Import spreadsheet for Print Labels

[bburkhard3]

Square for Retail: The only current way to print labels is to go to Items -> Print Labels and enter the applicable SKUs or item names one by one.  If inventory numbers are not maintained or correct in item library, you also have to update the quantity manually for each item.  This is fine for a small number of labels but for 25, 50, 100, 200+, this is very time consuming and error prone; it's honestly a horrible user experience for the business owner or clerk when there are much more important uses of our time.  In the same manner that we can import/update items in the library by importing a spreadsheet, we should be able to do the same for items/quantity when creating labels.  Thank you for considering this request.

[TheBeatGoesOn]

I also agree. Even when scanning the barcodes in, it defaults to the first item that you scanned making it impossible to scan items for labels. You would have to type them in manually then click up to the item you just typed in. Even with the purchase history now it scatters all the items in random order when printing the labels out. So now I have to hunt down each item for each label and make sure they match up. Thankfully I can match barcodes with the item on hand, but I can imagine the frustration for those who can't do this.

[MayaP]

Hey there @bburkhard3 I appreciate you reaching out and letting us know how our current process to print labels is not working out for you. Also @TheBeatGoesOn thanks for adding your input! Your feedback and insight on this feature request is greatly appreciated. Since this particular feature isn’t currently available on our platform, I have updated the status to “Open”. Once more information becomes available from our Product Team, a Community moderator will update the status to the next phase. Keep an eye out for the email once this change has been made.

If you guys need anything else don't hesitate to reach back out! 

[papalorax]

as a gift store we bring lots of random stuff into the store...so a way to "import items" and then print labels would be amazing!!

[Candlestore]

@papalorax;

 With Square you can Import items from a CSV file to Square items.  Here is how : 5153-import-items 

then you can look in your Square catalog and locate the item you need to Print labels for, but I think you need Square for Retail paid version.  Not being able to print labels from Square is not a feature in the free version I believe. 

Some printer manufacturers have their own software that can print from a csv file.  I believe Dymo Label printers has these feature free, and Zebra has a paid version of this for their label printers.

[Candlestore]

@papalorax;

 With Square you can Import items from a CSV file to Square items.  Here is how : 5153-import-items 

then you can look in your Square catalog and locate the item you need to Print labels for, but I think you need Square for Retail paid version.  Not being able to print labels from Square is not a feature in the free version I believe. 

Some printer manufacturers have their own software that can print from a csv file.  I believe Dymo Label printers has these feature free, and Zebra has a paid version of this for their label printers.

[Redkingdomwhole]

Well its been 2 years since this thread and the moderator said they will look into this. I really hope they can make this change so I dont have to enter 300 skus one-by-one…. 

[Candlestore]

@Redkingdomwhole,

Are you items in Square?   You can select From Category to print labels now.  And if your items are not in Square you can import your items with a SKU and a GTIN.  Once the items with a SKU or GTIN you can select the category to print from.  

I am just trying to figure out why you are entering your 300 skus to print now.  As you pointed out this is from almost 2 years ago.

we can now search by Item, SKU, GTIN, or even by Category.  So in my case I can select my 16oz candles and then select the ones I need labels for.  The default amount to print I believe is what you have in your Square stock.  If you created a Purchase Order in Square you can print labels for that Purchase order too from Square.

Here is how to print Labels with Square : 6093-create-and-print-bar-code-labels-with-square-for-retail 

You just might need to be subscribed to Square for Retail according to the link 6093 above.

Who is this article for?

• Sellers with general items and inventory permissions. Set permissions in the Square Dashboard.
• Square for Retail Plus, and Premium subscribers.
• Sellers with retail mode enabled on the Square Point of Sale app.

Now if your just trying to print your SKU from a Spreedsheet through Square you may have to look at other software to print to your label printer.  Zebras have their own software, to print from a Spreedsheet.  Dymo has a free downloadable program that can print from a Spreedsheet.  Google Sheets and excel can use mail merge to print from a Spreedsheet to a label printer if the printer is connected to a computer and not your POS.  Square prints from its Item catalog to connected label printers.

[bburkhard3]

@RedkingdomwholeI've pretty much determined they really don't care about smaller customers that don't have heavy automation in place.  I've been using Square for Retail specifically because it supports categories and last week, they updated search on the Square Stand and Square Terminal so that you can no longer search for items within a specific category; you can now only search through your entire inventory.  I contacted support and they said to open a feature request.  I explained that they actually removed an existing feature and they said... yes we did, but you'll need to open a feature request to have us consider adding it back.  Seriously?  WT*?  Not to mention the outages they keep having when their product is so mission critical to retailers.

