What is Click & Drop Desktop?
Click & Drop Desktop is a separate application for Click & Drop which allows you to:
- Import your orders by simply dropping a spreadsheet into a designated folder on your computer
- Set up multiple workstations with different designated printers for your labels
- Export a spreadsheet report of your successfully processed orders including tracking numbers
- Save a copy of your labels to a folder on your computer or server
- Print labels automatically when combined with Royal Mail Print Assist (Online Business Account customers only)
Minimum system requirements
Minimum system requirements In order to use Click & Drop Desktop, you must use a computer or device running either:
- Microsoft Windows 10 64 bit or above
- macOS 10.10 or above
Important notes:
- The newest version of Click & Drop Desktop has different system requirements to previous versions.
- We are currently working on adding compatibility with 32 bit versions of Windows 10. Older versions of Windows, such as Windows 7/8/8.1 are no longer supported by Microsoft, and so we are unable to develop for them.
- If you cannot upgrade to a supported version of Windows, our support team can give you a link to a previous version as a temporary measure. We advise you to update the operating systems you use as soon as possible to ensure you can continue using future versions of Click & Drop Desktop.
How long does it take for the file to upload to Click & Drop from my designated folder?
When you add a file into your designated folder, Click & Drop Desktop will upload your order data within seconds.
1. Creating & Installing a Click & Drop Desktop integration
To begin, click the ‘Settings’ link within Click & Drop:
The 'Settings/ Overview' page will open. Click anywhere within the 'Integrations' tile.
Your current integrations will be displayed. Click the ‘Add a new integration’ button to begin connecting to Click & Drop Desktop.
From the list of available integrations, click 'Click & Drop Desktop'.
A new window will appear. Please click the relevant download button for your operating system.
Once the application has been downloaded, you will need to install it.
After you have installed the app,l you will need to log in using your Click & Drop account details.
2. Configure your integration settings
The first time you log into Click & Drop Desktop, you will be redirected to the Settings > Integrations page within Click & Drop, where you can configure the settings for your integration.
Trading name: Select your trading name from the drop-down list. If you only have one trading name, it will be automatically entered.
Integration name: Choose the name your integration will be displayed under within Click & Drop.
Print labels automatically: Check this option if you wish for your labels to be printed automatically. For this functionality to work, your orders must have weight, shipping service, and package size details. Additionally, You must have Royal Mail Print Assist installed and switched on.
Please note that labels can only be printed automatically for spreadsheets containing 50 rows or less (51 if including a header).
Save a copy of labels to the 'Watch' folder: Check this option if you wish for copies of your labels to be saved into your 'Watch' folder.
Please note that labels can only be saved to your watch folder for spreadsheets containing 50 rows or less (51 if including a header).
Configure workstations: If you would like your labels to be sent to more than one printer, you will need to configure workstations. Please see this guide for more information: How to configure multiple workstations.
Click the 'Update' button when you are ready.
3. Configure your application settings
You can access the Click & Drop Desktop application from your system tray or start menu at any time. Once open, the 'Home' tab will be displayed. Please take a moment to read the on-screen instructions before you change any of your settings.
Click the 'Settings' tab to go to the settings page.
General preferences:
Launch Click & Drop at system startup: Leave this box checked if you wish for Click & Drop Desktop to load up every time you start or restart your computer.
Enable desktop notifications: leave this box checked if you wish for popup notifications to inform you when a file has been successfully imported.
Watch directory: This is the folder that Click & Drop Desktop will use to import your orders. It is also referred to as your 'Watch' folder. You can set a local folder on an individual computer, or a single shared folder on a network or server.
Your current 'Watch' folder displayed here. By default, this is set to C:\Users\YOUR USER\AppData\Roaming\Click & Drop™ Desktop\Watch
Click the 'Choose directory' button to choose any folder on your computer or network drive. Click & Drop Desktop will watch this folder for your imported files, and will save additional files to this directory as described later in this guide.
Advanced preferences:
Use polling: If your 'Watch' folder is on a shared network location, and not a local computer or device location, and you are encountering difficulties uploading your files, polling mode is an additional option available. This can be a suitable option for some older shared network drives.
Please note that our recommendation is to use Click & Drop Desktop without polling mode enabled as there is a slight risk that some imports could be duplicated.
Orders per printout limit: This is the maximum number of labels Click & Drop Desktop will be able to send to Royal Mail Print Assist at once.
Use legacy Dropbox compatibility mode: This option will only be visible if you have previously integrated a Dropbox account. Please consult this guide for more information before you make any additional changes. If you are not sure, please do not change this setting.
Once you have finished configuring your settings, Click the 'Save' button.
When you navigate back to Click & Drop, the Click & Drop Desktop integration be visible from your 'Settings' > 'Integrations' page.
You are now ready to begin mapping and importing your files.
4. Mapping your spreadsheet columns.
The first time you import a file into Click & Drop, Click & Drop will remember the order of your columns.
