Pack station settings: how this screen works
Pack station settings is where you set up how your team packs orders: the packing rules, the packing tables (stations) with their printers, the totes that carry pick lists, the flyers or samples that go into orders, and the camera photos. Packers then work on the Pack station screen under Warehouse.
What you see on this screen
The back arrow (top left): back to Settings.
Add station (top right): add a packing table.
Packing: the packing rules for your whole account.
Stations: your packing tables and their printers.
Totes: the crates that carry a pick list to the pack table.
Inserts and Packing per channel: rules per sales channel.
Everyone who uses the pack station can open this screen. Changing it needs the Manage printing permission. Without it you see "You can view these settings. Changing them needs the Manage printing permission." and the edit buttons are hidden.
Packing rules
Pick mode: how pick lists are made. Batch: pick many orders, sort at the pack table picks several orders in one walk. Per order: pick and pack one order at a time keeps every order apart. Cluster: one tote per order, the picker sorts while picking gives every order its own tote: the picker scans one tote per order when the pick run starts on the phone and confirms each picked unit by scanning the tote of its order. At the pack station, scanning a tote opens its order. Single-item pick lists stay batch.
Trust pick scans: on a per-order or cluster list, units scanned at pick are not scanned again at the pack station. The tote or order scan still opens the order. Batch lists still scan every unit. Serial, lot and dangerous-goods lines are always scanned. Off by default.
Peak mode: orders with the soonest carrier pick-up come first. Orders with no pick-up time stay at the end. Off keeps the newest order first. Off by default.
Print on the last scan: when every line of an order has quantity 1, the label prints as soon as the last item is scanned. Every item is still checked.
Press Save in the Packing card to keep your changes. The button only works when something changed.
Your pack badge
Manage your badge in Profile, Sign-in & security. Administrators with Manage users can edit a badge in User edit. Use the existing Portal PIN (two letters and three digits), not a separate pack PIN. Station settings no longer contain personal credentials. The station has its own inactivity timeout in seconds; the general portal inactivity timer does not run on this screen. A locked station stays hidden on reload. Unlock with badge, Portal PIN or camera. Camera starts when selected; packing progress is kept. The printer button opens shipment details and recent prints.
Stations (packing tables)
A station is one packing table. When a packer completes an order there, QrX prints the shipping label and the packing slip on the printers of that station. Packers choose their station on the pack screen. Without any station, labels print on your default printers from Settings, Printing.
The list shows the Name, the Warehouse (when your account keeps stock in warehouses), the Label printer, the Packing slip printer (or Default printer) and the Setup status: Not set up, Ready (every test passed) or Needs attention (a test failed). The icons at the end of each row:
Set up station (wrench): test the scanner, printers, scale and camera of the table. See below.
Edit (pencil): change the name, warehouse, printers and Scan items only.
Copy station: opens a New station with the same printers and an empty name.
Delete (bin): asks you to confirm. Packers who used it fall back to the default printers.
Add or edit a station
Name: for example Table 1. Each name can be used once.
Warehouse (when your account keeps stock in warehouses): where this packing table stands, or No warehouse. It is shown on the station and used as its default warehouse; packers still see every order.
Label printer and Packing slip printer: pick from your PrintNode printers. Leave empty (Default printer) to use your default printers.
Scan items only: on for a new station. Packers must scan with a barcode scanner or the camera: products, packing slips, pick lists and totes. Typing or pasting into the scan field is blocked. To open an order by hand, they use the Queue tab.
Press Save.
Set up a station
Click the wrench on a station. Go through the steps with Next and Back, or click a step at the top:
Scanner: click Scan here and scan the barcode on screen with the station scanner. QrX checks the code, the Enter at the end and the keyboard layout. Then scan it 3 times under Calibrate the scanner, so the station knows how fast this scanner types.
Printers: Print test page on the label printer and the packing slip printer. It is a test page, never a shipping label, so nothing is charged.
Scale: choose where the weight comes from: a scale through PrintNode (choose the Computer and the scale on it), a USB scale in this browser (Chrome or Edge, Choose USB scale), or No scale: type the weight. Use Read scale to test. A missing reading never blocks packing: the packer can always type the weight.
Camera (optional): choose a webcam and Take test photo. The camera choice is saved in this browser.
Summary: shows what works, what failed and what was not tested. Press Save to store the results with the station.
You can run the setup again at any time.
Totes
Totes are crates that carry a pick list from the shelves to the pack table. Print a label for a tote and scan it at the station to open its pick list. Pick lists work without totes too. A pick list can hold several totes. With cluster picking every tote belongs to one order.
