When Generate Pick List Refuses
You clicked Generate Pick List on a shipment and got a yellow alert instead of a pick list:
Can't generate pick list — Insufficient inventory for PU Pastel Purple in Main Warehouse. Short by 1 units. Either restock PU Pastel Purple, remove it from the shipment, or split it into a separate shipment to fulfill later.
This is by design — WareSquared won't create a pick list it can't fulfil, because the warehouse staff would just hit a dead end on the floor.
Your Three Options
1. Restock the short product.
- From the order page, click the short product to open its detail page
- Hit Restock → opens a draft Purchase Order pre-populated with the supplier and reorder quantity
- Receive the PO when it arrives → the Short Stock chip clears automatically
2. Remove the short item from this shipment.
- Open the shipment, set the short item's qty to
0, save - Now Generate Pick List can run on the in-stock items
- The dropped item stays on the order and can be added to a future shipment. See Moving Items Between Shipments.
3. Issue a partial refund.
- Edit the order, remove the line entirely
- Create an invoice for the remaining lines only
- The customer is only billed for what shipped
Why Not Just Force It?
The pick list is what your floor team works from. If it lists an item the warehouse can't actually find, the picker hits a dead end mid-shift — which means delayed shipments, customer service tickets, and trust erosion with the floor. The upfront "you can't pick what isn't there" is the lesser evil.
Tip: The Fulfillment panel on the order page shows the exact shortfall per line before you try to generate a pick list, so you can spot the problem early.
See also: What Does Short Stock Mean?, Picking Strategies (FIFO / FEFO / Nearest)