Packing Slip Template (Excel, Word, PDF)

Get your free packing slip template

Pick the format you already work in. All three carry the same filled-in sample shipment, so you can see every field before you choose.

• Download for Excel (.xlsx) (live formulas for line status and quantity totals, also opens in Google Sheets and LibreOffice)
• Download for Word (.docx) (letter-style, no formulas, print and tuck in the box)
• Download as PDF (print-ready, use as is)

No sign-up, no email gate, no time limit.

The sample is deliberately a partial shipment: Thistle & Oak Mercantile shipping order SO-2041 to a wholesale buyer, Harbor & Finch Home Goods, on packing slip PS-10047. Of the four lines ordered, two ship in full, one ships short, one is backordered. That is the case most blank templates quietly ignore, and the one that causes the phone call.

What to include on a packing slip

A packing slip has one job: let whoever opens the box check its contents against what was supposed to be in it, without having to call anyone. Everything on the document should serve that check.

Shipment and order details

Line item fields

The table in the middle of the slip is the part people actually read. Each line carries a line number, the SKU or item code, a description, the quantity ordered, the quantity shipped, and a status.

Quantity ordered and quantity shipped are two separate columns on purpose. On a complete shipment they match and nobody thinks about it. On a short or split shipment they do not, and that gap is the single most useful thing a packing slip can tell the person unpacking the box. The status column then says it in words: shipped in full, partial with the remainder to follow, or backordered.

Writing the slip from the shipment rather than from the order is what makes those columns honest. If you copy the order and print it, the box and the paperwork disagree the moment anything ships short.

What a packing slip should leave out (the price question)

A packing slip conventionally carries no unit price, no line total, no tax, no subtotal and no payment terms. That is the invoice's job, and the two documents travel separately for a reason.

The practical reason is who reads it. A packing slip gets opened by a receiving clerk, a store manager, sometimes the end customer in a dropship arrangement. The receiving check is a counting exercise, not a financial one, so money on the page adds nothing and occasionally causes a problem.

There is an honest exception. Shipments crossing a border often need a declared value for customs, and some business buyers ask for a value line for their own receiving process. That is a specific requirement, not a default. The template on this page has no price, cost, tax or payment-terms field on any of the three formats, which is the convention. If your situation genuinely needs a value column, add one to the Excel file yourself.

Packing slip template by format

Excel (.xlsx)

This is the version to use if you ship often enough that typing totals by hand gets old. The status of each line and the totals block calculate themselves:

• Status reads the two quantity cells and returns "Shipped" when they match, "Partial, remainder to follow" when some but not all shipped, and "Backordered" when nothing shipped. In the sample shipment the four lines return Shipped, Shipped, "Partial, remainder to follow" and "Backordered" in that order.
• Total Line Items counts the filled description cells. The sample returns 4.
• Total Qty Ordered and Total Qty Shipped add their columns. The sample returns 208 and 144.
• Shipment Complete? compares those two totals and returns either "Yes, fully shipped" or "No, remainder to follow". The sample returns "No, remainder to follow".

There are six blank line rows below the sample, so you can clear the example data and type your own without touching a formula. The file opens cleanly in Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice Calc.

If you came here asking what the format for a packing slip in Excel looks like, it is three blocks: a header block with the slip number, dates, order reference and the two addresses; a line item table with one row per SKU and separate ordered and shipped columns; and a totals block with quantities only, no currency.

Word (.docx)

A plain, letter-style packing slip with no formulas, carrying the same sample shipment with the statuses typed as text. This is the one to use if you want to fill it in, print it, and tuck it in the box without thinking about spreadsheets. Change a quantity and you update the status and the totals yourself.

PDF

A filled, print-ready copy of the same shipment, rendered from the Word version. Smallest file, nothing to install, right choice when you need a finished example on paper in the next five minutes.

How to create and print your own packing slip

Create one from scratch

1. Start from the shipment that is actually going out, not from the original order. If the order is shipping in two boxes on two days, that is two packing slips.
2. Give it its own packing slip number and the date the goods leave.
3. Fill in the ship-from and ship-to blocks, plus the order number the shipment fulfills.
4. List only what is physically going in this box: SKU, description, quantity ordered and quantity shipped. The shipped figure is whatever is really in there.
5. Mark anything not in the box as backordered or shipping separately, by name, so the recipient does not report it missing.
6. Leave price, tax and payment terms off unless you have a specific reason to include them, such as customs paperwork.
7. Add the carrier, shipping method and tracking number if you have one, have someone check the contents against the slip, and put it in or on the package before it goes.

