Auto-print labels and documents

With automatic printing, the label comes out of your label printer the moment you send a shipment. Packing slips and invoices can print on your document printer at the same time. You do not need to click Print on the shipment. You can turn it on in two places:

1. On a shipping rule, with Print labels automatically and Print documents automatically. This is the usual setup, because every shipment that uses the rule prints the same way.
2. On one shipment without a shipping rule, by choosing its printers.

Before you start, you need an Active label printer for labels and an Active document printer for packing slips and invoices, with Zippendo Printer running on their computer. See Set up Zippendo Printer. The full journey: Labels and printing.

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On a shipping rule

The Label printer list only shows active label printers, and the Document printer list only active document printers. If you have none, the list says No approved label printers available or No approved document printers available. The rest of the shipping rule is explained in Shipping rule fields.

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Which documents print

Print labels automatically prints every label on the shipment. Print documents automatically prints every other document on the shipment. There is no way to pick only some document types. Zippendo only prints documents that exist. Some come from the carrier together with the label. Others Zippendo creates when you turn them on in the Document generation card of the same shipping rule (click Configure): Some carriers create the customs declaration and commercial invoice themselves. For those carriers the two invoice settings are hidden, and the rule says that the carrier returns them with the label. These are the documents you can find in the Documents card on a shipment page. Everything except Label goes to the document printer: More about these documents: Customs and documents.

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On a shipment without a shipping rule

A shipment without a shipping rule prints automatically when it has printers chosen on it:

• A Label printer chosen: the label prints when you send the shipment.
• A Document printer chosen: all other documents print when you send the shipment.

There is no separate switch. Choosing a printer turns automatic printing on, and None turns it off. You choose the printers in the Printer settings box on Create shipment, or later with Configure in the shipment’s Printer settings box. See Shipment printer settings.

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Rule or shipment: which one wins

When you send a shipment, Zippendo looks for a shipping rule on the shipment, then on its order.

• There is a rule: only the rule’s Automatic printing settings count. Printers chosen on the shipment are ignored for automatic printing.
• There is no rule: the printers chosen on the shipment count.

If the carrier sends the label later, for example after you click Fetch label on the shipment, the label also prints automatically.

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Automations do not print yet

Under Automations you can add the steps Print label and Print document. They do not print anything yet. Use a shipping rule or the shipment’s printers for printing that works. See Automations.

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If nothing prints

• The shipment was not sent. Automatic printing happens when you send the shipment, not when you create or save it.
• No printer is chosen. Open the rule, click Configure on the Automatic printing card and check that a printer is chosen for Print labels automatically or Print documents automatically.
• The shipment uses a shipping rule. Then the printers on the shipment are not used. Check the rule’s Automatic printing card.
• The printer is not Active. On Printers, the status must be Active. A printer that is Pending approval or Disabled gets nothing.
• The printer is Offline. The print job waits until Zippendo Printer runs again on that computer. See Printer offline or not printing.
• A document is missing. Print documents automatically needs documents on the shipment. Click Configure on the Document generation card and turn on Generate packing slip (and the invoices if you need them). If a document is in the Documents card but did not print, click Print in its row’s menu.

Follow each print on the printer’s Jobs tab: Printer jobs.

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