Shopify Order Printer: What It Does Well and Where It Stops

If you search for a way to print invoices in Shopify, the first answer is Shopify’s own app: Shopify Order Printer. It is made by Shopify, it is on the Shopify App Store, and for many shops it is all they ever need. This post looks at what it does well, where it stops, and which signs tell you that your invoices need more than a template.

What Shopify Order Printer does

According to Shopify’s help center and its App Store listing, the app prints order documents such as invoices, packing slips and pick lists.

• Templates included: an invoice, a packing slip and a pick list. You can create up to 15 templates.
• Customising: templates are HTML, CSS and Liquid. Shopify says you need to be familiar with all three to create or edit them. The pick list has a simpler editor where you choose fields.
• Printing: you can print up to 50 orders at a time, from the app or straight from the Orders list. Larger batches go through the order export.
• PDF: documents are printed through your browser, which can also save them as PDF files.

When it is enough

Shopify Order Printer is a good fit when:

• you need a printed copy of the order for the parcel or your files;
• your order number is a fine reference for your bookkeeping;
• you sell in one language and one tax setup;
• someone on the team is comfortable editing Liquid, or the default layout is fine;
• you print a handful of orders at a time.

If that describes you, there is no reason to add anything. Set up the templates, add your logo, and move on.

Where it stops

The app’s documentation covers templates and printing. It does not describe the following, and they are the usual reasons shops look further:

Invoice numbers that are not order numbers

Order Printer prints your order data, and your order number is set in Shopify under Settings > General > Order ID format, starting at #1001 by default (Shopify help). In many EU countries an invoice needs a unique number from a sequence, as the European Commission’s VAT invoicing rules list. When the invoice is issued at a different moment from the order, or not at all for an order that was cancelled before payment, the order number and the invoice number stop being the same thing. Our post on sequential invoice numbers in Shopify goes through this in detail.

Credit notes for refunds

Shopify’s refund flow records a refund on the order. The default Order Printer templates are an invoice, a packing slip and a pick list; there is no credit note with its own number that refers to the original invoice. See how to create a credit note for a Shopify refund.

Quotes from draft orders

The documentation does not cover printing draft orders. Shops that send quotes before an order is placed often need a document for a draft order. For an occasional quote or a one-off invoice, the Shopify invoice generator makes one from what you type, with VAT per line, and saves it as a PDF.

The same invoice, every time

A template prints the order as it is now, with the template as it is now. Change the template next year, and last year’s invoice prints differently. For bookkeeping, an issued invoice usually has to stay exactly as it was sent.

Designing without code

Every layout change is an edit to HTML, CSS and Liquid. That is powerful if you know the languages and slow if you do not.

Many orders at once, many languages

Fifty orders per print is plenty for most days and tight for a peak day. And an invoice for a buyer in France reads better in French, with the VAT wording in French.

A checklist before you choose

Answer these with your accountant before you pick any invoice tool:

1. Does my invoice need its own number series? If yes, how should it look, for example with the year in it?
2. When is an invoice issued? At payment, at fulfilment, or when I print it?
3. What do I issue for a refund? A credit note that refers to the invoice?
4. Do I need to keep the PDFs? For how long, and can I find one again quickly?
5. Which details must the invoice show for my B2B buyers, such as VAT numbers or a reverse-charge note?
6. Which languages do my buyers read?
7. Who edits the design, and do they know Liquid?

If most answers are “no”, “not needed” or “English only”, Shopify Order Printer will do. If several are “yes”, look at a tool built for invoices.

Where Paperly: Invoice Order Printer fits

Paperly: Invoice Order Printer is an app for the “yes” answers. It prints invoices, packing slips, credit notes and quotes as PDF.

• Totals as Shopify recorded them: discounts, shipping, tips and VAT print as Shopify recorded them on the order, to the cent.
• Its own numbers: invoices take gapless numbers from your own series, and each refund gets a credit note from a separate series. Draft orders print as quotes.
• Stored unchanged: every issued invoice and credit note is stored and downloads again as the same file for 10 years, with a monthly export for your accountant.
• Designs edited on the page: start from 14 designs and change text, logo, colours, blocks and the order of every field in an editor with a live preview, without code.
• Volume and languages: one order or up to 1,000 at once, as one merged PDF or a ZIP, in 23 languages.

It does not calculate tax, send e-invoices through Peppol or connect to accounting software, and an issued invoice cannot be edited. Check the invoice rules that apply to your business. See Paperly: Invoice Order Printer for the details.

FAQ

Is Shopify Order Printer made by Shopify? Yes. It is Shopify’s own app on the Shopify App Store, for printing invoices, packing slips and pick lists from orders.

Do I need to know code to edit Order Printer templates? Shopify says you need to be familiar with HTML, CSS and Liquid to create or edit templates. The pick list has a simpler field editor.

How many orders can Order Printer print at once? Up to 50 orders at a time. For larger batches, Shopify suggests the order export.

Can Shopify Order Printer save invoices as PDF? Documents are printed through your browser, and the browser’s print function can save them as PDF files.