This may not be available for all stores yet.
How Remote Label Printing Works
Access requirements. You need view access to the Product list permission for a store to see its printers, and edit access to add a printer, change one, print a test label, or forget one.
One computer hosts the printer. The printer connects by USB to a single computer. You register it there once, in Google Chrome, and from then on that computer is the one that physically prints. Each computer can host one label printer.
Anyone can send labels, from anywhere. Staff on other computers pick items in the shelf label print queue and send them; the labels land on the host computer's printer.
Nothing is lost when the printer is unreachable. If the host computer is asleep, closed, or has no Back Office tab open, labels wait in the queue and print once it's back.
Every label comes from a template. Labels print using one of your shelf label templates, and the test label always uses the one set as default.
Where to Access Each Feature
Task | Where |
See the printers registered to a store | Settings → Stores → open the store → Printers |
Add a printer | Settings → Stores → open the store → Printers → Add printer |
Edit, test, or forget a printer | Settings → Stores → open the store → Printers → click the printer's name |
Send labels to a printer | Stock management → Shelf label print queue → Print |
See what printed, queued, or failed | Stock management → Shelf label print queue → Status |
Set the default label template | Stock management → Shelf label templates → Set as default |
Before You Start
Set the printer up physically first. Power it on, load your labels, calibrate it, and connect it to the computer with the USB cable. Our Zebra ZD411 setup guide covers that part.
Register it on the computer it's plugged into, using Google Chrome. Chrome is what reads the printer; other browsers can't, and the form will tell you so.
Have a shelf label template ready. Go to Stock management → Shelf label templates and use Set as default on the one you want. The test label won't print without a default.
If Your Printer Is Plugged Into a Mac or an Elo Register
There's nothing extra to install. Go straight to "Registering a Printer."
If Your Printer Is Plugged Into a Windows Computer
On Windows, labels only print while Zebra's free Browser Print app is running on the computer the printer is plugged into. Install it before you register the printer.
Step 1
On the Windows computer the printer is plugged into, download Zebra Browser Print from Zebra's website and install it.
Step 2
Make sure Browser Print is running. You'll see a small Zebra logo in the system tray, at the bottom right of the screen. Check that the printer is switched on and plugged into the computer by USB, then continue with "Registering a Printer."
Important: Browser Print has to keep running on this computer. You can register the printer without it, and everything will look fine, but labels won't actually print until Browser Print is up and running.
Step 3
Let Browser Print accept Back Office. Right-click the Zebra logo in the system tray, at the bottom right of the screen, and choose "Settings."
Step 4
In the Browser Print settings window, look at "Accepted Hosts." If "https://app.scotchpos.com" is listed, you're all set. Skip to "Registering a Printer."
If it's listed under "Blocked Hosts" instead, select it, remove it, and close the window. Browser Print will ask again the next time Back Office tries to print.
Step 5
If "https://app.scotchpos.com" isn't listed yet, open Back Office in Google Chrome and print a test label (see "Printing a Test Label"). Browser Print pops up asking whether to allow app.scotchpos.com to use your printer. Click "Yes." It's added to "Accepted Hosts" and labels start printing.
Important: If you click "No" on that prompt, or close it, app.scotchpos.com goes on the "Blocked Hosts" list and labels won't print from this computer. Remove it from "Blocked Hosts" (see Step 4) and try again.
Registering a Printer
Step 6
On the computer the printer is plugged into, open Back Office in Google Chrome and go to Settings → Stores.
Step 7
Click the store the printer belongs to, then open the Printers tab.
Step 8
Click Add printer.
Step 9
Fill in the printer's details. Name is required — use something staff will recognise, like "Front counter". Model and Notes are optional. If you have more than one store, pick the Store this printer sits in.
Step 10
Click Connect printer. Chrome opens a small window listing the printers it can see.
Step 11
Choose your label printer in that window and allow access. The form then shows Captured serial: followed by the printer's serial number, and a Printer serial captured message appears.
Step 12
Click Save. You'll see Printer was successfully created and land back on the printer list.
That's the whole setup. There's no page to keep open — as long as Back Office is open in Chrome somewhere on that computer, labels sent to this printer will print there. It doesn't have to be the tab you're looking at.
Printing a Test Label
Step 13
Go to the store's Printers tab and click the printer's name to open Edit printer.
Step 14
Scroll to the Test print section and click Print test label.
Step 15
A message confirms Test label sent to your printer's name. The label uses a real product from the store and your default template.
