Printer Installation

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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.

Read the instructions carefully before beginning work. Don't assume or make guesses; PTS printing does not work in a typical way and there are many ways that network printing can fail.

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.
  • Handled centrally by PTS; any printer can be used from any PC.

Cons of network printing

  • The setup process is long winded and has to be repeated for each printer, and has to be redone if the PC or printer are replaced.
  • Requires remote admin access to the PTS application server to setup and maintain. Random members of IT may not have the level of access necessary to do it.
  • Vulnerable to server and network congestion.
  • Any problems or interruptions usually occur on the server, meaning the printer can go down without warning and can't be fixed without tracking down a server admin.
  • Configuring the various situations that should change the default printer can get complicated.

Installation instructions

Installing the printer on the PC and sharing it

This is unnecessary if using a TCP/IP printer.

  1. Download the Seagull Drivers for Zebra Printers installer. 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. When choosing the printer model you might find it hard to determine whether you have an EPL or ZPL printer; ZPL is the much more common variant.
  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/select the correct label size (normally 76mm by 38mm).
  6. Go to the Graphics tab, select None under the Dithering options and then click OK.
  7. Go to the Advanced tab, click Printing Defaults and then select the correct page size and dithering options again.
  8. Go to the Ports tab and untick Bidirectional Support.
  9. Next go to the Sharing tab and share the printer.

Mapping the printer onto the PTS server

  1. Remote Desktop into the PTS web server.
  2. Ensure the Print Spooler service is running, and is set to automatically start.
  3. Install the Seagull drivers on the server using the same installer as before. Again, untick the “run driver wizard” and the “read installation instructions” options then click finish.
    1. Shared Printer
      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 the port a name, enter the path to the shared printer e.g. \\ComputerName\ShareName.
    2. TCP/IP Printers
      Open Devices and Printers and then choose Add a Printer. Choose Add a Printer using TCP/IP address or hostname, then fill in the details for the remote printer.
  5. 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.
  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/select the correct label size (normally 76mm by 38mm).
  8. Go to the Graphics tab, select None under the Dithering options and then click OK.
  9. Go to the Advanced tab, click Printing Defaults and then select the correct page size and dithering options again.
  10. Go to the Ports tab and untick Bidirectional Support.
  11. Verify that you can print a test page.
  12. 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 5. See the Printers page for more details.
  13. Test the printer with a PTS label. Reprinting an Activity barcode is an easy way of doing this.
  14. Only once the printer is confirmed working, consider installing the Print Queue Monitor Service on the server. This automatically deletes errored documents from the spooler and prevents the printer from randomly stopping, but isn't designed to address any actual printer issues.

Troubleshooting

See the Printer Troubleshooting page in the event that the printer does not work on the first try.

Browser Printing

An example of the print preview you will encounter when using browser based printing. Unfortunately it is unavoidable, but can be optimised so you only have to hit the Enter key.

Browser printing uses the web browser to produce the document, in a similar way to how a "normal" 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. As long as a printer is connected to the PC, this will be able to print to it.
  • Less maintenance, and significantly easier for IT to wrap their head around.
  • Conforms to the installed printers and default printer set in Windows.

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. This means a minimum of one extra keystroke or mouse click with each print and that assumes the printer is set as the Windows default. It's impossible to change this behaviour as far as we know; it's a fundamental security feature of every web browser.
  • Conforms to the installed printers and default printer set in Windows. Indeed this is both a pro and a con. The other printing options are handled centrally by PTS, meaning you can print to any mapped printer no matter which PC you're using with no further configuration.

Installation instructions

Installing the printer on the PC

If the label printer you intend to use is already connected to the PC and working, skip to the next section.

  1. Download the Seagull Drivers for Zebra Printers installer. 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. When choosing the printer model you might find it hard to determine whether you have an EPL or ZPL printer; ZPL is the much more common variant.
  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.

