Picture this: It's Monday morning, and hundreds of orders came in over the weekend. Your warehouse team arrives ready to ship, but first, someone needs to print invoices and packing slips. One by one.
Hours later, they're still clicking through orders while packages pile up and customers wonder where their tracking numbers are.
The Real Cost of Manual Order Printing
Printing orders manually can take more time than you realize. For example, if generating and printing a single order document takes 30 seconds, printing 300 orders could take roughly 2.5 hours.
The impact goes beyond just time:
- Labor inefficiency: Valuable team hours spent on repetitive tasks that could be automated.
- Fulfillment delays: Longer printing times can push shipments to the next day, affecting delivery expectations.
- Error rates: Manual processes increase the chance of printing incorrect documents or missing orders.
- Team morale: Repetitive clicking is tedious and can affect employee satisfaction.
- Scaling limitations: Your growth is limited by your team’s manual printing capacity.
What Is Bulk Order Printing (And What It's Not)
Bulk order printing allows you to select multiple orders and generate all their documents at once, like invoices, packing slips, shipping labels, or return forms.
What it doesn’t do: Fix underlying issues with product data, inventory management, or shipping workflows.
Who Needs Bulk Printing Most?
Bulk printing is especially useful for:
- Stores processing 50+ orders daily
- Businesses managing wholesale/B2B accounts with custom invoicing needs
- Companies running multiple warehouses
- Shops handling seasonal spikes or product launches
- Merchants shipping internationally with region-specific invoice requirements
- Subscription box services requiring consistent documentation
Even smaller stores shipping 20–30 orders daily can benefit by saving minutes per order.
Setting Up Bulk Printing: The Right Way
Here’s a recommended implementation flow:
Step 1: Prepare Your Store Foundation
- Tax settings are accurate for all shipping regions
- Store locations are configured with complete addresses
- Staff permissions reflect who should access printing features
- Product data includes all SKUs, variants, and descriptions
Step 2: Choose Your Printing App (5 minutes)
Most merchants should start with Order Printer Pro. It handles virtually every use case, scales reliably, and offers deep customization. Install it directly from the Shopify App Store.
Step 3: Build Your Templates (30–60 minutes initially)
Templates allow automatic population of order data. Include:
- Branding: logo, colors, fonts
- Complete business info: legal name, address, tax IDs
- Product details: SKUs, quantities, prices
- Customer info: shipping and billing addresses
- Payment and tax breakdowns
- Return policies and instructions
- Any regulatory requirements
Pro customization tips:
- Use conditional logic for customer types (B2B vs B2C)
- Add barcodes or QR codes for warehouse scanning
- Include pick location information if using warehouse zones
- Set up multiple templates for different order types or sales channels
Step 4: Test Thoroughly (15 minutes)
Test with real orders representing different scenarios:
- Retail and wholesale orders
- International shipments
- Orders with discounts or gift cards
- Multi-item orders
- Returns and exchanges
Step 5: Train Your Team (10 minutes)
- How to filter orders in Shopify
- How to select multiple orders for bulk printing
- How to choose document types and generate PDFs
- How to handle errors
Real-World Examples That Show the Impact
Fashion Brand Product Drop
Scenario: A clothing brand receives 400+ orders in a few hours.
- Before bulk printing: Multiple team members spent the next day generating documents, delaying fulfillment.
- After bulk printing with Order Printer Pro: One team member generated all documents quickly, enabling same-day shipment and reducing customer inquiries.
Wholesale Coffee Roaster
Scenario: Shipping to 80 commercial accounts weekly with specific invoicing requirements.
- Using conditional templates in OPP, B2B accounts automatically receive commercial invoices, while retail customers receive simplified receipts.
- Result: Errors are reduced, and payment terms are consistently clear.
The Complete App Breakdown
Order Printer Pro: PDF Invoice app
Perfect for: Virtually every Shopify merchant, from 50 to 5,000+ daily orders
- Truly unlimited bulk printing
- Advanced template customization using HTML/CSS and Liquid (Shopify's templating language)
- Automatic PDF delivery to customers after checkout
- Multi-location support with location-specific templates
- International tax formatting (VAT, GST, tax exemptions)
- Conditional logic for showing different content to different customer types
- Integrates with Shopify's order tags and metafields
Best features:
- Template library with starting points for common use cases
- Live preview while editing
- Bulk email sending (send invoices to customers automatically)
- Print queue management for large batches
- Works with draft orders and POS orders
Pricing: Starts at $10/month, scales with order volume
Who should use it: This should be your default choice unless you have very specific needs met by specialized alternatives.
Zoho Invoice
Perfect for: Merchants using the Zoho ecosystem (Books, CRM, etc.) who want integrated accounting and invoicing.
Key strengths:
- Connects invoicing with bookkeeping
- Client portal for invoice access
- Payment tracking and reminders
- Automated recurring invoices
Top features:
- Customizable invoice templates
- Multi-currency and multi-tax support
- Integration with Zoho Books for accounting
- Mobile app for managing invoices on the go
Pricing: Free plan available; customize your plan
Who should use it: Merchants already invested in Zoho tools or needing bookkeeping integration alongside invoicing.
Shoptopus Invoice Generator
Perfect for: Merchants who want attractive invoices quickly without complex setup.
