How to Create Picking List for Stock on Sales Orders

Picking Lists turn the stock lines on a Sales Order into a job for the warehouse, so a picker knows exactly what to pull, where it lives and how much to take before the order is invoiced.

Overview

A Sales Order tells you what the customer has bought. It doesn't tell anyone in the warehouse to go and get it. A Picking List does: it lists the stock items, the warehouse and the bin they sit in, and the quantity to pull, and it hands that job to a named picker.

Picking Lists can be raised from a Sales Order once the order is Quoted or Partially Invoiced.
Only Stock lines can be picked. Serialized Stock, Asset, Labour, Admin and Transport lines never appear in the window.
A stock line can only be on one Picking List at a time. Once it's on one, its Picking Status becomes Picking and it drops out of the window.
You can pick a subset of the lines and raise a second Picking List later for the rest.
Completing a Picking List sets each line to Picked, fills in Qty Fulfilled and allocates the stock out of available quantity.
Only fulfilled quantity can be invoiced, so on orders that aren't auto fulfilled, picking is the step that makes the order invoiceable.

Before You Begin

Two things need to be in place before Create Picking List will do anything.

Requirement	Where to Find It
Enable Picking Lists for Sales Orders turned on	Security › Settings › Global, module Sales
Picking Lists permission (Stock module)	Security › Configuration › Permission Groups, under Stock › Screens
A Sales Order at status Quoted or Partially Invoiced, with at least one Stock line	Sales › Sales Orders

Global Settings filtered to "Picking" - Enable Picking Lists for Sales Orders is the switch this article needs

There's one more thing worth knowing before you add the stock lines. When you add a Stock line to a Sales Order, Auto Fulfill Quantity is ticked by default, and it fulfils the line from whatever is available straight away. The Picking List window only ever offers you the quantity that hasn't been fulfilled yet, so a line that was auto fulfilled shows up with a quantity of 0 and there's nothing left for the picker to do.

Untick Auto Fulfill Quantity when you add a Stock line if you want the warehouse to fulfil it through a Picking List

If the setting is turned off later, Create Picking List goes grey again and the Picking Lists tab and the Picking Status column are hidden on Sales Orders. Picking Lists you have already created aren't deleted - they're still on Stock › Picking List.

Creating the Picking List

Step 1 - Open the Sales Order and check the lines

Go to Sales › Sales Orders and open the order. On the Details tab, the Picking Status column tells you where each stock line stands. Lines you can still pick show Unpicked.

The Details tab of a Quoted Sales Order - the Picking Status column only carries a value on Stock lines, and Qty Fulfilled is still 0

Step 2 - Choose Create Picking List

Select Options › Create Picking List. If the option is greyed out, hover it - the tooltip tells you whether the setting is off or the order isn't Quoted yet.

Create Picking List sits in the Options menu between Create Transport and Create Activity

Step 3 - Review the header fields

The window opens with the Sales Order and a description already filled in. The fields are:

Sales Order - read only, the order you came from.
Description - required. It defaults to "Picking list for Sales Order <number>". Change it if your warehouse uses its own wording.
Picker - optional. Any active skilled person can be chosen. Setting one is what puts the job on that person's My Picking Lists view.
Due Date - required. It defaults to the current date and time in the branch's timezone.

The Create Picking List window - every unpicked Stock line on the order is listed, with the quantity still to be fulfilled

Step 4 - Select the lines to pick

Tick the lines you want on this Picking List, or use the checkbox in the table header to select them all. At least one line must be ticked - saving with nothing selected returns At least one picking item must be selected.

You don't have to take everything at once. Lines you leave unticked stay Unpicked and you can raise a second Picking List for them later.

A picker and a due date set, and all three stock lines ticked ready to save

Step 5 - Save

Select Save. Latner creates the Picking List and takes you straight to it. It starts at status Open, and the Details tab shows the warehouse and bin for each item, which is what makes the list usable on the warehouse floor.

The new Picking List - Warehouse and Bin come from the stock record, so keeping bin locations up to date pays off here

From Options › Generate Picking List PDF you can produce a printable copy to hand to the picker.

Step 6 - Set the list to Picking

When the picker starts work, select Options › Set Picking. This is not just bookkeeping: Complete Picking List stays greyed out until the list is at Picking.

On an Open Picking List, Complete Picking List is greyed out - Set Picking has to come first

The same Picking List at status Picking, ready to be completed

Step 7 - Complete the Picking List

Once everything is off the shelf, select Options › Complete Picking List. The list moves to Completed and the sales order lines are updated.

A Completed Picking List - the items stay on it for reference, and no further status action is available

After Completion

Each picked line on the Sales Order moves to Picked and its Qty Fulfilled is topped up by the quantity that was picked.
The stock is allocated: Qty Available on the stock record drops and Qty Allocated rises by the same amount.
Those lines can now be invoiced. Latner won't let you invoice more than the fulfilled quantity on a line.
The Picking List is listed on the Sales Order's Picking Lists tab and on Stock › Picking List, where the Linked To column points back at the order.

The Picking Lists tab on the Sales Order, showing every list ever raised against it

A Completed Picking List can't be reopened or reversed. If the picker can't find the stock, or the wrong lines went on the list, use Options › Cancel Picking List before completing it - cancelling puts every line on it back to Unpicked so you can raise a fresh list.

FAQs

Create Picking List is greyed out. Why?

Hover the option and the tooltip tells you which of the two reasons applies. "Picking Lists can be enabled from System Settings" means Enable Picking Lists for Sales Orders is off. "Picking Lists can be created once the Sales Order is Quoted" means the order is still Open (or has been cancelled or lost) - use Options › Mark as Quoted first.

A line on my Sales Order isn't in the Create Picking List window.

The window only lists Stock lines whose Picking Status is Unpicked. Serialized Stock, Asset, Labour, Admin and Transport lines are never picked this way. If a Stock line is missing, check its Picking Status on the Details tab - Picking means it is already on another Picking List, and Picked means it has already been picked.

A line shows a quantity of 0 in the Create Picking List window.

The window offers the quantity ordered minus the quantity already fulfilled, and Auto Fulfill Quantity is ticked by default when a Stock line is added. If stock was available at the time, the line was fulfilled on the spot and there is nothing left to pick. Untick Auto Fulfill Quantity when you add the line if you want the Picking List to do the fulfilling.

Stock › Picking List looks empty even though I just created one.

The screen opens with the My Picking Lists quick filter switched on, which shows only lists where you are the picker. Clear the filter (the X on the blue chip) to see everything, or use Quick Filters to switch it back on. The screen is also branch scoped, so you only see Picking Lists for branches you have access to.

Stock › Picking List with the My Picking Lists filter cleared - Source and Linked To show where each list came from

Complete Picking List is greyed out.

A Picking List can only be completed from status Picking. Use Options › Set Picking first. It is also unavailable once the list is Completed or Cancelled.

Does creating a Picking List reserve the stock?

No. Creating the list flags the sales order lines as Picking but doesn't touch quantities. The stock is only allocated when the list is Completed, which is also when Qty Fulfilled is filled in on the Sales Order.

What happens to the Picking List if I delete the Sales Order line?

Sales Order lines can only be deleted while the order is Open, so you would have to reopen the order first. When the line goes, it is removed from any Open or Picking list it sits on, and if that leaves the Picking List with no items at all, the list is cancelled automatically.

Can I change the picker or the due date after saving?

Yes. Description, Picker and Due Datetime are all editable from the General Details panel on the Picking List. The items on the list and its link back to the Sales Order are not editable.

Watch the Demo

Prefer to watch it? Step through the same flow here.