More Options for Printing Documents
Printing your documents in powerful ways just got a lot easier: print once and have your news script sent simultaneously to eight network printers; reprint a copy of your sales forecast without opening the original application; print packaging information from your business office in Portland to your warehouse in Spokane. With INTELLIscribe, you can print your documents how you want and where you want, quickly and efficiently.
History/Archiving
INTELLIscribe can be configured to archive print jobs. Print jobs are saved to a spool directory under the main INTELLIscribe folder. You can configure INTELLIscribe for the following archiving options:
- Delete immediately after printing, choosing not to archive print jobs.
- Keep only jobs that do not finish printing.
- Delete jobs after a specified number of days have passed.
- Set the maximum number of jobs to archive.
Reprint
Print jobs can be reprinted without launching the original application. In a normal situation, reprinting usually includes opening the application again and selecting Print from the File menu. This takes time and uses resources to complete.
With INTELLIscribe, you need only right-click on the print job, choose reprint from the pop-up menu, and INTELLIscribe takes care of the rest.
Example uses include:
- The print job could be lost when the printer runs out of paper. Because INTELLIscribe saves a copy of each print job, data is no longer lost.
- If the print server does not support "number of copies" you could use INTELLIscribe to reprint your document, giving you additional copies.
Simple Configuration
An easy-to-use Wizard guides users through the steps of configuring INTELLIscribe. Therefore, INTELLIscribe can be up and running in a matter of minutes.
The Virtual Printer Port Wizard guides users through creating and configuring a virtual printer port. This Wizard can run either from the INTELLIscribe user interface or the Windows Print Manager during the Windows Add Printer Wizard.
Faster Printing Speed
Printing speed has been improved again. INTELLIscribe is significantly faster for large files, and all job sizes should see an increase in speed. Current users have confirmed this; one reported that a print job that previously took over three hours was completed in fifteen minutes, with no other changes to the network or other processing.
User Interface
The INTELLIscribe user interface lets users view on-screen status information about various queues, jobs, and destinations.
Users can edit the queue properties or delete a queue from the Queues window. A popup menu provides easy access to these features, or simply double-click the queue to update the configuration.
The print job windows display data for each print job. Users can view the job name, spooling status, and scheduled and completed times if applicable. Additionally, there is a right-click menu support for each job. From here, you may cancel printing, delete the job, reprint the job if it has already completed printing, or open the job properties to see additional information.
In the Destination window, users can view destination information such as the number of jobs printed to that destination and its current state. You can also query the destination for further information.
A print log viewer is also available, allowing users to monitor printing activity and other events.
Broadcast/Multicast
The broadcast/multicast policy spools each print job to all destinations associated with the queue.
- Destination Selection: All destinations are selected.
- Failure Handling: INTELLIscribe will not choose another destination since all destinations have already been used.
- When to use: Use this policy when you want to send print jobs to more than one destination simultaneously.
Command-Line Interface
The command-line interface feature is similar to the "lpr" commands in UNIX and Windows platforms. ISendFile sends unmodified jobs to the "virtual printer port" of your choice. This command may be called from the MS-DOS prompt or custom applications.
Print Destination Balancing
The destination balancing policy keeps statistics on the amount of data sent to each printer. Any new print jobs coming in will be sent to the printer that has been used the least.
- Destination Selection: The least used destination is attempted first.
- Failure Handling: The destination that is the least used, not counting the failed destination.
- When to use: Use this policy when you have multiple printers that are similar in print speed or paper tray size, and job sizes that are not consistent.
Drag-and-Drop Printing
Users can drag a "printer-ready" file over a "Virtual Printer Port," bypassing the Windows print driver. This spools files without any modification to the file. If you have files that already contain the proper printer codes, you can eliminate the use of the print driver and Windows spooler.
Failover Printing
Using the failover policy, the first destination is always tried first. If the print job fails, it is then tried at the next destination listed until all destinations have been tried. As soon as a destination succeeds, no further destinations are tried.
- Destination Selection: The first destination is always scheduled first.
- Failure Handling: The next destination in the list is tried.
- When to use: Use this port policy if you have a faster or more reliable printer and any number of slower printers. You might also use this policy if you have a printer with a large paper tray and one or more smaller paper trays.
Reduce Demand on Servers
Windows printing takes many resources to complete. If a server is running low on resources, INTELLIscribe can spool print jobs, freeing resources on the server. This lets the server concentrate on other tasks while INTELLIscribe spools print jobs.
Round Robin
The round-robin policy remembers the previously tried printer and schedules the job for the next destination in the list.
- Destination Selection: The print job is scheduled on the next destination in the list.
- Failure Handling: The next destination is tried.
- When to use: Use this policy when you have multiple printers similar in print speed or paper tray size and want them to be used predictably, perhaps because the job sizes are consistent.
Setup Replication
Once INTELLIscribe is configured initially, you can back up the "virtual printer port" configuration to a file. This file can be used to create similar configurations on multiple computers. For instance, if you have ten licenses and all will be configured to print to the same printers, INTELLIscribe can be configured once, and the configuration can be copied to all ten computers.
Users can also keep this file for backup purposes. Then, in case of a hard drive crash or other catastrophic events, a clean installation on a new computer can import the configuration, significantly reducing the time printing is down.