Printer Troubleshooting

Start with Print History: it shows whether a job entered the queue, which Print Station it targets, and any recorded error. Expand a job for its details and timeline.

For help with a particular job, use Report a problem in its details. That opens Contact support with the job attached. You can also click Need help? anywhere inside Autoprinter.

Find your problem#

• Nothing prints
• Shipping labels do not print
• A job is stuck on Pending or on Claimed
• A job is marked Failed
• The Desktop Utility or Chrome Extension says an update is required
• The wrong printer or paper size is used
• Prints are blurry, cut off, or the wrong scale
• A 58 mm receipt is clipped or has a wide margin
• A device was revoked, or pairing failed
• The app and the Desktop Utility disagree about health
• Extra or duplicate documents print

Nothing prints#

1. Check how you started printing. Shopify's Print menu opens a browser preview. Use the browser's print controls to finish. More actions → Auto Print Chain queues documents for the Desktop Utility.
2. Check Print History. If no job appears, check any message from the print action, your monthly order allowance, and whether Print Chain has a printable step with an enabled template. A skipped step or order blocked by the plan limit will not appear as a waiting job.
3. Check Printer Setup. Find the targeted Print Station. Open the Desktop Utility on that computer and check its connection, pairing, and pause state.
4. Check printer assignments. In the Desktop Utility's Printers card, assign the slots you use: Label printer, Document printer, and Receipt printer. Leave the others empty.
5. Try an operating-system test page. Check that the printer is powered on, has paper, and is reachable. A printer or driver problem outside Autoprinter must be resolved there first.

If a printer is missing from the list or its status is stuck, click Refresh in the Printers card. To update the Desktop Utility (1.11+), open Settings → Check for updates. It also checks on its own about a minute after launch and every 4 hours.

For automatic documents, also review Settings → Automatic Printing: the feature must be enabled and the order must meet the selected trigger and filters. See Automatic Printing, Print Chain, and Billing FAQ.

Shipping labels do not print#

Open the Chrome Extension popup on the computer where you purchase or print Shopify labels.

• Confirm the extension is paired to the correct shop.
• Turn on Auto-print labels.
• Check Print shipping labels on and choose the intended Print Station.
• Review any connection, update, or monthly-limit message.
• Confirm the selected station's Desktop Utility is running with a label printer assigned.

The Chrome Extension captures labels; Automatic Printing settings control order documents separately. Document Print Rules do not choose the destination for captured labels.

If a label was blocked before reaching the queue, print the label again in Shopify after fixing the cause. Check Print History first to avoid creating an unnecessary duplicate.

Print job stuck “pending”#

A pending job is waiting for a Desktop Utility to claim it. Check:

• The assigned Print Station's computer is awake and the Desktop Utility is running and not paused.
• Its internet connection works.
• The Desktop Utility is paired to the station shown on the job.
• The printer needed for that job is assigned and available.

Jobs wait for their assigned station; a different station being online does not mean it will pick them up.

If Autoprinter shows Not picking up jobs, quit and reopen the Desktop Utility, then watch Print History. This warning can appear even when a station reports a connection, because a connected utility can still have a stalled print processor.

Keep your computer awake (for Automatic Printing)#

Queued printing runs only while the Print Station's computer is awake and the Desktop Utility is running. Pending jobs generally wait when the computer sleeps, but an old job's temporary preview or shipping-label download link may expire before it prints.

Keep the computer plugged in and prevent system sleep during printing hours:

• macOS: open System Settings and adjust the battery, energy, or sleep settings for your model so it stays awake while plugged in.
• Windows: open Settings → System → Power and adjust the sleep settings.

The display can turn off while the computer remains awake. The How to keep your computer awake link in Settings → Automatic Printing provides platform guidance.

Print job stuck “claimed”#

Claimed means a Desktop Utility has taken responsibility for the job. A claim has a five-minute recovery window: after that, an unfinished claim can be picked up again when the station polls.

Confirm the utility is still running. If the job remains stuck after that window, quit and reopen the utility, then check the job's timeline. Contact support if it still does not progress.

If paper already printed but the job never completed, inspect the physical output before retrying or printing it again. A connection failure after printing can leave the server without a completion update.

Print job marked “failed”#

Expand the job and read its error. Fix the cause, then click Retry beside the failed job. You can also select failed jobs and use the bulk Retry action.

Retry requeues the existing job. It does not rerender the document, apply your latest template edits, or renew an expired preview or label URL.

Use Clear only when you no longer need the failed record; it removes the record from Print History. See Print History for filters, job details, and retention.

Wrong paper size or printer#

You never choose a printer on a template. You choose its Paper size, and the Desktop Utility sends the job to the printer assigned to the matching slot:

So when a document comes out of the wrong printer, check two things in this order.