Two things stop a test label before it's sent, and both say so on screen:
"Design a shelf label template before printing a test label." — no default template is set yet.
"No product is available to print a test label." — the store has no eligible product to put on a label.
A label being sent isn't the same as it printing. Open Stock management → Shelf label print queue → Status to see whether it actually came out.
Sending Labels to a Printer
Step 16
Go to Stock management → Shelf label print queue.
Step 17
Tick the items you want labels for, then click Print.
Step 18
In the Print labels window, set how many labels you want per item. Use the plus and minus buttons, type a number, or use Set all to with Apply to change every row at once. The limit is 2,000 per item.
Step 19
Pick the label template. If the store has more than one printer registered, a Printer picker appears as well — choose the one you want.
Step 20
Click Print labels.
A note in the window repeats the rule: "Labels are sent to this store's printer. If it's offline, they wait in the queue and print once it's back."
You can send up to 500 items at a time. Go over and you'll see "Too many labels selected. Print up to 500 at a time."
What It Looks Like in Back Office
The Status tab of the shelf label print queue lists every label sent for the store, with the item, quantity, status, who asked for it, which printer, and when. It updates by itself as labels print. Before anything has been sent it reads "No labels have been sent to a printer for this store yet."
Status | What it means |
Queued | Sent and waiting for the printer's computer to pick it up. |
Held | Still queued, but the printer's computer has gone quiet. The label prints when it reconnects. |
Sent | The printer's computer has picked the label up and is printing it. |
Printed | The printer confirmed the label came out. |
Failed | The printer reported a problem. The reason is shown on the row. |
A Failed row names one of these reasons:
Reason shown | What to do |
Printer offline — check power and connection | Check the printer is powered on and the USB cable is connected. |
Out of labels | Load a new roll of labels. |
Printer head open | Close the printer lid firmly. |
Print failed — reason couldn't be read | Send the label again; if it keeps failing, check the printer. |
A small cloud icon beside a printer's name means "This printer's print agent appears offline — labels wait in the queue and print when it reconnects". It shows in the Printer column of the Status tab, and on the store's printer list. Opening Back Office in Chrome on that printer's computer usually clears it within a couple of minutes.
The printer list itself shows Name, Model, Notes and Serial for each registered printer.
Moving or Replacing a Printer
Use Forget this printer when you unplug a printer for good, move it to a different computer, or swap in a replacement unit.
Step 17
Open the store's Printers tab and click the printer's name.
Step 18
Scroll to the Forget printer section and click Forget this printer.
Step 19
Confirm when asked. You'll see Printer was forgotten.
What that does:
Any labels still waiting in the queue for that printer are cancelled, so they don't print somewhere unexpected later.
The printer disappears from the printer list and from the Printer picker in the print window.
Print history is kept — the Status tab still shows everything that printer printed.
The unit itself is released, so you can register it again under a new name, or on a different computer.
To move a printer to another store instead, open Edit printer and change the Store field. Any labels still queued at the old store are cancelled as part of the move.
Troubleshooting
There's no Printers tab on the store. You have this feature if the Printers tab appears on a store's page under Settings → Stores. If it isn't there, it may also be that your account doesn't have Product list view access for that store — check with your manager before assuming the feature is missing.
The Connect printer button isn't there, and there's a warning instead. The warning reads "Register this printer on its host machine in Google Chrome to capture its serial." You're in a browser that can't read the printer. Open Back Office in Google Chrome on the computer the printer is plugged into and register it there.
"Could not read the printer. Try reconnecting it and allow access." Chrome couldn't reach the printer, or none appeared to choose from. Check the USB cable and that the printer is powered on, click Connect printer again, and allow access when Chrome asks.
"This printer did not report a serial number." The device you picked in Chrome's window isn't reporting a serial. Make sure you selected the label printer itself, and that it's switched on.
Labels sit at Queued or Held and never print. The printer's computer isn't reachable. Make sure that computer is awake and has Back Office open in Google Chrome, and that the printer is plugged into it and switched on.
"No printer is set up for this store yet." No printer is registered for the store you're printing from. Register one on the store's Printers tab first.
"Select a printer to print to." The store has several printers and none was chosen. Pick one in the Printer list in the print window.
"Selected printer no longer exists. Refresh the page and try again." The printer was forgotten or moved while your page was open. Refresh and choose again.
You moved the printer to a different computer and nothing prints. Use Forget this printer on the old record, then register it again on the new computer in Chrome.