Configuring the printer to work with PTS labels

How to find page setup in Internet Explorer.
  1. In Printer Properties, under the General tab, click Preferences and then create/select the correct label size (normally 76mm by 38mm).
  2. Go to the Graphics tab, select None under the Dithering options and then click OK.
  3. Go to the Advanced tab, click Printing Defaults and then select the correct page size and dithering options again.
  4. Log in to PTS as an administrator. Go to Setup > Printers and verify that there is a printer with the Name on Server field set to "LOCAL". Make a note of the printer's name; this is what you need to select to use it.
  5. If no such printer exists, open the Actions Menu and click 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. See the Printers page for more details.
  6. Test the printer with a PTS label; simply select Browser Printing (or whatever the printer was called) from the printer drop down. Reprinting an Activity barcode is an easy way of doing this.
  7. If you are accustomed to Network Printing, notice that you now see an additional print preview dialog where you have to select the physical printer and click OK. This will happen with every print job and is a characteristic of browser printing. You could optionally speed this process up by designating the label printer as the default printer in Windows, and from then on use the enter key instead of the OK button.
  8. Browser printing works with pop-ups, so you may have to turn off the browser's pop-up blocker. If nothing prints or if you find yourself able to print just the barcode label but there is no sign of the subsequent ticket, look in the address bar for the "pop-up blocked" icon. Click on it to allow pop-ups. We suggest enabling all pop-ups for PTS if you can.
  9. If the label is printed with unwanted information (e.g. the URL, or “Page 1/1” in the footer, etc.), or an excessive margin (which may even cause the label to be cut in half and spread across two labels), you can modify your web browser settings so that it doesn’t do that any more.
    • In Internet Explorer you can find these options in Settings > Print > Page Setup. Set all of the header and footer options to “empty”, and adjust the margin sizes to zero.
    • In Chrome and Edge, from the Print Preview, expand "More Settings" then set margins to "None", and untick "Headers and Footers". The browser should remember this adjustment going forward.
    • As of PTS 5.0.6.7 this is done automatically on up-to-date versions of Chrome and Edge.

A4 Printers

Normally A4 printers are used to print reports or occasionally with browser based printing (see above) and will work "out-of-the-box". However as of PTS v5.0.3.0 you can now use A4 printers as network printers to facilitate the automated printing of A4 requisition forms for Ward Ordering.

It's an understatement to say that unlike the label printers there are a wide variety of A4 printers that could be used in this way, so the information here is a little bit more generic but we will cover the important details. Much of the same network label printer troubleshooting tips will apply.

Installation instructions

Installing the printer on the PC and sharing it

This is unnecessary if using a TCP/IP printer.

  1. Install the printer on the PC in accordance with the printer manufacturers instructions. Verify that it can print a test page.
  2. Go to the Ports tab and untick Bidirectional Support.
  3. Next go to the Sharing tab and share the printer.

Mapping the printer onto the PTS server

  1. Remote Desktop into the PTS web server.
  2. Ensure the Print Spooler service is running, and is set to automatically start.
    1. Shared Printer
      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 the port a name, enter the path to the shared printer e.g. \\ComputerName\ShareName.
    2. TCP/IP Printers
      Open Devices and Printers and then choose Add a Printer. Choose Add a Printer using TCP/IP address or hostname, then fill in the details for the remote printer.
  4. 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 for your printer (you may have to manually install them). Select your printer model 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. A4Req. Do not set it as your default printer and do not share this instance of the printer. Click Next and then click Finish.
  5. Go to the Ports tab and untick Bidirectional Support.
  6. Verify that you can print a test page.
  7. 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 4. See the Printers page for more details.
  8. Test the printer with a PTS label. Reprinting an Activity barcode is an easy way of doing this.
  9. Now that the printer is set up, see the Ward Ordering page for information on how to configure this printer as the automated requisition form printer.

