1 Setting up Printers in Execu/Tech Systems, Inc. point of sale software is simple, but you must follow these directions for it to work properly. There are three ways to configure printing. The first two are what we call $$ and // printing, which allow you to select a printer from a list of installed printers. The third is WIN-DEFAULT, which sends the print jobs to the Windows default printer for that terminal. Name your printers something simple and obvious, like Receipt or KitchenHot. You ll know which computer the printer belongs to when you see the UNC. There are a few things you must know before continuing: 1. Everything in this document is important. Read it again if something isn t working. 2. If you change Windows printer names after configuring the printers, printing will stop working properly. You will have to reselect the printers in our software if this happens. 3. EACH DEVICE NAME IN OUR PRINTER SETUP MENU MUST BE UNIQUE! You can t use $$Receipt on more than one line. Use $$Receipt1, $$Receipt2, etc. 4. It helps to give printers short and obvious names like RECEIPT, and KITCHEN. 5. Printers must be set up in Windows and able to print a Test Page before the POS software can print to it 6. Printers in Remote Desktop Services. Don t use session or redirected printers. These are auto generated printers and not suited to an environment needing static printer direction. If you use these printers your receipts and kitchen chits may print to locations other than the specified printer. Each printer must be set up on the server, in the current user s session. If 10 users need to print to a printer, then the printer will need to be shared to all 10 user s sessions. Basically, you re reversing the typical print server role. Instead of the server hosting the printer, the printer will be hosted on the client and shared to the server. In our printer setup, we provide a button, Printer Control Panel, that brings up your Windows printer setup and allows you to add and remove printers when you re environment locks you into our application, provided your user has the appropriate permissions. 7. When possible, use the built in Generic / Text Only printer driver. 8. USB Printers. Because many USB printers don t work with the Generic / Text Only printer driver, versions of our Execu/Touch software prior to v. 2012.07.10 may not be able to use the $$ method of printing for these printers. You should use the // method instead. 9. A POS terminal s receipt printer should be set as the Windows Default Printer for that terminal. All customers with a support contract are entitled to free updates, so call us to schedule an update. (850) 747-0581 For the Printer Set-up Field Definitions, go to page 3. For help determining which printer should be assigned, go to page 4.
2 Set Up When setting up and configuring printers, sometimes it s easier to perform each step at one terminal at a time. This way you ll see the entire process from start to finish before going on to the next terminal. If you re reselecting a printer that s already configured in Windows, go to the step Reselecting a Printer. 1. At each terminal that needs to print, be sure that each printer it needs to print to is set up and working in Windows. Verify this by printing a Test Page. 2. Try to give each specific printer the same name at each terminal. If you have two kitchen printers, name them something like KIT1 and KIT2, or KIT-HOT and KIT-COLD and use these names when setting up the printers at each terminal. 3. Go to the POS Administrator Menu and click on Printer Set-up. 4. Go to the line of the unit number you re setting up. The unit number is defined by either the terminal s receipt printer setting or the menu item s remote printer setting. 5. Configure each field to fit the role of your printer. 6. If this is a new printer, enter a device name. Choose one of these methods: $$ Printing (Most common method) The printer must be selected at each terminal. The device name must begin with $$. For consistency, we recommend using the printer name as the device name. For example, printer KIT-HOT would have a device name of $$KIT-HOT. // Printing (Good for shared remote printers) The printer should only be selected once and the Windows printer name must be accessible by all terminals. The device name must begin with //. For consistency, we recommend using the printer name as the device name. For example, printer KIT-HOT would have a device name of //KIT-HOT. WIN-DEFAULT The device name must be WIN-DEFAULT This will cause each terminal to print to its own default Windows printer. 7. Press the ENTER key until the Printer Setup box appears, usually one or two times. 8. Select the printer from the list. DO NOT click Network and select from that list. 9. You will be asked to verify your intent to change the printer. Click Yes if this is what you want to do and you re finished. Reselecting a Printer If your printer is already configured, you can simply click the printer name under the Windows Printer Name column to select the printer. Differences in $$ and // printing. The setup is nearly identical, with one exception. With $$ printing, you must perform the printer selection at each terminal. With // printing, you only select the printer from one terminal. Because // printing applies the printer settings to all terminals, each terminals must see the printer with the same name or UNC for it to work. For example, if your kitchen printer is shared as \\server\kitchen, then // printing is ideal. However, if you re configuring a shared bar printer attached to the bar terminal, you will have to use $$ printing because the bar terminal won t be able to see it as \\bar\receipt, it will only see it as receipt
