What is PrintNode?

What it is

A web application runs on a server, far from the printer in your warehouse or store. PrintNode connects the two. A client program installed on a computer at the site reports the printers that computer can use. Your application then calls PrintNode's API, naming a printer and supplying the document or the raw printer commands.

PrintNode passes the job to the client, and the client prints it. Because the request comes from software, nobody has to open a print dialog. A similar tool, QZ Tray, solves the same problem by working through the browser instead.

Why it matters to a business

• Labels at the packing station: a shipping or product label comes out of the nearest printer as soon as an order is ready.
• Receipts at a register: a sale in a web-based system prints a receipt at the right counter.
• No manual print dialogs: staff stop choosing printers and settings, which removes a common source of mistakes.
• Several locations, one application: the same web application can print at any site that has the client running.

How KawaConnect works with PrintNode

We build software and integrations that print labels and receipts from web applications to printers on site, including the label printing in our own product Tagestry. We set up and support the label printers, the computers the print client runs on, and the network between them.

Every PrintNode job crosses the internet, so a site that loses its connection stops printing. Where that is not acceptable, we use a local print bridge instead.

Learn more

• PrintNode websiteThe vendor's own site, useful for seeing what the service does and how it is set up.
• PrintNode documentationTechnical guides and API reference for the developer who will connect an application to it.