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Printing

ECPrintNode integrates Business Central with PrintNode to enable direct printing of shipping labels and documents (waybills) to local or network printers from Business Central online.

Architecture

Business Central → PrintNode Cloud API → PrintNode Client → Local/Network Printer

The PrintNode client runs as a background service on a computer or print server that has access to the target printers. Business Central sends print jobs to the PrintNode cloud API, which routes them to the appropriate PrintNode client and printer.

Prerequisites

  • A PrintNode account with an API key (see Getting Started)
  • The PrintNode client installed on a computer with access to the printers
  • ECPrintNode app installed (included automatically with ECShip)

Default Printers

ECShip uses two types of prints, each with its own default printer:

Print Type Setup Field Typical Use
Document Printer Default Doc. Printer Shipping documents, waybills (typically A4/Letter)
Label Printer Default Label Printer Shipping labels, barcode labels (typically label printer)

Configure default printers in ECShip Setup under the Printer Settings section.

Importing Printers

To see available printers from PrintNode:

  1. Open ECPrintNode Setup
  2. Choose Show Printers
  3. All printers registered with PrintNode are imported into Business Central

The ECPrintNode Printers page shows:

Field Description
Id PrintNode printer identifier
Name Printer name as reported by PrintNode
Description Printer description
State Printer status (online/offline)
Computer Computer the printer is connected to
Computer State Computer status

Printer Configuration

Each printer can be configured with specific settings. Select a printer and choose Edit printer settings to open the settings card.

Setting Description
Default Bin Paper tray/source to use
Default Paper Size Default paper size for this printer
Paper Size Paper type selection
Paper Height / Width Custom paper dimensions
Landscape Print orientation

Available paper sizes and bins are imported automatically from PrintNode based on the printer's capabilities.

Per-User Printer Routing

By default, all users print to the default printers configured in ECShip Setup. To route prints to different printers based on the user, use the standard Business Central Printer Selection feature.

ECShip includes two routing reports for this purpose:

Report ID Report Name Routes
72313100 FMD ECShip Default Doc Print Document prints (waybills)
72313101 FMD ECShip Default Label Print Label prints

These reports are not actual printed reports — they exist solely to enable per-user printer routing through the standard Business Central Printer Selection page.

Setting Up Per-User Routing

  1. Search for Printer Selections in Business Central
  2. Add a new line:
  3. User ID — The user who should use a different printer
  4. Report ID — 72313100 for documents or 72313101 for labels
  5. Printer Name — The target PrintNode printer name
  6. When that user sends a shipment, documents/labels are routed to their assigned printer

Printing from a Shipment

After a shipment is successfully processed through nShift:

  1. Open the shipment document
  2. Shipping documents and labels appear in the Auxiliary Data section
  3. Choose the appropriate print action to send them to PrintNode

The system:

  • Retrieves the PDF data from the Auxiliary Data records
  • Determines the correct printer (per-user routing or default)
  • Sends the print job to PrintNode
  • Updates the Printing Status on the shipment document

Downloading Prints Without PrintNode

If PrintNode is not configured, you can still access shipping documents and labels manually:

  1. Open the shipment document
  2. Go to the Auxiliary Data section (Show Aux Data)
  3. Filter by Data Type = Document Print or Label Print
  4. Choose Actions → Download Print

The PDF file is downloaded to your browser.

Tip: Parcel tracking numbers are also visible in the Auxiliary Data section with Data Type = Parcel Number. Note that parcel numbers are without the application identifier 00 (the first two zeros of the SSCC identifier).

Next Steps