Change the boxes and shipments on an order
Assign items to boxes, add or remove boxes, move a box to another shipment, and rebuild an order's packing from your product settings.
Updated October 13, 2026
When an order comes in, Parcello packs it from your product settings: it picks the boxes, puts the items in them, and groups the boxes into shipments, one per location and carrier. The order page lets you change any of that before you buy labels.
How the order page is laid out
- Package Assignments (top): one column per box on the order, one row per item. This is where you decide what goes in which box.
- Shipments: one row per shipment. Click a row to open it. Each shipment has its carrier and service, addresses, ship date, label buttons, and an Assigned Packages table listing its boxes.
- Line Items / Fulfillment (bottom): what still needs to be fulfilled in Shopify. See Fulfill orders in Shopify.
Items that ship from a dropship location or a third-party fulfillment service are listed in a banner instead, because Parcello doesn’t ship them.
The Package Assignments table
Each column is a box, numbered Box #1, Box #2 and so on across the whole order, with the box name underneath (or Custom for a box with custom dimensions).
Each cell is a dropdown with a number: how many units of that item are in that box. Cells are independent of each other. Changes save automatically.
| You ship | What the table shows |
|---|---|
| 4 mugs in one box | Box #1 shows 4 for the mugs |
| 4 mugs, 2 per box | Box #1 shows 2, Box #2 shows 2 |
| 1 wheel that ships in three boxes (wheel, stand, poles) | Box #1, Box #2 and Box #3 each show 1, because the one unit is in all three |
The last case is why a row can add up to more than the quantity ordered. See Ship one product in several boxes.
Under each item name, a line sums up its state:
| Text | Meaning |
|---|---|
| N to ship | Units still to ship (cancelled and already fulfilled units are not counted) |
| Not assigned | The item is in no box yet |
| Assigned to N boxes | The item is in N boxes |
| N lb each | The weight Parcello uses for one unit |
| Cancelled (red) | Every unit was cancelled in Shopify. The cells are kept for reference but can’t be changed |
A box can’t hold more units of an item than the order still has.
Add a box
- Click Add Package at the top of the Package Assignments card.
- Pick a box under Box from library, or keep — Use custom dimensions — and enter Length (in), Width (in), Height (in) and Weight (lb) (the empty box weight).
- To reuse a custom box later, tick Save this box to my library for future use and give it a Box name. It then appears on the Boxes page.
- Click Add Package.
A new empty column appears on the right. Set the quantities in its cells. The box joins the first shipment that has no label. If every shipment already has a label, Parcello creates a new shipment for it from the same location as the latest one. Its carrier comes from what it will carry, the box and the items still waiting for a box, not from the other shipments. See Shipments created later.
Remove a box
Click the trash icon next to the box number in the Package Assignments header. The box and its contents are removed from the order. Boxes that have a label have no trash icon.
Move a box to another shipment
Open the shipment, find the box in Assigned Packages, and use the Move to different shipment dropdown:
- Shipment N moves the box to another shipment of the order. Shipments that already have labels are not listed.
- New Shipment… creates a new shipment for the box. If you have more than one location, choose where it ships from in the Create New Shipment dialog. Its carrier comes from the box and what’s in it.
- Unassign takes the box out of every shipment.
Boxes taken out of every shipment wait under Unassigned Packages at the bottom of the Shipments card, with the note “These packages have items assigned but are not part of any shipment. They won’t receive labels until moved to a shipment.” Move them to a shipment from there.
Add or delete a shipment
To start a shipment from another location, use the Create new shipment… dropdown in the Shipments card header and pick From a location. The dropdown disappears once any shipment on the order has a label.
To delete a shipment, click the trash icon on its row. This is only possible while the shipment has no label and the order has more than one shipment. Its boxes are kept and move to Unassigned Packages.
When boxes lock
Creating labels locks the boxes in that shipment: their cells can’t be changed, they can’t be removed or moved, and their weight and declared value become read-only. Other shipments stay editable, so you can keep packing leftover units after a partial shipment.
If every box is locked and an item is still in no box, a banner reads “N line items pending — add a package to assign.” with an Add Package button.
Voiding the labels unlocks the shipment again.
Start over with Recalculate Packages
Recalculate Packages at the top of the order page rebuilds every box and shipment from your current product settings. Use it after you change box settings on the Products page and want an existing order to follow them.
- Click Recalculate Packages.
- Read the warning: “This will reset all package assignments and shipments to defaults based on variant configurations. Any manual adjustments will be lost.”
- Click Recalculate.
The button only shows while no shipment on the order has ever had a label, voided labels included.
Any change to the boxes (contents, a new box, a move, a weight) clears that shipment’s saved rates. Get rates again before you create labels.
Notes and limits
- The table hides items that were fully fulfilled outside Parcello and were never in a Parcello box.
- Boxes you fill by hand aren’t held to the box type’s Max weight or Max pieces when products share this box. A box heavier than its Max weight shows “Over this box’s N lbs limit” under its total weight in Assigned Packages and Unassigned Packages. See Box limits.
Troubleshooting
“N line items not assigned to any box.” Some items are in no box. Set a quantity for them in a box, or add a box.
“No packages created. Click “Add Package” to create packages for this shipment.” The order has no boxes, usually because its products have no box set up yet. Set them up on the Products page and use Recalculate Packages, or add boxes by hand.
“No packages assigned to this shipment. Use the Package Assignments matrix above to assign items.” The shipment’s boxes are empty. Fill them in the table.
“Cannot assign N units to one box; effective line item quantity is M” A box can’t hold more units than the order has.
“The order changed since these boxes were packed, so the boxes were updated to what the order has now. Check that every item is in a box.” Units were removed from the order in Shopify, and Parcello took them out of the unlabeled boxes. See When an order changes in Shopify.
“Cannot recalculate: some shipments already have labels created” Recalculating isn’t possible once any shipment on the order has had a label, even a voided one. Change the boxes by hand instead.