Key strengths:
- Beautiful, modern invoice templates out of the box
- Fast setup with minimal configuration
- Visually consistent invoices for branding
Top features:
- Pre-designed templates ready to use
- PDF invoice generation
- Simple product and customer data integration
Pricing: Free
Who should use it: Merchants prioritizing visual design over advanced workflow automation or conditional logic.
Wave
Perfect for: Very small merchants or those testing invoicing solutions for their store.
Key strengths:
- Completely free for basic accounting and invoicing
- Simple interface for creating invoices quickly
- Basic accounting features included
Top features:
- Customizable invoice templates
- Basic expense tracking
- Automatic payment tracking
Pricing: Starter Plan Free and Pro Plan $19
Who should use it: Micro-merchants processing fewer than ~20 orders daily who need basic invoicing without extra cost.
FreshBooks
Perfect for: Service-based or hybrid businesses that sell both products and services and need a full accounting platform.
Key strengths:
- Comprehensive accounting platform
- Expense and time tracking, payroll management
- Financial reporting for business insights
Top features:
- Invoice templates with branding options
- Multi-currency and tax support
- Integration with payment gateways
- Time tracking for service businesses
Pricing: Lite Plan $8.40, Plus Plan $15.20, Premium Plan $26.00, and Custom Plan (talk to a consultant)
Who should use it: Businesses requiring full accounting functionality beyond ecommerce invoicing; less ideal for pure Shopify merchants focused on bulk order printing.
Shopify's Free Invoice Generator
Perfect for: Emergency or ad-hoc invoice generation for Shopify orders.
Key strengths:
- Simple, web-based tool for generating invoices manually
- Free and accessible from any browser
- No installation or integration needed
Top features:
- Manual input of order and customer details
- PDF generation for single invoices
- Print or email invoices
Pricing: Free
Who should use it: Only for occasional or emergency use; not suitable for regular bulk order workflows.
Best Practices from High-Volume Merchants
After talking with brands processing thousands of orders monthly, here are the practices that separate smooth operations from constant firefighting:
Keep Templates Updated as You Grow
- Quarterly review: Check if all information is current (return policies, addresses, legal details)
- New product launches: Ensure product data displays correctly
- Policy changes: Update return windows, shipping policies, or terms immediately
- Regulatory changes: Stay current with tax display requirements or industry regulations
Design for Your Team, Not Just Customers
- Large, scannable fonts: Make SKUs and quantities immediately visible
- Logical layout: Put picking information at the top where it's seen first
- Highlight special instructions: Use color or bold for notes like "fragile" or "gift wrap"
- Include visual aids: Barcodes, QR codes, or product images help with accuracy
Set Up Automatic Triggers
- Email invoices automatically after order completion
- Send packing slips to fulfillment centers automatically
- Generate end-of-day batch reports
- Schedule weekly document archives
Create Location-Specific Workflows
- Set up saved filters for each location
- Create location-specific templates with relevant contact information
- Train each team only on their specific workflow
- Use different paper colors or headers for visual sorting
Build Fail-Safes
- Keep template backups exported
- Document your customization decisions
- Have a backup printing method ready
- Know how to manually generate documents if needed
Test Before Peak Seasons
- Test new templates 2-3 weeks before major sales events
- Run parallel systems briefly (old and new) to ensure consistency
- Get team sign-off before switching entirely
Troubleshooting Common Issues
-
Problem: Documents are printing with incorrect tax amounts
Solution: Check your Shopify tax settings first. Apps pull data from Shopify; if the source is wrong, the output will be too. Verify tax exemptions, regional rates, and any manual overrides. -
Problem: Some orders are missing from bulk prints
Solution: Check your filter criteria. Paid vs unpaid, fulfilled vs unfulfilled, archived orders, each status affects visibility. Use the "All orders" view with date filters for comprehensive batches. -
Problem: Templates look different when printed vs previewed
Solution: PDF rendering can vary. Test actual prints, not just screen previews. Adjust margins, font sizes, or element spacing in your template code. -
Problem: Bulk printing times out with large batches
Solution: Split into smaller batches or use background processing features. -
Problem: Custom fields aren't showing up
Solution: Ensure the template pulls the correct Shopify data field (metafields, order attributes).
Final Thoughts
Bulk order printing seems like a small detail until you don't have it. Then it becomes the bottleneck preventing you from scaling, the source of fulfillment delays, and the repetitive task burning out your team.
The solution isn't complicated: choose the right app, set it up properly, and let automation handle what computers do best so your team can focus on what humans do best.
Your future self, rushing to ship 500 orders before the holiday cutoff, will thank you.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is bulk order printing?
Bulk order printing lets you generate invoices, packing slips, and other order documents for multiple orders at once instead of printing them one by one.
Who can benefit from bulk printing?
Any Shopify store can benefit, but it’s especially helpful for stores with 50+ daily orders, wholesale accounts, multiple warehouses, or international shipping.
Which app is best for bulk printing on Shopify?
Order Printer Pro is the most popular choice. It handles large volumes, allows template customization, and can automatically email PDFs to customers.
How do I set up bulk order printing?
Start by preparing your store settings, install a printing app, build templates, test with real orders, and train your team on the workflow.
Can bulk printing prevent mistakes in my orders?
Yes. Bulk printing reduces errors, ensures consistent invoices, and saves time compared to manually printing each order.
