Default Shelves and App Receiving in Fixed-Location Warehouses
Table of Contents
- 1. What This Scenario Is
- 2. How to Set It Up in the System
- 3. What Daily Operations Look Like
- 4. Boundaries and Related Features
1. What This Scenario Is
When a warehouse's "Storage Mode" is "Dedicated Mode" (the mobile app and the setup wizard call it a "fixed-location" warehouse), every product has a fixed storage location in that warehouse. After receiving is finalized, the system puts goods away automatically to the product's "Default Shelf", so receivers don't pick shelves. If the product has no usable Default Shelf in that warehouse, auto putaway fails: the goods stay pending putaway, the stock is not booked, and orders cannot be allocated to it.
A Default Shelf is set once per warehouse. If a merchant's products arrive at two fixed-location warehouses, say Taipei and Taichung, each warehouse needs its own setting; changing it in Taipei leaves Taichung unchanged. On the web, creating and editing products, the product detail page, the product list filter, and product import and export all use the warehouse you are currently operating in.
| Who | Situation | What to handle first |
|---|---|---|
| Warehouse supervisor | A new merchant or new product arrives at a fixed-location warehouse for the first time | Fill in Default Shelf for that warehouse before the goods arrive |
| Warehouse supervisor | A merchant starts receiving at a second fixed-location warehouse | Set it again for the second warehouse; the first warehouse's setting does not carry over |
| System administrator | Planning receivers' account permissions | Decide who can set a Default Shelf on the spot during app receiving |
2. How to Set It Up in the System
Quick links: Find products not set in this warehouse | Set one product at a time | Set in bulk by import | Plan on-site permissions
2.1 Find products not set in this warehouse
Switch your current operating warehouse to the fixed-location warehouse you want to check, then go to "Products" → "Product List" and filter "Dedicated Shelf" by "Not Assigned" (see product list search and filters). A product set only in other warehouses counts as not set here.
A Default Shelf set before this change belongs to the warehouse where that shelf is. If the product is also received at other fixed-location warehouses, it starts as not set in each of them, so check each warehouse once.
2.2 Set one product at a time
Choose the Default Shelf in Create Product or Edit Product. The dropdown lists only regular shelves in your current operating warehouse; staging, tote, and other system shelves cannot be chosen. Saving changes only this warehouse's setting, and clearing it clears only this warehouse.
2.3 Set in bulk by import
For many products, use Product Import. Import also writes only to your current operating warehouse:
| File content | Result |
|---|---|
| The template has no "Default Shelf" column | No warehouse's setting changes |
| The column is present with a regular shelf location in this warehouse | Set as this warehouse's Default Shelf |
| The column is present but the row is blank | Clears this warehouse's setting; other warehouses are unaffected |
| The value matches the product's current setting in this warehouse | Treated as unchanged, not checked, and the row succeeds |
| A shelf in another warehouse, a staging or other system shelf, or a location that doesn't exist | The row fails |
💡 Tip: Export products from this warehouse first, fill in the blank rows in the "Default Shelf" column, then import the file back. The export carries this warehouse's settings, so rows you didn't touch are treated as unchanged.
2.4 Plan on-site permissions
Only accounts with the Write permission on "Products" can set a Default Shelf on the spot during app receiving. Adjust it in Edit Operator permission settings; the person must sign in to the app again for the change to take effect.
A receiver without this permission who gets blocked can only wait for someone who has it. Schedule at least one person with the permission on every receiving shift, or complete 2.1–2.3 before the goods arrive.
3. What Daily Operations Look Like
Quick links: Verification screen | Check before finalizing | When you are blocked | Finalizing on the web
3.1 Verification screen
When you verify a product with the app in a fixed-location warehouse, "Default shelf in this warehouse" appears below the product information. If none is set, it reads "No default shelf set in this warehouse" instead:
- With the "Products" Write permission: scan or enter a shelf code in this warehouse and tap "Set as Default".
