Receipt Printer USB/Driver Settings |
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If your printer connects to the computer through a USB port (instead of the old parallel or serial port connection), or if you need to share the printer with other computers over the network, then a driver must be installed for the printer. Receipt printers don't normally ship with a driver disk, so you need to contact the printer manufacturer to get the driver. You may also get a copy of the driver from your reservation software provider.
First you will need to install the driver in Windows. This is usually best done before connecting the printer itself. Then connect the printer, turn it on, and let Windows recognize it.
Note: In some cases, Windows does not select the correct port for the printer automatically. After connecting the printer and turning it on, go to the Start menu, Control Panel, Printers & Faxes. You should see the receipt printer listed there. If it shows "Not available" for the status, then right-click on it and select Properties. Go to the Ports tab, and see which port is selected. Assuming it's a USB printer, for instance, make sure the port selected is a USB port, not an LPT port. To test it, you can click on the General tab and print a test page.
Avoid making it the "default printer"
It's highly recommended that you do not set the 3" receipt printer as the "default" in Windows. Your normal printer (e.g. laser or ink jet) should be the default. So after you install the driver, you should verify that Windows did not make it the default (and change it if needed).
Also, if you're using Windows 10 (or later?), you should read this article about keeping Windows from changing the default printer on its own:
http://campgroundmaster.com/news/win10printer.html
For more complete information on configuring and troubleshooting your receipt printer, see this page on our web site:
http://campgroundmaster.com/receiptprinter.html
Configuring the printer in Campground Master
Once the printer driver is installed, go to File / Printer Setup / Receipt printer (3" paper) - using a Windows driver (USB printer). Select the receipt printer from the printers list.
There are also a few other items that may need to be configured. We recommend using the fixed-pitch font option for cleaner looking receipts, so here are the settings for that:
•Receipt font -- Go to Maintenance / Printing Options. Under the Receipts tab, set the 3" receipt printer fixed-pitch font and Size to the appropriate "native" font for the printer you're using. This may require some information from the printer maker, but the normal font for Epson printers is "FontB11", with a size of 9. If you're using the thermal printer (Epson TM-88 series), a font of "FontA11" may work better. Note that those are the number eleven ("11") in the font names, not the lowercase letter "L". The Columns is almost always 40.
•Default receipt selections -- if you want to use the receipt printer by default for reservations, unbound transactions, POS sales, or credit card receipts, then go to Maintenance / Printing Options. Under the Receipts tab, and also under the P.O.S. Receipts tab (if you have the POS option), select the default format for the desired receipt types to be 3" Receipt Printer, fixed-pitch font. Under the Credit Cards tab, select the credit card slip format to be Credit Card Slip, fixed-pitch font.
•Cash Drawer -- if you have a cash drawer connected to the printer, the Cash Drawer Setup settings should be set to Send command through the 3" receipt printer driver, with the appropriate command font selected (usually "control"). The Characters to send should be set appropriately for the printer model.. For Epson printers, this will be 65.
•Preview / Printer Dialog -- once things are working as expected, you may prefer to disable the print preview and the extra printer dialog that opens when printing receipts. This is done through Maintenance / Printing Options, under the Receipts tab (and POS Receipts tab, if you have the POS option).
At this point it should be ready to use. You can open a Transactions window (e.g. Reservation Transactions, Unbound Transactions, or POS Sales Entry), enter a test Charge & Payment (if there isn't something already there you can print), select the appropriate receipt format (from the drop-down list above the "Print All Transactions" button), and click the Print All transactions button.