Please note that Click & Drop Desktop can support files of 2000 rows or less (2001 including a header), but we can only automatically print labels/save labels to your computer for imported files of 50 rows or less (51 including a header).
If your files are larger than this, you will need to split them.
If you have already imported a spreadsheet file containing your orders into Click & Drop either manually, or through our Dropbox integration, you will not need to do anything at this stage, as your files will already be mapped.
If you have not yet imported a spreadsheet file containing your orders into Click & Drop, will will need to perform one manual import now to map your spreadsheet columns. For more information, please see our guide: How to import/upload orders.
5. Importing your orders
Once you have installed Click & Drop Desktop, integrated it with your Click & Drop account, and mapped your spreadsheet columns, you will be ready to import your orders.
To import one or more orders, simply place the completed file into into your 'Watch' folder.
If you use any means of automatically creating the spreadsheet file, please do not write the file to the watch directory before entering data as this could cause the file to be processed more than once.
After you import your first order, some new folders will have been created within your 'Watch' folder:
Processed: Your successfully imported spreadsheet files will be placed here.
Results: Following an import, a spreadsheet containing Order number, Channel, Channel reference, Printed date, Customer, Tracking number, and Package size columns will be saved here.
If your file contains errors, a description of the error can be found in the file.
Labels: A copy of your successfully generated labels will be placed here.
Please note that for a copy of your label to be saved into your 'Watch' folder, you must ensure the following:
1. You will need the 'Print labels automatically after import' option checked in your integration settings.
2. You have Royal Mail Print Assist installed, and have the 'Enable automatic printing' option checked.
3. You have printers configured within Royal Mail Print Assist (if you process your labels from a single computer or device) or you have workstations configured within your Click & Drop Desktop integration settings (if you process labels from more than one computer or device).
Please note that you may need to periodically clear out and/or archive files from these folders as they become full.
If there is an error with your order import, you will be automatically redirected to the order import history page and informed that the order import has failed.
From here you will be given an explanation of the fault and given the option to download the file in order to fix the fields, or to undo the import.
You can view the last 28 days worth of order imports on the 'History' page within Click & Drop Desktop:
What does the 'Results' file look like?
A results file of a successful import in in .CSV spreadsheet format, which can be read as a text file, or viewed in all major spreadsheet editing software.
Example results file viewed in Microsoft Excel
Example results file viewed in Notepad
What naming convention do the files use?
Files places into your processed folder:
yyyy-mm-dd-hh-mm-ss-fff-[[WORKSTATION-<WorkstationName>]]-<OriginalFilename>
Example 1 – WITH workstation: 2018-08-15-15-25-10-231-[WORKSTATION]-data.xls
Example 2 – WITHOUT workstation: 2018-08-15-15-25-10-231-data.xls
Files placed into your Results folder:
yyyy-mm-dd-hh-mm-ss-fff-[[WORKSTATION-<WorkstationName>]]-<OriginalFilename>.csv
Example 1 – WITH workstation: 2018-08-15-15-25-10-231-[WORKSTATION-MARK]-data.csv
Example 2 – WITHOUT workstation: 2018-08-15-15-25-10-231-data.csv
Files placed into your labels folder:
<OrderNumber>[-<ChannelReference>].pdf
Example 1 – WITH channel reference: 1234-abcdef.pdf
Example 2 – WITHOUT channel reference: 1234.pdf
Spreadsheets are saved in .csv format, and labels are saved as .pdf.
Can I produce CN22/CN23 documents?
If you have checked the 'Generate customs declaration with Orders' option in your Label format settings page, then CN22 or CN23 documents will automatically be produced for any international orders imported where customs declarations are required.
The .PDF files will be saved to your results folder.
Can I run Click & Drop Desktop on a network or server?
Click & Drop Desktop is fully compatible with servers and networks running Microsoft Windows 7 or above. Please ensure that you only run one version of Click & Drop Desktop. If all of your machines connect to the same server, you do not need to install Click & Drop Desktop on each machine.
How many orders can I import?
Click & Drop Desktop allows you to import files with 2000 rows (2001 if you include a header). If you have a larger file, you will need to split your data down into multiple files and then import each file separately.
How many labels can I print?
Click & Drop Desktop is only used for importing files. Royal Mail print Assist handles the printing of labels and can automatically print orders from files that have a maximum of 50 rows.
If you are importing a file with more than 50 rows via Click 7 Drop Desktop, only the first 50 rows can be printed. You will need to either split your file down into smaller files, or manually print the remaining labels from within Click & Drop itself.
How to disconnect your Click & Drop Desktop integration
You can disconnect your integration at any time by navigating to ‘Settings’ > ‘Channels and stores’. Click your Click & Drop Desktop integration to expand the integration details, and clicking the ‘Delete’ button.
If you wish to uninstall the application, you can do so through 'Add/remove programs' on your windows machine.
You can reconnect your Dropbox integration at any time by following the above instructions again.