# Fishbowl: "Cannot fulfill items" — SO must be Issued or In Progress

> Fulfillment is only allowed when the sales order status is Issued or In Progress.

## What triggers it
The sales order's status is not Issued or In Progress. Common blocking states: Estimate or Quote (order not yet issued), Fulfilled (fulfillment already complete), or Closed (order archived). Fulfillment is only available for active orders.

## Why Fishbowl blocks it
Fulfillment is meant for active, confirmed orders. Trying to fulfill an Estimate or Quote would ship an uncommitted order. Trying to re-fulfill a Closed or Fulfilled order would corrupt inventory and shipment records, so Fishbowl prevents it.

## What to do
Open the sales order header and check its status. If it is Estimate or Quote, issue the order first by changing the status to Issued. If it is Fulfilled or Closed, verify the fulfillment is correct and check shipment records. For stuck orders in an unexpected state, change the status back to Issued to unlock fulfillment.

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*From Israel Lopez Consulting (ILC). Custom Fishbowl Inventory integrations and software, and Fishbowl experts since 2015. Written by Israel Lopez. Questions about this topic, or want to reach the people who wrote it? Visit https://israellopezconsulting.com/contact*