FAQ General Questions About The Service The Print & Copy web pages (http://www.exeter.ac.uk/campusservices/printservices/) will answer most of your questions, but further information on the Managed Print Service can be found below. Why are we using the new system? The cost savings of a Managed Print Service are significant, as are the environmental benefits. Using modern MFDs (Multi-Function Devices) - which can copy, print, scan-to-email and fax to replace single-function machines, means that toner and paper are used much more efficiently, and can be centrally monitored to optimise that usage. In addition, central ordering of consumables allows the University to make huge cost savings on bulk delivery. Having fewer, power-efficient devices handling more of the print and copy work required by individuals means that energy savings can be significant. Modern print devices have built-in powermanagement, switching to stand-by when not in use for a period of time; whereas many of the older printers and copiers aren t capable of this. The University is committed to reducing its current carbon footprint by 60%, and the MFDs help us achieve that. How do I send something to print on the managed Print Service? Simply send your document to print from your desktop PC, as you normally would, to one of the four FollowYou print queues. Then go to any of the MFDs in the service and swipe your Uni card. The device will list all those of your documents it s capable of printing i.e., it won t show any A3 documents if it has no A3 capability and you can then select the document you want and OK it for print. In reality most people will use their nearest machine for printing most of their documents; but the option to print your work anywhere will always be available if, for example, you need something printed for a meeting in another building. Once you ve sent the item to print, it ll be stored on a central server and can be printed wherever you swipe your card. Can anyone else list my documents, or print them? No. The document is released to the printer you re standing at, by the action of swiping your Uni card. If someone else prints at the same machine, they ll only see their own documents. For security, the device will log you out if there s no activity for 30 seconds but if you re still logged in when you ve finished printing, force a logout by pressing the Logout button, or the next person to the device will be able to access your print queue.
Who will be responsible for the new print/copy device? The new devices will be the responsibility of the Print and Copy Services team. Because they re networked and managed centrally, maintenance warnings such as those for more toner or a new drum will be generated automatically, and sent to Print Services by automated email. A member of the team will come out to replenish the supplies in good time, before levels become critical. All print/copy costs will be monitored and each College/department will be billed centrally. What will I be able to do on the new machines that I can t on the old? The new machines are all duplex-enabled (i.e., double-sided printing), many have colour capability, and there are various post-print finishing options available (depending on the model) sorting, stapling, and hole-punching. All devices have scan-to-email as an option, enabling you to scan a document and send it to your own email account. Some of the machines will also have fax capability. Will I still be able to use the Print and Copy Services department? Yes, the Print and Copy Services department will still be available for business stationery, highvolume and specialist printing. How green are these new devices? The Xerox devices are pre-programmed to enter stand-by mode if there has been no user activity within a given time; there remains residual power to the device of a few percent. Stand-by mode uses less energy than the cold-start process, and is therefore ultimately more energy-efficient than powering the machine off and on. Can I still use CTRL P or use the Print icon on the Office toolbar? Yes but you need to be aware that one of the four queues will be set as your PC s default, and it might not be appropriate for the document you re currently wanting to print. If it isn t, your document won t appear in the list of documents for printing when you swipe your card. What if I forget my ID card? Swiping your University ID card is the fastest means to access the devices, but if you forget to bring your ID card to work, or have lost your card and are awaiting a permanent replacement, you can still log into the MFD by using your University username and password via the keyboard on the device. Instead of swiping your card, touch the Keyboard or Alternate login button on the MFD display screen and use the keypad displayed to login.
Trouble-Shooting I ve swiped my card, but nothing happens what s wrong? The devices can all be accessed either via the card-swipe, or by pressing the Alternate Login or Keyboard Access button (depending on the model) on the touch-screen. If the card-swipe is working when you arrive at the device, the solid red LED light will be showing. As you swipe your card, it will flash green; and finally it will be solid green as your login is successfully authenticated. If this sequence doesn t happen, and the touch-screen doesn t change as you swipe, then there may be a problem with the swipe-reader. Try using the Alternative Login button before you log a call, as the Helpdesk staff will ask you if you tried the alternative method. If you re able to log in successfully using the keyboard, then the MFD is working but there may be a problem with either the swipe-reader or your card, and a call needs to be logged for investigation. I can swipe my card, but I get a message saying Access Denied, Contact Administrator. This can happen for a number of reasons: Faulty Card occasionally the mag stripe on the card can become damaged, and can t be read by the MFD card-swipe. Sometimes even newly-issued cards can have faulty coding, meaning they can be read by the door-swipes but not the printers. Try logging in using the touchscreen (the Alternate login option) if this works then there is no problem with your print account itself, but your card will need to be checked and verified as faulty. Account Out of Funds All print accounts are created with a notional personal balance, but staff accounts are usually set as Billable, meaning that you enter a billing code at the device and the code will be used to invoice your department for your print/copy activity at the end of each month. However, there are circumstances where some background configuration settings have not registered, and instead of charging your department, the print system has charged your personal account, which will have run out of funds as a result. You may also receive an automated email telling you this. If you know you are using a direct print queue in your office, rather than the standard FollowYou queues, then you may not have set a default billing code for your print account. Follow the instructions for setting a default billing code via the Equitrac portal. If you re using the standard FollowYou queues and are still getting this message, you ll need to log a call for investigation.
