How to Automate Shopify Printing with Rules

Why automate?

If you're manually clicking "Print" for every order, every stock delivery, and every new product — you're spending hours on something that should take zero effort.

PrintRule's automation rules let you define what should print, when it should print, and where it should print. Set them up once and forget about them.

How rules work

Every rule has three parts:

1. Trigger — the event that starts the rule (e.g., "order created", "product tagged")
2. Conditions — optional filters (e.g., "only if order value is over $50")
3. Action — what to print and which printer to use

Example: Auto-print packing slips

Let's say you want a packing slip to print every time an order is tagged as "packed":

1. Go to PrintRule > Rules in your Shopify Admin
2. Click Create Rule
3. Set the trigger to Order Tagged
4. Set the tag to packed
5. Choose the Packing Slip template
6. Select your warehouse printer
7. Save

From now on, whenever your team tags an order as "packed", the packing slip prints automatically on the warehouse printer.

Example: Barcode labels for new products

Want barcode labels to print every time you add a new product?

1. Create a new rule with trigger Product Created
2. Choose your Barcode Label template
3. Select the label printer
4. Save

Every new product gets a barcode label without you lifting a finger.

Tips for effective rules

• Start simple — begin with one or two rules and expand as you get comfortable
• Use tags — Shopify tags are the most flexible trigger mechanism
• Test first — use the "Test Rule" button to simulate a print before going live
• Check history — review the print job log to confirm rules are firing correctly

Next steps

Once you've set up your first rules, explore advanced features like conditional logic (AND/OR operators), multi-printer routing, and purchase order label printing.