Documentation

App Overview

Labels Mobile is a label printing app for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. It enables warehouse, production, and sales teams to print labels with barcodes directly from Business Central pages, as part of their daily processes, through their preferred label software or a built-in Word report layout.

At the heart of the app is the Labels Mobile Document: a label definition that specifies what data to collect, how to format it, and where to send it. Each label document links to a Data Collector, a Mobile Flow that gathers the data set (for example item, bin, or shipment fields) from the record the user is standing on. When the label is printed, the collected data set is converted to JSON or a delimited format and handed to a Printing Method, which delivers the payload to a web service, an FTP location, or a built-in Word label report. This means Labels Mobile works both with external label software (such as networked label print engines exposed as web services) and with fully self-contained Word layout printing inside Business Central.

Beyond the core print flow, Labels Mobile adds four supporting feature areas. The Label Flow Wizard guides you step by step through creating a new data collector, letting you select the source table, fields, user input fields, and related tables without any technical setup. Printers and Printer Relations route each label to the right physical printer based on user, location, and mobile resource, so the same label definition prints on different printers depending on who prints it and where. Word Label Reports provide ready-made layouts for item, bin, address, shipment, and packaging unit labels with barcode fonts (Code 39, Code 128, and EAN-13) encoded automatically. Packaging Unit Labels use packaging unit types on item units of measure to print carton and pallet labels that show the quantity relations between base, inner, and outer packaging levels.

Print Label actions are added to more than 35 standard Business Central pages, including the Item Card, Bin Contents, Warehouse Receipts and Shipments, Purchase Orders, Sales Orders, Transfer Orders, Production Orders, Assembly Orders, and Lot and Serial No. Information Cards, so labels are always one click (or the Alt+L shortcut) away.

Feature Map

Use this table to find the right article for your task.

Common Infrastructure

Several concepts are shared across all feature areas. Understanding them once makes the individual feature articles easier to follow.

Labels Mobile Setup

Labels Mobile Setup is the central configuration record for the app. It holds the Data Collector Wizard (Flow), an internal system flow that powers the Label Flow Wizard and is generated automatically the first time it is needed, the Use Camel Case (JSON) option that controls the casing of field names in the JSON payload sent to label software, and the Suppress Message after Print option that hides the confirmation message shown after a label is printed.

Labels Mobile Documents

A Labels Mobile Document is the label definition itself. Every label has a unique Label Code and holds:

• Data Collector (Flow) — the Mobile Flow that collects the data set. Only normal flows in the Label area group are valid; internal activation flows are rejected.
• Printing Method — the delivery channel used when the label is printed.
• Label Report Layout Code or Layout File Name — the Word report layout to run, or the layout file name passed to external label software.
• Pass Full Data Set — when enabled, the data collector receives all records in the user's current view instead of only the selected record.
• Status — New, Certified, Under Development, or Closed. A label must have a description before it can be certified, and certifying the label creates its activation flow so it becomes available on the role center and in the label selection list.
• Hide on Role Center and Hide on Selection List — control where the label is offered to users.
• Label Group Code — an optional grouping used to organise labels in lists.

Printing Methods

A Printing Method defines how the collected label data leaves Business Central. The Integration Type determines the channel:

The Data Transfer Format controls the payload format: JSON (default) or Delimited with a configurable delimiter and optional column headers.

Printer Resolution

Each label is routed to a physical printer through Printer Relations. A relation links a Label Code to a printer name from the Labels Mobile Printers catalogue, optionally scoped by Relation Type (User or Location), Relation Code, and Resource No. When a label is printed, the printer is resolved in priority order:

1. If only one unscoped relation exists for the label, that printer is used.
2. A relation for the current User ID overrules all other settings.
3. A relation with a blank User ID is used next.
4. Otherwise the user's mobile resource and its location are resolved, and a relation matching the location and resource is used.
5. Finally, a relation matching the location alone is used.

A printer cannot be deleted from the catalogue while printer relations still reference it.

The Print Flow

When a user chooses Print Label on a Business Central page, the following happens:

1. If more than one certified label applies to the record, the Select Label page is shown.
2. The label's data collector flow runs against the selected record (or the full data set, if enabled), collecting the configured fields and prompting for any input fields.
3. The data set is converted to JSON or delimited text according to the printing method.
4. The printing method executes: the payload is posted to the web service, transferred by FTP, downloaded as a test file, or rendered through the Word label report, repeated per copy when a number of copies is requested.

