Packing tables

Register your packing station PCs and their printers so delivery notes, shipping labels and article labels print automatically.

A packing table entry describes one packing station PC: its name, its folder on the X-Sitter server and up to three printers. When you save the entry, X-Sitter puts a small print script (print-label.bat) into that folder. The packing PC connects to the folder as a network drive and prints everything that arrives there automatically – delivery notes, shipping labels and small article labels. This is what makes printing at the packing station work without any clicks.

Screenshot: Packing table entries list with columns packing station, directory, printers, description and the dispatch file status

Before you start

Your user needs the permission Company Settings › Packing Table Connections to see the list and the edit permission to create or change entries. Ask your administrator.
Your package must still have room for another packing station. Packing stations of your clients count against your package as well. If the limit is reached, contact X-Sitter support.
The internal directory and the FTP access of a new packing station are set up by X-Sitter. If the fields are read-only for you, contact X-Sitter support for a new packing station.
You know the exact Windows printer names on the packing PC (as shown under Printers & scanners in Windows).

Step by step

Create a packing table entry

Open Company Settings › Packing Table Connections (Firmen Einstellungen › Packtisch Verbindungen). You see the list of Packing table entries (Paktisch Einträge).
Click New entry (Neuer Eintrag).
Enter the Packing table / PC name (Packtisch- / PC Name). It is used to determine the correct internal directory and is the name your staff choose as their workstation.
Check the Internal directory (internes Verzeichnis).
Enter the Windows names of the Printers (Drucker) – see the table below.
Decide whether Packing: offer quantity confirmation (Verpacken: Menge bestätigen anbieten) should be on.
Optionally add a Free-form label (Freie Bezeichnung), e.g. "Hall 2, left".
Click Save (Speichern). You see "The entry has been saved" (or "… updated") together with the result of creating the print script.

Screenshot: Packing table form with PC name, internal directory, the three printer fields and the quantity confirmation switch

Connect the packing PC

On the packing PC, connect the internal directory as a network drive using the FTP - Login and FTP - Password shown in the form (FTPS connection).
The form links to a free tool for mounting the remote directory as a drive (RaiDrive). Download and install it on the packing PC if you do not have a suitable tool yet.
Start the print-label.bat from the connected folder on the packing PC. It watches the folder and prints new files.

Screenshot: Connection section of the packing table form with FTP host, FTP login, FTP password and the download hint

Check the print script

In the list, the column dispatch (Versand) shows whether the print script exists in the directory. "Not yet created – save the entry to create the file" (Noch nicht erzeugt - Eintrag speichern, um die Datei anzulegen) means you only need to open the entry and save it once.

Screenshot: Packing table list with one entry showing "Not yet created - save the entry to create the file"

Fields and options

Field	Meaning
Packing table / PC name (Packtisch- / PC Name)	Name of the packing station. Required.
Internal directory (internes Verzeichnis)	Folder on the X-Sitter server for this packing station. Required; set up by X-Sitter.
A4 Printer / Delivery Slips (Drucker A4 / Lieferscheine)	Printer for delivery notes and other A4 documents. Empty = Windows default printer of the packing PC.
Shipping Label Printer (Drucker Versandetiketten)	Printer for shipping labels. Empty = shipping labels are not printed at this table.
Mini Label Printer (Drucker Mini-Etiketten)	Printer for article labels 57 × 31 mm. Empty = article labels are not printed at this table.
Packing: offer quantity confirmation (Verpacken: Menge bestätigen anbieten)	On (default): from 3 units of an item, the packing station offers to confirm the total quantity on the first scan. Off: every unit must be scanned individually at this table.
Free-form label (Freie Bezeichnung)	Your own description of the station.
FTP - Login / FTP - Password	Access data for connecting the internal directory on the packing PC.

When you save, any other .bat files in the directory are removed and the PDF print program is copied next to the script, so the folder always contains exactly one current print script.

Good to know / Troubleshooting

Message / situation	Cause	Solution
Package limit message for packing stations	The limit of your package is reached.	Contact X-Sitter support to extend your package.
Shipping labels are not printed	Shipping Label Printer is empty or the printer name is wrong.	Enter the exact Windows printer name and save the entry again.
Nothing prints at all	The folder is not connected on the packing PC or the print script is not running.	Reconnect the network drive and start `print-label.bat` again.
Changed printer names have no effect	The print script still contains the old names.	Save the entry – this rewrites the script – and restart it on the PC.

Devices like forklifts can be linked to packing stations as workstations, see Forklifts and devices.