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How Autoprinter works

Updated · 5 min read

On this page

Autoprinter prints your Shopify order paperwork and shipping labels with as few clicks as you want, down to none. This page explains the pieces, what each one does, and which ones you actually need.

The short version#

Three settings decide what comes out of your printer:

  • Templates decide what a document looks like.
  • Print Rules choose the template. Print Chain chooses the documents. Automatic Printing chooses when the chain runs.
  • Print Stations decide which computer and printer the paper comes out of.

Everything else in the app is there to set up, check, or fix one of those three.

Four ways to print#

You can use one of these or all four. Each one builds on the one before it.

Way to print What happens What you need
Print from your browser Open an order, choose Print → Autoprinter, pick a document, and print the preview like any web page. A template. Nothing to install.
Auto Print Chain (one click) Choose More actions → Auto Print Chain on one order, or on many selected orders. Every document in your Print Chain goes straight to your printers. Templates, a Print Chain, and a Print Station.
Automatic Printing (no clicks) Your Print Chain runs by itself when an order is placed, paid, or fulfilled. The same setup, with Automatic Printing turned on in Settings.
Shipping labels (no extra clicks) Buy a label in Shopify as usual. The label prints on your label printer without a print dialog. A Label Source and a Print Station.
How it works
Which part of Autoprinter does what?
The Chrome Extension captures purchased labels. The Desktop Utility prints queued work. Browser previews can print without either companion app.

The parts, and where each one runs#

The Autoprinter app, inside Shopify admin. This is where you design templates, build Print Rules and your Print Chain, turn on Automatic Printing, and check Print History. It also adds Print → Autoprinter and More actions → Auto Print Chain to your orders.

The Desktop Utility, on the computer connected to your printers. Once paired, that computer is a Print Station. It checks for new jobs every few seconds and sends each one to the right printer. It runs on Windows and macOS. See Browser + OS Support.

The Chrome Extension, in the browser where you buy shipping labels. Once paired, that browser is a Label Source. When you print a shipping label in Shopify, the extension captures the label and sends it to your Print Station. You only need it for shipping labels.

The Label Source and the Print Station can be the same computer or different ones. Buy labels on a laptop at your desk and have them print across the room.

How a document finds the right printer#

You never pick a printer on a template. You pick a paper size, and the paper size picks the printer:

Paper size Prints on
Letter or A4 The Print Station's Document printer
Thermal label (4 × 6 in) The Label printer
An 80 mm or 58 mm receipt roll The Receipt printer

Assign only the printers you own. A shop with one office printer fills in the Document printer and leaves the other two empty.

With more than one Print Station, documents go to your default station unless a Print Rule sends them somewhere else. Shops that ship from several locations can print each location's part of an order at that location. See Multi-Location Printing.

What happens when an order prints automatically#

  1. Shopify tells Autoprinter that an order was placed, paid, or fulfilled, depending on the trigger you chose.
  2. Autoprinter walks your Print Chain. For each document type in the chain, Print Rules pick the template, or the default template is used.
  3. Each document becomes a job in Print History, marked Pending.
  4. Your Print Station picks the job up, prints it, and marks it Completed. If the printer is off or out of paper, the job is marked Failed and you can retry it.

If the computer is asleep or the Desktop Utility is closed, jobs wait. They print when the station comes back.

What Autoprinter does not do#

  • It does not buy shipping labels. You buy labels in Shopify; Autoprinter prints them.
  • It does not print while the printer computer is asleep or off. Jobs wait until it wakes.
  • It does not print orders from before you turned Automatic Printing on. You can still print older orders yourself with Auto Print Chain.
  • It does not change your orders, products, or customers. It only reads what it needs to print.

What it costs#

Every plan, including Free, has every feature on this page. Plans differ only by how many orders you can send to your printers each month. Browser printing is never counted. See the Billing FAQ.

Where to go next#