Boxes and skids: receiving stock in its cases and picking from them

Last reviewed: 2026-10-11

What this is

CanShip can record the box or skid each unit arrived in. Inventory then lists every box on its own row, and orders use loose stock first, then a box that is already open, before a sealed box is touched.

Record boxes on a receipt

1. Go to Inventory > Receipts and click New Receipt.
2. Add one line for each box: the same product, the same location, and the quantity in that box. Adding the same product to the same location again makes a second line.
3. Click Save Draft. The grouping buttons appear above the lines once the receipt is saved.
4. Tick the line for one box, click Group into box, type the label on the box and click Group. The Box / Skid column now reads Box and the label.
5. Repeat for each box. A line you leave alone is loose stock.
6. Click Confirm Receipt. The confirmation lists every line with its box, or Loose, before anything is added to inventory.

If you type a label that was used before, the same box is used again.

Skids

Tick the lines that arrived on one skid, click Group into skid and type the skid's label. The Box / Skid column reads Skid and the label.

A box can go on a skid as you group it: in the Group into box window, type the skid's label in On skid. The line then reads Box and its label on Skid and the skid's label, and the Confirm Receipt window says the same.

To take a line off its box or skid, tick it and click Make loose.

What Inventory shows

Under Inventory > Inventory, the Unit column says what each row is: Loose, or Box and its label. A bin that holds three boxes of one product has three rows.

A box that has had units taken from it reads (opened) after its label. A box that has been emptied leaves the list.

If a label is voided or a shipment is reversed, its units come back to the bin as loose units, not into the box they came from. The box keeps its (opened) count.

Which stock an order uses

In a bin, an order takes stock in this order:

1. Loose units.
2. A box that is already open.
3. A sealed box.

Only one box is opened at a time. For example, a bin holds 3 loose units and two boxes of 24. An order for 10 takes the 3 loose units and 7 from one box. That box reads (opened) with 17 left, and the other box stays sealed. The next order empties the opened box before the sealed one is touched.

Until the order ships, the units show as Allocated on the rows they will come from. On Hand goes down, and a box reads (opened), when the order ships.

What the picker sees

The picking screen says which units to take, for example: "Take the 3 loose first, then open box A-12 for 7."

Moving boxed stock

Inventory > Move Inventory lists each bin once, with the total it holds. Stock you move keeps its box label in the new location.

See also

• Receiving inventory with a receipt
• Moving stock between locations
• What "on hand", "allocated", and "available" mean