Printers are an essential part of any warehouse management system. Even if you have implemented a paperless system of sales and purchase orders, labels and despatch documents still need printing. This article describes the types of printer that can be used with PVX, how to install and connect the Peoplevox print client, and how to register, test and troubleshoot your printers.

Choosing a Printer

Warehouse Labels (e.g. Item Barcodes, Location Labels)

Only certain approved types of printer can be used with PVX. As a minimum, you need a printer that is compatible with the Zebra Programming Language (ZPL) for printing item and location labels, sales orders and container labels. These ZPL-compatible printers can have a print resolution of 200 or 300 dots per inch (dpi).

ZPL printers use one of two thermal printing methods:

• Thermal transfer uses a heated ribbon to produce durable, long-lasting images. Use this method for location and item labels, which are exposed to light for long periods.

• Direct thermal uses no ribbon, so there are no consumable parts to replace. It is more sensitive to light, heat and abrasion, which shortens the label's lifetime. Use this method for despatch labels, which are not exposed to direct sunlight for long.

Select a printer which can cope with the expected workload in your warehouse. Take care to check that the printer uses ZPL; not even all printers sold by Zebra use this language.

Despatch Documents

If you have the Despatch Documents option available on your PVX system, you can also install and use a generic printer for printing despatch and despatch package labels. We recommend a minimum print resolution of 600 dpi and a minimum print speed of 20 pages per minute. This may be necessary if your carrier integration (the link between PVX and the software used by your shipping company) does not support ZPL-compatible printers. Check with your carrier to confirm what types of printer they recommend, and then create custom templates for your labels if needed.

Shipping Labels and Carrier Integration

When selecting a printer to use with the carrier integration, the rule of thumb is that the printer needs to be able to print a PDF file. All Zebra printers should be capable of this, although we always advise checking. Register the printer as a Generic type, which tells PVX that it can send PDFs to it. It is possible to register the same printer as both ZPL and Generic if you want to send both ZPL and PDF files to it.

Installing the Print Client

Peoplevox provides a print client: a small Windows application that passes print requests from PVX to your printers. You install it on each Windows machine that has access to the printers you want to use. The system uses the Windows print service to communicate with printers, so it prints to any printer visible to that Windows machine, whether connected directly or shared over the network. If the printer is visible in the Windows printer settings, it should be visible to the print client as well. Please ask your IT team for assistance in connecting and sharing printers if needed.

The print client runs in the background. It checks with PVX every few seconds for print requests for the printers it serves, and PVX sends it a link to each document to print. The print client also configures the printers, starts or stops the print service, and keeps itself up to date: once installed, it receives fixes and improvements automatically, following our standard release cycle, without you having to reinstall anything. Changes are communicated in the release notes ahead of time.

Downloading and Installing

Each print client is registered with your account using a one-time access token. This lets you see every machine running a print client, and helps with tracing and identifying issues with individual printing stations.

1. In the PVX web app, select Printing > Print clients. The page lists the print clients already registered on your account, with their version and whether each one is up to date and authenticated.

2. Click the plus icon in the top-right of the page. The New Print Client dialog opens.

3. Click Download Print Client and run the downloaded installer on the machine where printing is required. The installer and its services are digitally signed.

4. Copy the Access Token shown in the dialog. The token is shown only once, and you need a new token for each print client you install.
   
   
   

Connecting to Your Account

1. Open the print client and select Menu > Connect to print service.

2. Enter your Client ID (without spaces), the service URL for your region from the table below, and the access token you copied.

3. Click Save.

Once you save, the print client connects to your account and shows a status for each of its three components:

• Cloud server represents the web application. Green means the print client is connected to your account.

• Print service is the component that prints the documents it receives. Green means it will process any documents sent to it.

• Print client update service keeps the print client up to date. Green means the client can receive updates as we release them. Updates are fully automatic and need no interaction.

The new print client now appears in the Print clients list in the web app.

Registering Your Printers

1. In the print client, click Connect printer... and select the printer to connect from the list of Windows printers available.
   
   

   
   

2. Click Next.

3. Select the type of printer you are connecting from the available options.
   
   

   
   

4. Click Next.

5. Enter a name for the printer terminal. This is the name used for the printer in the PVX web and mobile apps.
   
   

   
   

6. Click Finish.

The new printer is shown in the print client. The cloud server status is shown by a green or red flag, and the print service can be stopped and started using the buttons below the list of connected printers.

Upgrading from the Legacy Print Client

If you have the legacy print client installed, move each machine across as follows. If you have several machines, we suggest doing them one at a time.

1. Uninstall the existing print client from Windows Add or remove programs.

2. Install and connect the new print client as described above.

3. Register your printers again.

The legacy print client continues to work in the meantime, but it does not receive updates, so please upgrade as soon as you are able to.

Testing the Connected Printer

Throughout the PVX web app there are options to print different types of information. In this example, a location label is printed to test that the new printer is connected correctly.

1. Select Warehouse > Manage locations, search for a location and tick it in the results.

2. Click the print icon above the results. The Printing options dialog opens.

3. Set the number of copies, select your new printer and select the required template.

4. Click Print.
   
   

The location label is printed on the selected printer.

You can monitor and control print requests from Printing > Printing logs. The log shows the status, terminal, request date, user, documents and comments for each print request. The status icons are:

• Print request pending

• Print request in progress

• Print request failed

Click View print terminals on the same page to manage the online printers, including changing the site a printer is assigned to and setting a default printer for your user account.

Troubleshooting

If you experience problems with printing documents, we recommend checking the following before raising a ticket.

1) Does the Printer Show as Online in the Web App?

Select Printing > Printing logs and click View print terminals. Does the printer you are trying to print to show as online? If not, the printer is unable to communicate with Peoplevox servers. Check the steps below.

2) Does the Print Client Show Connected and Running?

In the print client, check the status of the cloud server, the print service and the update service. All three should show green.

• If the cloud server status shows a warning, check the internet connection and that the service URL is correct for your region.

• If the print service status shows a warning, try restarting it using the STOP and START buttons.
  
  
  

3) Unregister the Affected Printer and Re-register It

Right-click the affected printer in the print client and select Unregister, then connect it again using the steps above.

4) Remove and Reinstall the Print Client

If the steps above do not work, remove and reinstall the print client: uninstall it from Windows Add or remove programs, then install and connect it again as described above. You need a new access token from Printing > Print clients for the reinstalled client.

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