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Managing your Shopify POS cash drawer

When you connect and use a cash drawer with Shopify POS and a compatible receipt printer, you can accept cash payments more securely and access your cash quickly when needed. Setting up a cash drawer also helps you track and reconcile cash transactions for accurate end-of-day reporting.

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Considerations for using cash drawers with Shopify POS

Review the following considerations for using cash drawers with Shopify POS:

  • Each POS device is automatically assigned to a cash drawer. The cash drawer's name becomes the Register ID, which displays in the Shopify POS Register summary as the Drawer.
  • Cash drawers and POS devices have a one-to-one connection.
  • If you need multiple devices connected to a single cash drawer, then refer to the POS UI extension guides and learn about the new API.

Opening the cash drawer

You can configure Shopify POS to open the cash drawer automatically after each cash transaction, or you can open it manually at any time.

Open the cash drawer manually

You can open a cash drawer manually with either of the following methods:

  • From Shopify POS, tap Register > Open drawer
  • Use the physical keys included with the cash drawer

Open the cash drawer automatically

The cash drawer connects to your device through the receipt printer and must be on the same wireless network.

In stores with multiple cash drawers, automatic opening only works when the device is connected to its default printer. If the default printer isn't available, then the receipt prints from another printer. Cash drawers connected to the secondary printer won't open. This ensures cash drawers only open at the expected location.

Steps:

  1. From Shopify POS, tap the Horizontal menu icon.

  2. Tap Settings > Payments.

  3. Tap Payment Options, and then activate Drawer auto-open.

Require a reason to open

To require staff to select a reason each time the drawer is opened manually, you can turn on Reason codes in the Cash management setting in your Shopify admin. This helps track cash handling throughout the day.

Testing the cash drawers

After you've set up your receipt printer and your cash drawer, you can check that the connection between them works.

Steps:

  1. From Shopify POS, tap the Connectivity Icon icon.

  2. In the Hardware section, tap the printer that you want to test.

  3. Tap Test cash drawer. The cash drawer should open.

Troubleshooting the cash drawer

To avoid or troubleshoot common cash drawer issues, check that the following items are set up correctly:

  • The cash drawer's cable is plugged into the receipt printer.
  • The receipt printer has paper.
  • The receipt printer is paired with the iPad, iPhone, or Android tablet. The pairing instructions for your receipt printer depend on which receipt printer model you have.
  • The receipt printer is set as the default printer for the device.
  • You're using the cash drawer cable you received in the hardware package to connect the cash drawer to the printer.

If you tap No Sale on the products and cart screen and the cash drawer doesn't open, then this is likely a problem with the cash drawer cable. If you experience this, then you can contact Shopify Support. From Shopify POS, tap Horizontal menu > Support > Contact support.