We ship large items and we have to configure the shipment on a pallet (or pallets).
When we get the order, based on ship to location and carrier chosen, we may send on one pallet, two pallets or just parcel.
The PICKING SLIP – which is the same as the PACKING SLIP needs to be generated a few days before the shipment is actually ready but after invoicing. Some times the Shipment is done third party – which means we do not generate the label for it (based on customer).
How can I decouple creating a PICKING/ PACKING Slip from the actual SHIPMENT (entering tracking number, informing customer with tracking number etc.).?
Best Answer
This is the default Magento behavior to print a packing slip AFTER a shipment document was made (because packing slip uses shipment details).
In your case you want to use packing slip as a picking list, so there is no need in the shipment document (an order's data could be used to generate a picking slip). But this functionality is not available in Magento 2 (and even Magento 1).
However, there is the extension which fixes that issue. It allows to do exactly what you are looking for - to print packing slips BEFORE shipment. It uses orders information to generate packing slips if the shipment documents are not available yet.
It's very simple to use. Just install it, and you don't need even to configure anything after that. Simply use the same "Print Packing Slips" action to print packing slips of the orders with any status (processing, pending, completed, etc). It generates packing slips from the shipments (if they are available), otherwise it uses order's information instead. It uses native Magento PDF template, so its packing slips look exactly the same as regular packing slips.
Extension for Magento 2: Pre Shipment Packing Slip
Also, there is the similar extension for Magento 1: Print Magento Packing Slip before shipping