The video shows a multi-box order in both modes; the written explanation follows. Sometimes one order cannot travel in one box: the items do not fit a single carton, or the customer bought several bulky products. FedEx handles this as one shipment made of several packages — one shipment, many boxes, many labels. The FedEx Shipping plugin supports this in both shipping modes. The difference between them is simply who decides what goes in each box.

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When one order becomes several packages

Typical cases:
  • The items do not fit in one box, no matter how they are arranged.
  • The customer bought several bulky items that each need their own carton.
  • You pack different products into different boxes as a matter of course.

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Two ways to split an order

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Instant mode: packing happens for you

In Instant mode nobody touches the order. At label time the plugin packs the order using your Product Box profiles — one package per box — and creates the labels for the whole shipment at once. Your store keeps one shipment record per order. On FedEx Shipping → Shipments & Printings you will recognize a multi-package order by two columns:
  • Box info — the contents of each box, box by box (for example, which products and how many of each went into it).
  • Label — the main View Label button plus one label button per box, so you can print box by box or print the whole set.
You never repack an Instant-mode order by hand — the profiles are the packing. See Instant labels for the full flow, and Product Box to describe your cartons.

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Advanced mode: you decide the packages

In Advanced mode the order waits as a draft, and you arrange the packages yourself before anything is paid for. One package per box:
1

Open the order and find the Packages section

Edit the order in WooCommerce → Orders. The FedEx Open Ship box lists each package as its own card with a name, weight, size, and contents.
2

One card per box

Use Add box for each extra carton and Remove box to delete one. On each card, fill in Weight, Dimensions (L×W×H), and the Products in this box table. If you use Product Box profiles, the draft already starts with one package per box — adjust from there.
3

Click Save & push to FedEx

Every package is sent to FedEx, and a results table appears with one row per package — including each package’s own tracking number once FedEx accepts it. Fix any row FedEx rejected and push again.
4

Click Confirm shipment

This buys the labels: one per package, plus Download merged labels (all packages, one PDF) if you print the whole set at once.
The full walkthrough, including the session buttons and the confirm limits, is on Advanced mode (Open Ship).

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Tracking a multi-piece shipment

Multi-package tracking has two layers, and FedEx provides both:
  • One master tracking number for the whole shipment. This is the number that describes the shipment as a whole. In Instant mode it is the number in the Tracking ID column of the shipments list; in Advanced mode it is the Master tracking row on the order screen.
  • One tracking number per package. Each package carries its own number, printed on that package’s label, so you and your customer can follow individual boxes.
Check either number on the tracking page — see Tracking for the lookup tools your store and your customers can use.

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How many packages can one shipment have?

FedEx documents limits on multi-piece shipments (MPS); check current FedEx documentation for exact numbers. In practice this ceiling is far above what a normal retail order needs, but if you regularly build shipments with dozens of packages, confirm the current limit with FedEx before relying on it.
Working in sandbox? A confirmed multi-package order in Sandbox mode produces test labels only — no real packages move and FedEx charges nothing. Real shipments and real charges start when you switch the Environment select (Settings → Account tab) to production.

Product Box

Describe your real cartons once, so Instant-mode orders pack themselves.

Advanced mode (Open Ship)

The complete draft-to-label walkthrough for Advanced shipping mode.

Open Shipments

The Advanced-mode list: review drafts, count boxes, and download all labels per order.