- Getting started 4 guides
- At the counter 4 guides
- Wi-Fi mode set-up 4 guides
- Printers and hot folders 5 guides
- Customer phones 4 guides
- Staff and branches 3 guides
- Billing and tax 3 guides
- Troubleshooting 9 guides
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Getting started
- Install the shop app on Windows Download the SendToShop shop app, pair it with your account using a 6-digit code and choose the folder where orders are saved.
- Install the shop app on a Mac Install the SendToShop shop app on a Mac with macOS 12 or later, pair it with your account and choose where orders are saved.
- Print and place your QR standee Print your counter standee, sticker or window poster with your shop’s QR code, and place it where customers queue.
- Choose what customers send and what you ask them Decide whether customers must give a name, phone number or email, whether they can send PDFs and Word files, and how big a file can be.
At the counter
- Work through orders on the board How new orders appear on the Shop app’s order board, what each column means, and how to start an order and mark it ready and delivered.
- Show ready orders on a counter TV Put the ready order numbers and the queue on a TV or spare screen at the counter, with a chime when an order is ready.
- Tell a customer their order is ready Send “your order is ready” by WhatsApp, SMS or email in one click, from the Shop app or the dashboard, with the order number filled in.
- Only take orders from customers in the shop Turn on In-shop only so customers need today’s code, send invite links to customers at home, and block junk senders.
Wi-Fi mode set-up
- Set up Wi-Fi mode Wi-Fi mode lets phones send photos straight to your shop PC over your own Wi-Fi, with no internet needed. It takes about 5 minutes.
- Give your PC a fixed IP address Reserve your shop PC’s address in your router so the printed Wi-Fi QR code keeps working after the PC or router restarts.
- Allow Wi-Fi mode through the firewall Phones reach the shop app on port 8787. Check the Windows Firewall rule, and what to do if you changed the port.
- Test Wi-Fi mode from a phone Check that Wi-Fi mode works before customers use it: join the shop Wi-Fi, scan the Wi-Fi QR and send a photo to your PC.
Printers and hot folders
- Print from the Shop app Set up a colour and a black & white printer, then send an order’s files to either, with the copies you want.
- Connect a hot folder to your lab software Point your photo lab or print software at the SendToShop save folder so new orders are picked up automatically.
- Where orders are saved, and how files are named Every order gets its own dated folder on your PC. Here is how folders and files are named, and how to move the save folder.
- Read the quality badge and print sizes Each photo gets a green, amber or red badge from its real pixels, so you know how big it will print sharply before you start.
- Print iPhone HEIC photos iPhones send HEIC photos. The shop app can make a JPG copy next to each one; on Windows it uses the HEIC support built into Windows.
Customer phones
- What your customers see when they send A walk through the customer’s side: scan, pick photos, add their details, press Send and get an order number. No app, no account.
- A customer can’t find their order number The phone remembers the customer’s last order for your shop. Here is how they find the number again, and how you find their order.
- A customer’s file won’t send Why a phone refuses a file (type, size or too many files) and what the customer sees, so you know which setting to change.
- The customer’s browser can’t pick photos Some browsers built into other apps cannot pick files. The page offers to copy the link so the customer can open it in Chrome or Safari.
Staff and branches
- Invite your staff Give counter staff their own sign-in. They see orders, the QR page and invite links; Settings, Billing and Devices stay yours.
- Turn on two-step sign-in Protect your SendToShop account with two-step sign-in: a code from an authenticator app as well as your password, with backup codes.
- Run several shops with Multi-branch Add up to 4 branches to your main shop, each with its own link, QR code, orders and PCs, see every shop at once and pay one bill.
Billing and tax
- Plans, the free trial and what happens after Every shop starts with a 14-day Pro trial with no card. Here is what each plan includes and what happens when the trial ends.
- Tax numbers and invoices Add your tax number (VAT number, GSTIN, ABN…) to have it on your invoices, and download a PDF invoice for every payment.
- Change plan, failed payments and cancelling How to switch plans, what happens if a payment fails, and how to cancel. Your shop always falls back to Free, never to nothing.
Troubleshooting
- Orders while the shop PC is off or offline Customers can still send when your PC is off. Files wait in the cloud for up to 7 days and arrive when the shop app is back online.
- A customer’s phone can’t send What each message on the customer’s phone means: shop not receiving, very busy, can’t reach SendToShop, or a link that isn’t working.
- Phones can’t reach the PC in Wi-Fi mode If phones on your Wi-Fi see “Can’t reach the shop’s computer”, check these things in order: the app, the Wi-Fi, the address and the firewall.
