Printing barcode labels from Square for Retail dashboard DYMO 550

[Jones-Bull]

Printing labels directly from Dashboard to our DYMO 550 is problematic -- it will not "wrap" item name text if the character count exceeds as certain amount.  SKU barcode and price are OK.  We are printing to 30334 DYMO labels.

I learned from this community about three years ago how to import item info to Excel, format it a certain way, then export/import to the DYMO App on my MacBook, then print from there.  This works, but is a giant pain in the butt.

I called Square support, no good info there -- they say it's DYMO's fault.  I just got off the phone with DYMO -- rep went above and beyond with me, but couldn't get it to work the way we want it to.

Please help!!  

Does Zebra work better??

[rtfulk]

@Jones-Bull @We use a Dymo printer also for our barcodes.  I wish square would make a setup page for the printers.  The pages need to consist of:

1. Always center the price and size.  
2 Make the price and size bolder. 
3. have the option to make the price and size font bigger.  

That’s just a few suggestions I have.  If we have a long item name the size will get cut off and the font is so small.  One of our most asked questions/complaints is , Where is the size and price.  

[Jones-Bull]

Hi Randy, I think you're experiencing the same issue we have.  I hope someone from Square Tech Support will see this and suggest something to the group, thanks!

[rtfulk]

It should be easy to do, we have a CommentSold website also for live shows and theirs is customizable.  I think about. a year ago I submitted a request for it in the ideate page.  

[rtfulk]

@Jones-Bull Below is an HTML file I made for printing barcode labels. I haven't tested it on my Dymo printer yet ( it's setup at the fair and it doesn't start until Thursday), but in theory it should work. If you don't get a chance to try it before I do I will post the results. This will just open in your browser, you put in the item name, the price, size(optional) and your barcode and select the dymo paper size. Click print and it will open your printer page, select your dymo printer and label size.

dymo barcode layout.html 

EDIT: I have not got the .xml file configured correctly to print the barcode correctly. I have to figure that out.

When I test it and it does work correctly, I will read up on Square API's and try to make it pull in the api's for categories and inventory so you can select your item and it will fill everything out with inventory.

[Candlestore]

@rtfulk ;

I see what you mean. The HTML code does create a barcode, but the Barcode itself does not Scan.   I believe it might be something in the Code of how you create the Barcode.  If you look at the Image on the Right the Barcodes look different Than your Barcode.  Top code 39 I generated has a 2 Thin lines in front and the code 128 I generated has a Thick line then Thin line.  Your on the right track I am just not sure if you have your barcode generating with or without check digits and if they are or not needed. Maybe its just the wrong Font your trying for the Barcode.  I know some Free barcode generators have an API to connect to their generators but I do not know Computer or Website programming.  I am just trying to give you ideas what to look at to help you fix this.  I had a Free generator create my Code 39 and Code 128 barcodes below and had the SKU the same for all 3 barcode images.  I had the online generator put the SKU below to show its the same SKU as in your HTML, to compare.

Here is a Free Generator to test acceptable fonts (barcodes with) : https://barcodeapi.org 

When I put this 7 Digit Square generated SKU into a EAN-13 barcode it comes Back Invalid  but with but with all the barcodes on the Top row its valid.  This is one reason I believe you just chose the wrong Barcode Format or font.  Try one of the others and it may work fine for this.  Great Job!!  I am informing you of this API maybe you can incorporate it to your HTML program for generating Barcodes.  

If you click the Down arrow next to Barcode Options you can print the Code below the Barcode or in different places. (Top, Bottom or None)

[rtfulk]

@Candlestore Thank you for this information. This is my first attempt and it's not as easy as I thought it would be, but I'm sticking with it. First on my to do list is to get the barcodes to print correctly, then I will tackle the format to get them to scan correctly. Then last link the Square API's to categories and inventory so you can select the product you want and it will print it, no typing in the info.

