Troubleshoot Tasklet PrintNode

Description

To Set up Tasklet PrintNode to print Standard Label Reports (Report Print) requires a detailed configuration.

This guide is made for the Tasklet PrintNode connector, but most topics can be relevant for other connectors as well.

Typical issues

How do I change the settings for my PrintNode printers?

Please see Set up Tasklet PrintNode

Incorrect settings (like height or width) retrieved from PrintNode on the Tasklet PrintNode Printer Setting page?

Using lookup in the Paper Size field and selecting a paper size results in retrieving the Height and Width from PrintNode.

If the Height or Width doesn't match the used label, you will need to ensure the PrintNode service on the print server gets the correct settings.

The PrintNode service is normally logging in as LocalSystem. To change the printer settings for LocalSystem we suggest one of these solutions:

Change the Printing Default for all users on the printer server (the server with the PrintNode service installed):

1. Click Start → Settings → Printers & Scanners

2. Click your printer, then click Manage

3. Click Printer properties

4. Go to the Advanced tab

5. Click Printing Defaults

6. Change your settings

7. Click Ok

Change the "Log on as" for the PrintNode service to a normal account and change the settings for this account

1. Log into Windows using the desired account

2. Open Start → Settings → Printers & Scanners

3. Click your printer, then click Manage

4. Click Printing Preferences

5. Change your settings

6. Click Start → Settings → Services

7. Right-click the PrintNode service and, then click Properties

8. Go to Log On tab , then click This account

9. Fill the account name and password (twice)

10. Click Ok

After having changed the service or printer settings, you will need to restart the PrintNode service for the changes to take effect.

Please lookup the paper size again in the Tasklet PrintNode Printer Setting window and ensure the values are correct.

It might take a few minutes for PrintNode to refresh the printer settings if you have a lot of printers.

Why can't I get my printer settings to work when the settings from PrintNode are correct?

1, Verify PrintNode uses correct printer settings

First of all make sure you are modifying the settings used by the PrintNode service. You should be able to adjust the width of the label and get the updated result in the Tasklet PrintNode Printer Settings page when you lookup in the Paper Size field. If not, please check the section above regarding Incorrect settings ... retrieved from PrintNode ....

If you are adjusting the correct printer settings but it still doesn't work as expected we suggest the following approach.

2. Verify printing to PDF

First of all run the report directly from the BC web-client and save it as a PDF file. You can find our reports by searching for mobile label in the BC web-client. Make sure the correct printer and layout is selected before you press Preview to get the correct size matching the label size. Ensure the PDF looks as expected, otherwise you need to adjust your layout or paper size in BC.

3. Verify printing PDF

Now you can try to print it directly using your favorite PDF viewer. However, printing the PDF like this will use your personal printer settings for the label printer which may differ from the settings used by the PrintNode service.

To print the PDF via PrintNode you can log into https://printnode.com/ and from the Print Something page upload the PDF file and select the label printer and press Print. This is basically what Mobile WMS is doing automatically, when you print via our PrintNode connector in Mobile WMS.

4. Troubleshooting without BC

If this still doesn't work as expected you can now reproduce the problem without BC and Mobile WMS which makes the troubleshooting easier. We suggest these next steps:

• Reset the printer driver settings. Please consult your printer manufacture for further instructions.

• Do a factory reset of the printer to get rid of non-standard hidden settings before you configure it as a new printer.  Please consult your printer manufacture for further instructions.

• Change the printer driver. Many printer manufactures have different drivers available for their printers. For Zebra printers we have seen a customer switching from EPL to ZPL solved their problem.

• Contact your printer supplier to get assistance. They might have recommendations for using their printer with PrintNode.

• Contact PrintNode at https://www.printnode.com/contact and request assistance to print the PDF.

Please note: If the printer is used by other systems, you should ensure you are able to restore the current settings before changing it.

Why does my Zebra Printer have different settings after having tried Report Print?

Printing via a Windows driver (e.g. using a PrintNode connector) can overwrite the printer's own settings. You must therefore ensure the settings in the printer and Windows printer driver are identical. For Zebra label printers, please see details here: https://supportcommunity.zebra.com/s/article/Printer-Settings-Change-When-I-Print-a-Label 

How are the Paper Size and the Height and Width fields used?

When a report is printed to a Tasklet PrintNode printer BC is instructed to create an internal PDF file with the Height and Width defined in Printer Settings. These are the only parameters from the printer settings that are used for the PDF creation and are placed in the Page section of the Printer Settings page.

Next, the PDF is sent to PrintNode with additional printer settings. This includes the Printer ID but also the Paper Type, Paper Tray, and Paper Rotation (if not automatic). These fields are all placed in the Paper section. The width and height are never sent to PrintNode but are indirectly specified in the PDF file.

If for instance, you increase the height and width directly without changing the Paper Size field the result depends on the printer. Some printers scale the PDF to the actual paper size, resulting in a smaller output on the paper. Other printers might try to print the full-size PDF using multiple pages.

If for instance, the paper tray does not match the paper size, some printers ask the user at the printer which tray to use but other printers ignore the paper tray and other printers ignore the paper size.

Similarly, the Paper Rotation setting can be interpreted differently. Many printers treat 270 degrees as 90 degrees and 180 degrees as 0 degrees.

This hopefully explains why you might experience unexpected behavior when changing printer settings and why it might require some trial and error before the printer settings result in the desired output.