Guides for connecting your store, building document templates, automating printing and email, and configuring your account. Search above or pick a topic from the menu.
Getting started
Getting Started with Printout Designer
This guide will help you get started with Printout Designer and walk you through the key first steps so you can quickly find your way around.
To give you enough time to explore everything, we offer a 14-day free trial so you can try all features and see how it fits your workflow before making a decision.
Store connection
First, you need to connect Printout Designer to your e-commerce store. The setup process varies depending on your platform:
Shopify, BigCommerce, and Ecwid: Connected automatically during installation.
Once the connection is completed, your Orders and Products are automatically synced and ready to use.
Where to start
Now that your store is connected and your data is ready, it is normal to wonder where to start, especially if you are using Printout Designer for the first time.
The following steps will walk you through the key parts of the setup, so you can quickly understand what data is available from your e-commerce store, how templates are created, and how you can automate your document workflow.
1. Explore your data
A good first step is to understand what data is available from your store and how you can use it inside templates. This will give you confidence that you already have everything needed to create your documents. If you are unsure which data can be accessed, our guide on How to View Available Data will help you get oriented.
2. Configure your templates
We provide several default templates that are available immediately after setup and can be used without any configuration. You can find them on the Document Templates page, where you can preview or open them using the three-dot menu. If the default templates do not fully meet your needs, you can either customize them or create new ones from scratch. To learn how to do both, see How to Create Document Templates and Master the Template Editor.
3. Enable automatic printing (optional)
If you want to automatically print documents from your orders, you can use PrintNode for direct printing to your connected printer. PrintNode is a service that sends documents straight to your printer without manual steps. It is especially useful when you want documents to be printed automatically based on store triggers such as a new order being created. To get started, you first need to activate your PrintNode account — see Activating Your PrintNode Account.
If you're just getting started, it's completely normal to still be exploring how everything fits together. This guide is meant to give you a simple starting point for using Printout Designer.
For anything beyond this introduction, our support portal also includes additional articles covering more advanced features and workflows. If you need any help at any point, you can always contact us at support@printoutdesigner.com.
Store connection
Connecting Your WooCommerce Store to Printout Designer
To connect your WooCommerce store to Printout Designer, make sure your store meets the following requirements.
After signing up, your 14-day free trial will start and you will be automatically redirected to the setup page where you can connect your WooCommerce store.
Step 2 — Generate WooCommerce API keys
Printout Designer connects to WooCommerce using the REST API. In your WordPress admin panel:
Navigate to WooCommerce → Settings → Advanced → REST API.
Click Create an API key or Add Key to create a new API key.
Set the key permissions to Read/Write.
This allows Printout Designer to access your orders and products and create webhooks for automation rules. For a detailed guide on enabling and configuring the WooCommerce REST API, see the official WooCommerce documentation.
Step 3 — Complete the connection
Return to the setup page in Printout Designer and enter your store URL, along with the Consumer Key and Consumer Secret that you generated in the previous step.
Once these details are saved, your WooCommerce store will be connected to Printout Designer.
Automatic printing
Activating Your PrintNode Account for Automatic Printing
PrintNode is a printing service that enables automatic and remote printing directly from Printout Designer via a built-in integration, with setup and availability depending on your subscription plan. Follow the steps for your plan to ensure your printers are properly connected and ready to use.
Note: During the free trial, PrintNode can be activated for a 14-day testing period. To complete the setup, follow the same steps as for the Basic or Professional plans below.
After the trial ends, no changes are required if you continue with a Basic or Professional plan. If you switch to a Micro or Starter plan, you will need to create and connect your own PrintNode account as described below.
Basic and Professional plans
For these plans, a PrintNode subscription is included, and no separate PrintNode account is required. The service is fully integrated within your Printout Designer account.
1. Activate your account
Open Settings → Print Node in your Printout Designer app and click the Activate your PrintNode account button.
Settings → Print Node — the Activate your PrintNode account button.
2. Retrieve your credentials
After activation, your PrintNode account credentials will be displayed. You will need these to log in to the PrintNode client application on your computer.
