Another year, another major release.

2011 was a busy year for everyone and saw PaperCut v11 expand its feature set beyond expectations. PaperCut v11 had twelve releases, the highlights of the previous year’s work were:

• iPad Printing support
• Web Cashier
• Delegated print release
• New web payment integration options
• SNMP hardware checking for print jobs
• Print job watermarking now supports a wider variety of printers and drivers
• A new admin dashboard
• Plus a heap of other enhancements, fixes and embedded tweaks.

So what’s new?

PaperCut 12.0 adds a regularly requested new feature, automatic conversion to duplex and grayscale. Before v12, PaperCut could only disallow all single sided (simplex) and colour printing jobs on a printer, but now jobs can be magically converted to duplex and/or grayscale. This will be useful for enforcing print policies such as only allowing students to print in duplex. The conversions can also be added to a script and the only limit there is your imagination. The PaperCut Dev team have worked long and hard on this and they look forward to getting feedback over the next few weeks.

Also thrown into v12 is a new report, we call this the Executive Summary. This gives, in a single page, an overview of some useful metrics about printers, users and their jobs.

The eagle eyed amongst you will notice a new icon for the client software and the end user web page has finally been updated to match the admin dashboard. We also have a new custom dashboard widget this will allow an administrator to add a link to an external application for easy access from the administration dashboard. Last of all we have a bunch of new scripts and improved translations. Let’s not forget the usual mix of fixes as well.

What next?

Top secret! But we will have support for a new embedded platform very soon. We will also be looking to improve our driver support for automatic conversion as and when users report issues.
Full release notes below.

20 January 2012 – PaperCut MF 12.0 (Build 16353)

This is a bugfix release for version 12.0 and contains the following changes:

19 January 2012 – PaperCut MF 12.0 (Build 16338)

New features:

• Conversion Filters – This feature provides the functionality to convert colour jobs to grayscale and simplex jobs to duplex. E.g. convert jobs on high volume printers to duplex to save paper, automatically convert emails printed in colour to grayscale.
• New Executive Summary report providing organization-wide summary statistics and environmental impact.
• The user web interface has been updated with a new modern look.
• PaperCut has a new icon!

Enhancements:

• Added support for a new custom dashboard widget to display customer/site specific messages/notices to administrators.
• Web Cashier:
• Operators can now look up users by card number (including though use of an attached card reader).
• When a purchase would take an unrestricted user’s balance below $0, a confirmation message is now displayed.
• When restarting the application server on large sites the reconnection of secondary servers is now staggered to prevent high load.
• New advanced print scripting scripts and snippets:
• snippet for denying jobs printed out of hours
• script to convert email printing to grayscale
• when printing a large job, ask the user if they would like to automatically convert to duplex to save paper
• New translations for Danish and Polish, plus significant updates to French and Spanish.
• Internet control: Added a config option to swap the sent and received bytes parse from proxy log files.

Fixes:

• Fixed problem using Web Cashier with Swiss Francs.
• Fixed problem when logging in to the PaperCut App for iOS if the username is entered containing uppercase characters.
• Disallow printer scripts setting the print job costs to NaN (not a number). This resulted in failing to record the print job.
• Fixed display of printer hardware check related screens in some languages.
• Fixed issue disabling pay stations from the Devices tab in the administration interface.
• Fixed the Rates page in the user web interface to display only printers.
• Fixed minor status reporting problem when testing shared account imports.

Printer compatibility improvements:

• Fixed page count detection for TOSHIBA e-STUDIO 855 PostScipt duplex jobs with odd numbers of pages.
• Improved page size detection for Adobe InDesign documents printed to Xerox PostScript printers from Mac.
• Fixed page count detection for HP LaserJet M4345 MFP PCL6.
• Improved grayscale detection in Sharp PostScript printers.
• Added page size detection for NEC MultiWriter 8250N printer.

Copier / Device Integration:

• Value loader devices supporting user self-registration: Added an option to use the swiped card number as the username of the created user.
• Sharp Onboard/Embedded (OSA): Fixed a problem that could cause the “Unable to enable device” error that could appear if the user double clicked the “OK” button on the account confirmation screen.
• Xerox Onboard/Embedded (Network Accounting / JBA): Enforce the group-based access controls to login to the MFP device.
• Xerox Onboard/Embedded (Xerox Secure Access): Added support for USB card readers supported on some recent Xerox MFPs.

An early Christmas present for you all, the developer elves have been busy creating support for iPad printing with PaperCut and want you all to have a play with it. This functionality is included in the 11.6 release.

Want to learn more? (of course you do!)

• PaperCut and AirPrint
• Air Print FAQ
• Advanced Setup

And before you ask, yes other iOS devices should be supported soon and v12 will be released early in the new year.

As for the rest of 11.6, it is mainly fixes and tweaks. Toshiba users / resellers will be interested to see that the Toshiba Onboard/Embedded (e-BRIDGE Open Platform) is in line for some improvements thanks to new Toshiba firmware.

Full 11.6 release notes below.