- The pairing code doesn’t work Pairing codes last 5 minutes and work once. If the shop app refuses the code, make a new one, or check your plan’s number of PCs.
- The shop app won’t install or open What to do when Windows SmartScreen, macOS Gatekeeper or an antivirus program stops the SendToShop shop app from installing or opening.
- Move SendToShop to a new PC, or replace a PC Sign the old PC out, pair the new one, and bring the old order folders with you if you want them.
- Orders arrive but the files aren’t in the folder The order shows on the board but the files are missing from the save folder: check the folder, the disk, and on a Mac the folder permission.
- Update the shop app The shop app updates itself and shows what changed; here is how to check for an update by hand, and what “Update required” means.
- Uninstall the shop app Sign the PC out first, then remove the app the usual way for Windows or a Mac. Your order folders stay where they are.
Common questions
- What is SendToShop?
- SendToShop is customer photo upload software for photo and print shops: QR code photo and file transfer from the customer’s phone to the shop’s PC. Customers scan the QR on your counter and send full-quality photos and documents from their phone’s browser, with no app. The files save themselves to a folder on your PC, ready to print. Shops also call it scan to print, or a WhatsApp alternative.
- How do I receive photos from customers for printing?
- Put your SendToShop QR code on the counter. Customers scan it with the phone camera, pick photos or PDFs and send them. Each order gets a number such as A27 and lands in a dated folder on your PC in full resolution, so you can print straight away. Customers can also send from home and collect later.
- Is SendToShop a WhatsApp alternative for print shops?
- Yes. With WhatsApp, files go to the shop’s phone, get compressed, and someone has to download them, copy them to the PC and find them. With SendToShop the customer scans and sends, and the original files arrive straight on the shop PC, sorted by order number. Nobody hands over their phone number.
- Do my customers need to install an app?
- No. Customers scan the QR code on your counter with their phone camera and send from a web page. Nothing to install, no account to create.
- Does it work with my printer and lab software?
- Yes. SendToShop saves every order to a dated folder on your PC, such as 2026-09-30/A27_Oliver. Any printer, photo lab or print software that can open a folder, or watch one as a hot folder, works with it.
- What happens when the signal is bad?
- Sending pauses and carries on by itself when the signal returns. In shops with no signal at all, Pro’s Wi-Fi mode is a Wi-Fi photo transfer over your own local network: phones send straight to your PC, even with the internet down.
- Can customers send files without installing an app?
- Yes. SendToShop is browser-based: the QR code opens a web page in Safari or Chrome on the customer’s phone, and they send from there. There is no app and no account for them. Only the shop’s PC runs the SendToShop app.
- Can it replace photo kiosk software?
- For getting photos off phones, yes. It does the wireless photo transfer a photo kiosk does, using the PC and printers you already have, from £19 a month instead of £2,400 or more up front. Your own print software and prices stay as they are.
- Are the photos compressed?
- Never. You get the original file the phone took, at full resolution. The shop app also makes a JPG copy of iPhone HEIC photos (on Windows it uses the HEIC support built into Windows), and keeps the original.
- Can customers choose print sizes and see the price?
- Yes, if you want them to. List your own sizes, products and options, and customers pick for each photo, crop it on their phone and see an estimated total before they send. Documents can ask for colour, sides, copies, pages and finishing. Customers still pay at the counter: SendToShop never takes payments.
- How long do you keep files?
- Only until your PC has them. Our cloud copy is deleted as soon as the shop app confirms the download, a day after the order is collected, or after 7 days at most if it never does. Customer names, phone numbers and emails stay until you erase them, or you can choose to have them erased from our servers automatically after 30 days to 5 years. Your Shop app keeps its own copy, so you can still find returning customers, unless you turn that off. If a customer asks, you can erase their details everywhere at once.
- Can I use more than one PC?
- Yes, on Pro and Multi-branch. Every paired PC receives the orders, and staff can work from any of them. Free and Standard include one PC.
- How do customers know their order is ready?
- One click on the order opens WhatsApp, a text message or an email with the message already written. You can also show the ready order numbers on a TV at the counter: open its private link in any browser.
- Can my staff use it?
- Yes, on every plan. Invite up to 9 staff with their own sign-in. They see orders, the QR page and invite links, while billing and settings stay with the owner.
- Do you charge per photo?
- No. Every plan is a flat monthly price with no per-photo or per-order fees. The Free plan includes about 30 orders a month.
Still stuck? Email support@sendtoshop.com or send us a message.