Barcode Encoding

Word label reports encode barcode values using the IDAutomation1D barcode font provider built into Business Central. Supported symbologies are Code 39, Code 128, and EAN-13 (EAN-13 values must be exactly 13 characters, otherwise the barcode is left blank).

Typical Workflows

Printing an item label from the Item Card

1. Open an Item Card (or select one or more items on the Item List).
2. Choose the Print Label action, or press Alt+L. The action is only visible when a certified label exists for the Item table.
3. If more than one label applies, pick the label on the Select Label page.
4. Fill in any input fields defined on the data collector (for example number of labels).
5. The label is generated and sent to the printer resolved for your user, location, and resource.

Creating a new label with the Label Flow Wizard

1. Open Labels Mobile Documents and choose Create Data Collector.
2. The wizard starts. Select the source table the label should be linked to, and select the fields to include in the data set.
3. Optionally add input fields the user must fill in before the label is printed.
4. Optionally expand the data set with fields from a related table (the wizard creates the table relations automatically where possible) or a non-related table such as a setup table.
5. Complete the wizard by specifying the code and description for the label flow, or accept the suggested ones, and choose Finish.
6. On the new Labels Mobile Document, assign a Printing Method and a layout, test it with Test Print, and set Status to Certified to make it available to users.

Setting up printer routing for a label

1. Create the physical printers in Labels Mobile Printers.
2. On the Labels Mobile Document, open the printer relations and add a line per routing rule: set Relation Type to User or Location, fill in the Relation Code and optionally a Resource No., and select the Printer Name.
3. Leave Relation Code blank on a User-type line to define the fallback printer for all users.

Printing a packaging unit label

1. On the item, open Item Units of Measure and set the Packaging Unit Type on the relevant units: Handling Unit of Measure, Inner Package, or Outer Package. Each type can only be assigned to one unit of measure per item.
2. Print the packaging label from the relevant document. The label resolves up to four packaging levels with captions and quantity relations (for example how many base units per inner package and inner packages per pallet) and prints them using the Label Packaging Unit report layout.

Integration with Other Abakion Apps

Setup

The setup user stories below cover the complete end-to-end configuration of Labels Mobile, from first activation through a fully operational label printing environment. Work through Core Setup first. The remaining sections are independent once the core is complete, and can be implemented in any order depending on which features you need.

Core Setup

SETUP-01: Activate the app via Assisted Setup

As an IT Manager I want to activate Labels Mobile using the Assisted Setup wizard So that the app is registered and the trial is started

Setup:

1. In Business Central, search for Assisted Setup and open the page.
2. Find Abakion Labels Mobile in the list and open it.
3. Optionally enable I am a partner activating this on behalf of a client.
4. Enter the Email Address. This is mandatory to proceed.
5. Click Activate Trial to register the app and start the 30-day trial period. Activation does not commit you to a subscription.
6. Click Finish. Labels Mobile is now enabled and you can start printing labels from Business Central.

Note: If the app is installed but not activated, a notification appears on the role centre each time a user opens Business Central, with actions to activate now, postpone the reminder, or dismiss it permanently. If dismissed, the wizard can always be reopened from Assisted Setup.

SETUP-02: Configure global settings in Labels Mobile Setup

As an IT Manager I want to review the global options in Labels Mobile Setup So that the JSON payload format and print messages match our label software and user preferences

Setup:

1. Search for Labels Mobile Setup and open the page.
2. Review and set the following fields:
3. Use Camel Case (JSON) — when enabled, field names in the JSON data set are formatted in camel case, matching the convention expected by most external label software.
4. Suppress Message after Print — when enabled, the confirmation message shown after executing a label print is suppressed.
5. Data Collector Wizard (Flow) — the internal system flow that powers the Label Flow Wizard. It is generated automatically the first time the wizard runs and normally does not need to be changed.
6. Close the page to save.