[Candlestore · Accepted solution]

@Jones-Bull ;

The Square issue like most Mail merge programs is that Square Setup their Labels to print certain fields, Item, Price, SKU or GTIN as a Barcode font and maybe one or two more fields to fit labels.  The Font and size of the Text is set by the Mail merge software and as you pointed out does not wrap.

Dymo or Zebra Software works basically the same for importing the CSV.  You setup the Label with Font size and Location of the Field from the CSV.  You also have to select which Rows or Items need to be printed so you do not print labels for your entire catalog everytime.  I saw in this video in Dymo you can create Labels and save them to a Folder as I have done with my Zebra Software : Dymo how to video 

I have the Zebra Label printers with Zebras free software, their Paid version you can Import a csv.  So to get around this here is what I did, which you should be able to do with the Dymo Software.

Create a Folder on your Desktop (Labels for example)

Inside this Folder maybe make a Folder based on Labels or Printer, I did based on Printer because I have 5 Zebra label printers.

Then in each of the Printer Folders maybe have other folders of Types of Labels (sale labels, Category of Items etc)

Then save your Dymo Created Template to each of those Sub Folders for the Type of Label.  

Then after you actually Create an Items Label save it to the correct location by the Item Name.

So when You create the label to save per Item, I know it takes awhile but you do not have to do it at once do it as needed.

So here is how my folders are setup:

1. Labels ( on the Desktop for easy Access)
   1. Printer 1x1 Labels
   2. Printer 1x2.5 Labels
      1. Shelf Tags
      2. Burning Instructions
   3. Small Custom Labels
      1. Wax Melt labels
      2. Tea Light Labels
      3. 3x Pillar Labels
      4. 8oz Jar labels
   4. Large Custom Labels
      1. 28oz Labels
      2. 16oz Labels
      3. Votive Labels
      4. 4x and Up Labels
   5. Barbell Labels

So when I need to print Smoke Eater Votives I Click Labels>Large Custom Labels>Votive Labels- then look for my Scent I need Labels for.  Print 1 Test label to make sure everything Lines up correctly, then make minor adjustments or print the remaining Quantity.  

I did this because 1 label may have a Scent like Lilac and another like Pumpkin Pecan Waffles which both of these would not fit on my custom labels using the Same font, which a mail merge program does.

I could have made smaller csv files based on text length and Font Size etc but that seemed like alot of guessing and problems possibly using the Mail merge features of a Label printer.

When Setting up the label in Design mode, I created a 1 line and 2 line sample.  This way if I come out with a New Scent, a Template is already made, I just change Template text to Scent name, change the SKU to the Items SKU, Save as the new scent in the correct folder and test print one.  Make minor changes as needed, Print then Save final.  When changing labels in the printer, they may be slightly different so some miner adjustments may need to be made... but this works for us.

Since my Zebra Label printing computer is connected to the Internet, I look in my Square catalog to copy paste the GTIN or SKU for my barcode field.  This allows my Scanner to pull up the price of the item. 

You need to figure out which method of labels you would like to use to print Labels.  For me to print a set of labels for a batch of my candles takes about a minute.  I did a video explaining this which ends up being about 3 minutes long as I was explaining and showing some other things which I normally do not need to do.  Here is that video : how I use Zebra free software  

The Zebra video does not show you how I create the labels but how I print them after I created one that has beewhich should be similarn saved,  in Dymo.

[Jones-Bull]

Hi Keith, very helpful, your video made sense to me.  I think I may have a different issue.  Do you print directly from Square Dashboard or the POS/App?  We have unique items in our shop (antiques, home decor, art, sculpture, furniture, etc).  Very little of our inventory has more than 1 or 2 in inventory.  So, we enter items into Square inventory, add item descriptions, price, Square generates the SKU, etc.  I'm trying to print labels that have Item name, Price and SKU directly from Dashboard or the POS/App.

