Queues act as waiting lists for Jobs that are sent to be printed. When a Job is sent out to print from the JobComposer, it is automatically passed on to the correct Queue set in the Print Environment Settings. The Job will then «get in line» in the Print/CutQueue and wait its turn to be printed. If no other Jobs are currently in the Queue and the PrintQueue is set to Online, the Job is passed on to the printer immediately. If the printer is already busy and other Jobs are in line before the the new one, it will be held until its turn.
The Queues are also the part of the program that directly interacts with the printer/cutter device. The Queue configuration contains the parameters of the port and establishing the connection to the device.
Print and CutQueues can also interact with each other, in that for most workflows (Excluding Cut Only) when cutting is enabled, a a Job will first go to the PrintQueue, be printed, then automatically move over to the CutQueue and wait for its turn to be cut. Since cutting is often more involved since the material needs to be loaded, marks read, etc. the cut process needs to be started manually at this stage. Once cutting is also complete, the Job moves back to the PrintQueue into the done section.
Print and CutQueues fulfill the same task for two different applications (Printing and Cutting) and interact with each other in smart ways to ensure a smooth workflow for the user.
Operation
Controls operational aspects of the Queue.
Start Manually will set the Queue to Manual state, meaning that every Job is launched individually by an operator. Jobs are held in the Queue until they are selected and started by the user.
Offline sets the Queue to Offline mode, meaning it does not communicate with the printer to send or retrieve data. Jobs are held in the Queue until the Queue is set to Online or Manual.
Check Printer Status establishes communication with the Printer to check status information such as heater state, readiness, etc. to make sure the printer is ready before sending data. Note that a Status Monitor needs to be configured in order for Printer Status to work and only supported information can be retrieved. Some printers also do not support this feature at all, which can cause Jobs to be held indefinitely while waiting for status information from the printer. So if your Jobs stays in Waiting status for no apparent reason, it might be worth a try to disable this feature.
Wait for Barcode enables the barcode mode for the Queue. If enabled the Queue will specific send Jobs to the Printer/Cutter if a barcode with the Jobname is scanned by a barcode reader connected to the system. For more information on the barcode reader feature see the article Scanning Barcodes.
Update Media List retrieves the current media list in the RIP to regresh the Media dropdown menu in the Status segment.
Ink Consumption lets you configure the cost for inks used by this printer, which is relevant for the cost calculation feature to work properly.
Options configures several behaviors for the Queue.
Wait for Barcode mode: Specifies how the Queue should interact with connected Barcode scanners, i.e. which method for barcode submission is used by connected barcode scanners.
Via Clipboard: Is used when scanned barcodes are stored in the systems clipboard memory.
Via Textfile: If scanned barcodes are stored in a text file, this option lets you specify which file should be monitored for incoming scanned barcodes.
Via Keyboard Wedge Interface: If the connected barcode scanner uses the Keyboard Wedge Interface.
UI Settings: Lets you specify the size of UI Elements. Buttons and Icons. Available sizes are Small, Medium, Large and Extra Large.
Behavior of the X Button: Specifies what should happen when the Queue Window is closed via X on the top right.
Hide as a system tray icon: Will keep the queue running but minimize it to the system tray
Shut down this Print or Cut Queue: Will close the Queue.
Status Monitor Update Interval [s]: Sets how frequently the status monitor should be updated in seconds.
Exit closes the Queue.
Lets you enable or disable the Toolbar and Status Monitor display, enable Thumbnail previews, change icon sizes as well as save and load workspace layouts and configurations.
Show Thumbnails in Job List: Enables Thumbnail job previews in the Job list so each job has a small preview next to it to more easily identify jobs. When the feature is enabled, thumbnails can be configured as Small, Medium and Large. Thumbnails can also be enabled directly in the Queues toolbar through the button.
Show lets you quickly show or hide different window sections of the Queue. Hover over show and then click on the segment you wish to show/hide.
