Printer Installation

Overview

PTS prints to label printers to produce prescription barcodes and tickets and other documents. As PTS is web based software there are additional steps and considerations when connecting the application to a label printer.

Network Printing

Network printing is by far the most popular way of setting up label printing in PTS.

Pros of network printing

• Less interaction is required by the pharmacist for each print (compared to Browser Printing) as there is no mandatory print preview via the web browser.
• Label/page sizes and settings are defined centrally and don't have to be configured on each client PC.
• Can print to any printer from any PC.

Cons of network printing

• Network printing is setup per PC and per printer, so has to be repeated for each printer, and has to be redone if the printer is replaced.
• Requires remote admin access to the PTS application server to setup and maintain.

Installation instructions

1. Download the “Seagull Drivers for Zebra Printers” file from the Downloads & Updates section at tmsinsight.com. Run it on the PC you will connect your printer to but don’t connect the printer just yet.
2. During installation leave the install path as C:\Seagull\ and untick the “run driver wizard” and the “read installation instructions” options then click finish.
3. Connect your printer via USB. When Windows detects the printer it will begin the installation wizard which will work differently depending on your version of Windows. You should have the opportunity to specify a source directory for your drivers, set this to C:\Seagull\ and complete the installation.
4. Find the printer in Control Panel > Devices and Printers, right click it and go to Printer Properties. Verify that it can print a test page.
5. Under the General tab, click Preferences and then create a new label size for PTS (normally 76mm by 38mm). Make sure you select the new label size and click OK.
6. Go to the Advanced tab, click Printing Defaults and then choose the new label size again if it appears in the list. If not, create it anew.
7. Go to the Ports tab and untick Bidirectional Support.
8. Next go to the Sharing tab and share the printer.
9. Remote Desktop into the PTS web server and then run the Seagull Drivers on there. Again, untick the “run driver wizard” and the “read installation instructions” options then click finish.
10. 1. Windows Server 2016 and newer
       Open Print Management, expand Print Servers, then expand the server menu, right-click Printers and then choose Add a Printer. Choose Add a Local Printer, then choose Create a New Port and select Local Port. When it asks you to give it a name, enter the path to the shared printer e.g. \\ComputerName\ShareName.
    2. Windows Server 2012 and older
       Open Devices and Printers and then choose Add a Printer. Choose Add a Local Printer, then choose Create a New Port and select Local Port. When it asks you to give it a name, enter the path to the shared printer e.g. \\ComputerName\ShareName.
11. Click OK and then Next and then select the correct printer model if prompted. If your model doesn’t appear in the list, choose Have Disk and then select the drivers you unpacked to C:\Seagull. Select your printer and click Next. You will be asked to enter a name for the printer, give it a short but descriptive name with no spaces, e.g. BookingIn. Do not set it as your default printer and do not share this instance of the printer. Click Next and then click Finish. Verify you can print a test page.
12. Repeat steps 5 through 7 on this printer.
13. Log in to PTS as an administrator. Go to Setup > Printers > [open Actions Menu] > New Printer. Choose the relevant dispensary. In the Name on Server field enter the name you gave the printer in step 11.
14. Test the printer with a PTS label. Reprinting an Activity barcode is an easy way of doing this.

Browser Printing

Browser printing uses the web browser to produce the document, in a similar way to how any web page is printed such as via File > Print.

Pros of browser printing

• Immune to performance, permissions, and myriad other configuration issues that can affect networked printing.
• Doesn't stop working if the printer is moved or replaced.
• Less maintenance.

Cons of browser printing

• Requires more user interaction with each print. The web browser will, by design, display a print preview that the user has to confirm. There is a minimum of one extra keystroke or mouse click with each print and that assumes the printer is set as the Windows default.
• Older web browsers may not render the document properly.
• The web browser will probably try to add inappropriate margins, headers and footers to the label. This can be reconfigured (described below) but is a consideration.

Installation instructions

1. Log in to PTS as an administrator. Go to Setup > Printers > [open Actions Menu] > New Printer. Choose the relevant dispensaries (selecting all of them may be appropriate). In the Name on Server field enter "LOCAL" and then click Save. In the next popup, enter "Browser Printing" as the Printer's name.
2. Note that you only have to complete step 1 once. Unlike network printing you don’t have to add each individual printer to the Printers setup page. By choosing “Browser Printer” when printing a label, the user will get to choose to print to any label printer currently installed on their PC.
3. If the label printer you intend to use is already connected to the PC and working, skip to step 7. Otherwise, download the “Seagull Drivers for Zebra Printers” file from the Downloads & Updates section at tmsinsight.com. Run it on the PC you will connect your printer to but don’t connect the printer just yet.
4. During installation leave the install path as C:\Seagull\ and untick the “run driver wizard” and the “read installation instructions” options then click finish.
5. Connect your printer via USB. When Windows detects the printer it will begin the installation wizard which will work differently depending on your version of Windows. You should have the opportunity to specify a source directory for your drivers, set this to C:\Seagull\ and complete the installation.
6. Find the printer in Control Panel > Devices and Printers, right click it and go to Printer Properties. Verify that it can print a test page.
7. Under the General tab, click Preferences and then create a new label size for PTS (normally 76mm by 38mm). Make sure you select the new label size and click OK.
8. Go to the Advanced tab, click Printing Defaults and then choose the new label size again if it appears in the list. If not, create it anew.
9. Test the printer with a PTS label. Reprinting an Activity barcode is an easy way of doing this. If you are accustomed to Network Printing, notice that you now see an additional printer dialog wherein you select the desired printer and then click the OK button. You could optionally speed this process up by designating the label printer as the default printer on the PC, and using the enter key instead of the OK button.
10. If the label is printed with unwanted information (e.g. the URL, or “Page 1/1” in the footer), or an excessive margin, you should be able to modify your web browser settings so that it doesn’t do that.
    • In Internet Explorer you can find these options in Settings > Print > Page Setup. Consider setting all of the header and footer options to “empty”, and adjust the margin sizes as appropriate.
    • In Chrome, they're in File > Print. Expand "More Settings". Set margins to "None", and untick "Headers and Footers".