Adding items to the print queue: files, plates, custom fields and the API

There are several ways to get a job into your print queue: pick a file from your library, add it straight from the slicer or files page, split a multi-plate 3MF into separate items, or push jobs in automatically through the SimplyPrint API. This guide covers each route, plus the options you set on an item as you add it (amount, tags, allowed printers, deadline) and how order numbers fit in.

This article is part of the print queue documentation. If you want to organise what you add into tabs, read about queue groups too.

On this page

• Adding files from your library
• Item options when you add
• Splitting a multi-plate 3MF
• Order numbers and custom fields
• Pausing or back-burnering an item after adding
• Adding items through the API and integrations

Adding files from your library

The most common way to queue something is to add it from your files. Open the print queue and use the add/file picker to choose one or more files from your SimplyPrint library, then confirm. Each selected file becomes a queue item.

You can also add to the queue directly from your files page or from the slicer page once a file is ready, without going to the queue first. Either way, the file ends up as a queue item that 1-Click Print and AutoPrint can pick up and assign to a matching printer.

Supported file types include models (stl, 3mf, obj, step, stp), printable files (gcode, gco, nc, npg) plus packaged formats (ufp, bgcode), where ufp is a packaged Ultimaker format, and resin and other formats. If a queue group restricts accepted file types, only matching files can go into that group.

Item options when you add

As you add a file, you set the options that tell SimplyPrint how and where it should print. You can adjust all of these later from the item too.

• Amount - how many copies you need. The queue tracks printed versus remaining as copies complete.
• Tags - filament type, nozzle size and any custom tags. Tags are part of what 1-Click Print and AutoPrint match against, among other compatibility checks, so a job tagged PLA with a 0.4 nozzle only goes to a printer set up that way. See advanced smart tagging for how tags are matched and auto-applied.
• Allowed printers, models or groups - restrict an item to specific printers, printer models, or printer groups. This narrows where the job can run beyond what the tags already imply.
• Deadline - if deadlines are enabled in your queue settings, set when this item needs to be finished. Deadlines drive sorting and show as markers on the timeline. Your settings can also require a deadline on every item or enforce a minimum lead time.

Splitting a multi-plate 3MF

When you add a 3MF that contains multiple plates, SimplyPrint detects the plates and lets you split them into separate queue items instead of treating the whole file as one job. This is handy when a single project file holds several different parts you want to schedule and count individually.

When you are saving plates, you will see "Select & name plates to save". When you are printing, it reads "Select plate to print". In both cases the helper text is "Click on a plate to select or deselect it. You can also name each plate.", and there is a "Select all" option. Naming each plate makes the resulting queue items easy to tell apart later.

If you add several files at once and more than one of them has multiple plates, SimplyPrint guides you through them. You will see "File N of M with multiple plates" as you step through, and a prompt that reads "Multiple files contain multiple plates. Do you want to upload all plates from all files?" so you can split everything in one pass.

Order numbers and custom fields

An order number in SimplyPrint is a custom field, not a built-in column. That distinction matters: there is no special "order" object: the order number is just a value stored on the queue item in a custom field you have set up. You can see it as the Order Number column in the screenshots above and edit it from the item view.

Custom fields let you attach your own data to queue items: an order number, a customer name, a batch reference, a channel, or anything else you track. Because they behave like any other column, you can sort and reorder the queue by a custom field, and on Print Farm and up the dedicated custom-field auto-sort and CSV export of the queue are available too. This is how print farms tie a physical job back to a shop order without a dedicated importer.

To learn how to create and manage them, read all about the custom fields feature and the custom fields feature page.

Pausing or back-burnering an item after adding

Once an item is in the queue, you have full control over whether it gets picked up. From the item's options menu or the big item view you can:

• Pause the item so it stays in the queue but is never started automatically.
• Move it to the back burner, a secondary low-priority lane. Whether 1-Click Print and AutoPrint touch back-burner items is controlled by your scheduling settings - see scheduling and distribution.

The item view modal also shows everything happening with a job: every printer currently printing it, expected finish, remaining, ongoing, printed and failed counts, the full gcode analysis, printer compatibility, comments and print history. It is also where you adjust the amount, tags, allowed printers, and the order number after the fact.

There is no "add as paused" toggle in the add dialog. The workflow is to add the item, then pause it or move it to the back burner if you do not want it started yet.

Adding items through the API and integrations

You do not have to add everything by hand. Items can be pushed into the queue programmatically through the SimplyPrint API at the queue/AddItem endpoint. This is how integrations and order-management automations send jobs straight into SimplyPrint.

The endpoint accepts a deadline and a generic custom_fields array. Because an order number is a custom field, you submit it as a value in that array (category print / print_queue) rather than through a dedicated order field. There is no built-in Shopify or Etsy importer: an automation reads the order from your shop and writes the order number into a custom field as it adds the item.

For the request format, fields and authentication, see the developer documentation at simplyprint.io/developers and the API feature page.

Related articles

• The print queue - the hub for everything queue
• Queue groups - organise what you add into tabs and control printer matching
• All about the custom fields feature - create order numbers and other custom data
• Scheduling and distribution - how added items get assigned to printers, including back-burner behaviour
• The print queue timeline - see deadlines and where each item runs

Updated on: 24/06/2026