The shipping method does not appear on the PDF

You chose a shipping method, but the Espadon PDF does not show it. It is only printed when there is a tracking number. Two ways to get it.

Versions concerned
Dolibarr 20 to 24.0.2 · tested in 20.0.4 and 24.0.1 · fixed only in the development branch (25.0.0-alpha)
What was checked
Tested on 4 October 2026 on 20.0.4 and 24.0.1 instances, Espadon PDFs actually generated and read: method absent without a tracking number (with or without a public note), printed as soon as a number is entered. Copy of the template with the fix, placed in a personal module and enabled through the setup screen: method printed without a number. Template pdf_espadon.modules.php compared in the official code from 20.0.4 to 24.0.2, in the 22.0, 23.0, 24.0 and development branches.

On a shipment, you chose the shipping method: carrier, pick-up, courier. You generate the shipment document with the Espadon template, and the method is nowhere on it.

There is no hidden setting and no missing module. The template only prints the method in one specific case.

The rule of the Espadon template

In the template, the shipping method is written inside the tracking number block. Three conditions are nested:

  1. the block only opens if there is a public note or a tracking number;
  2. the tracking part is only shown if there is a tracking number;
  3. the method is only written if a tracking link could be built, and a method is chosen.

The third condition is met as soon as there is a number: if the method has no tracking address, Dolibarr uses the number itself as the link. So everything depends on the tracking number. Without it, the method is never printed, even with a public note.

The solutions

  1. Enter a tracking number. Without touching the code, the method then appears under the number, with the words “Shipping method”.
  2. Use a modified copy of the template if you want the method even without tracking. Two places must change: add the method to the entry condition of the block, then add a display of the method when there is no number. This change was accepted by the Dolibarr project in the development branch (no. 40198). It is in no published version, nor in the 22, 23 and 24 branches.

For solution 2, do not modify the core file: an upgrade would overwrite it. Copy the template under another name into a personal module (custom/ folder, module that declares it provides document templates), make the two changes in that copy, then enable it in the Shipments module setup.

How this was verified

  • On 20.0.4 and 24.0.1 test instances, with the “generic transport” method: without a tracking number, the method is absent from the PDF, even with a public note; with a number, “Shipping method” appears under the number. In 24.0.1, same result with UPS, which has a tracking address.
  • In 24.0.1: copy of the template with the two changes, placed in a personal module, enabled in the shipments setup and generated from the shipment card: the method appears without a tracking number.
  • In the official code, the three nested conditions are the same from 20.0.4 to 24.0.2; only the development branch contains the fix.

If your documents do not show what they should

If your shipment document must show other information, the custom PDF documents package reworks the template and tests it on your version. For a first opinion, the €90 diagnosis is about looking at your case with you for one hour, then giving you in writing what the change would cost.

Dolibarrshipmentshipping methodEspadonPDFtracking number