- Without it: the screen shows "Must be set by someone with product edit permission (or on the product page in the web console)." You can keep receiving, but the inbound cannot be finalized until it is set.
3.2 Check before finalizing
When you tap any of the following in the app, the system first checks the products in the batch:
| App action | Receipts checked |
|---|---|
| "Finalize" → "Finalize Batch" | The current receipt |
| "Finalize" → "Close Inbound", or "Close Inbound" directly | Every receipt on this inbound that is still receiving |
| "Start New Receipt", or "Start new" in the dialog shown when you open the inbound | The current receipt (if nothing has been received on it yet, it is reused without a check) |
Only products that still have a quantity to put away are checked: items not received, received as 0, or already fully put away are skipped. The action is blocked if any of these apply:
| Reason | How to clear it |
|---|---|
| No Default Shelf is set in this warehouse | Set a regular shelf in this warehouse |
| The Default Shelf is a staging or other system shelf (usually old data) | Change it to a regular shelf in this warehouse |
| The Default Shelf breaks the placement rule for the batch's inventory type | Change it to a shelf in a zone that inventory type allows; see Inventory Type Placement Rules |
When blocked, the action has no effect at all: the receipt stays in progress, and the quantities, batch numbers, and expiration dates you entered are kept.
3.3 When you are blocked
The app opens a "Default Shelves Required" list showing each product's name, SKU, and reason. The same product with the same reason and inventory type is listed once.
- Someone with the permission scans or enters a shelf code in this warehouse on each row and taps "Set as Default". A code from another warehouse or one that doesn't exist shows "Shelf … not found in this warehouse"; a staging or other system shelf, or one that breaks the placement rule for the batch's inventory type, is rejected on the spot.
- Rows that were set show "Set to" with the shelf code. The list only sets shelves; it does not finalize for you.
- Tap "Done" to close the list, then repeat the action you just tried.
Someone without the permission sees only a note that a permitted person must set it, and finalizing stays blocked. Ask a permitted person to handle it in the app, or set it in Edit Product on the web, then repeat the original action in the app.
3.4 Finalizing on the web
Finalizing receiving on the web does not run this check and completes as usual. If a product lacks a usable Default Shelf, auto putaway fails, the inbound's "Histories" gains an "Auto putaway failed" entry with the reason (for example, which products have no Default Shelf), and that receipt stays pending putaway. After setting the shelves, click "Auto Putaway" at the top right of the pending receipt card in Inbound Details to retry.
4. Boundaries and Related Features
Quick links: What is not affected | Related features
4.1 What is not affected
- Dynamic Mode and Virtual Mode warehouses: the app does not show default shelves, and finalizing runs no check.
- Older app versions not yet updated: they are not blocked and behave as before. Finalizing completes, and a missing Default Shelf is still recorded as an auto putaway failure in the inbound history; handle it as in 3.4.
- Finalizing on the web and converting returns to inbound: no check before finalizing; failures are recorded in the inbound history. The exception is a return with serial-numbered products: if any product has no Default Shelf in this warehouse, or its default shelf is one that cannot hold stock (such as a staging shelf), the conversion is blocked, names the product, and nothing is written.
- Stock adjustment import in a fixed-location warehouse: the adjustment location is also the product's Default Shelf in that warehouse; if it is not set there, the row fails.
- A shelf set as a Default Shelf cannot be deleted, and batch delete skips it (see Shelf List).
4.2 Related features
| Feature | Purpose | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Product List | Find products with no Default Shelf in this warehouse | Go |
| Edit Product | Set this warehouse's Default Shelf one product at a time | Go |
| Product Import | Set or clear this warehouse's Default Shelf in bulk | Go |
| Inbound Details | Review auto putaway failures and retry with "Auto Putaway" after fixing | Go |
| Edit Operator | Grant the "Products" Write permission | Go |
| Inventory Type Placement Rules | Understand the zone restrictions a default shelf must meet | Go |