Some Business Central warehouse setups don’t need bins or put-aways. If you run a location with only the “Require Receive” option enabled, you can still use the warehouse receipt document to handle incoming goods. This is useful for external warehouses, where you want to bundle purchase orders and post receive documents without managing detailed bin locations.
When you post a warehouse receipt on a location without bins, Business Central creates item ledger entries but no warehouse entries. That makes sense, because there are no bins to track inventory movement within the location.
You can also create the warehouse receipt manually and pull in one or several purchase orders into the same document. This lets you consolidate multiple orders into a single receive process.
Warehouse receipt without bins and put-aways in Business Central
In Business Central, you can set up a location that uses warehouse receipt but doesn’t use bins and doesn’t use put-aways. This is a common setup for external warehouses, where the goal is to bundle purchase orders and then handle ship and receive documents at the external warehouse, without needing the full bin structure.
On the location card, you enable the “Require Receive” checkmark, but leave put-aways and bins turned off. With this configuration, any document that uses warehouse functionality on that location follows the receive flow.
How the receive flow works step by step
Start with a purchase order on the external location. The location is set up with “Require Receive” but no put-aways and no bins. The purchase order has quantities, and the quantity received starts at zero, because the document uses warehouse functionality.
The process looks like this:
- Release the document. This is the first step before you can create any warehouse documents.
- Create the warehouse receipt. From the actions, you create a warehouse receipt, and Business Central suggests opening it.
- Handle the document with the vendor. You can send the warehouse receipt to the external vendor, and when you get feedback, you fill in the received quantities manually.
- Skip the bins. Since this location doesn’t use bins, you don’t fill in any bin information.
- Post the warehouse receipt. The posting creates item ledger entries, but no warehouse entries.
In a typical scenario, you might post quantities like three and twelve using only the warehouse receipt document. The whole receive is driven by that single document.
Creating the warehouse receipt manually for multiple purchase orders
You don’t have to start from the purchase order. You can also create the warehouse receipt document manually and import one or several purchase orders into it. This is handy when you want to gather multiple incoming orders into a single receipt and post them together.
Q&A
Can you use warehouse receipts in Business Central without bins?
Yes. You set up the location with the “Require Receive” checkmark enabled, but leave bins and put-aways turned off. The location then uses the warehouse receipt document for incoming goods without requiring bin information.
What entries does Business Central create when you post a warehouse receipt without bins?
Posting creates item ledger entries, but no warehouse entries. Since the location has no bins, there is nothing to track at the warehouse entry level.
When is a warehouse receipt without bins and put-aways useful?
It’s useful for external warehouses, where you want to bundle purchase orders and post ship and receive documents without managing detailed bin locations inside the warehouse.
Can you receive multiple purchase orders on one warehouse receipt?
Yes. You can create the warehouse receipt document manually and import several purchase orders into the same document, then post them together.
What is the first step before creating a warehouse receipt from a purchase order?
You have to release the purchase order first. After releasing, you can create the warehouse receipt from the actions on the document.