3 Printer Set-up Field Definitions Once the terminal can see all the printers it will be printing to in its spooler, go to the POS Administrator Menu. Select Printer Set-up. You will see a screen similar to this: Unit(1-24) Nine characters max. The first lists the unit number to be referenced in the Terminal Record and in the Item record for remote printing. The rest are as follows: Description A five character description you create to help identify the printer in the list. Feed/#ch Y to send a hardware form feed if you are using a laser or ink jet printer. N to not send a form feed. 2, 3, etc., will print that number of guest receipts. C will cause the guest receipt printer to cut after it prints. Sort Kit This sorts (lists them together) items to the kitchen printer. Y sorts items and departments, N sorts just departments, and X will send the items just as they appear on the screen. Cut? Y causes the kitchen printer to cut between departments. N will not cut. Type This is where you select the type (Brand / Model) of the printer or its emulation. This is vital to functions like bold print, colored print, cutting, etc. Right click to select from a menu of compatible types. Keep in mind your printer may support ESC/POS or Epson Mode. If this is the case, select the appropriate Epson type, either E for all impact or F for all thermal. Device 12 characters max. This is where you enter a device name, defined in step 6 on page 2. Alt Unit This is where you reference a printer that will receive the remote print job if this printer fails to print. You will enter the Unit number of the other printer. Re-direct This allows you to temporarily redirect remote printing to another printer for all terminals. You will enter the Unit number of the other printer. Windows Printer Name This shows the currently selected Windows Printer. You can click this field to change the printer.
4 Identify Your Printer Knowing which printer you re setting up is very important. If you set up the wrong printer you can mess up existing terminal and working printer configurations. Please take the time to read this and be sure you know what you re doing. First, you need to identify your terminal number. There are three methods of doing this, the first requiring a small amount of Windows knowledge, which we cannot provide you. The last two methods may not work if you re on a version of the software more than three years old. Identifying Your Terminal Number Shortcut Properties Right click on your shortcut (this is the icon you use to run the software) and select Properties. You re looking for a text field titled Target. At the end of text in that field, you ll see a two digit number this is your terminal number. Identifying Your Terminal Number Hotel Login This is the login where you are presented with two fields titled Enter your I.D: and Password:. After logging in, look to the bottom left of the window for your terminal number. Identifying Your Terminal Number Execu/Touch Login This is the login where you are presented with an onscreen keyboard. Look to the bottom left for your terminal number. Now that you ve identified your terminal number, you need to identify the receipt printer assigned to this terminal. Go to your POS Administrator and then to Terminal Setup. Enter in your terminal number and you ll see the printer assigned to this terminal. Lastly, you ll want to determine which remote printer is being used. Go to your POS Administrator menu and then to Menu Items. Enter the menu item you wish to check and look to line 7 for the assigned remote printer(s). If no printer number is seen, then the item is not configured to print to a remote printer (kitchen, bar, etc.)
5 Shift4 Credit Card Receipt Printer Your Shift4 credit card receipt printers, in Execu/Suite (the hotel software) must be defined. In the point of sale software, credit card receipts print to the terminal s receipt printer and something similar must be set up in Execu/Suite. You ll set up this printer using either the // method. Picking the printer name is important. If you have the preferred printer, the Epson TM-T88 or newer (most newer Epson thermal receipt printers are compatible) then the printer device name should be //TMT88. If you have multiple TMT88 printers they must all have a unique name, so name them something easy like //TMT88-1. If the printer isn t Epson compatible, the name can be any of your choosing. The printer device name must be entered into the terminal record of the Shift4 settings. To access the Shift4 settings, follow these steps: Click File Special Run Program by Name and in the box that appears type, MENUS4CO. Click OK and when asked to select a printer, pick the first one in the list. When you re done, close the window.
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