Shipping labels out of order

Technical Q&A

Topic summary

A Shopify user is experiencing an unexpected issue with shipping label printing order. Previously, labels printed chronologically, matching their packing workflow where they prepare 30-40 orders with customer names and keep them sequenced.

Current Problem:

  • Printed 4 batches totaling 100+ labels
  • All batches printed in random order instead of chronological sequence
  • Issue persists despite reordering before printing and before generating labels

Impact:

  • Nearly doubled packing time due to need to match labels with pre-packed orders
  • This is the first occurrence of this problem after years of using the platform

The issue remains unresolved with no responses yet.

Summarized with AI on October 26. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

Hi community.

I’ve been using Shopify for a few years and this is the first time I run into this issue.

I usually pack 30-40 orders, write the customer’s name and set them aside, keeping them in order. When I print the labels, they have printed in chronological order.

Not today. I printed 4 batches of labels totaling over 100 labels. All 4 times they printed in random order. I reordered the orders before printing and also tried before generating labels while packing.

Last time we printed, everything was fine.

Help! It almost doubled the time it takes us to pack orders.

2
3

Thanks for the Google search results.

We did all that before coming here.

4

Hi there,

It sounds like Shopify’s shipping label batch printing changed the sequence unexpectedly. The label purchase flow generally prints labels in the same order that orders are selected in the Orders screen, so if your labels came out in a random order it’s likely due to a temporary glitch. Some suggestions to work around this:

  • Sort before you create labels: In the Orders list you can click the “Created” or “Order” column header to sort your orders by date or order number. Select the orders in the sequence you want and then choose Create shipping labels. Shopify will normally print the labels in the order they were selected.

  • Print in smaller batches: Some merchants have found that printing very large batches can cause the PDF generator to reorder. Try printing 10‑15 at a time to see if the sequence is maintained.

  • Use an order‑printing app: Apps like Order Printer Pro or ShipStation let you build packing slips and labels and control the sort order (e.g., ascending by order number or name). This gives you more control over the print queue.

  • Clear your browser cache or try another browser: Occasionally a cached PDF viewer causes pages to display out of order. Export the labels as a PDF and check the page order before printing.

If the issue persists, I’d recommend contacting Shopify Support with an example so they can investigate. There are no settings in the Shopify admin to change the print order, so this may be a bug or a new shipping label workflow update.

5
  1. Always sort and print directly from the “Orders” view before printing:
  • Go to Orders > Unfulfilled.
  • Click the column heading (For example: Order date) to sort them by date.
  • Select all orders in that sorted order.
  • Click More actions → Create shipping labels.
  1. Try to Print labels in smaller batches (20–25 orders max)
  2. Avoid reordering after opening the label screen.
6

Thank you for the suggestions. Tried all of that.

It is now with Shopify support. They’re investigating.

7

Thank you. Does the same thing for small batches. Even tries doing just 10.

Hopefully Shopify support figures it out.

1 Like
8

Did they figure it out for you?

9

b/c that just happened to us