AutoPrint: put your printers on autopilot

AutoPrint starts the next matching item from your print queue automatically, the moment a printer is free and its bed is clear. Pair it with a way to clear the bed between prints and your printers keep running on their own, day and night, working through the queue without anyone clicking start. This is the hands-off sibling of 1-Click Print and the unattended end of the print queue.

Table of contents

• What AutoPrint does
• AutoPrint vs 1-Click Print
• AutoPrint licenses and plans
• Turning AutoPrint on
• The AutoPrint settings panel
• Choosing how the bed gets cleared
• When to clear: trigger conditions
• Safety and verification
• Account-wide AutoPrint settings
• The AutoPrint cycle
• How AutoPrint picks the next item
• Scheduling and distribution
• Reading the AutoPrint status
• Working hours and turnaround time
• Printers AutoPrint will skip
• Troubleshooting a stuck cycle
• Tips for reliable AutoPrint
• Related articles

What AutoPrint does

AutoPrint is continuous, unattended printing. When a print finishes and the bed is clear, SimplyPrint finds the next queue item that fits the printer and starts it, then does it again, and again, for as long as there is matching work in the queue. You load the queue, set up a bed-clearing method, flip the switch, and your printers work through the list on their own.

It is enabled per printer, so you choose which machines run unattended and which you keep manual. Everything AutoPrint does respects the same shared queue and the same matching rules as the rest of SimplyPrint, so a printer on AutoPrint draws from exactly the same queue as one you start by hand.

AutoPrint vs 1-Click Print

AutoPrint and 1-Click Print are two sides of the same engine, and they share their matching and distribution settings so they behave consistently.

The difference is the human in the loop. With 1-Click Print you press the button; with AutoPrint there is no button, so the bed-clearing and verification steps matter far more.

How is this different from the "Continuous Print" OctoPrint plugin?

The Continuous Print OctoPrint plugin works well for continuous printing on a single printer. SimplyPrint takes the same idea across a whole fleet: it is cloud-based, so you can manage it from anywhere, and it is built for a multi-printer (and multi-user) setup with a single shared queue that every printer draws from, plus smart matching that routes the right file to the right printer by filament, nozzle, bed type and tags.

AutoPrint licenses and plans

AutoPrint runs on a per-printer license model. One license covers one printer running AutoPrint at a time, but it is not tied to a specific printer, so you can move it freely between machines. One license means one simultaneous AutoPrint-enabled printer.

• Pro includes one AutoPrint license, and you can add more, up to five total.
• Print Farm, School and Enterprise include unlimited AutoPrint, so every printer in the fleet can run it at once.

If every license is busy when a printer is ready for its next job, AutoPrint waits and starts that printer as soon as a license frees up (see Reading the AutoPrint status). You can flip the AutoPrint switch on for more printers than you have licenses for, but only as many printers as you have licenses will run AutoPrint at the same moment.

Turning AutoPrint on

AutoPrint is enabled per printer, from the printer's control panel.

1. Open the control panel for the printer you want to automate. If you have several printers, click the one you want.
2. Find the AutoPrint widget and flip the switch on.
3. The first time you enable it, SimplyPrint shows a short safety confirmation. Accept it, then configure a bed-clearing method (the settings panel opens automatically if none is set yet).

You can do the same from the SimplyPrint app for Android or iOS: tap a printer to open its control panel, scroll to the AutoPrint widget, and flip the switch.

The AutoPrint settings panel

The method, the clearing trigger and the safety checks all live in the AutoPrint settings panel. Open it from the method selector inside the AutoPrint widget, or from the printer's settings.

At the top of the panel you pick which printers the settings apply to. You can select individual printers, whole printer models, or printer groups. Above that there is a mode switch:

• Defaults edits the settings for a whole model. Every printer of that model that has not been given its own override inherits these, and any future change to the model defaults rolls out to all of them automatically. This is the easy way to keep a row of identical machines in sync.
• Overrides edits the settings for the exact printers you selected, overriding the model defaults just for those machines. Use this when one printer needs a different trigger temperature or a different clearing method from its siblings.

The panel is split into the clearing method (with its gcode editors), the trigger conditions, and the safety and verification settings. The next three sections cover each one.

