Knowing how to post sales shipment in Business Central is a key step in the sales order flow. This guide covers how to set the quantity to ship, trigger the posting, and view the resulting posted sales shipment document.
Post Sales Shipment in Business Central: An Overview
In Business Central, a sales order does not automatically generate a shipment. Instead, you control when goods leave and in what quantity. When you are ready to ship, you set the quantity to ship on each line and then post sales shipment from the order. This separates the shipping step from the invoicing step. As a result, you can ship goods before you invoice, which is the standard flow for most businesses dealing in physical products.
Furthermore, partial shipments are fully supported. You do not have to ship everything on the order at once. For example, if one item is ready but another is not, you ship what is available and leave the rest for a later shipment. Business Central tracks both what has been shipped and what remains to be shipped on the same order.
Opening the Sales Order
To post sales shipment, start from the Sales Orders page. First, make sure the order is open and ready. The easiest way to get there is to use the search bar. Type “sales order” and select Sales Orders from the results. You will see a list of all open orders. Select the order you want to work with. Business Central opens the full order details.
At this point, the order shows the items, quantities, and delivery information. You can see the lines – each representing an item or service on the order. The header section at the top shows the customer name, the order date, and the requested delivery date. However, before you post sales shipment, you need to confirm which items are ready to go out. Only then should you proceed to the next step.
Setting the Quantity to Ship
Next, scroll to the right on the order lines to find the Quantity to Ship column. This field controls how many units will be included in the current shipment. By default, Business Central may pre-fill this with the full order quantity. However, you can change it to match what is actually ready.
For example, suppose the order includes one desk and four chairs. The desk is not ready yet. In that case, set the Quantity to Ship for the desk to zero. Leave the chairs at four, or reduce that number if fewer are available. In other words, the Quantity to Ship column gives you precise control over each line. You are not forced to ship all items at once.
Partial Post Sales Shipment: What to Expect
When you post sales shipment for only part of an order, the order stays open. Business Central does not close it. Instead, it updates the shipped quantities on the lines and leaves the remaining items with a quantity still to be shipped. Furthermore, the order number carries through to every shipment document. As a result, it is always possible to trace all shipments back to the original order. This is important for customer queries and internal reporting. For example, if a customer calls to ask about their delivery, you can look up the order and see exactly which items have shipped and which are still outstanding.
How to Post Sales Shipment from the Post Menu
Once you have set the correct quantities, go to the top of the order and find the Post menu. In particular, look for it in the navigation bar. Click it. You will see three options: Ship, Invoice, and Ship and Invoice. For this step, select Ship. This triggers the posting process for the shipment only. Business Central does not create an invoice at this point.
Select Ship and click OK. Business Central processes the posting. In the background, it records the inventory movement, reduces the available stock for the shipped items, and creates the posted sales shipment document. The system then updates the ledger entries accordingly. This all happens automatically once you confirm. You do not need to take any further action to record the inventory change. In fact, Business Central handles it all automatically as part of the posting process.
After the posting completes, the order lines update. The Quantity Shipped column increases to reflect the units you just shipped. Meanwhile, the Quantity to Ship column resets. If you shipped everything on a line, that line shows no remaining quantity to ship. If you did a partial shipment, the remaining quantity stays visible on the line.
Viewing the Posted Sales Shipment
To confirm the post sales shipment was successful, simply navigate to the Posted Sales Shipments page. Sort by date descending to find the most recent entry. Open the document. It shows exactly what was shipped: the customer, the items, and the quantities. Additionally, it records the posting date and the shipment reference number. In this example, you would see the four chairs listed as shipped and the desk absent, since it was not included in this shipment.
Moreover, the posted shipment document contains a reference back to the original sales order. This link is important. It means that when you return to the order to ship the desk later, Business Central can connect both shipments to the same order. The full shipping history for that order stays intact and traceable. Furthermore, you can print or email the posted shipment document to send a delivery confirmation to the customer directly from Business Central.
Ship vs. Invoice vs. Ship and Invoice
It is worth understanding all three options in the Post menu. Ship creates a posted sales shipment without generating an invoice. Invoice creates a posted sales invoice without recording a new shipment. Ship and Invoice does both at the same time.
For most businesses, the Ship option is the right choice when goods are going out but billing happens later. This is common when customers are on standard net payment terms. However, if you are ready to bill the customer at the same time as shipping, Ship and Invoice saves a step. That approach works well for cash-on-delivery or immediate billing scenarios. Understanding which to use depends on your billing cycle and how you manage your customer relationships. Both options create the correct ledger entries automatically. Consequently, no manual journal entries are needed regardless of which you choose.
Wrapping Up
To post sales shipment in Business Central, open the sales order, set the Quantity to Ship on each line, go to Post, and select Ship. The posted sales shipment document is created automatically. Partial shipments work the same way – just set the quantities to match what is ready. If you have questions about the sales order flow or need help with your Business Central setup, reach out at navseal.com or connect on LinkedIn.
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