Mintsoft print integration - Chrome extension

A guide to triggering Penny Black prints in Mintsoft via our Chrome extension

Introduction

 See the introductory guide on how to download and install this in your web browser.

Configuration

Once installed set the mode to Live and enter the API Key and Print Location Name(s) provided by Penny Black.

System URL

This is only necessary if you are using Mintsoft on your own domain. By default, we support Mintsoft at https://om.mintsoft.co.uk/ and https://mintsoft.accessacloud.com/ without any additional configuration. If you are using Mintsoft on any other domain, you must enter it here.

Merchant IDs

You must enter the Client Names that you see in Mintsoft for all merchants you intend to print for into the Merchant Id(s) setting on separate lines.

These Client Names can be seen in various screens in Mintsoft, here’s an example from the Barcode Verification page:

 

In this example, you would add Merchant Name Here as a Merchant Id entry.

These merchant IDs must then also correspond to the Fulfilment ID in the Penny Black app settings for the respective merchants. Ask the merchant to set this value or contact our support team.

Automatic Printing

The extension can print automatically for single print mode, which is the recommended method of using it.

There is no automatic printing for batches, even if ticked it will not apply for this method. Triggering printing from a success dialog is already automatic, so ticking this option will have no impact on this process.

Remove order number prefix

If orders in the WMS are prefixed with a set of characters that do not match the order numbers from your e-commerce platform, you can specify this prefix here and it will strip this prefix when requesting a print from Penny Black.

Add order number prefix

This allows you to specify a new prefix to prepend to order numbers when prints for these orders are requested from Penny Black.

Trigger from success dialog

This is specifically for when Mintsoft is configured to bypass the Scan Actions and Barcode Verification pages for ‘despatching’ orders. If this is the case you will need to tick this option (see below).

Single printing

Single printing is designed to be automatic with a manual button as a fallback but can also be triggered manually if desired.

The standard flow is to print from the Barcode Verification page, after a tote or product has been scanned. This page is reached from Picking & Packing → Order Pick & Pack on the menu.

However, Mintsoft is not always configured with this flow and sometimes goes through to the Scan Actions page (see further down).

Manual printing from the Barcode Verification page

With Automatic Printing disabled in the configuration, you will see a pink Print button in the top-right corner. This button will be disabled with a message if a print is not possible or not required.

 

After clicking for a Print, you will see a popup message in the bottom-right corner indicating the result.

Automatic printing from the Barcode Verification page

With Automatic Printing enabled, a print for a merchant configured to use Penny Black will automatically be triggered as soon as this page is loaded. This is intended to minimise the wait time for printing and have t minimal impact on the packer process.

You will not see a success message with automatic printing (as this would just be an extra box to click to dismiss on an otherwise hands-off process), but you will see any error messages.

To prevent undesired duplicate prints, the automatic print requests will only print an order once. If you revisit this page for an order that has already been printed it will not print again automatically. There is a fallback Reprint button for this purpose though

 

This button will be disabled with a tooltip if a print is not required. This is also useful for your packers to know when automatic printing is happening not to expect a print:

Manual printing from the Scan Actions page

Prints can also be triggered from the Scan Actions page. This is an alternative fallback option. Printing automation is not possible from this screen as it’s not the expected packing flow.

Automatic printing from the Print Success dialog

The third method of triggering a single print is when Mintsoft is configured to bypass both of the above screens. In this scenario, you remain on the Order Pick & Pack screen and the only indication that the order has been processed is a confirmation dialog shown at the top of the screen.

If this is how Mintsoft is configured for you then you must enable support specifically for this approach (do not enable it otherwise as it could trigger prints at undesired times):

Once ticked, this will enable Penny Black prints when the following green confirmation dialog is displayed:

If you fulfil for multiple merchants in your warehouse then you should try to filter by the client as shown above. This way we know whether the order belongs to the merchant that you have configured for Penny Black and will only attempt to print in this case.

If you fulfil for multiple merchants and you use Penny Black for multiple merchants then you must have the above filter on - otherwise, we do not know which merchant to attempt to print for.

As per the other printing methods, we will show a message dialog when attempting to print on the bottom-right corner. This dialog will fade away after a few seconds in the case of success, errors will remain on screen until you dismiss them.

Batch printing

Acquiring a Mintsoft API key

To be able to batch print you must provide the Penny Black team with a Mintsoft API Key. The print button will still be visible without it, but printing won’t be possible.

An API Key is connected to a user, so a new user should be added to your Mintsoft instance, identified as Penny Black so that you know what it’s for. We do not need access to Mintsoft itself, just the API key, so you can either use an email address of your own internally or add us if you prefer support@pennyblack.io .

Once created, you need to set this API key as static:

These next steps need to be completed by someone with Warehouse admin privileges:

1. Go to Settings then either Warehouse User Accounts or Client User Accounts
2. Search for the user that needs a static API Key
3. Click Actions then Set API Key to Never Expire.

Printing flow

Once this has been set, you can trigger a batch print from the View Batch page shown below:

There’s no automatic printing on this page, you have to click the button.