Choosing how the bed gets cleared

The bed has to be empty before the next print can start, so the heart of any AutoPrint setup is your bed-clearing method. Click the method selector to open the picker, which is split into two modes:

• Manual means AutoPrint waits for you to remove the part and mark the bed clear (with the Clear bed button) before it starts the next print. No hardware or gcode needed.
• Automatic clears the bed for you, either with a gcode script or through a partner's API. Within Automatic you choose from the auto-clear methods (gcode-based, including hardware mods and the push-the-part-off scripts) and the API-based methods.

For the full breakdown of method types, how to pick one, and a link to every supported hardware partner, see AutoPrint clearing methods. The short version:

• Hardware mods and kits physically clear the plate. These match the method picker: swapmod (Bambu Lab A1 Mini), JobOx Mod (Prusa MK4 / MK3S+ / Mini), Loop Mod (Prusa MK3S+), PrintFlow3D, the 3DQue Ejection Kit, 3DPrintomat, the InnoCube SwapMod for the A1, the Chitu PlateCycler, AutoSwap (Bambu Lab A1 and Anycubic Kobra 3) and AutoClear (Bambu Lab X1C and P1S).
• Belt printers (infinite-Z printers) carry finished prints off the end of the belt automatically, so they continuous-print out of the box. See belt printers.
• Push the part off with the print head. On a smooth PEI surface that has cooled, parts release easily and the print head can sweep them off the front edge. See push-off clearing.
• FarmLoop is the one method SimplyPrint maintains end-to-end in partnership with the vendor, so its gcode is kept current for you. See FarmLoop.

If you pick an automatic method but leave its clearing macro empty, the panel warns you and AutoPrint is held back until you either add gcode or explicitly acknowledge running without it.

When to clear: trigger conditions

For gcode clearing methods, you choose when AutoPrint should start clearing after a print finishes. There are three options:

1. When the bed reaches a target temperature. AutoPrint waits until the heated bed cools to the temperature you set (for example 25°C) before clearing. A cooler bed releases parts more cleanly. This option needs a printer with a heated bed.
2. After a time delay. AutoPrint waits a fixed number of seconds after the print ends, then clears. Use this when you do not have a reliable bed temperature reading.
3. Clear immediately. AutoPrint starts clearing as soon as the print finishes.

Bed-temperature triggering is usually the safest for parts that need to cool before they pop off. Picking the right trigger is the difference between a clean release and a part that drags.

Safety and verification

The safety and verification settings are what stop AutoPrint from stacking a print on a bed that was never cleared.

• AI bed check (beta). When on, SimplyPrint looks at the printer's camera after clearing and confirms the bed is actually empty before it starts the next print. If it sees a part still on the bed, AutoPrint pauses and waits for you. This needs a camera on the printer, so the toggle is unavailable if no camera is connected. AI bed check works best with a clear timeout set, so the check has a window to run.
• Always clear after print. Clear the bed even when there is no next print queued, so the printer is left ready for the next job.
• Clear bed timeout. An optional grace window (in seconds) for the clearing step and the AI check to complete.
• Max AutoPrint cycles. Stop AutoPrint after a set number of consecutive prints, useful for plate-swap mods with a finite stack of plates. Leave it blank for unlimited.

Account-wide AutoPrint settings

Some AutoPrint behaviour is set once for the whole account, under Settings > AutoPrint. There are two halves:

• AutoPrint start option defaults. Default values for print start options (the same options you would set for a manual print) applied to every print AutoPrint starts. If you leave these unset, AutoPrint uses your manual print defaults.
• AutoPrint matching criteria. The criteria used to match queue items to printers when AutoPrint starts a print. If you leave these unset, AutoPrint falls back to your queue matching criteria.

These let an unattended AutoPrint job start with exactly the options and matching rules you want, without you touching each print.

The AutoPrint cycle

Once AutoPrint is on, every time a print finishes the printer runs the same loop:

1. Print finishes. SimplyPrint detects the print has completed and the printer enters a finished state.
2. Trigger condition is met. SimplyPrint waits for the bed to reach your target temperature, or for the time delay to pass, before clearing (or clears immediately if you chose that).
3. Bed clears. SimplyPrint runs your chosen clearing method (a gcode script, a hardware mod, an API call, or simply waiting for you to remove the part).
4. Bed is verified clear. If AI bed check is on, SimplyPrint confirms the bed is actually empty before going further. If it is not, AutoPrint pauses.
5. Next item is matched. SimplyPrint searches the queue for the best item this printer can run (see How AutoPrint picks the next item).
6. Next print starts. The matched item is sent to the printer and the cycle repeats.

