Return lists

Return list fields, status flow, and line status values.

Updated October 29, 2026

A Return List instructs an operator to collect tools or items from a machine, a Warehouse Access Point, or a completed Pick List, and bring them back into storage. Like Pick Lists, Return Lists live in the Inventory module (Inventory → Return Lists), since returning stock is a warehouse operation shared by every module.

Document fields

Field	Description
Number	Auto-generated identifier.
Source	The Machine, Warehouse Access Point, or Picklist the items are being collected from.
Warehouse Access Point	The WAP the items are being returned to.
Status	See Status flow below.

Line fields

Field	Description
Item / Tool	The item or serialized piece being returned. For a serialized piece, the serial rows show its current Condition, which a return doesn’t change (see Serialized Items Reference).
Quantity	Number of units being returned.
Destination	The storage location the item is routed to. On a return list started from a tool, Tooling Metrics prefills it from the item’s stock rule for the returned pieces’ condition — see Destination prefill below — but it can be overridden manually.
Line Status	See Line status values below.

Destination prefill

A return list started from a tool, from the tool’s Items List tab or at a WAP terminal, prefills each line’s destination with the location of the item’s stock rule at the return list’s Warehouse Access Point whose condition matches the returned pieces.

A cutting edge item goes by its cutting edge’s condition:

Cutting edge condition	Prefilled stock rule
Used	Used
Pre-warning, Warning, Expired	For service
Broken	For scrap
Uncut	Unused
Unknown	Used

Any other serialized item goes by each piece’s condition:

Serialized item condition	Prefilled stock rule
Used	Used
Need service	For service
Scrapped	For scrap
Brand new	Brand new, or Unused if the item has no Brand new rule
Refurbished	Refurbished, or Unused if the item has no Refurbished rule

An item that is both serialized and a cutting edge item goes by its cutting edge’s condition.
Any other item goes to its Used rule.
Pieces of different conditions go on separate lines.
When several rules match, Tooling Metrics fills each up to its Max Capacity, against the location’s forecast (on-hand minus pending outgoing plus pending incoming), then the next. Pieces that no matching rule has room for go on a line without a destination.
When no rule matches, the line has no destination: choose one before you save.
With Return List checked under Restrict storage locations base on item condition and stock rules (see Preferences), the destination list offers the locations of the item’s Used, For service and For scrap rules, plus the Unused, Brand new or Refurbished location a line was prefilled with. From the tool’s page, an item with no Used, For service or For scrap rule at the Warehouse Access Point can’t be returned.

Status flow

Status	Set by	Description
Draft	—	Lines are being added. No inventory impact.
Waiting	Mark as Todo	Requested, but at least one line isn’t fully available to return yet.
Ready	Mark as Todo or Check Availability	Every line is ready to be returned.
Done	Validate	Confirmed. Items move from In Circulation back into inventory at their destination locations. Returning tools from a Machine also opens the Record cutting edge usage step — see Record tool runtime.
Cancelled	Cancel	Discarded. No inventory impact.

Line status values

Status	Description
Waiting	Not yet confirmed as returned.
Partial Available / Available	Reserved to return, in full or in part.
Done	Returned — set automatically for every available line when the return list is validated.
Cancelled	Line discarded with the return list.

Returning at the WAP

As with Pick Lists, the physical placement — walking the item to its destination and confirming — happens at a ToolingMetrics WAP terminal, using the same Mark as Todo / Check Availability / Validate actions shown on the terminal’s screen.