When I swipe my card, I get a message saying Card not registered would you like to link this card with your account? This usually happens because there is a mismatch between the card number on the card you swiped, and the card number stored in your account, usually because you ve recently been issued with a new card. There is a direct feed each night from the University s card database into the Managed Print Service, but there have been instances where the card number being passed through is not current, or not present, and the card you swiped has not been found in the Equitrac print accounting system. If this happens, simply press Yes, and device will prompt you to log in manually using your normal PC login. Note: the password is case-sensitive and the touchscreen keyboard is small, so take your time. Once you ve logged in manually, the system will automatically associate your new card with your print account, and you ll be able to use it to swipe in normally from this point on. I m entering a billing code, but the MFD tells me it s invalid. Occasionally departments make changes to billing codes and structures. This information will come out to staff via email, in advance of the change. It means that at some point a billing code or codes may be deactivated, and reported as invalid if an attempt is made to use them. If you can find no record of any communication from your finance team regarding a change to a billing code, please log a call for investigation. I ve sent some A3 jobs to print, but they don t appear in the Follow-You print queue on the device. If the device you ve used to retrieve your printing isn t capable of A3, then your A3 jobs won t be listed. Similarly, if you ve sent a colour document to print using one of the STAFF_COLOUR queues, it won t be listed on any mono-only device. I ve selected a job to print, and it s gone from the list, but it hasn t printed where is it? Once you ve highlighted a job and pressed Print, it has left the print server and is now stored on the device as it prints. To view jobs queued up on the device you re using, press the Job List button (middle button on the left of the touch-screen), and the screen will list the jobs the device is waiting to print. You can highlight a job in this list and opt to delete it if you wish; but the list will also show the status of the jobs, and whether they are being held up for any reason. A common reason for a held job is that the paper size of the document you ve sent to print is not available on the device for example, Legal size paper instead of A4. If you have paper of the right size available, you can feed it through the bypass tray on a one-off basis. However, usually the problem arises when printing a PDF which has been formatted with a completely non-standard paper size e.g., 209x289mm and in this case there is no matching paper size possible. The best course of action is to delete the document from the held job list, and re-send, using the scale to fit option to re-size to A4 or A3.
I ve selected a high-volume job to print, and I need to cancel it quickly how do I do this? Press the Job List button (middle button on the left of the touch-screen), and the screen will list the jobs the device is printing. Highlight your job and select Delete from the menu. You will be asked to confirm deletion. Note: If the job has already started printing, the device will continue to print what it has in its buffer, even after the job has been deleted. However, this should only be a few pages. I sent a series of jobs to the queue, but I haven t been in the office for a few days, and now they aren t there when I try to retrieve them. The staff print queues are monitored for traffic, and any print jobs which are more than 72 hours old are removed, simply to prevent the queues from becoming clogged with unprinted documents (some of which may have been sent in error anyway). Documents sent to print after 1pm on Friday afternoon will still be available until 1pm on Monday. If you have sent some documents which have subsequently been removed, and you d like some help with establishing what they were so you can re-print, log a call asking for an Expired Print Job report, and give the Helpdesk operator your IT account login, and the dates which you want the report to cover. My document has printed out with missing images, corrupted text, or an error sheet. Some fonts and images cause compatibility issues with some of the older Xeroxes. The font Comic Sans, for example, will cause errors in documents printed on the older ColorQubes, but will be fine when printed on a newer 78-series machine. If you don t have the option to use a different model, there are various changes you can make to your print settings to overcome the errors. My document has printed out with black streaks, dust, or poor quality colours. Log a call for Print Services to attend the machine and perform some image quality checks. In the meantime, release your documents on another machine. I sent a series of jobs to the queue, but I haven t been in the office for a few days, and now they aren t there when I try to retrieve them. The staff print queues are monitored for traffic, and any print jobs which are more than 3 days old are removed, simply to prevent the queues from becoming clogged with unprinted documents (some of which may have been sent in error anyway). If you have sent some documents which have subsequently been removed, and you d like some help with establishing what they were so you can re-print, log a call asking for an Expired Print Job report, and give the Helpdesk operator your IT account login, and the dates which you want the report to cover.