Note: Use only the credentials provided within Printout Designer. Using a different PrintNode account will prevent the integration from syncing correctly.
PrintNode account information & settings — your ID, Email and Password.
3. Install the PrintNode client
Install the PrintNode client and complete the printer setup using the appropriate PrintNode instructions:
After installing the client, return to the PrintNode settings page in Printout Designer and set a default printer so you don't need to choose one for each print job.
Customers using the Micro or Starter plans, or any legacy plan priced below $9.99, can use PrintNode Lite. This free plan allows printing up to 50 documents per month and requires a manually created PrintNode account and API key.
1. Create a PrintNode account
Sign up for a new PrintNode account to use with Printout Designer.
2. Generate your API key
Log in to your PrintNode dashboard, locate the API section, and generate a unique API key.
PrintNode dashboard — the API Keys section with Create New API Key.
3. Connect and activate PrintNode in Printout Designer
Go to Settings → PrintNode in Printout Designer and click Add your PrintNode API key.
Settings → PrintNode — Add your PrintNode API key.
Paste the copied API key into the field and click Activate your PrintNode account to complete the connection.
Paste the copied API key, then click Activate your PrintNode account.
If you notice that the order creation time or timestamps on your documents don't match your local time, this guide will show you how to adjust your timezone settings and control the time displayed in Printout Designer.
Fixing the order creation time
Printout Designer uses your account's timezone setting to determine when orders were created. If the order creation time appears incorrect in your account, you can update your Timezone by navigating to Settings → General Settings.
Note: Changing the timezone in your account settings does not affect timestamps displayed on generated documents.
Settings → General Settings — the Timezone field.
Fixing the time on generated documents
To control the time shown on your documents, use the datetime expression function in your template:
Requirements: Make sure you use the Text component and place the function in the field where you want the formatted date/time to appear.
For more details on expression language functions, open the Help menu inside the template editor, or use this link.
Templates
How to Create Document Templates
After installing the Printout Designer app, several ready-to-use templates are available by default. These cover common use cases and can be used immediately.
However, every business has its own requirements. If the default templates don't fully meet your needs, you can create your own custom templates using the drag & drop editor.
Creating a template
To create a new template, follow these steps:
Go to the Document Templates page.
Click the Create button.
In the popup window, define the following:
Template name
Create copy of (optional) — base the template on an existing one.
Template type — choose whether the template is for Orders or Products.
Additional settings (optional):
This template combines items into a single dataset — display multiple orders or products in a single document instead of generating one document each.
This template is for printing sub-item labels (e.g. line items, variants) — generate a separate label for each individual item.
After clicking Create, the new template opens in the editor along with data from the most recent order.
Note: The most recent order may not contain all the values you need. To work with specific data, open the desired order or product from the Orders or Products page, select the created template, then click the three-dot menu and choose Edit to load it in the template editor.
Orders → three-dot menu → Edit.
This data can then be used to build and customize your template using the available editor components and formatting options. For more details on the editor and its components, see Master the Template Editor, while How to View Available Data explains what data is available from your ecommerce platform and how to access it.
Optional template settings
Once your template is created, additional settings can be adjusted at any time from the Document Templates page by clicking on the desired template. Here you can configure:
Export File Name — defines how the file is named when downloaded. You can use data field placeholders such as {order_number} to generate dynamic file names.
Template Output Settings — control how the template generates the final document, such as combining items into a single dataset or printing sub-item labels.
Template options — Export File Name and output settings.
Template editor
Master the Template Editor
Printout Designer is powered by the PDF Generator API engine. Since both applications share the same powerful editor, we’ve linked our most detailed documentation below to help you create stunning templates. These guides will open in a new tab on the PDF Generator API support portal.
When creating templates, you may want to display specific data from your store — order details, customer information, or product attributes. Because different stores and integrations use different field names, the easiest way to confirm whether a value is available is to inspect the actual dataset of a specific order or product. There are two ways to do this.
1. View data in the template editor
Go to the Orders or Products page in Printout Designer.