1. The template's paper size. Open the template in its editor and look at Paper size. If it is wrong, change it, check that the preview still looks right, and Save. Built-in templates offer Letter and A4. For receipt or label paper, use a sample or your own custom template. Only Thermal label (4 × 6 in) templates have an orientation setting.
2. The slot on the computer that prints. Open the Desktop Utility's Printers card and confirm the slot from the table above points at the printer you expect. An empty slot is fine if you never print that paper. If a job needs a slot that is empty, the job fails and names the missing printer; assign one and retry the job.

Start a new print after changing a template. Retrying an existing job uses its existing content.

Then check the Desktop Utility's printer assignments. If two printers have confusingly similar names, rename them in your operating system's printer settings and select them again.

Blurry, clipped, or badly scaled output#

Start with Fit to page. It is the quickest fix, and one click turns it back off.

1. On the computer that prints, open the Desktop Utility and find the Printers card.
2. Find the slot for the printer that is misbehaving: Label printer, Document printer, or Receipt printer.
3. Turn on Fit to page on that slot’s row.
4. Print the document again as a new job.

Fit to page shrinks each page to the paper your printer reports, and starts it at the top of the paper. It never enlarges a page. It helps most when the page is bigger than the paper. A 4 × 6 template sent to a narrower roll is the usual case: without it, the right side of the page is cut off. It works the same way on Windows and macOS.

Leave it off for a printer whose prints already come out the right size. The switch applies to every page sent to that slot, shipping labels included.

If the print is still wrong, work down this list:

• Paper size and slot. Confirm the template's Paper size, then check that the matching slot is assigned to the printer you expect.
• The preview. If the preview in the editor is already clipped, the printer is not the problem. Fix the template's layout or margins.
• Label printers. Load 4 × 6-inch stock and select that size in the printer driver.
• Receipt printers. In the printer driver, select the 80 mm or 58 mm roll paper setting that matches your template and loaded roll (drivers call it roll, receipt, or variable length). That setting is what lets the printer cut at the end of each slip. Receipt templates use 72 mm of printable width for an 80 mm roll and 48 mm for a 58 mm roll.
• Blurry output. Check the printer's quality settings and the resolution of the source image.
• Browser printing. The Desktop Utility is not involved. Review the browser's paper size, scaling, and orientation settings.

A successful print command means the job was accepted by the printing system; it does not confirm the physical page came out correctly.

My 58 mm receipt is clipped, too narrow, or has a wide blank margin#

Open the template and select Receipt (58 mm roll). On the Print Station, update the Desktop Utility to 1.12.0 or newer. Set the printer and its driver to 58 mm paper, then load a 58 mm roll. Load the roll that matches your template.

An 80 mm template is wider than a 58 mm roll and can be clipped. A 58 mm template on an 80 mm roll can look narrow with blank space beside it. For an 80 mm roll, choose Receipt (80 mm roll) and set the printer and driver to 80 mm. Check the editor preview, save any changes, and start a new print.

Update required#

Desktop Utility. A banner that says Update required means this computer is running a version that is too old to keep printing. Download the current version from downloads.autoprinter.app/utility and install it over the top. Your pairing and printer assignments are kept. Jobs that waited while it was out of date print once the new version opens.

Normal updates install themselves: when one is ready you see Update ready with Restart now and Later, and a Restart to install item in the tray menu.

Chrome Extension. If the popup says Label capture paused with a message that the extension is below the minimum supported version, update it: open chrome://extensions, turn on Developer mode, and click Update. Chrome also updates extensions by itself in the background.

Device revoked or pairing failed#

Uninstalling Autoprinter, revoking a device, or pairing a replacement into the same Label Source or Print Station invalidates the previous device token.

If the app is installed, generate a new pairing code in Printer Setup and pair the affected client again. Codes are single-use and expire after 15 minutes. Use a Label Source code for the extension and a Print Station code for the Desktop Utility.

A network “connection refused” message can also mean the service is unreachable; check connectivity before assuming a token problem.

The app and the Desktop Utility show different health#

The clients and dashboard update at different times. Pairing, recent heartbeats, printer health, pause state, and the print processor's activity are separate signals. A “connected” indicator alone does not confirm that jobs are being picked up.

Refresh Autoprinter, inspect the station's details, and open the Desktop Utility. Follow the specific warning. If jobs are waiting despite a healthy connection, try quitting and reopening the utility before re-pairing.

Unwanted documents or duplicate prints#

Review your Print Chain, Print Rules, and Automatic Printing.

• A chain step configured to print only when a rule matches skips orders that have no matching rule.
• Automatic Printing can start documents on the chosen Shopify event. Manually running Print Chain can create another print.
• Copies configured for a chain step intentionally produce multiple copies.

If you cannot explain a duplicate, contact support from one of the affected jobs and include the other job ID or order number.

Contact support#

Click Report a problem in the affected job's details, or Need help? inside Autoprinter. Include what you expected, what happened, and the affected order number. The form automatically includes technical context; its What we include section explains what is sent. Do not paste customer names or addresses.

If the problem involves the Desktop Utility, open its Settings → Export Diagnostics and save the bundle. Email it, along with useful screenshots, to support@autoprinter.app. The support form does not accept file uploads.

The support form lists an average response time of one business day.