Add tote: enter a Code (printed as a barcode, for example TOTE-07; each code once) and an optional Name, for example Blue crate.
The list shows the Code, the Name and the Active pick list (or Free).
Row icons: Print label (choose layout, printer and how to send it), Open label PDF, Edit, Copy tote and Delete. A deleted tote's printed label stops working.
Inserts (flyers and samples)
An insert rule puts a flyer or sample into every order of a sales channel. Packers see it at the station. Stock is booked when the order is packed.
If a fulfilment partner packs for you and you do not use the pack station yourself, you find the same Inserts and Camera photos under Settings, Packing inserts and photos. They work exactly as described here.
Choose the channel in the selector. Next to it you see how many rules it has, for example "2 of 10 rules".
Click Add insert.
Choose the Channel and the Stock item (search by SKU, name or EAN).
Set Quantity per order (1 to 20).
Require scan: Complete stays locked until the packer scans the insert.
Countries: leave empty for every order of the channel, or pick countries to add it only to orders shipped there.
Active: switch off to pause the rule. Then press Save.
The list shows the Item, Qty, Scan (Required or No scan needed), Countries and Status (Active or Paused). Row icons: Edit, Copy to another channel (opens a New insert with the same settings and no channel) and Delete. After a delete, the item is no longer added to new orders; orders already at the station keep it.
Packing per channel
Per sales channel you choose how orders of that channel are packed. Each switch saves right away. You see "Channel settings saved."
Label photo: stations with a camera take a photo of the box when the label prints.
Exception photo required: the packer must take a photo when they report a missing item.
Several boxes per order (UPS): packers can pack one order in several boxes that ship together as one UPS shipment, each box with its own label. It works only for UPS orders, and only after QrX has activated it for your account. Off by default.
Ship available items: when a prepaid order is short, the items in stock ship now and the backordered items move to a follow-up order that ships when stock arrives. QrX does this automatically when you create a pick list. Orders paid at the door are never split. Off by default.
Combine orders automatically: paid orders of the same customer to the same address ship together in one parcel. QrX combines them when you create a pick list. Every order keeps its own PIN; the PIN of the oldest order opens the parcel at the door. Unpaid orders that are paid at the door are combined too: they become one order with one payment at the door. Off by default.
Hold new orders (minutes): keeps a new order out of pick lists for this many minutes, so a second order of the same customer can still join it. Enter 0 to 1440 (24 hours); the value saves when you leave the field. Only available when Combine orders automatically is on; switching that off sets it back to 0. Unpaid orders that are paid at the door are held in the same way.
Photos are kept for 12 months and shown on the order. Staff may be visible in a photo.
Package presets
Cost each is optional. When you fill it in, the packaging usage export multiplies it by the number of boxes.
Stock item is optional. When a preset points at a tracked item, packing one order takes one of that item from a bin. The label still prints if that stock write does not succeed.
Open Package presets in Settings. Add a box with a reference, length, width, height and weight. Copy starts a new preset with the same sizes and an empty reference. These presets are the boxes at the pack station, and the box advice on a batch preset.
On a batch preset, Box advice keeps only orders whose items fit that preset. Any box leaves the batch as it was. The check looks at the first orders in the window (at most 2,000), then keeps the ones that fit, up to the batch size.
Tips and common questions
"A station with this name already exists.": use another name.
"A tote with this code already exists.": tote codes must be unique.
"This tote is in use by an active pick list. Finish or cancel that pick list first.": you cannot delete a tote while a pick list uses it.
"A channel can have at most 10 insert rules.": delete or edit a rule first. Add insert is greyed out when the channel is full.
"This channel already has a rule for this item.": edit the existing rule instead.
"Someone else changed ... The latest version is loaded.": another person saved at the same time. Check the loaded version and make your change again.
The printer lists are empty: connect PrintNode first in Settings, Printing.
"PrintNode cannot be reached. Check the PrintNode API key in Settings > Printing." on the Scale step: check your PrintNode key and that the PrintNode program runs on that computer.
The scanner test says the keyboard layout differs: set the scanner and the computer to the same keyboard layout, and check Caps Lock.
"Hold new orders must be between 0 and 1440 minutes.": enter a whole number from 0 to 1440.
Need help? Click Chat at the bottom of the Help Center.
Only users with Manage printing and Use pack station can change automatic locking or manage stations. The inactivity timeout is saved for the station, shared with its users, and protected against concurrent edits. Packers can still lock manually and unlock with their own PIN or badge.