Select the order or product you want to inspect.
In the top-right corner, click the three-dot menu and select Edit. This opens the selected order or product in the template editor.
Orders → three-dot menu → Edit.
In the editor, click View → Data in the top menu.
View → Data shows the full dataset for the selected order or product.
This panel displays the full dataset available for the selected order or product. You can browse or search through the fields to find the values you want to use in your template.
2. Download the JSON data
You can also download the full dataset as a JSON file.
Go to the Orders or Products page.
Select the relevant order or product.
Click the three-dot menu in the top-right corner.
Select Download JSON.
Orders → three-dot menu → Download JSON.
This downloads a file containing all available data for that item. You can open the file and search for specific values to identify the corresponding data fields.
Template editor
How to Format Data in Templates with Expression Language
Expression language in the Template Editor lets you modify, format, and transform data before it is displayed in your document. This is especially useful for cleaning up raw data from your store, adjusting formatting, or improving readability in your PDFs.
How expression language works
In the Template Editor, all expressions must be wrapped in:
expression{% ... %}
This tells the system to evaluate the expression and output the result. For example:
expression{% capitalize({dataFieldName}) %}
This expression capitalizes the first letter of each word in the given data field.
The expression language includes many functions and operators for transforming and evaluating data. Explore them in detail: Functions and Supported Operators. Below are some common use cases to get you started.
Common use cases
Formatting long option text
The str_replace function replaces all occurrences of a substring within a string.
syntax{% str_replace([string: search], [string: replace], [string: the original string]) %}
For example, if your product options are separated by "/", you can format them onto multiple lines for better readability:
This displays different text depending on the value of a field.
Calculating a sum of values
Use the sum function to total a table column:
expression{% sum({line_items::amount}) %}
This is useful for totals such as order amounts or quantities.
A complete list of supported operators and available Expression language functions can be found directly in the editor under Help → Expression functions, or you can use this link.
Previewing expressions
When you insert an expression into a component, the editor shows a placeholder [EXPRESSION] rather than the evaluated result. To preview the actual output:
Go to View → Preview, or
Click the preview (magnifying glass) icon in the top panel.
This lets you verify how the expression renders using real data.
Templates
Creating Templates That Combine Multiple Orders Into One Printout
Most Printout Designer templates generate one document per order, such as an invoice or packing slip. However, some workflows require a single printout that combines data from multiple orders into one document.
This is useful for batch-based documents such as combined packing slips, product catalogues, or aggregated order summaries that group multiple orders together. Common use cases:
A combined packing slip listing line items from several orders in one document.
A product catalogue showing all selected products together instead of one per page.
An order summary report aggregating data across multiple orders.
Create the template
Go to the Document Templates page and click Create. When creating the template, enable the option "This template combines items into a single dataset".
Create New Document Template — combine items into a single dataset.
This is the key setting. When enabled, Printout Designer merges all selected orders into a single dataset with two main arrays:
{products} — a flat list of all unique products across all orders. Use this for product summaries.
{orders} — the full list of orders, each containing its own line_items array. Use this to list products per order (nested iteration).
This gives you flexibility to create a high-level product overview, a detailed per-order breakdown, or a combination of both in a single template.
Note: After clicking Create, the template opens with data from the most recent order, which may not include all required values. To use specific or multiple orders, go to the Orders page, select the desired orders, then choose the created template in the top-right corner and open it via the three-dot menu by selecting Edit.
Orders → three-dot menu → Edit.
Build the template in the editor
Once the template is created and opened in the editor, you can start building the structure of your document. The example template "Combined packing slip" in your Printout Designer account demonstrates one common approach — an order-by-order breakdown with a final product summary — which you can adapt to your needs.
Order-based section
Goal: display each order separately with its own details and items.
Insert a Container component and bind its Data field to {orders}. The container repeats once for every order, letting you structure the document into clearly separated sections per order. Inside it, include order-level information such as order details, customer information, and billing and shipping addresses.
Container bound to {orders} — one section per order.
Items per order
Goal: complete the order-based section by showing the products that belong to each order.
