Receive and pick from a phone in OpenBoxes Lift

Much of a stockroom's work happens away from a desk: at the dock and in the aisles. OpenBoxes Lift Mobile is our handheld scanning app for that work. It is in beta, and it runs in the browser on a phone or a handheld scanner, against your own OpenBoxes. This article walks through what receiving and picking look like on it, what stays on the desktop, and how to get a team started. The full setup reference is in Handheld Scanning.

What you need before the first scan#

There is nothing to buy and nothing to turn on. The handheld beta works the same on every plan: on Shared, on Dedicated, and on Enterprise, which runs on Dedicated, Look up, receiving, picking and shipping are all in beta. It is included on every plan at no extra charge during the beta.

It is not in an app store. On the device, open Chrome and go to your instance address followed by /handheld/, for example https://acme.openboxes.cloud/handheld/. Added to the home screen, it appears as Lift Mobile.

Workers sign in with their OpenBoxes username or email and password. A teammate in the OpenBoxes Lift portal who has no OpenBoxes password can tap Sign in through the portal and sign in with their portal email and password. A teammate who only ever uses Google, Microsoft or GitHub for the portal should ask their OpenBoxes administrator for an OpenBoxes password instead.

What each worker sees depends on their OpenBoxes role at that location, which your OpenBoxes administrator sets in OpenBoxes:

• Browser: Look up only.
• Assistant, Manager, Admin or Superuser: Look up, Receive, and Pick and ship.
• No role, or a role below Browser: none of them.

Before handing out devices, check that the people who receive and pick have at least the Assistant role there.

Receiving a delivery#

Receive works on an inbound shipment that is already in OpenBoxes. The worker opens it on the handheld and receives it line by line.

Two buttons matter, and the team should know both on day one:

• Save line saves that line to OpenBoxes. There is no separate copy of the data: a line saved on the handheld is a line saved in OpenBoxes.
• Complete finishes the receipt. Received stock is added to the location only when someone taps Complete.

A few working rules keep this clean:

• One person saves the first line of a shipment before anyone else starts on it.
• One person works on each line.
• One person completes the receipt.
• Nobody keeps the same shipment open on the desktop receiving screen while it is being received on a handheld.
• A quantity that was already saved is changed on the desktop, not on the handheld.

Lines saved from a handheld carry a short code starting hh: in their Comment in OpenBoxes. Tell your desktop team to leave it as it is.

For what to record when stock arrives (lot numbers, expiry dates, bins), see Lot numbers at receipt and the Receiving guide.

Picking and sending a request#

Pick and ship works on a request whose pick list has already been made on the desktop. The worker picks it bin by bin on the handheld, then sends it with Send. Stock leaves the location only at Send.

If your location uses packing, packing and sending stay on the desktop, and the app does not offer Send there. The Stock Movements guide describes the request, pick, pack and ship steps in OpenBoxes itself.

If someone substitutes a product or changes a quantity on that request on the desktop, the handheld makes the request read-only and saves nothing more on it; the request is finished on the desktop.

What stays on the desktop#

In the beta, the handheld:

• does not save offline. Saving needs a connection. Without one, the app says "Offline. Nothing is saved until the connection returns." and saves nothing.
• does not print labels, or do cycle counts or putaway.
• does not change a quantity that was already saved, clear a pick list, or substitute a product.

Corrections are made by your own team in OpenBoxes on the desktop.

Devices#

The app is built for Chrome on Android phones and handhelds. It is not validated or certified by Zebra or any other device maker. Camera scanning never works on an iPhone; there, scan with a Bluetooth scanner that types like a keyboard.

If you use a scanner that types like a keyboard, set it to send Enter after each scan; that is how the app knows a scan has finished.

Before the first real delivery, open Diagnostics (the link at the bottom of every screen) and use the Scanner test. It shows what your scanner sends and changes nothing in OpenBoxes.

Shared devices and shift changes#

A floor device is usually passed around, so:

• Tap Switch worker at every hand-over and at the end of a shift. Closing the app does not sign anyone out.
• The app signs a worker out after 15 minutes without use.

Each sign-in to Lift Mobile is recorded in the Platform Log on your Instance page as "Handheld app sign-in", with the worker's name and username. On Dedicated, sign-ins through the portal are recorded by username.

Who controls it#

In the OpenBoxes Lift portal, Devices & sensors (under Resources in the menu) has a Handheld tab with a link and a QR code to open the app on a phone. Its What workers can do card has three switches for your site: Look up, Receive and Pick and ship, all on by default. Only the account owner or an Admin can change them, and saves and picks usually follow a change within 2 minutes.

During the beta we may turn picking, saving or the whole app off if we find a problem, and turn it back on once it is fixed. OpenBoxes on the desktop keeps working as usual. If we pause it for your site, we email your account owner and Admins when we do and when it is back on.

When something goes wrong#

On the device, open Diagnostics and tap Copy for support. The worker sends that report to their supervisor, who pastes it into the support chat in the OpenBoxes Lift portal. If the app says "Nothing was saved." or "Nothing was sent.", nothing reached OpenBoxes and it is safe to try again.

Summary#

• Lift Mobile is a beta, included on every plan at no extra charge during the beta, and works the same on Shared, Dedicated and Enterprise.
• Open your instance address followed by /handheld/ in Chrome; workers need at least the Assistant role at their location to receive and pick.
• On Receive, Save line saves each line and Complete adds the stock. On Pick and ship, stock leaves only at Send.
• Saving needs a connection, and corrections, packing, labels, counts and putaway stay on the desktop.
• See Handheld Scanning for setup, and the handheld scanning page for the beta terms.