@CandlestoreYes thanks, I'm aware of importing and the category option Print Labels.  When you select a category in Print Labels, it's all or nothing but even if it wasn't, it would be manual selection.  I have many vendors in my shop and I use categories to manage each vendor.  They are frequently asking for me to make more labels for existing items but even if it was just me in the shop, needing to print more labels for specific items would be a manual process.  Spreadsheets can be manipulated quickly and easily and Square already supports importing and exporting items via spreadsheet.  It would be way faster/easier to be able to list items and quantities in a spreadsheet and just click a button and have them made.  There are other POS systems that focus on scenarios like this because Square simply isn't cutting it.  Guess I'll have to look at one of those.

[Redkingdomwhole]

@Candlestore Yes, I currently have around 300 items in square retail. When I want to print labels, I have to enter each sku and add to print labels. What I am looking to do is being able to select all items at once and have them generated into labels rather than having to add each item one at a time. I hope this makes sense. I havent set up categories yet; so wondering if you can mass select from the categories?

[Candlestore]

@Redkingdomwhole ;

So when Printing labels in Square you can choose a Category for me say 16oz Candles.  This limits my Search to the 16oz candles not all 11,000 items.  Then I have to select each 16oz candle that I want a label printed for.  If an item showing I do not need a Label for I select the X on the right side of the list removing the item from the label. I just tried this with my  wax melters vendor , then Sub Category by Design.  I was able to only print labels for my Sub category of style Square Melters for example from that vendor that I have set as a Category.  If I did not want all 25 of the Square Design labels printed I could click the X to the right of each Item I did not want a Label for.  By doing this I went from searching through 11,000 items to 25. The Default number of labels to print is the amount that is inventory in Square for that item.

@bburkhard3 ;

I am not sure what you have setup for categories, or how you have them setup but if you have a Vendor as a Sub category of the Item Category you could select the sub category instead of the entire category to print as a filter.

Here are some images for refrence:

Here on the below image you can choose "Select by Category"

I selected Select By Category

Then you can choose the Category or Sub Category of Labels to print.  Clothes is my Parent Category, Adult T-shirts is a Sub Category.  You may have to tap or Click the > arrow next to Clothing to see the Sub Categories.

Clothing is a Parent Category Adult T-Shirts is a Sub Category

After I chose the Adult T-Shirt Sub Category I only had Items from that Sub Category.  If you select a Number under Qty circled in Green, you can edit how many labels get printed.  In the Green are this Qty is what you normally have in Stock, I currently have 1 of each of these remaining in store.   If you click the X in the red circle you can keep from printing a Label.  I did not enter any SKUs or Items or GTINs to find these items.  These 23 items were pulled from My Square Catalog of 11,000 items and listed. So only the ones from Adult T-shirts Sub category.   Maybe create a sub Category by Vendor if you like or a parent as Vendor?  

Qty can be edited and label can be deleted

[kristen]

@Candlestore - thank you so much for explaining and showing how to bulk print labels using Categories to @Redkingdomwhole. I am going to change the status of this idea and close it out on our end, but if anyone has further questions about this topic, feel free to post in the Square for Retail support board. Thanks again!

️ Kristen
Square Community Manager
Product Engagement

[bburkhard3]

@CandlestoreAppreciate the help.  Most of my vendors have several hundred items so when they request a subset (which aren't categorized into their own set; the requests are usually very random), the only two options right now are to select the category then click X next to all the ones I don't need or manually enter the ones I do need.  Beyond just getting the appropriate list in the Print Labels screen, the quantity requested by my vendors is rarely 1.  So that's another manual step.  At this point, I'm just accepting that Square isn't a good fit for this type of venue.

[bburkhard3]

@kristenNo, categories does not solve this problem; see my last post.

[Candlestore]

@bburkhard3 ;

Last Idea I have because I accedentally stumbled on this.

Try importing the CSV as a Purchase Order.  You can print Labels for Pending Purchase orders.

Here is a Link to How to import a PO : 7656-import-purchase-orders-with-square-for-retail 

A link tothe PO template is in the link 7656 above.

See a Pending PO

When you click on the PO you can select Print Labels see below:

You then get this screen with all Items from the PO listed with Quatities..... not sure if there is a Limit on items in my sample here I have 3 items and largest I have had was like 50 items.  

I just printed to a PDF to save paper, after printing Cancel the Pending PO.

Sample PO that you can download from Square