To save a workspace configuration, simply drag & drop window segments into place until you are satsified with the UI layout. Then select View > Save Workspace. You can then reload this workspace anytime by going to View > Load Workspace and selecting the appropriate Workspace file.
To go back to the default Worspace configuration, simply select View > Reset Workspace.
If you have User Access Rights enabled in your Installation, you can change your current signed in user level by going the Tools > User Level.
Offers Quick access to commonly used Job features. These features are also available by right clicking on a Job in any of the window segments.
Suspend: Pauses processing/printing of the currently selected Job and moves the Job to the Suspended queue. The Job will not be further processed or sent to the printer until the suspend status has not been lifted. Note that for Jobs that are currently printed, suspend might not work as data is usually sent out faster then the printer can print it and resuming after suspending might not be possible. As such it is recommended to only use Suspend for Jobs waiting to be processed or Jobs currently in the RIP stage.
Cancel: Stops and cancels the currently selected Job. The Job will stop processing/printing and move into the Done queue with the Canceled status. Note that when canceling while printing, it might take a while until printing stops as data is usually sent out way in advance, so the printer might still have some print data to print before the cancel command comes through.
Delete: Deletes the currently selected Job from the QueueManager and its respective Print/CutQueue.
Raise Priority / Lower Priority: Moves the selected Job up or down the Queue so it is processed sooner or later, depending on its position.
Reprint: Prints additional copies of a selected Job. Can only be used with Jobs in the Done or Error sections.
Properties: Opens the Job Properties window of the currently selected Job that displays a range of information about the Job such as Name, dimensions, Print Environment used, RIP data location, etc.
About: Shows program information such as the exact version of the RIP, location of the user data folder, etc.
To the left of the PrintQueue window you will find avertical window segment that is split into several different sections by tabs at the bottom. These tabs represent different steps in the printing process, the Error list contains Jobs that have not succesfully been printed due to errors, Done holds the finished Jobs, Print contains the Jobs that are currently printing and RIP shows the jobs that are currently in the rastering stage.
A standard Job will move across these tabs from right to left. So it will first appear in the Print/Cut Queue section to wait until processing. Then move to the RIP section to be processed. After a sufficient amount of data for the Job has been processed, it moves to the Print section from where it is sent to the printer. Finally when printing and/or cutting is completed, the Job will move to Done.
For Jobs that are also to be cut, it will then move from the PrintQueue to the appropriate CutQueue window to launch the Cut Job.
You can also choose to display multiple tabs at once by clicking on a tab and dragging and dropping it to a different place within the Queue window, an indicator will show you the places where the tab can be docked. You can then also save your new workspace configuration in View > Save Workspace.
Controls the current state of the PrintQueue, if and how Jobs are sent to the printer as well as media parameters for Cost Calculation. This section will look different depending if it’s currently set to Offline, Online or Manual Start. Note that some settings can only be changed while the Queue is in Offline mode.
On the top left of the status section, you’ll have quick access to some useful features via 3 buttons, these are:
Abort Output: Will cancel the Job that is currently being sent to the printer. When clicking this button, the RIP will send an abort command to the printer and stop sending data to it, however different printer models may react differently to this command and may take a while to actually abort printing. Aborting a Job will move it to the Error list.
Maintenance Jobs: Allows you to send a maintenance Job to the printer either through a manual command or at automatic intervals. Maintenance Jobs can help to prevent clogging of nozzles on lesser used inks by printing small Jobs that use these colors.
To set up a maintenance Job, click the button to open the Maintenance Job menu. Assuming you have not yet created a maintenance Job, click the green + icon to create a new one.
A new window will appear that lets you select the file you want to use for the maintenance Job and the conditions when the Job should be printed. To select a file, click the ... button. Initially you will see a selection of predefined Maintenance Job files (*.mtj) for different manufacturers, but by changing the windows explorer file filter, you will also be able to select PrintQueue Job files (*.ppl), Spool files (*prt, *.prn, *.jet) and All Files (Though of course not all files are suitable for this).
