How to auto-print Shopify orders: four approaches compared

The four approaches

Shopify Order Printer, Shopify's own free app, is an example of the first approach. See Autoprinter vs Shopify Order Printer.

Questions to ask any auto-print app

Automatic printing means different things in different apps. These questions show what an app really prints on its own, and Autoprinter's answer to each.

1. Can it print the shipping labels I buy in Shopify?

   Shopify's developer docs describe how an app that buys a label through Shopify gets the label file back. They don't describe a way for an app to read a label you bought yourself in Shopify admin. So an app either buys labels through its own integration or captures the label in your browser. Ask which one, and whether you can keep buying labels in Shopify.

   Autoprinter: Buy the label in Shopify and click Print shipping label as you always do. Autoprinter sends it straight to your label printer with zero extra clicks: no print dialog, preview or printer choice. The Autoprinter Chrome Extension captures the label in Google Chrome and sends it to the Desktop Utility, which prints it. You keep buying labels in Shopify; Autoprinter doesn't sell labels.

2. Which documents can print automatically?

   Automatic printing can mean one packing slip, or every document an order needs. List the documents that go in your boxes and check each one.

   Autoprinter: Packing slips, invoices, return slips and gift receipts print automatically when an order is placed, paid or fulfilled, once you turn on Automatic Printing. Sample templates add sales receipts, kitchen tickets and pickup slips. A pick slip covers many orders at once, and Shopify Flow can print one on a schedule.

3. Can different paper go to different printers?

   Many shops print sheets, 4 × 6 labels and receipts on different printers. Check that each document reaches the right printer without you choosing it every time.

   Autoprinter: Each template has a paper size: Letter, A4, 4 × 6 inch thermal labels, or 80 mm or 58 mm receipt rolls. The paper size decides which printer gets the document, so sheets, labels and receipts each come out of their own printer. Shipping labels follow the same rule: customs forms and other full-page paperwork that Shopify gives you with a label print on your Letter or A4 printer when you have one, and the 4 × 6 label prints on your label printer.

4. Can it choose the document per order?

   Wholesale orders may need a different invoice, and orders from another sales channel a different packing slip. Ask what the app can look at when it decides.

   Autoprinter: Print Rules pick the template, and the Print Station, for each order. A rule can match the order source, sales channel, app, tags, payment status, fulfillment status, order note, ship-to state or country, fulfillment location, order total, payment method, shipping method, product title, SKU and product collection.

5. What about orders shipped from more than one location?

   When Shopify splits an order across locations, each location packs only its own items, so each needs its own paperwork.

   Autoprinter: Each fulfillment location gets its own packing slip listing only its items, and a Print Rule can send it to the Print Station at that location. The invoice still covers the whole order, and a split order counts once toward your monthly orders. If you pack every order in one place, choose one set per order instead.

6. Does it work with Shopify Flow and Sidekick?

   Flow lets you print on conditions of your own, on a schedule or after a delay, and react when something goes wrong at the printer.

   Autoprinter: Six Flow actions print an order's Print Chain, packing slip, invoice, return slip or gift receipt, or one pick list for your open orders. Four Flow triggers run when a document prints, a print fails, a Print Station goes offline or you near your monthly order limit. Sidekick can tell you how many orders you have left this month, whether your printer is connected, what printed today and why an order didn't print.

7. What happens when the computer is off?

   Automatic printing still needs a computer and a printer. Ask what happens to orders that arrive while the computer is off, and how you find out when something is stuck.

   Autoprinter: Jobs wait in Print History and print when the computer is awake and the Desktop Utility is running again. If a computer stops partway through a job, the job goes back in the queue after five minutes and can be picked up again. Autoprinter warns you when a Print Station stops picking up jobs. After a long outage, a waiting job's document or label link can expire before it prints.

8. What languages do documents print in?

   If you ship abroad, check the printed wording and the date, price and address formats, not just the text you type into a template.

   Autoprinter: Built-in templates print in English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch or Italian and lay out addresses for each destination country. Dates and prices follow the region you choose on every template. Custom and sample templates keep the wording you wrote, and the app's own screens are in English.

9. How is it priced?

   Check what is counted, which features each plan includes, and whether anything else needs its own subscription.

   Autoprinter: By orders a month only. Free covers 50 orders a month. Basic is $10 a month for 500 orders, Pro $30 for 2,500, and Unlimited $100 for unlimited orders. Paid plans have no trial; start on Free. Every feature is on every plan, an order counts once however many documents it prints, and printing from your browser never counts toward the allowance.

Things to know about Autoprinter

• Printing straight to a printer, including automatic printing and shipping labels, needs a Windows or macOS computer running the Autoprinter Desktop Utility. Keep that computer awake while you print. Printing from your browser needs nothing installed.
• It doesn't run on a POS device, phone or tablet.
• Label capture works in Google Chrome on a computer. Autoprinter prints the labels you buy in Shopify; it doesn't sell labels.
• The Free plan covers 50 orders a month sent to your printers. Past that you need a paid plan, starting at $10 a month.
• Custom templates use HTML and CSS with Handlebars-style variables such as {{order.name}}, not Liquid.