Packing slip vs invoice: what goes on each

A packing slip says what goes in a shipment. An invoice says what the customer bought and what the sale cost. The slip helps the packer and recipient check items and quantities. The invoice helps the customer and your records check prices and totals. One order may need both, but neither document replaces the other.

What information belongs on each document?

Use the packing slip to check the package. Use the invoice to check the sale. Shopify’s packing-slip guide and its Order Printer templates show the distinction in the fields they print by default.

Field	Packing slip	Invoice
Main job	Check the items sent	Record the sale and amount charged
Address that matters most	Ship-to	Bill-to and seller
Item details	Names, SKUs, quantities	Names, quantities, prices
Money	Usually omitted, but a template may show prices	Prices, discounts, shipping charges, tax when applicable, and total
Reader	Packer and recipient	Customer and whoever keeps the sale record

Those are purposes, not fixed template rules. Shopify lets you edit its Order Printer templates. A slip can show prices if your receiving process needs them. An invoice still needs the sale values, and any invoice requirements that apply to your transaction remain your responsibility.

When should the customer receive each one?

Put a packing slip with the goods when the recipient needs to confirm what arrived. Shopify can print a separate slip for each shipment when one order ships in parts. A slip for the first box should not pretend the second box arrived.

Send or make an invoice available when the customer needs a document showing the sale and its amounts. That may be before, with, or after shipment, depending on how you sell and what the customer needs. The invoice is about the transaction, so it should not be used as a box checklist.

If you need the practical printing steps, the packing-slip guide and invoice guide cover each route separately.

Can Shopify print both without a paid app?

Yes. Shopify prints packing slips from the order, and its free Order Printer app can print both invoices and packing slips. You choose the document before printing. Shopify’s Order Printer instructions show the path for a single order or several orders.

Check the template before sending an invoice. A heading that says “Invoice” does not prove its fields meet every customer’s or jurisdiction’s requirements. If you only need to print on demand, the free route may be all you need.

What changes if you generate and store both in Docket?

Docket generates an invoice and a packing slip as separate PDFs from Shopify order data when those document types are enabled. The invoice keeps the captured sale values. The slip keeps the captured order items, SKUs, and quantities. In template settings, you can show or hide prices on slips and set invoice numbering and seller details.

There is a limit worth stating. Docket’s slip is a record of the order data it captured, not proof of which box or shipment contained each item. Its stored PDFs remain available while Docket stays installed. Uninstalling Docket deletes that archive.

If you want both PDFs generated and stored rather than printed on demand, start with Docket’s packing-slip page. Check the invoice fields and the actual shipment against your own records before you send either document.