SETUP-03: Create a printing method

As an IT Manager I want to define how label data is delivered from Business Central So that labels reach our label software or print as Word reports

Setup:

1. Search for Labels Mobile Printing Methods and choose New.
2. Enter a unique Code and Description (e.g., WEBSERVICE / Label print engine, WORD / Word report printing).
3. Set the Integration Type:
4. Web Service — enter the Integration URL, Integration User, and Integration Password for the label print engine.
5. FTP — enter the Folder Path for the file transfer.
6. Report — no URL is needed; the label's report layout is used.
7. None — the payload is downloaded as a test file, useful while designing labels.
8. Set the Data Transfer Format to Json (default) or Delimited. For delimited transfers, set the Delimiter and enable Column Headers if required.

SETUP-04: Create the label document and data collector

As an IT Manager I want to create a label definition with a data collector for the source table So that users can print the label from the relevant Business Central pages

Setup:

1. Search for Labels Mobile Documents and open the page.
2. Choose Create Data Collector to start the Label Flow Wizard.
3. Select the source table for the label (e.g., Item, Bin Content, Warehouse Shipment) and the fields to include in the data set.
4. Optionally add input fields, related tables, or non-related tables as offered by the wizard.
5. Finish the wizard with a code and description. A new Labels Mobile Document is created with the flow attached as its data collector.
6. On the document, set the Printing Method and either the Label Report Layout Code (for Word report printing) or the Layout File Name (for external label software).
7. Use Test Data Collector and Test Print to verify the data set and the output.
8. Set Status to Certified. The label now appears on the role center and in the Print Label selection on the relevant pages.

Note: Enable Pass Full Data Set on the document if the label should receive all records in the user's current filter instead of only the selected record. Use Hide on Role Center or Hide on Selection List to limit where the label is offered.

Optional: Printers and Printer Routing

Complete this section if labels should be routed automatically to different physical printers per user, location, or mobile resource.

SETUP-05: Create printers and printer relations

As an IT Manager I want to register our label printers and define routing rules per label So that each label automatically prints on the correct printer for the user and location

Setup:

1. Search for Labels Mobile Printers and create a record per physical printer, entering the printer Name as known by the label software.
2. Open the Labels Mobile Document and go to its printer relations.
3. Add a line per routing rule:
4. Set Relation Type to User and enter a Relation Code (User ID) to route a specific user's prints. A user relation overrules all other rules.
5. Leave Relation Code blank on a User line to define the fallback printer for all users.
6. Set Relation Type to Location and enter the location code, optionally with a Resource No., to route prints per warehouse location and mobile resource.
7. Select the Printer Name on each line.

Note: A printer cannot be deleted while printer relations still reference it.

Optional: Word Label Report Layouts

Complete this section if you print labels through built-in Word reports instead of external label software.

SETUP-06: Register a label layout report

As an IT Manager I want to register the Word report used as the label layout So that the label document can render and print the label without external software

Setup:

1. Search for Label Layout Reports and choose New.
2. Enter a Code and set the Report ID to one of the built-in label reports (Item Big, Item Small, Bin Big, Bin Small, Address, Shipment, Packaging Unit, Custom, or Custom 2) or your own Word-layout report. The report must have a Word default layout; the layout name and caption are filled in automatically.
3. Enable Report Preview if the request page should be shown for the first label so the user can preview before printing.
4. Set Json Source Name to the field in the data set that holds the number of labels, if the number of printed labels should be data-driven.
5. On the Labels Mobile Document, set the Label Report Layout Code to this record and use a printing method with Integration Type Report.

Note: Barcodes on the built-in layouts are encoded automatically with Code 39, Code 128, or EAN-13 barcode fonts. EAN-13 values must be exactly 13 characters.

Optional: Packaging Unit Labels

Complete this section if you print carton or pallet labels that show quantity relations between packaging levels.

SETUP-07: Assign packaging unit types on item units of measure

As a Warehouse Manager I want to classify item units of measure as handling, inner, or outer packaging So that packaging labels show the correct quantity relations between base units, cartons, and pallets

Setup:

1. Open the Item Card and go to Item Units of Measure.
2. On each relevant unit of measure, set the Packaging Unit Type:
3. Handling Unit of Measure — the unit handled in the warehouse.
4. Inner Package — the inner carton.
5. Outer Package — the outer carton or pallet.
6. Each packaging unit type can only be assigned to one unit of measure per item; the assignment is validated on entry.
7. Print packaging labels using the Label Packaging Unit report layout. The label resolves up to four packaging levels with captions and quantities automatically.