5 Automations That Replace Ctrl+P Forever

It's 2:47 PM. You're on your third trip to the printer today.

Open email. Ctrl+P. Wait for the dialog. Select printer. Click Print. Walk to printer. Grab paper. Walk back. Repeat.

You've done this 11 times today. You'll do it again tomorrow. And the day after that.

What if you never had to press Ctrl+P again?

Here are 5 email printing automations you can set up in under 10 minutes. Each one eliminates a daily Ctrl+P habit forever.

Table of Contents

• Automation #1: Auto-Print Vendor Invoices for Accounts Payable
• Automation #2: Auto-Print Shipping Labels from Shopify and Etsy
• Automation #3: Auto-Print Signed Contracts from DocuSign
• Automation #4: Auto-Print Online Food Orders for the Kitchen
• Automation #5: Auto-Print Newsletters and Reports for Offline Reading
• Set Up All 5 in Under 10 Minutes
• The Math on 10 Minutes of Setup
• Why These 5 Automations Work
• TL;DR

Automation #1: Auto-Print Vendor Invoices for Accounts Payable

The problem:

Your AP department receives 15-30 vendor invoices per day via email. Each one needs to be printed for review, approval signatures, and filing. Someone opens each email, downloads the PDF, opens the PDF, hits Ctrl+P, selects the right printer, and prints.

That's 6 steps per invoice. 15 invoices. 90 steps per day. Every day.

The old way:

1. Open email
2. Download invoice PDF
3. Open PDF
4. Ctrl+P
5. Select printer
6. Print

Time: ~2 minutes per invoice. 30 minutes per day.

The automated way:

Set up an AutoPrintEmail rule:

• Filter: Sender contains invoice OR subject contains invoice, bill, payment
• Print: Attachments only (the PDF invoices)
• Printer: AP department printer

Now invoices print the moment they arrive. No clicking. No downloading. No walking to the printer to start the process — it's already there when you need it.

Time saved: 30 minutes per day = 10+ hours per month

Read more: Invoice automation deep dive

Automation #2: Auto-Print Shipping Labels from Shopify and Etsy

The problem:

You sell on Shopify, Etsy, or Amazon. Every order generates a shipping label email. During peak season, you might get 50-100 orders per day. Each label needs to be printed. Each packing slip needs to be printed.

You're either glued to your laptop hitting Ctrl+P, or you're behind on fulfillment.

The old way:

1. Check email for new order notifications
2. Open each one
3. Download the shipping label
4. Print the label
5. Download the packing slip
6. Print the packing slip
7. Repeat 50-100 times

Time: ~1 minute per order. 50 orders = nearly an hour of Ctrl+P.

The automated way:

Set up an AutoPrintEmail rule:

• Filter: Sender is no-reply@shopify.com or transaction@etsy.com
• Print: Attachments (labels and packing slips)
• Printer: Shipping label printer (for labels) and standard printer (for slips)

Labels print as orders arrive. Your fulfillment team just grabs them and goes.

Time saved: 1 hour per day during normal volume, 3-4 hours during peak season

Read more: E-commerce fulfillment automation

Automation #3: Auto-Print Signed Contracts from DocuSign

The problem:

Your team uses DocuSign (or HelloSign, or PandaDoc). When a client signs a contract, the completed PDF arrives via email. Someone needs to print it for the physical file.

This sounds minor until you realize your real estate office, law firm, or sales team processes 5-20 signed documents per day. Each one is an interruption: stop what you're doing, find the email, download the PDF, print it, file it.

The old way:

1. Receive "Document Completed" email
2. Open email
3. Download signed PDF
4. Open PDF
5. Ctrl+P → print
6. File the printout

Time: ~3 minutes per document (including the context switch).

The automated way:

Set up an AutoPrintEmail rule:

• Filter: Sender is dse@docusign.net AND subject contains Completed
• Print: Attachments only (the signed PDF)
• Printer: Office printer

Signed contracts print automatically. No interruptions. Your admin just files them.

Time saved: 15-60 minutes per day depending on volume

Automation #4: Auto-Print Online Food Orders for the Kitchen

The problem:

Your restaurant receives orders from UberEats, DoorDash, Grubhub, and your own website. Each platform sends an email notification. The kitchen needs a printed ticket to start making the food.