Once you have selected the file, confirm the dialog. We can now set the conditions for the maintenance Job by setting it to automatically print the Maintenance Job after a set distance printed, after certain time intervals, etc. Confirm again to save your settings and create your Maintenance Job.
You’ll notice that it now appears in your Maintenance Job list with a checkbox next it. Activate the checkbox to enable a Maintenance Job and confirm. The Job will now be printed every time its conditions are met.
You can also of course edit, rename and delete any Maintenance Jobs from your list with the appropriate buttons.
Status: Displays the current status of the printer, Idle means it is currently not printing and ready to receive data, busy means it is currently printing or processing a Job and cannot receive data at the moment.
To change the current status of the Queue, click on one of the 3 buttons on the top right of the section: Online (Green/Left), Manual Start (Yellow/Middle), Offline (Red/Right).
When in Offline state, the PrintQueue does not communicate with the printer and does not send out Jobs. This is ideal if you to accumulate Jobs in the waiting Queue before starting a production run or want to use the printer from a different, non-connected station. Note that the Status Monitor and other connected features do not work while the PrintQueue is set to Offline.
While Offline, you can adjust your Media Settings for Cost Calculation and enter your material dimensions. From the dropdown menu, you may select one of your defined Media Types (If your media type does not appear, try clicking on Operation > Update Media List).
When active, the functions Check Media Type and Check Media Size will attempt to fetch media type and size directly from the printer where possible and automatically fill this selection for you. This requires a Status monitor to be configured to work, so make sure that you have a status monitor selected in your port settings. However not all printers support this feature, and attempting to fetch the information from a printer that does not support it will cause Jobs to stay in waiting state indefinitely while the Queue waits for Media information. So if your Job stays in Waiting for an unknown reason, you might want to try turning these two boxes off.
You can find more information on Media Cost calculation in the corresponding article.
When in Online state, the PrintQueue will establish communication with the printer and attempt to retrieve any information that it can for the Status Monitor. It will also automatically begin sending out any Jobs that are currently waiting in the Print list of the Queue one after the other.
While printing, the Queue Status section will display information on the Job such as amount of data sent number of copies sent to the printer, overall progress, time elapsed, etc.
To stop Jobs from being sent out, you may either suspend/pause them (Right Click > Suspend, or through the Suspend button on the top left), Abort them (Through the Abort Output button at the top left of the Queue Status section) or set the Queue to Offline.
When in Manual Start, the PrintQueue will establish communication with the printer and attempt to retrieve any information that it can for the Status Monitor. However it will not begin sending out Jobs currently waiting in the Print list. Jobs in the Print list will be held until the user manually selects them and sends them to print using the Start button.
While printing, the Queue Status section will display information on the Job such as amount of data sent number of copies sent to the printer, overall progress, time elapsed, etc.
Once a Job is completed, the Queue will go back to Idle status. The next Job will be prepared, but not launched until the user clicks the Start button again.
Job Details shows information about the currently selected Job and Journal shows the RIP Server log relating to this particular Job. Job Preview shows a small preview of the currently selected Job for easy visual identification.
When connected to a compatible printer and the Queue is set to Online or Manual Start, the Status Monitor retrieves information such as loaded material size, ink fill, etc. from printer and displays it in the Queue Window.
To use the Status Monitor, the appropriate type must be selected in the Port configuration. You can find the Port configuration in Print Environment Settings > Output Device by clicking on the Edit button. From the Status Monitor dropdown, select the appropriate manufacturer for your printer
To enable to Status Monitor in your PrintQueue, go to View > Status Monitor. Clicking on it will display the Status Monitor section of the PrintQueue window.
Not all printer manufacturers and models support retrieval of information through the status monitor so fetching the information is not possible for all makes and models of printer. If you find Status Monitor greyed out in View > Status Monitor, that indicates that unfortunately the Status Monitor is not compatible with this particular printer model.