How to print a packing slip and label at the same time in Shipstation?

Every so often a customer will contact me about how to print a packing slip and label at the same time in Shipstation. Why would you want to do that? It consumes one 8.5x11" paper for both the label and packing slip information. If you buy the proper paper, you can peel off the label and insert the remaining portion of the sheet into the box or package prior to shipping. It sounds easy but there are a couple of quirks that you should be aware of, each of which I will explain in this article.

Next, on the Label Printing Setup screen, you'll notice four shipping label format options. The last option is 8.5x11" (w/ Packing Slip). Select this option if you want to use a single 8.5x11" page to print both your label and packing slip on. Please note that if you select a label format that includes a packing slip, your label and packing slip will always print together when printing a label. You will still have the option to print packing slips separately, but the packing slip format is determined by the label document options. By default, you will not be able to set a unique packing slip format for printing individual packing slips. That note comes directly from Shipstation support. The label DPI, Batch Summary Page Option, and other settings can be reviewed at this support page: https://help.shipstation.com/hc/en-us/articles/360025869852-Label-Document-Print-Settings#label-layout-and-document-options-0-0

*** Important: There is in fact a workaround in order to print a custom packing slip design while also printing a label on the same page. If you create an automation rule that includes and Action Type for "Use a specific Packing Slip..." and then select the custom 8.5x11 design you want to use, you should be able do display your custom design and your label. Special thanks to Jonathan at American Spoon Foods for the tip!

If you are still using Shipstation's default packing slip and only have a few line items on an order, there's a chance that your packing slip details will be fully printed on the combo 8.5x11" label and packing slip page. The unfortunate part is, the packing slip WILL NOT rotate and print sideways as the label does. The packing slip is going to print wide and short, cutting off roughly 50% of the available space if the same design was being printed on a full 8.5x11 sheet. I've added a custom design I did for a customer below so you can see how we moved all of the design elements into the top half of the packing slip. In the example below, this customer can get away with a single 8.5x11 page for both the label and packing slip, if and only if, there are only a few line items on the order. If your orders routinely involve sales of multiple items, perhaps greater than two or three, there's a good chance you will need to print a second page of information in order to include the remaining line items. To summarize, if you want to use the option to print both the label and packing slip onto a single 8.5x11 page, you'll need to condense your 8.5x11 packing slip design down considerably, like I did in the sample below. This scenario works best for stores that do NOT include many line items on an order.