Managing printers

Install plentyBase

You need the tool plentyBase to link plentymarkets to locally installed devices. Go to plentyMarketplace to download the installation files.

plentyBase allows you to link plentymarkets to locally installed devices. In the Setup » Settings » Printer menu, you set up local printers or network printers in plentymarkets.

1. Adding a printer

Proceed as described below to add a printer.

Adding a new printer:

Go to Setup » Settings » Printer.
Click on the context menu in the menu structure.
→ The New printer button is displayed.
Click on New printer.
→ The configuration menu opens.
Carry out the desired settings. Note Table 1.
Save the settings.
→ The printer is displayed in the menu tree.
Print a few text pages/labels and experiment with different printer plugins before using printers in productive mode.

Table 1. Setting up printers
Setting	Explanation
Test page	Prints out a test page for checking the printer settings.
Name	Enter name. The name can be chosen freely. As such, you could add several printers of the same type and give them all different names.
Printer	Displays local and network printers.
Printer dialogue	Select whether the printer dialogue should open before printing a page. open = Page orientation and additional information must be set before printing. do not open = Page orientation and additional information are specified in this menu and will be used for printing.
Paper tray	Select a paper tray. The options that are available depend on the printer that was selected. If you would like to work with different paper sizes, please refer to the following sub-chapter. Note: This feature is only available for Windows.
Paper size	Select a paper size. Further fields are displayed for width and height if you choose a user-defined paper size, e.g. the paper size Custom. Paper sizes are provided by each type of printer. Therefore, they can have different names. If you need to use more than one format, set up further printers, to which you can assign the corresponding format.
Double-sided printing	Currently not supported by the Client.
Scaling	Select the scaling. Fit to page (ignore aspect ratio) = Information will be scaled to fit the entire page. This setting may cause the information to be distorted. Fit to page (preserve aspect ratio) = Information will be scaled to the largest possible size within the print area without causing distortions. None = Information will not be scaled.
Orientation	Select which orientation should be used when printing. The options available here depend on the printer. portrait = Vertical format landscape = Horizontal format Automatic page orientation = This option is found further down in the menu. The orientation is fit to the page automatically.
Top, Left, Bottom, Right	Optionally enter distances in mm in order to put your page’s content in the right position.
Automatic page orientation	Activate to orient the content automatically on the page.
Printer plugin	Select the plugin to be used with the printer. *Tip:* Print some test pages/labels to compare the print quality of the different printer plugins. Default = The operating system’s default is used. Cups, PDFBox = Try either one of these plugins if you are not satisfied with the print quality of the Default setting. ZPL (Zebra Programming Language) = Plugin for Zebra label printers. *Information about the ZPL plugin:* The ZPL plugin is optimised for a native resolution of 203 dpi. Other resolutions may result in distorted label sizes. If your label sizes are distorted, select 203 dpi or a different printer plugin. *Information about the ZPL plugin:* For optimum print quality with the ZPL plugin on Mac OSX systems, RAW printing must be enabled on your Zebra printer.

2. Configuring printers with different paper trays (Windows only)

If you own a printer with different paper trays and you want to work with different paper sizes, you can set up a printer profile for each paper tray.

Example configuration for different formats

You want to print invoices in DIN A4 format and labels in DIN A6 format.

Set up a printer profile with the paper size DIN A4 and another printer profile with the paper size DIN A6. Select the same printer for both profiles and assign the corresponding paper tray to each paper size.

3. Sharing printers

Printer profiles are saved for each individual user account on a computer. As such, they are not available for other users who share the same computer. If a printer profile should be available for other users as well, then the profile must be shared with others. Profiles are shared on your computer, not in plentymarkets. Use your operating system’s help function to find out how to share printers on your computer:

Help for Windows e.g. here
Help for Mac e.g. here

4. Error causes and solutions

Table 2 contains information about the errors that may occur when setting up the printer.

Table 2. Error messages in the **Printer** menu
Code	Error	Cause	Solution
2000	Under Mac OS X: No CUPS printer found.	No printer is shared in the network. It is necessary to share a printer in order for printers to communicate via CUPS.	Sharing printers
2001	Under Mac OS X: Unknown CUPS printer.	The printer was not found in the network under the specified name.	Sharing printers
2101	Print error.	Several possible causes.
2102	Printer was not found.	The printer is no longer available in the system. Configuration may now be incorrect.	Add a new printer or use a different printer.

5. Printing labels

With special label printers you can print large numbers of labels in no time. These printers are equipped with label reels. Some models even have an integrated cutter. Save the exact label size using the Paper size option in the Setup » Settings » Printer menu. You can either select one of the default formats or define your won sizes using the custom option described in Table 1.

All printing functions are compatible with label printers and are especially optimised for using label printers produced by Zebra. For use as a desktop printer, we recommend the model Zebra GC420d .

5.1. Installing the Zebra GC420d on your computer

Proceed as described below to install the Zebra GC420d on the operating systems Windows or Mac OSX.

