# How to print barcode labels from a Shopify purchase order > Shopify cannot print labels from a purchase order. Here are the three ways to do it anyway, what each costs you per delivery, and when each is the right call. - Source: https://storestandards.com/blog/print-barcode-labels-after-stocky/ - Published: 2026-08-17 - Author: Tom Beckwith, Engineer, Store Standards - Topics: Barcodes, Receiving ## Key points - Shopify does not print labels from a purchase order, and says so in its own migration guide. - There are three ways to do it. A CSV export, Shopify's free product label app, or a label app that reads the delivery. - The part that separates them is a part delivery, because Shopify only records the cumulative accepted quantity per shipment. --- A delivery lands, you receive it in Shopify, and the stock is right within the hour. Then you need a barcode label for every unit that arrived, and Shopify has no button for it. This is not something you have missed. Shopify's migration guide says labels are printed from the product list rather than the purchase order screen, and that label quantities do not fill in from a partial [receiving](https://storestandards.com/glossary/receiving/). It suggests a CSV export or a third-party app for anything large. Here are the three routes, in order of how much they cost you.
Route Cost Time per delivery Breaks when
Export to CSV and merge Free 15 minutes upwards You receive weekly
Shopify's Retail Barcode Labels Free The counting, then minutes Quantities come from a delivery
An app that reads the delivery $0 to $20 a month Under a minute A delivery arrives in two drops
## Route one: export to CSV and merge Free, and it works. Export the received lines, open them in a spreadsheet, and merge into a label template in a word processor or a label designer. Print the sheet. The steps are worth writing down, because the order matters: 1. Export the lines from the transfer behind the purchase order. 2. Delete every column except barcode, title, variant and quantity. 3. Work out the label count per line. This is the step that costs you. 4. Repeat each row that many times, which is a formula or a lot of copying. 5. Merge into the label layout and print. Do this once and it is fine. Do it weekly and two problems show up. It is fifteen minutes of clicking that produces nothing except labels you could have had automatically. And step three is by hand, from what arrived, which is where the errors live. Worth it if you receive rarely, or if you are between apps and a delivery is sitting on the floor right now. ## Route two: Shopify's own label app Retail Barcode Labels is free and made by Shopify, and it is the right tool for the job it was built for. Pick products, pick a template, print. What it does not do is read a delivery. The quantities come from you, because the app has no idea a purchase order exists. It solves the printing and leaves you the counting, which is the half that takes the time. Use it if you label by product rather than by delivery, such as when a new range arrives and you want a sheet per line regardless of quantities. Where that stops working is [when Shopify's Retail Barcode Labels app is not enough](https://storestandards.com/blog/retail-barcode-labels-limits/), and the apps built for the other job are in [Retail Barcode Labels alternatives](https://storestandards.com/compare/retail-barcode-labels-alternatives/). ## Route three: an app that reads the delivery A category of app appeared in mid 2026 to fill exactly this gap, most of it within weeks of the Stocky sunset being announced. These read the transfer behind your purchase order, take the accepted quantity per line, and offer that as the label count. They are cheap. Several have free plans of a few hundred labels a month, and the paid tiers sit between $9.99 and $19.99. That removes the counting, which is the win. Then one more question separates them, and it only shows up on a [part delivery](https://storestandards.com/glossary/part-delivery/). ## The part delivery problem Say you ordered 12 and 7 arrive on Tuesday. You print 7 labels. On Friday the other 5 turn up and you open the app again. It offers 12. The reason is worth knowing, because it is not laziness on the app's part. Shopify does not keep a record of what arrived in each individual drop. Receiving the same transfer twice updates the same shipment: the accepted quantity goes from 7 to 12 in place, with no per-event history to query. Any app filling straight from that number cannot know that 7 of them are already on your shelf wearing labels. The only way to offer 5 is for the app to keep its own record of what it has printed, and subtract. So when you test one, test that. Receive part of an order, print, receive the rest, and look at the number it offers. Everything else on the feature list is comparable between these apps. That one is not. Which apps do what is in [the label app comparison](https://storestandards.com/compare/best-shopify-barcode-label-printing-apps/). If you are here because Stocky is closing, the wider list is [what Stocky did that Shopify's admin still does not](https://storestandards.com/blog/stocky-gaps-shopify-admin/). ## What to print on, and what to put on it The printer matters less than people expect, and the label stock matters more. **Avery sheets on a laser printer** cost nothing to start and suit a shop that labels a few times a month. The waste is the catch: a sheet of 24 used for six labels throws away eighteen. **A Dymo or Zebra roll** prints one label at a time, so a short run costs nothing. This is what pays for itself once you label every delivery. Buy the label size before the printer, and buy it in the size your shelves take. What goes on the label is a shorter list than most templates suggest: - The barcode, which is the whole point. - The product name, in words, so a person can read it when the scanner fails. - The variant, if you carry more than one. - The price, only if you price on the shelf. A price on a label means a reprint every time it changes. Test one label on your own stock before you order a box of them. A preset that is two millimetres out wastes a roll, and every app has its own preset list. ## Before any of it: check your barcodes exist None of the three routes helps if half your products have no barcode in the [barcode field](https://storestandards.com/glossary/barcode-field/). Fix that first, generate in-store codes for anything without one, and only then worry about printing. [Barcode types every Shopify store should know](https://storestandards.com/blog/barcode-types-for-shopify-stores/) covers which codes are safe to make up and which are not.