If no item in the queue matches the printer, it sits idle and waits. As soon as a matching item appears, or you change the loaded filament so something matches, the cycle picks up again.

How AutoPrint picks the next item

When a printer is ready for its next job, AutoPrint searches the queue and runs the first item that the printer can actually print. An item matches a printer when:

• the printer is eligible for the item's queue group,
• the printer's loaded filament and nozzle match the item's tags,
• the item's printer, model or group assignment allows this printer,
• the item is not at its max concurrent printers limit (the cap on how many printers can run one item at once),
• and the item is not paused.

Among the items that match, the one nearest the top of the queue wins, so your sort order is respected. AutoPrint and 1-Click Print use the same matching logic, so an item that 1-Click Print would start is the same item AutoPrint starts. If you ever wonder why a particular printer is skipping an item, the Queue Inspector explains the exact reason, and the print queue to-do list turns those reasons into a checklist of physical changes that unlock the most prints. The AutoPrint widget has a Queue Inspector button that opens the inspector in AutoPrint mode for exactly this printer.

Back-burner items

The back-burner is a low-priority lane for filler work like spare parts or test prints. By default AutoPrint only reaches for a back-burner item when nothing in the normal queue matches the printer, so urgent jobs are never blocked but your printers still have something to do when the main queue runs dry.

If you would rather AutoPrint never touch the back-burner, turn on Exclude back-burner items from automatic matching in your queue settings. With that on, back-burner items are only ever started manually. Because the setting is shared, it applies to 1-Click Print too.

Scheduling and distribution

AutoPrint follows the same Scheduling and distribution settings as 1-Click Print, configured at Settings > Queue. Setting them once gives both features consistent behaviour. The main controls are:

• Item scheduling mode. Sequential finishes every copy of item 1 before moving to item 2. Round-robin runs one copy of each item at a time, cycling through them, which is handy when a set of parts should all finish around the same time.
• Printer distribution. By printer position (the default) hands work to printers in the order they appear on your printers page. Randomized and Least recently used spread the work, and the wear, more evenly across your fleet.
• Process queue groups fully before moving on. When on, AutoPrint clears one queue group before starting the next. When off, items interleave across groups.
• Never skip queue items. A printer waits for the right filament rather than jumping ahead to something it can print right now. This pairs with the to-do list, which tells you which filament to load to unlock the waiting item.
• Max queue positions to search. How far down the queue AutoPrint is allowed to look. You can set a fixed number, a percentage of the queue, or both (the smaller wins). This stops AutoPrint diving to the bottom of the queue just to keep a printer busy. Leave it empty for unlimited.

These settings have their own article, since they shape both AutoPrint and 1-Click Print: see scheduling and printer distribution.

Reading the AutoPrint status

The AutoPrint widget shows a live status banner so you always know what a printer is doing or waiting on:

• Ready to AutoPrint (green): conditions are met and the next print is about to start.
• Waiting to start next print (grey): AutoPrint is waiting for the bed to cool or the time delay to pass, with a progress bar.
• Manual intervention required (orange): you are on a manual clearing method and need to clear the bed and mark it clear.
• AI detected bed not clear (red): the AI bed check sees a part still on the bed. AutoPrint is paused until the print is removed.
• Max cycles reached (orange): AutoPrint hit your max-cycles limit and stopped.
• AutoPrint licenses in use (grey): every AutoPrint license is busy. The printer will start as soon as one frees up. This banner shows how many licenses are in use, with an option to add a license or upgrade.
• AutoPrint paused (orange): a matching or eligibility issue is blocking the start, with the exact reasons listed and a link to the Queue Inspector.

The widget also shows the next queue item it intends to print, an estimate of when the next print will start, and an inline printer timeline of the upcoming prints.

Working hours and turnaround time

AutoPrint's estimates are honest about when a human is around. If a print ends overnight, it is not really "done" until someone clears the bed in the morning, so the estimates respect your working hours: SimplyPrint shades the hours you are not staffed and never assumes a 3am bed clear.

You can tell SimplyPrint roughly how long a bed clear takes, as a turnaround time, for the whole account or per printer. AutoPrint factors that turnaround into its next-print estimate, and a per-printer override lets a slower or faster machine carry its own value. Together, working hours and turnaround keep the next-print estimate and the timeline grounded in reality.

