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SPConnector

Get Started with Automatic Packing Slip Printing

Complete setup in under 5 minutes with our streamlined configuration process. Follow these simple steps to automate your Shippo packing slip printing.

1. Sign Up for SPConnector & Choose Your Plan

Before you can connect your services, you'll need an SPConnector account with the appropriate plan for your order volume.

  • Register: Head over to our registration page to create your account.
  • Choose a Plan: Select a subscription plan that fits your order volume. We offer a free Starter plan for testing and low-volume usage, plus paid plans for higher volumes.
  • Free Testing: All plans include test mode, allowing you to test the complete setup without actually printing to your physical printer.

2. Connect Your Shippo Account

SPConnector needs to access your Shippo orders to retrieve packing slip information. This is done securely via your production API key with AES-256 encryption.

  1. Obtain Your Shippo Production API Key:
    • If you're new to Shippo and don't have an account yet, you can get started by visiting the Shippo website.
    • To generate your Production API Token, navigate to the API page and request your Live token. Live token requests are manually reviewed and approved by Shippo but usually take less than 24 hours.
    • Important: SPConnector requires your production API key for full functionality. Test keys do not have access to order data.
  2. Enter Your Shippo API Key in SPConnector: Once you have your production API key, navigate to the configuration page within your SPConnector dashboard and enter it in the designated Shippo API Key field.
  3. Test Your Connection: Click "Connect" to test your connection. If successful, you should see a message confirming your connection and additional configuration options will appear.
  4. Configure Order Processing Threshold: Select the last order that should NOT be processed again from the dropdown of your 10 most recent orders. All orders newer than this threshold will be processed and printed. This threshold will be automatically updated after each successful polling cycle to prevent reprinting.

Understanding Shippo's Order Fetching

Shippo's order fetching frequency from your e-commerce store varies depending on the platform you're connected to. These frequencies are set by Shippo due to API limitations imposed by the various e-commerce platforms:

  • Every 15 minutes: For platforms like Wix, Shopify, WooCommerce, Etsy, and Walmart
  • Every hour: For platforms like eBay, Bigcommerce, Squarespace, Amazon, Square, and Magento 2

If you need more immediate order processing, you can manually trigger an order sync by clicking the "Sync Orders" button on the Orders page in your Shippo dashboard. This will force an ad-hoc update of new orders that have not yet been imported. At this point, our system will automatically process the orders and print the packing slips.

3. Connect Your PrintNode Account & Configure Printer

To enable automatic printing, SPConnector needs to communicate with your PrintNode account and detect your printer's capabilities for optimal configuration.

  1. Obtain Your PrintNode API Key:
  2. Enter Your PrintNode API Key in SPConnector: In the SPConnector dashboard, go to the configuration page and input your PrintNode API Key.
  3. Connect and Select Your Printer: Click "Connect" to test your connection and retrieve your available printers. Select your preferred printer from the dropdown list.
  4. Automatic Printer Configuration: SPConnector will automatically detect your printer's capabilities and configure optimal settings:
    • Paper Sizes: Automatically detects supported paper sizes (A4, Legal, Letter, 6x8, etc.)
    • Print Quality: Configure DPI settings based on your printer's capabilities
    • Duplex Options: Enable duplex printing if supported (one-sided, long-edge, short-edge)
    • Paper Trays: Select from available paper bins and trays
    • Print Copies: Set the default number of copies (1-99)
    • Color Options: Enable color printing if supported by your printer

4. Dashboard Overview & You're Ready!

With your Shippo and PrintNode API keys successfully linked and configured in SPConnector, you're ready to automate your packing slip printing! The intelligent polling system will automatically begin processing your orders.

Exploring Your Dashboard:

  • Dashboard Overview: Monitor printer status, recent orders, and system logs in real-time
  • Orders View: See a comprehensive list of processed orders, their print status, and options to manually reprint or manage them
  • Printer Status: Check the current status and capabilities of your connected PrintNode printer
  • Activity Logs: Review detailed logs of all printing activity and any potential issues
  • Configuration: Access and modify all your settings for Shippo, PrintNode, and application preferences

Automatic Processing:

  • Intelligent Polling: The system automatically checks for new orders
  • Order Filtering: Only processes orders matching the system's intelligent filtering and your configured thresholds
  • Automatic Printing: Packing slips are downloaded and printed automatically (or simulated in test mode)
  • Error Handling: Any issues are logged and can be reviewed in the logs section

Going Live:

When you're ready to start actual printing, simply disable "Test Mode" in your configuration. The system will then begin printing packing slips to your physical printer automatically.

Take some time to familiarize yourself with the dashboard and available settings. If you encounter any issues, visit our support page or contact our support team.

Happy Automated Printing!