Inside the same container, insert a Table component and bind its Data field to {orders::line_items}. This creates a nested structure where each order displays its own list of items — product name, SKU, quantity, and so on.
Nested table bound to {orders::line_items}.
Product summary
Goal: provide a consolidated overview of all products across selected orders.
Add a Table component and bind its Data field to {products}. This displays a flat list of all unique products across the selected orders, with aggregated quantities — useful for summaries, picking lists, or inventory checks.
Summary table bound to {products}.
Example template
You can view the final result in the template named "Combined packing slip" in your Printout Designer account. It shows a multi-order document with both order-level sections and a consolidated product overview:
Rendered combined packing slip — per-order sections plus a product summary.
Templates
Creating Templates for Line Item and Product Labels
Standard Printout Designer templates usually generate one document per order, such as an invoice or packing slip. Label printing works differently.
When printing price tags, barcode stickers, product labels, or shipping labels, you often need one label per line item or product variant. A single order can therefore generate multiple labels, which are arranged across a sheet (such as A4) or printed on a label roll.
This guide explains how to set up a template that generates labels per item and how to arrange them so they align with pre-cut label sheets (Avery or DYMO) or roll-fed printers.
Create a template
Go to the Document Templates page and click Create. When creating the template, make sure to enable "This template is for printing sub-item labels (e.g. line items, variants)".
Create New Document Template — sub-item labels enabled.
This is the key setting. It switches the template from standard per-order output to per-item label generation. Once enabled, the template iterates over each line item or product variant and generates one label per item.
Note: The most recent order may not include all required values. If you need to work with specific data, open the desired order or product from the Orders or Products page, select the created template, and open it in the editor via the three-dot menu by selecting Edit.
Orders → three-dot menu → Edit.
Build the template in the editor
There are two main approaches, depending on your label format.
1. Repeat the layout on page (recommended for Avery-style sheets)
Best for pre-cut adhesive label sheets where every label is the same size and position-regular (e.g. Avery 5160, 30 address labels per sheet).
Open File → Page setup.
In Layout, select Custom and set your label dimensions.
Check "Repeat the layout on page" and choose the page size.
Set the number of empty labels (how many are already used at the top of your sheet, so printing starts at the right spot).
Configure margins:
Top — space between the top edge of the page and the top edge of the topmost label.
Left — space between the left edge of the page and the left edge of the leftmost label.
Right — horizontal space between labels.
Bottom — vertical space between labels.
Page setup — Custom layout with Repeat the layout on page.
Design the first label only — Printout Designer auto-repeats the layout across the rest of the sheet, filling each with the next item's data.
Design the first label; the layout repeats across the Avery sheet.
2. Container component (more flexible layouts)
Best when labels need more complex internal structure — nested elements, conditional blocks, or multi-column layouts.
Open File → Page setup.
In Layout, select Custom and set your label size.
Set at least one margin — this activates label mode.
Page setup — Custom layout in container (label) mode.
Insert a Container component bound to the line_items data field.
Design your label inside the container using elements like text, images, barcodes, or QR codes.
Container bound to line_items — one label per page.
The container-based approach gives you full control over how each label is composed. It iterates over the line_items array and generates labels in sequence, each on a separate page. Unlike sheet-based layouts (e.g. Avery), where multiple labels are arranged on one page, the container processes each item individually across pages.
Configure template options
Once your template is set up, fine-tune its behavior by clicking on it in the Document Templates page. This opens the template options:
Export File Name — the file name format when the document is downloaded. You can use data field placeholders such as {order_number} to generate dynamic file names.
Label Quantities — how many labels are generated by default and how quantities are pre-filled. You can choose Use item's quantity value or Use a fixed amount for all items.
Template options — Export File Name and label quantity settings.
Note: You can also set label quantities before each manual action (Preview, Print, Email, Download). Besides the default options, you can choose a specific amount per label or adjust the number of empty labels — so you can set a consistent default or adjust quantities case by case.
Label quantity options shown before Preview, Print, Email, or Download.