Working hours also change when AutoPrint actually starts the next print, depending on how your bed gets cleared:

• Manual clearing. If clearing the bed needs a person (you remove the part by hand), AutoPrint waits for your working hours before starting the next print, so it never kicks off a job at 3am when nobody is there to catch a problem.
• Fully automated self-clearing. With a setup that clears the bed on its own (a plate-swap mod, a belt printer, a push-off kit and the like), there is no one to wait for, so AutoPrint keeps running through the queue 24/7.

For the bigger picture across every printer at once, the print queue timeline draws the whole fleet as a live Gantt chart, including an "until all done" estimate for the entire queue. It even has a Simulate AutoPrint mode so you can preview how AutoPrint would work through the queue before you commit.

Printers AutoPrint will skip

AutoPrint only sends prints to printers that are ready for them. It will skip a printer that is:

• in maintenance mode (an active maintenance job that puts the printer into maintenance), or
• marked out of order.

In both cases the printer is left alone, the queue will not match items to it, and 1-Click Print leaves it out of selection too, so a machine being worked on never gets a surprise print. The printer rejoins the rotation automatically once it leaves maintenance or you clear the out-of-order flag. For the maintenance side of this, see printer maintenance.

Troubleshooting a stuck cycle

If AutoPrint stops advancing, the status banner usually names the reason. Here is how to clear the most common ones:

• "Manual intervention required." You are on a manual clearing method. Remove the part and click Clear bed in the printer's control panel. AutoPrint resumes from there.
• "AI detected bed not clear." The camera still sees something on the bed. Remove the part (and any stray skirt or purge blob), then AutoPrint continues. If the bed is genuinely clear, check the camera angle and lighting, give the AI check its window with a clear bed timeout, and re-test. The AI check makes a limited number of attempts before it gives up and waits for you.
• "Waiting to start next print." AutoPrint is waiting for the bed to cool to your target temperature or for the time delay to pass. The progress bar shows how far along it is. If it never finishes cooling, lower the target temperature or switch to a time delay.
• "Max cycles reached." AutoPrint hit your max-cycles limit. Clear the printer, raise or remove the limit, and AutoPrint starts again.
• "AutoPrint licenses in use." Every license is busy. The printer starts as soon as one frees up. Add a license or upgrade your plan to run more printers at once.
• "AutoPrint paused" with a matching reason. Nothing in the queue matches this printer right now. Open the Queue Inspector from the widget to see exactly which criterion is blocking each item, then load the right filament, add a matching item, or free up an item that hit its concurrency cap.

The widget's troubleshooting section (under the status) lists the live checks - ready state, the next item, whether the bed is cool, whether manual intervention is pending, and the exact issue text - so you can see at a glance where the cycle is stuck.

Tips for reliable AutoPrint

1. Test the full cycle before walking away. Run the whole loop several times while watching. Confirm the bed clears reliably, parts release cleanly, and (if you use it) the AI bed check catches a bed that is not empty.
2. Turn on AI bed check if you have a camera. It is the strongest safety net for unattended printing, catching a failed clear before the next print lands.
3. Mind your prime lines, skirts and brims. With a push-off method, place the prime line close to the part and on the side opposite the push direction, so it gets cleared along with everything else.
4. Tag your items accurately. Correct filament and nozzle tags are what route the right files to the right printers, so accurate tags are the difference between a smooth queue and a printer that sits idle.
5. Start with a small queue. Test with a handful of items before loading a big batch, so you catch any issue before it repeats across fifty prints.
6. Keep a few back-burner items. Low-priority filler keeps printers busy when the main queue empties, without ever blocking urgent jobs.
7. Set your working hours and turnaround. They make AutoPrint's estimates and the timeline honest about overnight prints, so you plan around real finish times.

Related articles

• AutoPrint clearing methods - manual, API, gcode and automatic clearing explained, with every supported hardware partner
• The print queue - the print queue overview and everything it ties into
• 1-Click Print - the click-to-start sibling of AutoPrint
• Scheduling and printer distribution - the shared scheduling and distribution settings
• Working hours and expected finish times - working hours, turnaround time and honest finish estimates
• The print queue timeline - the live Gantt timeline, with Simulate AutoPrint
• The print queue to-do list - the to-do list that tells you what to load to unlock prints
• The Queue Inspector - why a printer will not pick up a given item
• Printer maintenance - printers in maintenance are skipped by AutoPrint
• The Staggered Start feature - offset simultaneous prints across the farm
• AutoPrint feature page and the pricing page

Updated on: 26/06/2026