1 December 2011 – PaperCut MF 11.6 (Build 15782)

 This weeks grab bag of support questions.

I would like early access to PaperCut’s upcoming features, do you guys offer a beta program?

Sure, if you have a test setup and the time it would be great to get some feedback. More details here.

I see two PaperCut services running in the services MMC, what’s the difference between the application server and print provider?

The “PaperCut Application Server” is the big brains behind PaperCut it does everything from making all of the decisions, storing logs, looking after account balances and generating reports.
The “PaperCut Print Provider” interfaces into the printing environment, CUPS, iPrint and Spools.exe.  This does all the leg work with the print queues and handles all the pausing, resuming, redirecting and deleting for print jobs.

Unrelated to PaperCut we had an organization with severe workstation issues, the issues were hard to track down and caused all the applications to crash. They wanted to use PaperCut to log any attempts of printing where the client was not running. This would then help them (hopefully) see a pattern.

Using a script we were able to log when a print was sent while the client software was not running.

function printJobHook(inputs, actions) {
  if (!inputs.client.isRunning) {
    actions.job.cancel();
    actions.log.warning(“Job name ” +
                        inputs.job.documentName +
                        ” printed by ” +
                        inputs.job.username +
                        ” to ” +
                        inputs.printer.printerName +
                        ” was cancelled as client was not running on ” +
                        inputs.job.clientMachine);
  }
}

Does PaperCut work with RM CC3/CC4?

We get this at least once a week, the answer is always….”We have various sites running PaperCut and CC4 without any issues”. We only know a few sites running CC4, we normally have no idea what is on an organizations network but so far nothing related to CC4 has caused us any problems. *crosses fingers*

Is it possible to upgrade PaperCut Server without updating secondary servers?

Yes the primary and secondary versions can be different as long as the primary is newer.

Want to add a custom logo on Toshiba embedded?

A ”header-logo.png” must be stored in the path of [app-path]\server\custom\web\device\toshiba\.
By default the \device\toshiba\ folder does not exist and has to be created. If you wish to return back to the “default” view then delete the directories you just made.

Ever wondered how Web Print works? Stephen explains all.

Web Print is PaperCut’s unique and industry leading solution to manage the growing need for printing from laptops, wireless devices and anonymous users. As a core feature of PaperCut, Web Print enables printing from user-owned devices without the overhead of installing printer drivers and managing server authentication. PaperCut’s Web Print has been deployed across hundreds of education campuses and is an ideal solution for offering print services via student owned laptops and netbooks. 

For more information on Web Print check out the online manual.

Just a quick note that a bug fix for 11.5 has been issued to fix 1-2 of the bugs PaperCut like to throw in to make sure you are paying attention. You will also find a few embedded changes included.

Release notes below.

3 November 2011 – PaperCut MF 11.5 (Build 15370)

This is a bugfix release for version 11.5 and contains the following changes:

Each week we get a few “can PaperCut ….” emails each week, most are simple to answer but some are a little quirky or do not crop up often. Below you will find the pick of the week!

I would like to use SNMP hardware checks but have changed my community string. Can I change the community string PaperCut uses?

Have a look in the print-provider.conf file and uncomment (remove the leading #) for the line of SNMPCommunity and change “public” to your desired string:

#
# Change the SNMP community string that is used at the Print Provider layer when communicating
# to printers via SNMP.
# For example, this setting will be used by Hardware Check Validation to retrieve SNMP printer state data.
# Default: public
#
#SNMPCommunity=public

How well does Doc-Q-Ticket work with PaperCut?

Never used DQT but a reseller of ours said this: “We have gone live with the integration at one customer and it works really well.”

I can’t get web print to work, using Adobe X (10).

You will need to turn off the new enhanced security features for continued operation. This can be done via Edit -> Preferences -> General -> un-check "Enable Protected Mode at Startup". Please note that this is a per-user setting. This change will need to be done as the Web-Print user regardless of Web-Print being configured in simple mode or sandbox mode.

Can I use hyperlinks in my scrip popups?

As of  11.4.14716) you can! Just use regular HTML (“a href”) link syntax

Is it easy to move from NG to MF?

Last of all a link to a YouTube video I created during lunch to show someone how to move between PaperCut NG and MF.

We get a few “can PaperCut….” emails each week, most are simple to answer but some are a little quirky. Below you will find the pick of the week!

I want to give unlimited Black&White print/copy job(but still deducted from the account for reporting) and limit the colour jobs with a quota.

This is fairly easy to do using the advanced charging tab on the printer configuration, and setting the grey scale discount to 100%. That makes every black and white job discount the entire cost of the job, and does not deduct from the users quota. Colour jobs will still be charged at the full price, as it is configured in the printer configuration.

Colour copies versus black and white copies should work the same way, although it may not show before the copy job is completed, depending on the copier manufacturer. Because PaperCut doesn’t have complete information until the entire copy job is completed the cost may not be appropriately updated until the job is completed and processed.

How well does PaperCut work on Novell?