Automation
How to Create an Automation Rule for Automatic Printing with PrintNode
This guide explains how to create an Automation Rule in Printout Designer that automatically prints documents using PrintNode. Automation Rules let you print documents such as invoices, packing slips, or shipping labels whenever a specific event occurs in your e-commerce platform.
Before you start: make sure PrintNode is already connected to the Printout Designer app. If not, follow Activating Your PrintNode Account first.
Step 1 — Create a new automation rule
In the Printout Designer app, navigate to Automation Rules.
Select PrintNode.
Click Create to add a new rule.
Automation Rules → PrintNode → Create.
Step 2 — Configure the automation rule
Fill in the following fields to define how the automation should work.
New PrintNode automation rule — trigger, printer, template, and conditions.
Name — Enter a descriptive name for the Automation Rule.
Trigger settings
Trigger on Event — select the event that triggers the rule. This event is sent from your e-commerce platform to Printout Designer (for example, when an order is created, paid, or fulfilled).
Delay — how many minutes the system waits after the trigger event before running the rule. Maximum delay: 15 minutes.
Note: A delay is useful if order data is updated by other apps or integrations and may not be immediately available.
Trigger the rule only once per order — ensures the rule runs only once per order even if the event occurs multiple times, preventing duplicate prints.
Print settings
Printer Name — select the printer connected through PrintNode that should receive the print job.
Document Template — choose the template used to generate the printed document.
Copies — how many copies of the document should be printed.
Conditions (optional) — You can define conditions that an order must meet for the rule to run. If multiple conditions are set, the order must meet all of them. For details, see Setting Up Conditions in Automation Rules.
Tip: Use the Test button to check whether a specific order would trigger the rule without actually printing. Printout Designer shows whether the order passes or fails the conditions, so you can verify everything before going live.
Active — Enable or disable the rule. When active, it triggers automatically whenever the selected event occurs and all conditions are met.
Step 3 — Save and test
Save the Automation Rule.
Trigger the selected event in your store (for example, create or fulfill an order).
Verify that the document is automatically printed on the selected printer.
Tips
Use clear naming for rules so they are easy to identify later.
If printing does not start, make sure the computer running the PrintNode client is online and the selected printer is powered on and connected. For further help, see Troubleshooting PrintNode Printing Issues.
Review the conditions if the rule is not triggering as expected.
Once configured, Automation Rules help streamline your workflow by automatically printing documents without manual intervention.
Automation
How to Automatically E-mail Documents to Your Customers
Printout Designer can automatically e-mail documents such as invoices, packing slips, or order confirmations directly to your customers whenever an order event occurs. Setup involves two parts: first you create an e-mail template that defines what gets sent, then you create an Automation Rule that defines when it gets sent.
Step 1 — Create an e-mail template
Navigate to the E-mail → Templates section in Printout Designer, where you manage all your document and e-mail templates. Click Create to begin setting up a new e-mail template.
E-mail → Templates → Create.
Step 2 — Fill in the template details
Fill in the following fields:
Name — a name for this template (e.g. "Automated Invoice").
Subject — the e-mail subject line. You can include dynamic placeholders such as {order_number}.
To Address — the recipient's e-mail address. Use the placeholder {client_email} to send automatically to the customer. To send to multiple recipients, add their addresses separated by commas.
Documents — select which document template to attach as a PDF (e.g. your invoice template). You can select more than one. Below this field, choose whether to Send e-mail for each order or Send one e-mail with all orders.
E-mail body — write your message using the rich text editor at the bottom of the form.
E-mail template form with the Placeholders panel on the right.
On the right-hand side you'll see a Placeholders panel listing all available order data fields. Click any placeholder to insert it into the subject, recipient address, or body. Once everything is set, click Save.
Step 3 — Set up an automation rule
With your e-mail template ready, go to the Automation Rules → E-mail section. This is where you tell Printout Designer when to send the e-mail — for example, every time a new order is placed or an order status changes. Click Create to set up a new rule.
Automation Rules → E-mail → Create.
