, a wholesale order, a replacement shipment, or a sample. Every client has a built-in Manual Orders channel, so you can do this without configuring anything. Manual orders are created at Orders > Orders > New Order.

Create the order

1. Go to Orders > Orders and click New Order.
2. Store order # (optional): leave it blank to auto-number. If you type one, the order is named by it: it heads the order's window and shows in the Source column, and the order still gets its own Order #.
3. Client: pick the client first. The product search is scoped to that client's catalogue, so the product field stays greyed until a client is chosen.
4. Warehouse (required): the warehouse the order ships from. Stock is allocated from that warehouse only.
5. Ship To: fill Name, Address 1, City, Province/State, Postal/ZIP, and Country (defaults to Canada), plus Company, Address 2, Phone, and Email as needed. Save Address stores it for reuse.
6. Products: in the Add product search, type a SKU, a barcode or part of the description. Click the product in the list, or arrow down to it and press Enter, then click Add. The line appears with a quantity stepper that defaults to 1; set the quantity after adding. Repeat for each line. The bin icon removes one.
7. Click Create Order. CanShip confirms with a message such as "Order saved. Inventory allocated in full. Shipment draft created." and the order appears at the top of Orders with the next order number.

To correct the address afterwards, open the order, change the fields under Ship To and click Save Address.

What happens on create

CanShip allocates stock against available inventory right away and creates a shipment draft. The order's inventory status lands in one of three states:

• Allocated: stock covered the whole order; it is ready to pick.
• Partial: some lines or quantities allocated, the rest waits for stock. The message on create says how many units were allocated, and Mark Ready stays greyed until every item is allocated.
• Unallocated: nothing was available (for example a sold-out SKU); the order is a backorder until you receive more.

Allocation consumes available stock in order of creation, so a large order against a low-stock SKU allocates what is on hand and can leave the next order Unallocated.

Tips

• Pick the client before searching products. The search is client-scoped.
• Check that each line landed in the list under Products before you create the order.
• Set the quantity on the line after Add, not before. The default is 1.