Orders print twice or more with BizPrint

This page helps when the same order comes out of the printer two or more times. It is for store owners and staff who print with BizPrint, mostly with the BizPrint plugin for WooCommerce, whose settings appear as Print Manager under the WooCommerce menu in WordPress. Some entries also apply to the BizPrint desktop app and the BizPrint Android app, whatever your orders come from.

Extra printouts are annoying, but a missing printout is worse. Change one thing at a time, and after each change check that new orders still print once.

Before you print, reprint, or retry anything while you work through this page, check all of these, so you do not add another copy:

1. Look at the printer for the printout.
2. Check the order’s print job and its status in the BizPrint dashboard.
3. Wait for the station to finish anything it is still printing, whatever status the job shows.
4. Go to WooCommerce > Print Manager in WordPress, if the order came from WooCommerce.
5. Click the Support tab.
6. Check Queue Status in Print Job Queue.
7. Wait for any pending or processing jobs to finish.

Do not print an order again while its print job is still pending, connecting-to-printer or processing. Never place an order again, or take a payment again, to get a printout.

Copies is set higher than 1

Symptom: Every order prints the same number of times, for example always twice, on every printer.

Cause: The Copies setting in the plugin is higher than 1. It applies to every print job the plugin sends: automatic prints, prints from the order screen, and test prints.

Fix: Set the number of copies you want:

1. Go to WooCommerce > Print Manager in WordPress.
2. Open the General tab.
3. Find Copies under Automatic Order Printing.
4. Enter 1, or the number of copies you really want.
5. Click Save Changes.

The desktop app and the Android app both print this number of copies. To learn more, see Print more than one copy of each WooCommerce order with BizPrint.

The same printer is in more than one printer location

Symptom: One printer prints the same order two or more times, sometimes with a different layout each time, while other printers print it once.

Cause: The plugin sends one print job to each printer in each printer location that prints the order. If the same printer is selected in two locations, and both locations print the order, the printer gets two jobs.

Fix: Check each printer location:

1. Go to WooCommerce > Print Manager in WordPress.
2. Open the Printers tab.
3. Click the name of a printer location in the Description column.
4. Look at the printers selected in the Printers box.
5. Check whether Automatic Printing for Website Orders is ticked.
6. Repeat for every printer location.
7. Remove the printer from the locations that should not print to it, or untick Automatic Printing for Website Orders in the extra location.
8. Click Save Changes in each location you changed.

If you print to the same printer from two locations on purpose (for example a receipt and a kitchen ticket), the two printouts are expected.

A status trigger prints the order again

Symptom: An order prints once when it is placed, and again when its status changes, for example from Processing to Completed.

Cause: Your store uses the Status Triggers add-on (included with some plans). A status trigger prints an order when it changes from one status to another, to every printer location that prints website orders. This is separate from automatic printing in the plugin. If the order already printed automatically, a trigger whose statuses match a later change prints it again. A trigger whose To Status is the same status you chose for automatic printing can print the order twice at the same moment.

Fix: Decide which one should print each order, then turn off the other:

1. Go to WooCommerce > Print Manager in WordPress.
2. Open the Status Triggers tab.
3. Look at the From Status and To Status of each trigger in Active Triggers.
4. Untick Enabled for any trigger that prints an order you already print automatically. The change is saved straight away.

To remove the trigger instead:

1. Click Delete next to the trigger in Active Triggers.
2. Click OK when you are asked “Are you sure you want to delete this trigger?”.

If you would rather keep the trigger and stop the automatic print instead:

1. Open the General tab.
2. Untick that status under Automatically Printed Order Statuses.
3. Click Save Changes.

A trigger prints each status change only once for each order, so moving an order back and forth between the same two statuses does not print it again. To learn more, see Print WooCommerce orders when their status changes with BizPrint Status Triggers.

A repeated print request sent the order twice

Symptom: An order sometimes prints twice on the same printer, often when your store or its internet connection was slow.

Cause: When the connection to BizPrint is slow or drops, a print request can be sent again. If BizPrint did receive the first request, both requests create a print job, and the order prints twice.

Fix: Get help to stop the repeated requests:

1. Do the checks at the top of this page before you print or retry anything.
2. Contact BizPrint support.
3. Tell them which orders printed twice.