Troubleshooting

See the Printer Troubleshooting page in the event that the printer does not work on the first try. The troubleshooting page primarily covers label printers but the vast majority of the information will apply equally here.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between Browser Printing and Network Printing?

Browser Printing uses the client’s web browser to send a print job to a connected printer via a print preview dialog box, like printing any other document from the web or other locally installed software. Network Printing sends a print document over the network from the PTS web server to the printer eliminating the need for the print dialog. Browser Printing is easy to setup and needs less maintenance, but requires at the very least one additional keystroke to confirm the print job in the dialog box, and may not work in all web browsers. Network Printing doesn’t require a print dialog box, but can sometimes be difficult to setup and maintain and is occasionally slower depending on network and server conditions.

If network printing is causing you persistent issues, don't lose sight of the fact that it only saves users one or two keystrokes.

Why does Network Printing involve so much troubleshooting?

Ultimately all you are doing is sharing a printer on one PC and then mapping to the shared printer from another PC (the PTS server). The associated troubleshooting is simply typical of printer sharing in a complicated Windows network. TCP/IP printers are generally more stable, and browser printing avoids printing over the network altogether. If network printing causes you too much grief, switch to browser printing to have PTS operate the printer locally like any other software.

Can I use "Printers and Scanners" instead of Control Panel in Windows 10 and up?

The instructions are written to use Control Panel so that they have the broadest compatibility with different versions of Windows. If you can reinterpret the instructions for use with Printer and Scanners, then feel free. Most of our users seem to feel more comfortable using Control Panel though.

With Network Printing, shouldn’t it be enough to simply provide the fully qualified path to the printer in PTS?

Strictly speaking this is true, and you can get PTS to try to operate the printer this way by entering the fully qualified path in the Name on Server field. That being said we see a very low success rate when the printer is not mapped first, and even if it works, it will more than likely print very slowly (possibly because the default behaviour is to enable bi-directional support). Importantly if printing does fail you will have little to no feedback as to why.

In this example the Print Spooler service is disabled.

How do I check whether the Print Spooler service is running?

On the PTS server, go to Administrative Tools and then open Services. In the list, locate Print Spooler. The Status should be Running, and the Startup Type should be Automatic. If the service is stopped or disabled, right-click it, go to Properties and address the issue/s in there. You will need very elevated permissions to fix this, if anything is greyed out you will need to contact IT. Indeed even if you can fix the problem there and then you should talk to IT about preventing the issue from reoccurring.

Despite following the advice above our printer still prints very slowly, but it works fine from other applications.

The reason it seems only PTS may be affected by slow printing is that it’s a good bet that PTS is the only software in use that prints across your network from a web server to a label printer. If the printer will not print satisfactorily over the network, and you really have explored all the options on this page and on the Printer Troubleshooting page, you should switch to Browser Printing.

Just what is bi-directional support and why does it cause so many problems?

It cannot be overstated how many reported issues boil down to this part of the setup being skipped.

Bi-directional support refers to two computers communicating with each other about the various properties of a shared printer, such as ink and paper stock levels, so a remote user can be informed about what's going on with the printer. It's completely unnecessary in this context since the remote computer is the PTS server, which nobody will be monitoring for this sort of thing.

Crucially, there is a huge performance penalty associated with this setting.

It's important to note that a single printer having this setting enabled can and will slow down printing for all PTS printers, as the poor performance impacts the server's print spooler as a whole. It's a good idea to check every single installed printer for this setting regardless of the printer you're having trouble with.

We do not yet know why our setup is so vulnerable to this setting. It may be related to latency due to the client/server nature of PTS, but the effects are perhaps too consistent and extreme for this to be the only explanation. It's possible that Zebra label printers are simply not well designed in this regard.

It's not uncommon for reports of general PTS performance issues to turn out to be caused by this setting.

It's deeply unfortunate that the default Windows behaviour is to turn the setting on, even on a server OS, but it bears repeating that it can be overcome by simply turning it off manually in the Ports tab.

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