Step 4 — Configure the automation rule
Fill in the following fields to define how the email automation should work.
New e-mail automation rule — trigger, e-mail template, and conditions.
Name — a descriptive name for the Automation Rule.
Trigger on Event — the event that triggers the rule (sent from your e-commerce platform), e.g. when an order is created, paid, or fulfilled.
Delay — minutes to wait after the trigger before running the rule. Maximum delay: 15 minutes.
Note: A delay is useful if order data is updated by other apps or integrations and may not be immediately available.
Trigger the rule only once per order — ensures the rule runs only once per order even if the event occurs multiple times, preventing duplicate prints.
E-mail Template — select the e-mail template you created in Step 2.
Tip: Use the Test button to check whether a specific order would trigger the rule without actually sending an e-mail.
Active — enable or disable the rule. When active, it triggers automatically whenever the selected event occurs and all conditions are met.
Once you're happy with the setup, save the rule. From then on, Printout Designer automatically sends the e-mail whenever a matching order event comes in — no manual action needed.
Automation
How to Automate Sending Documents to Your Printer Using "Email to Print"
Printout Designer can send generated documents straight to your printer — no manual downloading or forwarding needed. Here's how to set up "Email to Print" as an alternative to PrintNode.
Step 1 — Check if your printer supports "Email to Print"
Before anything else, confirm that your printer has Email to Print functionality. This feature — available on many modern printers (common in HP, Canon, Epson, and similar brands) — assigns your printer a unique email address. When a document is sent to that address, the printer automatically prints it.
How to find your printer's email address: check your printer's control panel, its companion app, or the manufacturer's website. Look for terms like "Email to Print", "Cloud Print", or "Remote Print". If your printer doesn't support this feature, this workflow won't apply.
Step 2 — Create an email template
Once you have your printer's email address, navigate to E-mail → Templates and click Create to set up a new email template.
E-mail → Templates → Create.
In the template, set the recipient (To Address) to your printer's unique email address, select the document to print, and make sure the option to send print commands to your printer via e-mail is enabled.
Email-to-print template — recipient set to the printer address, the document selected, and the print-via-email option enabled.
Step 3 — Create an email automation rule
Go to Automation Rules → E-mail and click Create to set up a new email automation rule. Choose the event that should trigger the rule — for example, when a new order is created or fulfilled — and select the email template you created in Step 2.
Email-to-print automation rule — choose the e-mail template prepared for email to print.
This way, every time the rule is triggered, the document is emailed directly to your printer and printed without any manual steps.
Automation
Setting Up Conditions in Automation Rules
Conditions in Automation Rules let you control when a rule should run. By defining conditions, you ensure the rule is only triggered for orders that meet specific criteria.
How conditions work
Each condition consists of three fields:
Data field — the field pulled from your eCommerce store that represents the information you want to evaluate, such as {name}, {location_id}, or {fulfillment_status}.
Operator — defines how the selected field is evaluated. Available operators:
Is / Is not — exact match.
Greater than / Less than — numeric comparison.
Contains / Does not contain — checks if a value includes a substring.
Empty / Not empty — checks whether a value exists.
Expression — allows advanced logic using expression language.
Filter value — the value the selected field is compared against.
Note: Not all data fields appear in the dropdown. If a field is not listed but is still pulled from your eCommerce store, you can use it manually via the Expression operator (see below).
Multiple conditions
You can define multiple conditions. When multiple conditions are added, they are automatically combined with the AND operator — all conditions must be met for the rule to run.
Example
You want the rule to run only when:
{location_id} is "12345"
{fulfillment_status} is "fulfilled"
Two conditions combined with AND — both must be true.
The rule will run only if both conditions are true.
Using OR logic
If you need the rule to run when at least one condition is met, use the Expression operator. This lets you define custom logic with the expression language and combine conditions with the OR (||) operator.
The Expression operator lets you define advanced conditions beyond standard comparisons.
Note: When using Expression in Automation Rules, do not include {% %} — only the expression itself should be entered.
Common Use Cases
Below are some common scenarios where Expression is useful.