If your print requests are slow or fail, also see WooCommerce print requests to BizPrint time out or fail to connect.

A queued retry printed the order again

Symptom: An order prints once, then again a few minutes or up to an hour later.

Cause: If a print request could not reach BizPrint, the plugin may keep it in the Print Job Queue and try again later. If the first request timed out but BizPrint did receive it, the retry creates a second print job. The same happens if someone clicks Retry or Process Queue Now on the Support tab for an order that already printed.

Fix: Before you retry anything in the queue, do the checks at the top of this page. To see what is waiting:

1. Go to WooCommerce > Print Manager in WordPress.
2. Open the Support tab.
3. Find Print Job Queue.
4. Look at Queue Status.
5. Look at the Failed Jobs list.
6. Click Delete next to a job in Failed Jobs if that order already printed.
7. Click OK when you are asked “Are you sure you want to delete this job?”.

The Print Job Queue only fills when Background Print Processing or Queue Failed Jobs is turned on. Both are off by default. If late extra printouts keep happening, contact BizPrint support.

Many jobs printed at once when a station came back online

Symptom: When a computer or Android device was turned back on or reconnected, a burst of orders printed at once, including some you had already printed by hand.

Cause: Archive offline print jobs is turned off in the dashboard settings. With it off, jobs that could not reach an offline station wait as pending and all print when the station reconnects. If staff printed some of those orders by hand in the meantime, they print again.

Fix: While a station is offline and this setting is off, do not print the waiting orders by hand: they will print when the station reconnects. If you would rather print missed orders yourself, turn the setting on:

1. Sign in to the BizPrint dashboard.
2. Click Settings in the menu.
3. Turn on Archive offline print jobs.
4. Click Save.

With the setting on, jobs that the station does not confirm within about 2 minutes are marked archived and are not sent again by themselves. Before you reprint an archived job, do the checks at the top of this page. To learn more, see Choose what happens to BizPrint print jobs when a station is offline.

The order was printed again by hand

Symptom: An order printed twice, and someone clicked Print on the order in WordPress, or Print or Print Selected in the dashboard.

Cause: Every print from the order screen and every reprint from the dashboard creates a new printout, even if the order already printed automatically. Printing from the order screen sends the order to every printer location you tick, whether or not those locations print automatically.

Fix: Agree on a routine with your staff:

1. Do the checks at the top of this page before printing any order by hand.
2. Tick only the printer locations that still need the printout, when you print from the order screen.

The same station is connected on two devices

Symptom: Every job prints twice, on two different printers or on two computers, even though each printer location has one printer.

Cause: The same station is connected on more than one computer or Android device, for example an old computer that was replaced but never disconnected. Each device that is connected to the station receives the station’s jobs, and prints them if it has a matching printer.

Fix: Connect each station on one device only:

1. Find every computer and Android device that runs the BizPrint app.
2. Check which station each one is connected to.
3. Disconnect the station on the device you no longer use. See Disconnect the BizPrint desktop app or switch to another station. On an Android device, tap the station name at the top of the BizPrint Android app’s main screen, then tap Disconnect.
4. Create a separate station for each device that should print. See Create a station in the BizPrint dashboard.

One order prints as several tickets, each with different products

Symptom: One order prints several tickets, each with a different product or a different set of products.

Cause: This is not a duplicate. The printer location uses Print per product or Print per product quantity in the Product Mapping add-on (included with some plans), which splits the order across several tickets. Print per product prints one ticket for each product line, or for each group of product lines when Limit products per print is more than 1. Print per product quantity prints one ticket for each item.

Fix: If you want one ticket for the whole order, change the setting:

1. Go to WooCommerce > Print Manager in WordPress.
2. Open the Printers tab.
3. Click the name of the printer location in the Description column.
4. Choose Default print in the Product Mapping section.
5. Click Save Changes.

To learn more, see Print each product on its own ticket in WooCommerce with BizPrint Product Mapping.

Related pages

• Reprint a print job from the BizPrint dashboard
• View and retry failed print jobs in WooCommerce with the BizPrint Print Job Queue
• Print WooCommerce orders when their status changes with BizPrint Status Triggers
• BizPrint glossary

Still stuck? Contact BizPrint support at https://getbizprint.com/support/.