Advanced mode (Open Ship): confirm shipments yourself

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When to choose Advanced instead of Instant

• You want to split an order across several boxes with different sizes and weights.
• You want to correct a weight or a box size before the label is created.
• You ship internationally and want to add clearance descriptions before buying.
• You simply want a human check of the contents before money is spent.

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From checkout to label, step by step

1

Switch the Shipping mode to Advanced

1. Go to WordPress Admin → FedEx Shipping → Settings.
2. Open the Shipping tab.
3. In the Shipping mode field, select Advanced Shipping (Open Ship API).
4. Click Save Changes.

The page saves, and two things change in the FedEx Shipping menu: Shipments & Printings disappears (that list belongs to Instant mode) and Open Shipments appears in its place. The plugin also adds two order statuses of its own, described in step 3.

2

Place an order as your customer would

Nothing changes for the customer. They see the same FedEx prices at checkout and the normal order confirmation page.The difference is on your side: no label is created and nothing is paid to FedEx yet. The plugin has opened a draft session with FedEx and put the cart’s packages on it, waiting for you.

3

Find the order in WooCommerce

1. Go to WordPress Admin → WooCommerce → Orders.
2. Find the new order. It shows the plugin’s draft status: FedEx draft (Open Ship).

In Advanced mode the plugin registers two order statuses: FedEx draft (Open Ship) and FedEx Open Ship (in progress). The draft status is set automatically when the order is placed. When you confirm the shipment later, the order moves to the standard WooCommerce Processing status.

4

Open the order and find the FedEx Open Ship box

Click the order to open it. In the main area of the order screen, near the top, you will find a box titled FedEx Open Ship. This box is your control panel for the shipment.At the top of the box, a progress row shows where the shipment stands: Draft, In progress, Confirmed, Shipped, Delivered. A brand-new order sits at Draft.The FedEx Open Ship box on the order screen — this is where you review packages and confirm the shipment.

5

Review and adjust the packages

Each package has its own card in the Packages section. For every package you can change:

• Name — the label the plugin shows for this box.
• Weight — in LB or KG.
• Dimensions (L×W×H) — in IN or CM.
• Declared value (optional) — with its own currency field.
• Products in this box — which ordered items this box contains, and how many of each.

Below the package list, use Add box to add another package, Remove box on a card to delete that package, and Recalculate total weight to re-add the weights after your edits.Each package card also has an Other information accordion. These are optional FedEx fields, grouped into cards — for example, descriptions for customs clearance, a contents list with SKU and part numbers, signature options, cash on delivery, dangerous goods, and battery details. Anything you leave blank is simply not sent to FedEx. You only need these for special shipments; a normal domestic box needs none of them.Higher up, the Shipment settings section holds the session-wide choices: Service type, Pickup type, Packaging type, and Shipping charges (payor), saved with the Save shipment settings button.

If you change the service or the pickup type after checkout, the current FedEx session can no longer be used. Save the settings, then click Restart FedEx session (step 7) to get a fresh session with your new choices.

6

Click Save & push to FedEx

When the packages look right, click Save & push to FedEx.The plugin saves your packages on the order and sends them to FedEx. Under the packages, a results table appears with one row per package: Package #, Tracking #, Sequence, Status, Message, Transaction ID, and Actions. Successful rows show messages such as “Package added on FedEx.” or “Package updated on FedEx.” and now carry a FedEx tracking number. If FedEx rejects a row, the Status and Message cells tell you why — fix the package and click Save & push to FedEx again.The progress row moves to In progress. Your session is now on FedEx with your adjustments, still without labels.

7

Start over, if you need to (optional)

Two buttons undo work before you confirm. You will rarely need either, but it helps to know which is which:

• Clear all packages (FedEx session) — after you confirm the prompt “Cancel the entire FedEx Open Ship session and clear package tracking on this order?”, the plugin cancels the whole session at FedEx and wipes the package data from the order. Use this when the packages are wrong from the ground up and you want to begin again from an empty session.
• Restart FedEx session — after you confirm the prompt “Start a new FedEx session with current settings and packages? A new session index will be created on FedEx.”, the plugin ends the current session and opens a brand-new one containing the same settings and packages. Use this after changing the service or pickup type in Shipment settings — FedEx sessions cannot be moved to a different service, so the plugin builds a fresh one.

8

Click Confirm shipment

When everything is final, click Confirm shipment and confirm the prompt “Finalize this Open Ship session and create labels?”.This is the moment the labels are bought. The plugin finalizes the session at FedEx and creates the labels for every package. Then:

• The box locks and shows: “Shipment confirmed — labels generated. Editing is locked.”
• The package rows no longer offer Edit or Delete; they read “Shipment confirmed — package actions disabled.”
• The order status changes from FedEx draft (Open Ship) to the standard WooCommerce Processing status, and notes such as “FedEx Open Ship confirmed; label created.” are added to the order.

Confirming cannot be undone. There is no cancel or void for a confirmed Open Ship shipment in this version — see the limits below. Always finish your package review first.

9

Download the labels

The locked box now shows the label block:

• Master tracking — the tracking number for the shipment as a whole.
• Download merged labels (all packages, one PDF) — one PDF containing every label, ready to print.
• Labels by package — a separate PDF button per package, if you print box by box.
• View shipment record — jumps to the stored FedEx details on the Open Shipments page.

The PDFs are stored in a protected folder WordPress manages for you, so you can reprint from this screen at any time. You can also download from FedEx Shipping → Open Shipments: the All labels PDF column has an Open PDF button per order. That page is described on Open Shipments (draft manager).

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Limits to know before you confirm

• No cancel or void after confirm. Once you click Confirm shipment, the plugin offers no way to cancel or void that shipment. The box stays locked permanently.
• A confirmed box cannot be re-opened. Editing packages, adding boxes, or restarting the session are all finished after confirm. Reprinting labels still works.
• Cancel works only before confirm. Until you confirm, you can back out completely: Clear all packages (FedEx session) on the order, or Cancel on FedEx on the Open Shipments page, cancels the session at FedEx and clears the order. Nothing has been charged, because the labels were never created.
• Working in sandbox? Confirming a sandbox order creates test labels only. No real package moves and FedEx does not charge you. This changes only when you go live — see Going live.

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Shipping many boxes