Installing the Zebra GC420d:

First, download the Zebra Setup Utilities file to your computer.
Install the file.
Follow the instructions in the setup wizard.
→ Windows: Select the ZDesigner GC420d printer. Here, the ZPL printer driver is used by default.
→ Mac OSX: Select the printer driver ZPL. Test the driver’s setting for every label size individually. To use the ZPL printer plugin, configure your Zebra printer for RAW printing.

5.2. Setting up a Zebra printer with the ZPL plugin (Mac OSX only)

To optimise print quality with the ZPL plugin on Mac OSX systems, you need to enable the Zebra printer for print jobs in RAW format. When printing in RAW format, print data is sent in the printer’s native language. The print data remains unchanged because the operating system’s print driver is bypassed.

To configure RAW printing, you need to access the CUPS web interface. Proceed as described below to activate the CUPS web interface and configure the printer.

ZPL plugin: Activating the CUPS web interface (Mac OSX only):

Open the Spotlight search by pressing "cmd" + "Leertaste".
Enter the term Terminal.
Press enter.
→ The terminal opens.
In the terminal window, enter the command sudo cupsctl WebInterface=yes.
Press enter.
→ You are asked to enter your password.
Enter your password.
→ The CUPS web interface is active.

ZPL plugin: Setting up Raw printing for a Zebra printer (Mac OSX only):

In a web browser, navigate to http://localhost:631.
→ The CUPS web interface opens.
Click on the Administration tab.
Click on Add Printer.
→ You are asked to enter your user data.
Enter your user name and password.
→ The Add Printer page is displayed.
Select the Zebra printer from the list.
Click on Continue.
Enter a name, a description and a location for the printer.
Select Share This Printer to share the printer with other users.
Click on Continue.
From the Make list, select Raw.
Click on Continue.
Click on Add Printer.
Leave the settings for Starting Banner and Ending Banner as none.
Click on Set Default Options.
→ Your Zebra printer can receive RAW print jobs.
Note: The Zebra printer is not shown in the system settings. However, it is set up and can be accessed by the system.
When you add a printer in the Setup » Settings » Printer menu, select the printer plugin ZPL.

5.3. Configuring label printing

Configure the height and width of your labels in plentymarkets. First, add the label printer to your printer list. To do so, proceed as follows. The configuration is described based on a label format of 104 x 150.

Adding a printer for 104 x 150 labels:

Go to Setup » Settings » Printer.
Click on the context menu in the menu structure.
→ The New printer button is displayed.
Click on New printer.
→ The configuration menu opens.
Enter a name.
Select the label printer from the drop-down list Printer.
Select do not open from the Printer dialogue drop-down list.
Select Invalid selection from the Paper tray drop-down list.
Select Custom from the Paper size drop-down list.
Enter 150 as the Paper height.
Enter 104 as the Paper width.
Do not change the one-sided setting for double-sided printing.
Select Fit to page (ignore aspect ratio) from the Scaling drop-down list.
Select portrait from the Orientation drop-down list.
Save the settings.

Tip for multiple label sizes

If you use different label sizes, you can either change the paper height and width in the printer dialogue when changing the label or set up an individual printer for each label size.

5.4. Correcting label printing errors

If the printing results are slightly offset, but visible on the label, we recommend that you correct the printing position using the Top, Left, Bottom and Right fields.

If only a small part of the information is printed and the rest of the label is empty, change the printer’s driver. Using the right driver is crucial for printing correctly. This is especially true for Apple computers, but it can also be a cause of errors for Windows computers.
For Windows, we recommend that you install the printer ZDesigner GC420d and the driver ZPL. In some cases, you may obtain better results using the printer ZDesigner GC420d (EPL) and the EPL driver.

If you were able to correct the printing results, add a printer with the right settings for the label. This way, you can reuse the settings. We recommend installing the same printer multiple times using different drivers, so that you can switch to another configuration quickly if the labels aren’t printed correctly.

Incorrect printing results may also occur if the process uses the label parameters of your label printer instead of the label settings in plentymarkets. In this case, it may help to add the label parameters in your printer settings.

In plentymarkets, you can also select different printer plugins. If the print quality is not satisfactory, experiment by printing test labels with different printer plugins.

6. Displaying the print history

The print history displays your print orders from the past 14 days. After these 14 days, entries will be deleted from the print history. Print orders are stored temporarily in order to forward them to the printer. As soon as a print order has been saved temporarily, it is listed in the print history. This also means that print orders that were not actually printed may be listed in the print history, e.g. if the paper tray was empty or if other problems occurred with the printer.

Displaying the print history:

Go to Data » Print history.
→ The print history opens.

You can print documents again within the print history or delete print orders from the history. 20 entries are displayed per page by default as soon as you open the print history. You can also display 50 or 100 entries per page. Place a check mark next to the print orders that you want to delete or reprint. You can select all print orders displayed on a page or select them individually.

7. Deleting a printer

Proceed as described below to delete a printer.

Deleting a printer:

Go to Setup » Settings » Printer.
Click on the printer.
→ The configuration menu opens.
Click on Delete.
→ The printer is deleted.