For the wider picture around this document, from order through to delivery, see our guide to order fulfillment.

Print it

The Word and PDF versions print or email as they are, with no extra step. For the Excel version, set a print area over the slip and fit it to one page, or export to PDF first, otherwise the blank rows and columns come along for the ride.

One practical note. Printing one slip takes a minute. Printing forty, one order at a time with the quantities edited by hand, takes an afternoon, and afternoons like that are where the wrong slip ends up in the wrong box. If that describes your week, the last section is for you.

Packing slip vs invoice vs bill of lading: what's the difference

A packing slip travels with the goods and describes what is physically in the shipment. No prices, no payment terms. Its reader is whoever opens the box.

An invoice goes from the seller to the buyer to request payment. It carries unit prices, tax, totals and payment terms, and it is read by whoever pays the bills. It may cover one shipment, several, or a whole month.

A bill of lading is a different kind of document altogether. It sits between the shipper and the carrier, sets out the terms of carriage, and can serve as a receipt for the goods or as a document of title. It governs the transport, not the sale.

An advanced shipping notice (ASN) is the electronic cousin of the packing slip, sent ahead of the goods so the receiver knows what is coming. For a fuller side-by-side of ASNs, packing slips and bills of lading, see our guide to the advanced shipping notice.

When a spreadsheet packing slip is enough

Who this fits

If you ship a handful of orders a day, your products are easy to tell apart by eye, one or two people do the picking and packing, nothing you sell needs a batch, serial or expiry number recorded against it, and you never need forty slips at once, then this template is enough. Fill it in, print it, ship it. Plenty of businesses run exactly like that for years and have no good reason to change.

What starts to hurt

Three things, usually in this order.

• Reading instead of scanning. A printed list works until two SKUs look alike or volume rises. Then somebody picks the cedar candle instead of the sandalwood one, and nobody catches it until the customer does.
• Partial shipments. When orders routinely go out in pieces, each shipment needs its own slip, its own carrier and its own tracking number, all tied back to one order. A single flat spreadsheet row cannot hold that cleanly, and the version written from the order lists things that are not in the box.
• Batch, serial and expiry numbers. If you ever have to answer "which units went to this customer", that answer has to be recorded at the moment of picking. A plain packing-slip spreadsheet has nowhere to put it, and reconstructing it later from memory is not an answer.

Where Qoblex fits

Qoblex prints the pick list and packing slip from the shipment being sent, not the original order, so a partial shipment's paperwork matches what is really in the box, and an order can carry several shipments with their own carriers and tracking numbers. Picking, packing and dispatch are separate stages, and dispatch is the step that reduces on-hand stock and commits the cost of goods for the units that went out.

When a shipment contains batch or serial tracked items, Qoblex requires those numbers to be recorded before the pick can be marked complete, so what shipped stays traceable afterwards. Slips can also be generated in bulk from the sales order list for many orders at once, including orders that have not been picked or packed yet, which is the forty-slips-before-the-carrier-arrives problem. The output itself is branded and customizable, with a packing slip designer and uploadable Word templates if you want your own layout. The deeper treatment, including how scanning stops a mis-pick before the box is sealed, is in our guide to pick and pack software.

Shipments, pick lists, packing slips and multiple partial shipments are part of every Qoblex plan. The mobile app, which adds camera and barcode scanning, and lot, batch and serial tracking are paid add-ons rather than part of the base plan; see pricing for current details.

If none of those three pains show up in your week, keep the template.

FAQ

Is this packing slip template really free?

Yes. No sign-up, no email gate and no time limit.

What's the difference between a packing slip and an invoice?

A packing slip ships with the goods and lists what is physically in the box, with no prices. An invoice is sent by the seller to request payment, and carries prices, tax and payment terms. One is checked by the person unpacking, the other by the person paying.

Should a packing slip show prices?

Generally no. Unlike an invoice, a packing slip conventionally carries no pricing, tax or payment terms. Some businesses add a value line for customs on international shipments, or because a particular buyer asks for it, but that is the exception rather than the default. This template leaves price out entirely.

Do I need special software to use this template?

No. The Excel version works in Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice Calc. The Word and PDF versions need nothing beyond a word processor or a PDF viewer.

When do I need packing slip software instead of a spreadsheet?

When mis-picks start happening because staff are reading a list rather than scanning, when orders regularly ship in several partial shipments that each need their own slip and tracking number, or when a batch, serial or expiry number has to be recorded against what actually shipped. See how Qoblex handles that in our guide to pick and pack software.