When we think of "orders and shipping," we often picture trucks and cardboard boxes. However, a crucial part of the process is the documentation that accompanies those boxes. Invoices, packing slips, and return forms are often the only physical branded documents a customer holds. For international shipments, commercial invoices are a legal requirement. Standard Shopify templates are functional but basic. To look professional and ensure compliance, you need the Best Orders and Shipping Apps for Shopify dedicated to document generation. These apps automate the creation of PDF invoices, ensuring every order looks polished and professional.
The Importance of Professional Documentation
Documentation serves two purposes: brand image and legal compliance. From a brand perspective, a messy, plain text packing slip looks amateur. A beautifully designed slip with your logo, a "Thank You" note, and clear return instructions elevates the unboxing experience. From a legal perspective, selling internationally (especially to the UK or EU) requires VAT-compliant invoices. If you don't provide these, your customers may face delays at customs or be unable to claim business expenses. The Best Orders and Shipping Apps for Shopify handle these complex tax rules automatically, saving you from manual calculations and potential fines.
Top Apps for Invoices and Documents
1. Order Printer Pro (by FORSBERG+two) Order Printer Pro is a staple in the Shopify ecosystem. It allows you to create custom templates for invoices, packing slips, returns forms, and quote drafts. Its strength is automation. You can set it to automatically deliver a PDF invoice to the customer via email the moment the order is placed. This reduces "Can I get a receipt?" support tickets to near zero. It handles multi-currency orders perfectly, making it ideal for stores selling globally.
2. Avada PDF Invoice & Order Printer Avada is one of the highest-rated Best Orders and Shipping Apps for Shopify because of its design capabilities. It comes with dozens of pre-made, professional templates that are easily customizable. You don't need to know code to add your logo or change the colors to match your brand. It also supports multiple languages. If a customer orders from Spain, Avada can automatically generate the invoice in Spanish, providing a localized experience that builds trust.
3. Sufio: Professional Invoices For B2B merchants or those with strict tax requirements, Sufio is the gold standard. It is an automated invoicing app that is fully compliant with legislation in over 50 countries. It validates EU VAT numbers for business customers (making the order tax-exempt if applicable) and ensures that the invoice generated meets the specific layout requirements of the customer's country. It turns the headache of global tax compliance into a "set and forget" background task.
Streamlining the Picking Process
Beyond the customer-facing documents, these apps improve your internal workflow. They can generate "Picking Lists." A picking list aggregates all the items from multiple orders into one sheet. Instead of running to the shelf for Order A, then back for Order B, your packer can take one sheet, grab 10 items at once, and then sort them. This efficiency is why document apps are considered essential Best Orders and Shipping Apps for Shopify for high-volume warehouses.
Conclusion
Don't let your paperwork be an afterthought. Professional invoices and packing slips are a sign of a mature, reliable business. By utilizing apps like Order Printer Pro or Sufio, you ensure that the documents inside the box are just as high-quality as the product itself. These tools save time, ensure legal compliance, and reduce customer service inquiries, making them a vital part of your shipping stack.