Automatic printing of Packing Slips for new orders
Because this original request I made for this was closed when an unrelated feature was introduced, I'm creating a new one.
I would very much like to be able to have the automation in ShipStation be able to print. This would allow me to have it automatically print all new orders that have downloaded, so that warehouse personnel know an order has come in when the printer starts spitting out packing slips. This is something we're used to having in a different product we switched from to ShipStation and it's the main thing we miss. With printing being done through ShipStation Connect now, this should be entirely possible too.
The other thing that would have be added is another feature that ShipStation really does need anyway: an indication of some kind that an order has already been printed. This would allow automation to "print all unprinted orders" as well as greatly reduce the possibility of orders being double-packed when more than 1 person is working shipping. We've had this happen multiple times simply because there's no good way to tell when an order has already been printed right now.
Thank you!!

ShipStation’s new layout (formerly called V3) does currently show when both labels and packing slips have been printed through ShipStation (either via ShipStation Connect or downloaded from the Print pop-up… if you use the browser print option, we cannot track the print status). You can see the print status in the Shipments tab by showing the Label Printed and Packing Slip Printed columns, or by opening the Shipment Details screen.
We will consider the feedback around auto-printing packing slips when orders import, but there are a number of challenges around this approach that need to be overcome (for example, how to handle when the printer workstation is asleep or there is a hardware issue and printing is unsuccessful – ShipStation doesn’t have a way to receive that kind of feedback from the printer and it would not be desirable to show a packing slip as printed when it actually hasn’t been).
Could you let us know what platform you used previously that provided this ability?
123 comments
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Mark Leenheer ShootingTargets7 LLC commented
Wow, people have been asking for this for 7 years now and it is still not available? Serious question, will this ever be implemented? I may stay with Shipworks because of this single issue.
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Tristan Harper StrikeLines.com commented
We'd really like this as well.
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Andrew Tullsen Admagic PP Division commented
We would love this, it would really help our flow, to be able to automatically print packing slips whenever it Shipstation updates from the store.
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Mark Leenheer ShootingTargets7 LLC commented
We're moving over from Shipworks and it does this. Our packers are already complaining because Shipstation will not. I would think this would be a super easy automation?
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I would vote that there is a config setting added to:
1) Automatically print the picking list when the order loads to ShipStation
2) Automatically prints the packing list when you mark the order as shipped. -
Daniel Kauffman Popular Patch commented
Add two automation rule actions, one to "Print Packing Slip" and one to "Print Label". Each of these actions would have a drop-down menu allowing selection of the target printer. The list of possible printers would include all of the printers configured and shared via ShipStation Connect.
Using automation rule actions has a lot of benefits, such as allowing packing slips and labels to be printed to specific printers. For example, priority orders could be printed to a dedicated printer for priority processing.
Ideally, the automation rule actions would print packing slips and labels automatically whenever the automation rule is triggered, not just when the order is first imported into ShipStation.
We're fine with orders printing in the middle of the night or over the weekend. It works better in fact, because the printer doesn't overheat when printing out orders on Monday morning. And the warehouse team has something to do when they arrive each morning, without having to manually print everything before getting started.
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GUNNAR BJORKLAND EMBIE INDUSTRIES INC commented
Any updates on this? It would be EXTREMELY HELPFUL! Also, any way to auto refresh the marketplaces for orders so I don't have to do it a hundred times a day? It's kind of archaic
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Kyle Harper K&Y Books commented
Does anyone know if there is Auto Print for packing slips when an order comes in? Looking to see if it has been added.
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Ray Sims AskDrDJ.com commented
This would be very helpful for our small business as well. It would allow us to grab a sheet from the printer. Pick and pack then use the scan to print barcode to print the label. As far as when it prints, we wouldn't be super picky. If it's an automation rule that would be best. Then we could configure it to work any way we wanted.
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StickerTalk, LLC. commented
Any updates? This would be a time saver for us. Currently we have set up Tags to keep track of what has been printed and what hasn't. But while that works for us, it is still time consuming to do. This would speed that process up for us and save some time. You haven't responded in almost two years to this request. As of this posting it has 301 votes. Can you give us an update?
Jeff
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StickerTalk, LLC. commented
An automation rule would be great, because then I could determine which orders get printed and when. If I also had the ability to also choose the printer through the automation rule that would be even better. Then I could print international orders to one printer and domestic to another.
For example, (If "International order" print to Canon 1.) (If "Domestic order" print to Canon 2) and run these rules for all orders when they are imported.
If I can't have any of that, just print them to my default packing list printer when they come in. It would save lots of time.
Jeff
StickerTalk.com -
Kevin Silovich Axis Industries USA commented
is there any update on this. We are needing an auto print packing slip function for our shipstation account.
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Kevin Latimer Celebrate Vitamins commented
Just add auto print, it really does not matter if it runs over the weekend. Would be one less thing to do in the morning.
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grips4less commented
We would appreciate an automation feature that marks a packing slip as "PRINTED" so we don't re-print and potentially ship out duplicate orders. We currently use Bright Pearl to print our packing lists because they have this feature. However, we would much prefer to use Shipstation so we can integrate other automation features around shipping. Inability to prevent duplicate packing notes is one of the biggest drawbacks of Shipstation.
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StickerTalk, LLC. commented
This is a great idea! I really like the automation rule idea. We would use this. That way when we show up at work in the morning, our orders from overnight would already be sitting on the printer and every time a new order was imported, it would be printed. I'm out of votes or I would give this idea 3.
Jeff
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Arnav Kejriwal MET International Online commented
We would also love to see this customizable for any document (aka, we would like to auto-print the order summary for each order as it comes in).
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Arnav Kejriwal MET International Online commented
@Kenneth Brown "In Automation rules add print label, print packing slip. Boom"
Exactly! This is what we need. ShipRush offers this.
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benp commented
I think it would be a cool idea if ShipStation had an automation rule that automatically printed off the set packing slip template for every order that pulls into shipstation after you hit the refresh button.
This would make it so we didn't have to use the packing slip from our inventory software to search for our orders on shipstation, and would intern save us time.
We plan on using the ShipStation packing slip in label for (4x6) to easily place the packing slip on the outside of the package and use the new Scan to Print feature introduced by ShipStation.
What do you guys think of this idea? -
Kenneth Brown Tempus Media LLC commented
In Automation rules add print label, print packing slip. Boom
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Static commented
I have been searching for a way to auto-print new orders. Day or night, as they come in. Printers are always online. Many of our products could also have their shipping labels printed automatically using existing automation rules. Just give me a "print packing slip" and "print shipping label" action. We have all our printers connected through shipstation connect already, this should be cake!