Every minute between "order received" and "kitchen sees the ticket" is a minute of delay. When 30 orders hit between 6 PM and 8 PM, manually printing each one is chaos.

The old way:

1. Hear the email notification
2. Stop what you're doing
3. Open the email on a computer (if you can find one that isn't covered in flour)
4. Ctrl+P
5. Hope the kitchen printer is selected
6. Run the ticket to the line

Time: 1-2 minutes per order. During rush hour, that's someone's entire job.

The automated way:

Set up AutoPrintEmail rules for each platform:

• UberEats: Sender orders@ubereats.com → kitchen printer
• DoorDash: Sender no-reply@doordash.com → kitchen printer
• Grubhub: Sender orders@grubhub.com → kitchen printer
• Website orders: Sender orders@yoursite.com → kitchen printer

Orders print on the kitchen printer the instant they arrive. No computer needed. No manual intervention. The line starts cooking immediately.

Time saved: 30-60 minutes per night, plus faster order fulfillment = happier customers

Read more: Restaurant order printing guide

Automation #5: Auto-Print Newsletters and Reports for Offline Reading

The problem:

Okay, this one isn't about business efficiency. This is about preference.

Some people like reading on paper. Industry newsletters, market reports, research digests — they arrive via email, and you'd rather read them with a coffee and a pen than squinting at a screen.

But printing each newsletter manually? That's friction. So you don't do it. And the unread emails pile up.

The old way:

1. Receive newsletter
2. Think "I should print that"
3. Don't print it
4. Repeat 30 times
5. Delete all unread newsletters
6. Feel guilty

Time wasted: immeasurable guilt.

The automated way:

Set up an AutoPrintEmail rule:

• Filter: Sender is newsletter@morningbrew.com or digest@industry.com (add as many as you want)
• Print: Email body (the newsletter content)
• Printer: Your desk printer

Newsletters print automatically. They're waiting for you at the printer with your morning coffee. No guilt. No screen fatigue.

Bonus: You actually read them now.

Read more: Print newsletters automatically

Set Up All 5 in Under 10 Minutes

Here's the thing. Each automation takes about 2 minutes to set up. That's:

1. Download AutoPrintEmail — 30 seconds
2. Connect your email (Gmail, Outlook, or IMAP) — 60 seconds
3. Create filter rules for each automation — 30 seconds each

Total time for all 5 automations: under 10 minutes.

Compare that to the time you'll save:

That's 2-4 hours per day of Ctrl+P eliminated.

The Math on 10 Minutes of Setup

Let's say you only set up 2 of these automations. And they save you a combined 45 minutes per day.

• 45 minutes/day x 22 work days = 16.5 hours/month
• At $25/hour labor cost = $412/month in saved time
• AutoPrintEmail costs $99 once
• ROI: 4 days

You break even before your first week is over. Everything after that is free productivity.

Read more: The full automated email printing guide

Why These 5 Automations Work

They all follow the same pattern:

1. A predictable email arrives (invoices, orders, contracts, labels, newsletters)
2. It always needs to be printed (no decision-making required)
3. The manual process is pure friction (open, download, Ctrl+P, select printer, print)
4. AutoPrintEmail eliminates every step (email arrives → it prints)

If your workflow matches this pattern — predictable emails that always need printing — you should automate it. Today.

TL;DR

5 Ctrl+P-killing automations:

1. Vendor invoices → auto-print PDFs for AP (saves 30 min/day)
2. Shipping labels → auto-print from Shopify/Etsy (saves 1+ hr/day)
3. Signed contracts → auto-print from DocuSign (saves 15-60 min/day)
4. Food orders → auto-print to kitchen printer (saves 30-60 min/day)
5. Newsletters → auto-print for offline reading (saves your sanity)

Total setup time: Under 10 minutes for all 5.

Total cost: $99 once. Forever.

Download AutoPrintEmail and set up your first automation in 2 minutes. Read our automated email printing guide for the complete walkthrough.

Ctrl+P is not a workflow.

It's a habit you haven't automated yet.

Fix that today.