Devices and printing

Omnilinker can send shipping labels straight to the printers at your site, instead of you downloading and printing each PDF. The printers stay connected to a Windows PC as they are today. That PC runs the free Omnilinker Station app, which takes print jobs from Omnilinker and hands them to the printer. Stations are optional. Without one, you can still download every label as a PDF (and as ZPL, when the carrier sends one) from its shipment. See Download instead of printing.

The parts

Term	What it is
Station	One Windows PC that runs the Omnilinker Station app and prints for Omnilinker, for example “Packing desk 1”. Any number of people can print at the same station, from any computer.
Location	A place you define to group stations: a building, a floor, a room. A location decides who can print at its stations and where automatic labels go. Locations are optional.
Printer	A printer installed in Windows on the station’s PC. The Station app finds printers by itself; you say what each one prints and in which format.
Print job	One document sent to a station, such as one shipping label. It shows where it is going, why, and what happened to it.
Your station	The station the computer you are working on prints to. You pick it with Choose station in the top bar.

A station is not the computer you work on. Three packers can work on three PCs and print at the one station that has the label printer, and one person can print from two desks.

Who does what

Who	Does	Where
An administrator	Creates locations, adds stations, says what each printer prints, sets automatic printing	Stations and locations, Automatic printing
The IT person at the site	Installs the Station app on the PC next to the printer and pairs it with a code	Install the Station app
People who pack and ship	Choose the station they print at, print labels, and deal with the printer when it needs someone	Choose your station, Use the Station app, Print labels
Supervisors	Watch the print queue, move stuck jobs to another station, retry or cancel them	Print jobs

How it works with shipping labels

When you create a shipment through a courier, Omnilinker remembers the station your computer prints to. When the carrier sends the label, it prints at that station by itself, unless the station or its location is set not to print labels automatically. You can also print any label by hand with Print label on the shipment, or print many labels at once from the Shipments list. Each label is stored as PDF, plus ZPL when the carrier offers it. Omnilinker sends each printer the format it takes: ZPL for thermal label printers, PDF for any other printer. See Automatic printing for how Omnilinker decides where a job goes, and Print labels for the print buttons.

Set up printing

Create locations (optional)

If you print in more than one place, or only some people may print at some printers, create locations first. See Locations.

Add a station and install the app

Open Devices > Stations, click Add station, and install the Station app on the PC next to the printer. Type the pairing code that Omnilinker shows into the app. See Add a station and Install the Station app.

Say what each printer prints

Once the app connects, choose which printer prints shipping labels and which prints documents, then send a test label. See Printers.

Choose a station on each computer

Everyone who prints picks their station with Choose station in the top bar, once per computer. See Choose your station.

Modules

Two features switch this area on or off for your organization. Both are on by default.

Feature	Group	What it controls
Enable stations and devices	Devices	Devices > Stations, and Choose station in the top bar. When it is off, the Stations page says “Stations are switched off for your company.”
Enable printing to stations	Printing	Devices > Print jobs, the print buttons, and the printing settings on the Stations page. When it is off, print buttons are replaced by downloads and labels do not print by themselves.

Omnilinker switches these features. See Modules and feature availability.

Permissions

Permissions are in two groups, Devices and Printing, in the role editor. See Users and roles.

Permission	Group	Lets you
Stations	Devices	Open Devices > Stations and see stations, their printers and who prints there.
Manage stations	Devices	Add, rename, move, pair again and remove stations. Needs Stations.
Choose a station to print at	Devices	See Choose station in the top bar and pick a station. It does not show the Stations page.
Locations	Devices	Open the Locations dialog.
Manage locations	Devices	Create, edit and delete locations, and decide who can print at them. Needs Locations.
Print	Printing	Print, see your own print jobs, and retry, move or cancel them.
Print jobs	Printing	See everyone’s print jobs, and Devices > Print jobs in the menu.
Manage everyone’s print jobs	Printing	Retry, move and cancel anyone’s print jobs. You also get the alerts about print jobs that are stuck or have no station. Needs Print jobs.
Printers	Printing	See printer settings, what prints at each station, and each location’s printing settings.
Manage printers	Printing	Change printer settings, what prints at each station, automatic printing, what happens when a printer stops, a location’s default station, and send test prints. Needs Printers.
Station app (service accounts only)	Devices and Printing	Nothing for people.

Never grant Station app (service accounts only) to a person or to a role people have. Omnilinker gives it to each station’s own account, in a role called Station Agent, when the station is paired. That role is managed by Omnilinker; do not edit it.

To print a shipping label you also need Download shipment labels. See Shipments permissions.

Next steps

Stations and locations

Add stations, group them in locations and set up printers.

Install the Station app

For the IT person: install, pair, update and remove the app.

Choose your station

Pick the station your computer prints to.

Print jobs

Follow the queue and fix jobs that did not print.

Get started

Catalog

Pricing Intelligence

Sales

Inventory

Marketplaces

Shipping

Devices & printing

Notifications

Devices and printing

The parts

Who does what

How it works with shipping labels

Set up printing

Modules

Permissions

Next steps

Stations and locations

Install the Station app

Choose your station

Print jobs

​The parts

​Who does what

​How it works with shipping labels

​Set up printing

​Modules

​Permissions

​Next steps

Stations and locations

Install the Station app

Choose your station

Print jobs

The parts

Who does what

How it works with shipping labels

Set up printing

Modules

Permissions

Next steps