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Printing Labels/Paking Slips for Individual Orders - Direct to Printer vs Prompt Window

  • Feb 6, 2026 6:26 PM UTC
  • 5 replies
  • 20 views
brendan1

Hey all, 

We recently started experiencing an odd issue when printing packing slips for individual orders by clicking on the → (Right Arrow) icons from this window:

Actually, clicking the → for the Label still works as intended - it opens a Print Preview dialog. However, clicking the → for the Packing Slip no longer works as intended - it send the label directly to the printer. It no longer brings up the Print Preview window.

Note that by clicking on Packing Slip or Label directly (not the arrow) has always sent the request directly to the selected printer. 

Historically, clicking on the → (Right Arrow) in the print dialog would bring up the Print Preview window that gives the option to download the label or packing slip OR print it through ShipStation Connect (as illustrated below - label blacked out for privacy).

 

Has anyone else seen or noticed this?

ShipStation has blamed this on our ShipStation Connect version, the computer we have ShipStation Connect installed on and a few other things. We’ve completely replaced the computer, we’ve installed the newest version of ShipStation connect, but this issue persists. They’ve suggested that we switch all printers to ‘Always Prompt’ which is not what we want to do as we prefer to have default printers selected since the → (Right Arrow) has always brought up the Print Preview prompt window.

Does anyone have any ideas/experience with this?

    5 replies

    Ayana1
    • Ayana1
    • Employee
    • Feb 11, 2026 8:49 AM UTC

    Hi Brendan,

    This sounds like a frustrating workflow issue, especially if your team relies on quick print previews. We ran into something similar and found that it was caused by a recent backend update affecting how preview dialogs are triggered, even when ShipStation Connect and hardware were up to date.

    As a temporary workaround, testing browser-based preview settings and clearing cached print configurations helped restore the preview window behavior in some cases. Also, checking how other platforms handle export and preview workflows (like how south african grant systems manage document previews and downloads) gave us some useful ideas for process improvements.

    Hopefully, ShipStation releases a fix soon, but in the meantime, experimenting with browser and print-handler settings might help narrow it down.

    brendan1
    • brendan1
    • Author
    • Employee
    • Feb 18, 2026 6:48 PM UTC

    Is no one else having this issue?

    Daylon
    • Daylon
    • Employee
    • Feb 19, 2026 1:24 PM UTC

    They definitely did change it, so it is nothing you are doing. We ran into the same issue a couple weeks ago.

    Go to Settings → Printing Setup → Select whatever is in the “Print To” column next to your “Packing Slip” → Change it to “Always Prompt”

    This will get rid of the arrow we were all used to clicking on when printing Packing Slips, and change it to one bigger button that says “Packing Slips.” However, this will bring up the print preview window that you need.

      brendan1
      • brendan1
      • Author
      • Employee
      • Feb 19, 2026 9:00 PM UTC

      This is what we did, but I’m trying (with no luck) to ask ShipStation Support why the function of the Right Arrow on the print dialog no longer works. Becuase clicking that Right Arrow used to always bring up the Print Preview window - the same window that the Always Prompt option brings up.

      This still works as expected on our label printer. It no longer works on our packing slip printer, which seems odd - like it should be a fixable bug.

       

      They definitely did change it, so it is nothing you are doing. We ran into the same issue a couple weeks ago.

      Go to Settings → Printing Setup → Select whatever is in the “Print To” column next to your “Packing Slip” → Change it to “Always Prompt”

      This will get rid of the arrow we were all used to clicking on when printing Packing Slips, and change it to one bigger button that says “Packing Slips.” However, this will bring up the print preview window that you need.

       

      brendan1
      • brendan1
      • Author
      • Employee
      • Feb 19, 2026 10:12 PM UTC

      Some more context on this, indicating in the code dual-action-group / meaning the button row has 2 actions.

      • direct-action-wrapper - meaning, this button “Packing Slip”, fires it’s assigned action - print to a printer, open Print Preview, etc.
      • modal-action-wrapper - meaning, this button “Right Arrow”, always should open the prompt window.
      Class Code Indicating Button Actions

       

      Unfortunately, something has changed that no longer triggers the Right Arrow button on the Packing Slip to open the Print Preview/Prompt window. Screenshot of Label Button below
       

      Direct Action / Modal (Print Preview) Action

       

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