1. Using a data field not available in the dropdown
If a data field is not available in the dropdown but is still being pulled from your eCommerce store, you can use it directly in an expression.
Note: If you are unsure whether a specific data field is available, check your data structure first in How to View Available Data to confirm that the value is being provided.
For example, imagine that {product_name} is not available in the dropdown, even though Printout Designer pulls this data from your store. To create a condition that checks whether the product name contains "Jeans", use the matches operator for pattern matching:
expression{product_name} matches "/Jeans/"
This expression checks whether the value of {product_name} includes the substring "Jeans".
2. Check if at least one item matches a condition
Trigger the rule if at least one line item has the name "Shirt":
This filters {line_items} by name and checks if any matching item exists.
3. Access values inside arrays
To access a specific element inside an array (for example {shipping_lines}), reference it by its index:
expression{shipping_lines}[0]["title"] != 'abc'
This accesses the first element of the {shipping_lines} array and evaluates that its title is not equal to "abc".
Additional Resources
A complete list of supported operators and available Expression language functions can be found directly in the editor under Help → Expression functions, or you can use this link.
Testing your conditions
Before going live, verify your setup with the Test feature. Use the Test button to check whether a specific order would trigger the rule without actually printing a document or sending an email. Printout Designer shows whether the order passes or fails the conditions, so you can confirm everything works as expected.
Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting PrintNode Printing Issues
This guide helps you resolve issues when documents are not printed through PrintNode in Printout Designer.
Before you start: make sure the PrintNode client is installed, running, and up to date on the computer connected to your printer. The computer must be online, and the printer should be powered on and available.
Step 1 — Basic checks
PrintNode client is running and updated.
Computer is online.
Printer is powered on and connected.
Correct printer is selected in the Automation Rule.
Step 2 — Verify the print job was sent
Before checking PrintNode, confirm that the print job was actually sent:
Go to the Orders page.
Select the order that was not printed.
On the right-hand side of the order, click the three-dot menu → History.
Look for an entry showing Printout Designer sent a print job, including a print job ID.
If the job appears, the problem is likely on the PrintNode side.
If the job does not appear, the issue is on the Printout Designer side (rule or order setup).
Step 3 — Check the PrintNode client
If the print job was sent:
Log in to the PrintNode client using your credentials.
Search for the print job ID in the Print history.
If the job failed, click More info to see the error details.
If the error is unclear or cannot be resolved, contact PrintNode support at support@printnode.com.
Note: If your PrintNode account was activated directly through Printout Designer, you can find your credentials in Settings → PrintNode in your Printout Designer account.
Optional — reset and reconfigure
If printing still fails, you can try resetting the setup:
Deactivate the PrintNode Automation Rules in Printout Designer.
Log in to the PrintNode client on a computer connected to your printers and remove all devices from PrintNode.
Reconnect/add your printers in the PrintNode client.
Set the default printer under Settings → Print Node in Printout Designer.
Open the PrintNode Automation Rules, assign the correct printers, mark the rules as active, and save.
Test printing from the Orders page: select an order → three-dot menu → Print via PrintNode.
What Happens When Your Printer Runs Out of Paper or Gets Disconnected?
The printer is on, but has a problem (e.g. out of paper)
PrintNode will deliver the job to your computer and mark it as "Done", but the document won't actually print until the issue is resolved. The job waits in your computer's printer queue until the paper is refilled.
Important: A "Done" status in PrintNode means the job reached your computer — not that it was physically printed. Fix the printer issue and the job should print automatically.
The computer running PrintNode is off or disconnected
If the computer running PrintNode is switched off, sleeping, or offline, PrintNode holds your print jobs on its servers until the computer reconnects. When the computer comes back online, the PrintNode client reconnects automatically and delivers any held jobs — your print jobs are not lost.
Tips to avoid confusion
Check your printer first if a job shows "Done" in PrintNode but nothing printed — the issue is likely the printer, not PrintNode.
Don't turn off the computer connected to your printer if you need jobs to print reliably throughout the day.
