Picking Tasks

A pick list is something any task can carry: a list of products, each with a quantity to pick, plus a built-in barcode scanner. Think of an e-commerce order to fulfill, a transfer to another store, or staging materials for a contractor job — someone has to walk the store and pull specific quantities off the shelves. A task that includes a pick list is what we call a picking task.

Picking looks a lot like counting, with one key difference: in a count, the target quantity comes from your POS system; in a pick, you set the quantity — it’s how many the order or transfer needs.

Two phone screens of a picking task. The first shows the pick list grouped by bin sections — each product with photo, SKU, MPN, UPC, and a "Picked: X out of Y" line, with a Show Scanner button at the bottom. The second shows one product's picking screen with its photo, quantity requested, on-hand quantity, a picked stepper with plus and minus buttons, and Reset and Mark 0 Picked buttons.

How Picking Tasks Work

A picking task contains a list of products, each with a requested quantity. Your job is to physically pull those items off the shelf and record how many you picked. Each item also shows its current on-hand quantity for context, so you can tell right away when a short pick is a stock problem rather than a search problem.

Performing a Pick

Open the picking task from your My tab and tap Start Picking
The pick list shows every product with its requested quantity, sorted by bin so you can work aisle by aisle
Use the barcode scanner to scan each item as you pull it — each scan adds one to your picked count
Swipe through items to move to the next product, or use the +/− stepper to enter a quantity directly
If an item can’t be found or is out of stock, tap Mark 0 Picked so it’s recorded as picked-to-zero rather than untouched — and add a note explaining why
When you’ve picked everything you can, finalize to send the pick report

On a Zebra handheld, pull the device’s hardware trigger instead of using the camera — the scan behaves exactly the same. If you scan an item that isn’t on the pick list, you’ll hear a miss tone and get a tappable prompt to add it to the list. See Zebra Handheld Scanners.

When several people pick from the same task at once, everyone’s updates appear on each other’s screens in real time, so the team can split up the aisles without stepping on each other.

Understanding the Status Indicators

As you pick, each item card shows a color-coded status:

Green (Complete) — You picked exactly the requested quantity.
Orange (Partial) — You picked some, but less than requested.
Blue (Picked) — The item was picked to zero — recorded as unavailable.
Red (Over-picked) — You picked more than requested. Double-check the quantity.
Gray (Not Picked) — The item hasn’t been touched yet.

Creating Picking Tasks

Two phone screens of creating a picking task. The first shows the task create form with a Pick List card toggled on and an Add Items button reading "Optional — items can be added later," below Product Checklist and Count List cards. The second shows the items editor with three products, each with a photo, SKU, and MPN, and an editable Qty field on the right showing quantities 5, 3, and 2.

From the Mobile App

Create a task and toggle on Pick List
Tap Add Items and enter the SKUs (or add them later — you can also scan items straight onto the list while picking)
Set the Qty for each item — this is the quantity to pick; it defaults to 1

From the Web App

Open a task in the web app, enable the pick list, and manage the items in a grid — paste in SKUs, edit the Requested column inline, and export the list to CSV. The task view shows the same live grid the pickers are filling in: picked quantities and notes are editable there for desk corrections, finalized rounds appear as their own blocks, and you can finalize or re-finalize straight from the page.

From the AI Assistant

Ask the AI in plain language — for example, “Create a pick task for the Oakville transfer: 5 of SKU 1000199, 3 of 1000269” or paste an order straight into the chat. The AI drafts the task and asks you to confirm before creating it.

On a Schedule

Pick lists work with recurring tasks: a schedule remembers the SKUs and quantities, and each generated task starts fresh with the full list to pick — useful for standing weekly transfers or recurring replenishment runs.

Finalizing a Pick

Phone screen of a picking task's detail view showing a progress bar reading 1/3, with Finalize and Continue Picking buttons side by side and a Mark as Done button below.

When you’re ready, tap Finalize to close out the items you’ve picked so far. This:

Moves those items into a finalized batch (they stay editable — re-finalize the batch to resend its corrected report)
Generates a summary report showing what was requested, what was picked, and any short or over picks
Emails the report to the addresses you choose, along with a contributors file showing who picked what

You don’t have to pick everything before finalizing — untouched items stay open in the same task, and you can pick and finalize them in a later round. Finalizing never completes the task: mark it done whenever the work is finished, even with items left unpicked.