[Candlestore]

@Jones-Bull,

I did print a few from the Dashboard (Square app) but did not like the inability to add text or adjustability in the labels.  So I print right from the Zebra Design software.  Now while trying to help someone else out with a Dymo 550 printer that they are having issues with.  I found a YouTube video where people were having issues just printing labels to a Dymo Label printer.  So I am not sure if this is a Square Only related issue or if Dymo did an Update to their firm ware creating these issues in the printers compatibility.  Here is the link for how to use it with Windows and people in the comments were saying it does not work, Dymo Video Link .  

I tried @rtfulk Html link and it did create a label to print to a PDF, had to do it this way as I do not have a Dymo and am not sure what the Paper sizes are.  Since it is a few small 1 off items this maybe the best route for you to take at the least cost before trying a New printer.

[Sammie_C]

Hello @Jones-Bull, thank you for your post.

I went ahead and reached out to our Operations team to take a look into this and they would recommend reaching out to Dymo. I know you mentioned you had already done so, but maybe give them another call to ensure that the printer is set to manufacture settings, nothing is wrong with the printer itself, and the dimensions are being set correctly. On the Square side, our support would not be very helpful with another companies product, unfortunately.

At this time @rtfulk, we do not offer a "printer setup page" beyond what is available in the POS to print labels. This is a great idea though and adding it to Ideate is always a good step.

Thank you for all your insight as well, @Candlestore.

Please let me know if you all having any other questions or would like me to look into anything else for you.

[Jones-Bull]

Thanks, Sammie_C, but not completely satisfying.  I've contacted DYMO many times on this issue, connecting with their tech team -- they have spent a few 1+ hour sessions with me trying to troubleshoot.  Based on the back and forth above hopefully you get a sense of the workarounds that your customers are creating, for what should be a straightforward task that we do hundreds of times a week, maybe more.  I'm personally satisfied with many/most of Square's features and benefits, but as a relatively high priced service I expect better.

[Candlestore]

@Jones-Bull ;

Since I see this is with the Dymo 550, which another Dymo 550 user is also having issues with Square.  I started looking into why there is a problem with this label printer.  Here is what I found summed up:

1. Hard to setup (not sure why)
2. Proprietary Label rolls MUST be used
3. RFID chips in the core to count labels and make sure you are using Dymo Brand labels

The Dymo Labels are already more expensive because of the Black space between labels, but now you need to buy the labels from Dymo approved suppliers because of the RFID chip on Label rolls.  Without the RFID on the 550 series Dymo Label printers you get an error not Appproved labels and nothing prints until approved labels are inserted with this RFID chip.

Hard to setup, I figured most USB printers are close to Plug and Play.  Plug in the USB, install printer software and your good to go.  Boy was I wrong about the Dymo 550 series.  People are having issues with it connecting to just a computer and not even trying a 3rd party operating system like Square.  I watched the below video to see how to set one up.  Seemed straight forward then I read some of the comments.  

My point here is this seems to be an Issue with Dymo not Square.  I have a cheap chinese label printer from Amazon ($60) for my shipping labels, bought it 6 yrs ago.  Was a pain to setup, but prints my shipping labels no problem.  Prints from Chrome - Square - Labels with no problem.  My opinion is that DYMO over complicated there newer printers to make sure you buy their labels and possibly use their software.  

Setting up 550.... Read the Comments for this video 

I just do not understand what the issue is with setting this up on a computer.   Heck I can write a Text document in any word processing program and when I choose Print, I need to choose which Printer the document goes to.  My Brother MFC, My Epson Workforce, or my cheap thermal printer.  Only thing is if I choose the thermal printer it is scaled to a 4x6 label and not to the 8.5x11 paper.

[Sammie_C]

I understand, @Jones-Bull. I am sorry that I cannot be more helpful in this situation since it is an issue with the Dymo product itself. I checked with our Operations team (the experts on this) and beyond the information that I provided, we on the Square side have limited knowledge on this.

I see @Candlestore mentioned seeing that other individuals are also having issues with similar Dymo products. Potentially some of the information that they provided may be helpful. Hopefully one of our sellers may be able to chime in with some additional insight, if they find a fix for this.

Again, I do apologize we can't offer too much assistance with this, but it is just not in the Square wheelhouse.