Bill of lading in QuickBooks

Have you tried customizing a packing slip template?

Exactly the right answer.

We simply use these templates with the Sales Order. Just prepare the Sales Order and then change the template and print the BOL. We have a similar one for Packing Lists. Both are attached. A Blind version is used when we are ?drop shipping? to our customer?s customer. It leaves out our name and tagline off the forms. We only put the dashes in front of the template name to separate them from the regular BOL and PL in the pull down sort.

Our Sales Order, since customers don?t see it, shows the BOL fields so we can verify the SO was entered properly. We have 4 Freight/BOL related fields in the customer file, since that is all we could fit. They are: Frt ? (we input either PP&A, F/A, or Coll, for Prepaid and Add, Freight Allowed, or Collect), BOL Frt Terms (we input something showing the Carrier and terms, like ?Roadway Prepaid Pallet Rate? which reminds us to select Roadway as the Carrier (since QB does not allow us to chose a default carrier for each customer), and it automatically puts in the proper note on the BOL so the Freight bill is rated properly, and lastly two Special Instructions Fields (BOL SI1 and BOL SI2), usually the BOLSI1 is ?None?, but sometimes it says ?Call 24 hrs before delivery? and then BOL SI2 would say ?915-555-1212?. Any of these fields can only hold up to 30 characters (if I remember correctly).

The Legal text is static and so is the DOT info. But you can create different BOLs for different products that have different DOT info. It gets more complicated if you have multiple DOT types on one BOL since you would need to know that at the time of order entry and choose the proper combo BOL for that particular order. But I think you can see how it?s done from our template.

Most times we mix products on pallets so we need to have that hand-filled in by the shipping guys. They can mix and match different size boxes to fill up the pallet.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Tom Smith

Thank you soo much - I will try to install it that way for my company.

My bills of lading require 4 addresses. One will never change, the received from address. For this one I can simply put normal text on a template. But, I would like to be able to retrieve several addresses from my customer's data. I need to also include in the BOL the consignee, the 3rd party billing address, and the customs broker's address. If anyone can help me with this, I would greatly appreciate it.

-Regards,

Jack,

There may be a 3rd party add-on that will handle that many multiple addresses. Look in the "Compatible Software" link at left.

If you have a reasonable limit to the different 3rd party bill to's and the customs brokers, you can create custom templates for each pattern, each with a fixed text box address for each. For example, if there were 10 3rd party bill tos and 4 customs brokers, that would require 40 (10 x 4) templates.

That sounds like a lot of work, but once it is set up all you need to do is name them in a way that they can be selected properly and without a lot of training on the part of the order entry person.

If, on the other hand, you use multiple customs brokers, and each of your customers uses a different 3rd party bill to, then that is too many combinations. I suppose it depends on how you are entering the order in the first place. How are you getting the data onto the order itself?

Perhaps you could allow the items to print on the BOL, and there can be two Notes (Other Charge Items) that you set up for each Customs Broker and each 3rd party bill to. Since you can have sub-item you can arrange them by customer, or by 3rd party and broker, etc. That might be the easiest way. Disadvantage is I'm not sure if there is a way to prevent the other Items from printing on the BOL. But I do see some BOLs from suppliers that have the packing list built into it. This could do he same job.

Hope this helps.

Tom Smith

Good Morning:
I read your posting with interest and downloaded the BOL form. However, I'm having trouble incorporating it into QB. When I select the template, QB pulls up a generic form (like their default sales order, but labeled Bill of Lading) instead of your form...which, by the way, is very well done.

Any help you could give me in order to get the exact form you submitted incorporated correctly in QB?
Thanks,
Reed McCandless

An easy one to answer:

These are not forms, but templates. To import a template, use Lists/Templates. Select the Templates Menu at the bottom and select Import.

A window will pop up asking where to find the .des file. Just select the correct folder and you will be able to retrieve the templates.

Hope this helps,
Tom Smith

Tom, I am working on a BoL and ran across your information... Do you still have that BoL available that you attached to your original posting last summer?

Sure,

Here they are. Hope this helps.

Tom

Thanks!!!

Tom, When I download these files they save in a unknown format... Not the .des??? have you ran across this before?? Greg

.des is a QB template file.

As noted in my Jan 3rd post: To import a template, use Lists/Templates. Select the Templates Menu at the bottom and select Import.

Once you do that it will be available to select and customize to your liking.

Tom

Tom,
I would like to view the B/L that you have created, but when I go to open them, I receive an 'error' message: "The template you have chosen contained custom fields that are not available in your company file. These fields have been removed."
Any idea how I can get these fields into my company file?
Thank you
Josiah

Josiah,
Hopefully this pdf explains it. There are 3 custom fields. The Special Instructions fields 1 and 2 are on top of each other and the lines between them are left out so it looks like one box. This lets you type more information because each field only accepts 30 characters. Things like Appointments and phone numbers require more. you may use creative abbreviations, but the Carrier must understand it.

So we would use, in SI1: "Call 24 hrs prior to dely" and in SI2 "Phone 800-555-1212". This is good since these instructions stay with the Customer file. (see the pdf), and if they don't need a BOL, like for small shipments, then the packing list template does not use these instruction fields. We do display these instructions at the bottom of the SO so we can verify the instructions for the order are correct.

Also note in the BOL Frt Terms field, we often build the default carrier in there, since our QB does not save the "ship via" for the particular customer. This reminds us who the best carrier is for this customer.

Hope this helps.

Tom

I am new to this community. I have Quickbooks Pro and also need to incorporate a BOL into quickbooks. Where would I find lists/templetes to create or import the bol templete/

When I print out the bill of lading, Quickbooks says you are running QB pro. Though you may edit and delte existing sales orders you must run QB premier edition to enter new sales orders. Does this pretain to the bill of lading form that I imported, because it is not allowing me to make changes with company name etc.

Rajaha,
The BOL template I provided was for Sales Orders, which can be viewed in Pro, but only changed in Premier. We have Premier, Manufacturing & Wholesale Edition. We do the same with Packing Lists, starting from the Sales Order template.

I suppose a similar one can be made using the Invoice template in Pro. I know others with Pro use the Invoice template for Packing Lists. Work with the pdf so that you can see what the final product looks like. I've uploaded another one here.

Hope this helps.

Tom

Hi..it seems your the best person to ask this question too :)
We're a trading company & just started using QB Premier Wholesale & Manu. just like you.
Figured out a lot of things except 1 -
We need to enter the packing details for each item we ship - eg. No. of pcs/ctn - Ctn dimensions to calculate CBM - GW/NW - you know the usual packing details for shipments by container.
Does QB have a function or add-on by which I can input these fixed details for each item?
Havent found anything on Help so far...hoping you can help me out.

Thanks a ton.
G.

Hi Tom
Im new to this site and I need some help.
Im trying to set up a B O L to add and show amount of boxes and total weight.
please tell me what can i do.
Thank You.