Good question, I think this video says it all. I wonder if the guy who won the server was upset about having to take it on a plane home

I am running PaperCut MF on a Sharp MFD, if I do not have any pending print jobs can I skip straight to the copy function?

11.6 should allow the print release screen to be skipped if the user has no jobs pending. This will not be on by default.

I want SSO (Single Sign On) between my embedded apps – Can you help?

Yeah SSO would be nice, often used with scanning applications like Drivve, Scan2Oneself and GlobalScan. Currently SSO works fine on the Sharp OSA platform but other platforms are a little trickier. If you need SSO let us know.

Does PaperCut work with ***Insert Name of Online Payment Provider***?

The full list of supported payment gateways is available on the PaperCut website here.
If the service you use is not listed then there are options to integrate using the PaperCut web services API if the provider is interested, further details are available here. The last few weeks we have had a lot of emails about ParentPay, we suggest you discuss this with ParentPay, PaperCut have provided all the tools a payment provider needs.

Does PaperCut run on NetWare?

Nope sorry – NetWare is old! Organizations that are currently running NetWare are however able to easily deploy PaperCut. We suggest setting up a separate OES Linux server (or VM) and use this to host the print queues and PaperCut. That way the impact is minimal as your file and directory services can remain on your existing server, and it’s just the print queues that move across to the new OES Linux system.

I have Riso Machines can PaperCut track “copy jobs” ?

Riso have been working hard to get a Copicode IP working with their hardware. This solution should be ready to roll out by the end of the year.

I am having copy count issues with my Lexmark X792 and X954 running PaperCut embedded.

Duplex and large copy jobs do not seem to work as intended- Lexmark have released new firmware to fix this. Contact Lexmark for a fix.

Here in the UK the popular choice amongst Law Firms is to use Elite from Thomson Reuters. Elite is a premier provider of financial and practice management systems to the legal industry and to other professional services markets including accounting, marketing services and management & IT consulting. We have developed an application to automatically synchronise Elite client matter codes with PaperCut’s Shared Accounts in order to make billing customers easier. We also have the ability to import the costing from PaperCut into Elite so everything you need to bill your client is in one place. 

Of course we do not discriminate against other Law Firm software, so if you are not using Elite but still require an interface with PaperCut in order to have uniform and timely updates of your Shared Accounts or Matters, then let us know. 

For Elite integration details or for custom development please email us at sales@selectec.co.uk

Another load of questions from this week’s emails.

What is the difference between Xerox JBA and Xerox Secure Access?

It’s easier to say what XSA can do over JBA:

• The Ability to use network card readers (fast release)  for authentication at the device
• Improved user login workflow and messages

As time goes on Xerox will (hopefully) improve the SDK so we can make it as feature rich as our other solutions.

What languages are available on the Xerox Secure Access solution?

At this time it is only available in English, the XSA solution has some issues with character sets (even the Euro can upset it). Hopefully Xerox will make changes to the SDK (please!)

I have a HP machine running OXPd can I install PaperCut?

Nope sorry. OXPd just isn’t up to the task, OXPd is a lightweight framework for very basic data collection. It doesn’t offer the feature set PaperCut need to do authentication, access control, copy tracking, etc, etc.

I have a HP machine running the new embedded platform called “Jedi”, when will PaperCut have an embedded solution?

It takes time to develop, test and release an embedded app. Expect a HP Jedi application in early 2012.

I want to run Doc Q Manager from ATI and PaperCut together – Any tips?

The DQM integration was all done by ATI so they are the best people to ask. Our only advice is never ever install DQM and PaperCut on the same machine they both use the spool file and it will only upset both systems.

If I delete a user in AD and tell PaperCut to remove deleted users from PaperCut what happens to that users history?

Don’t worry, that users print history is still lurking around for reporting etc. The information is left for historical reasons, but you can’t change settings for that user from the Users tab. It doesn’t count against the license, and will not even show in a report if the time period is after the time that they were deleted. You can go and find the user again by looking through shared account job logs or printer job logs and then clicking the users name.

I have a Canon machine, can I have PaperCut embedded installed?

We’d love to be able to develop for the Canon platform, we get a fair few emails/calls about it each week but unfortunately Canon will not grant PaperCut permission develop a MEAP solution. We hope in time they will be allowed to create an app as currently people with Canon machines and PaperCut are missing out. We strongly encourage any Canon customers or resellers to request permission on PaperCut’s behalf.

I installed a Copicode IP and need to change the RS232 reader to output in Decimal.

Go to the devices tab in PaperCut, select the Copicode and choose the config editor option. Look for the “ext-device.vendor.reader-type” and change this value to 5.

The development team had a very busy day this week building, testing and documenting 11.5  to get it out on time. We hope you appreciate the hard work put in.

So what delights can we expect? Something for everyone really. The stand out change is the new Web Cashier feature. The Web Cashier feature is a simple web interface that provides a till/cashier to facilitate simple transactions using PaperCut accounts. It’s designed for non-technical staff in educational organizations. For example the cashier user may:

• Charge end-user accounts, or shared accounts, for ad-hoc services such as laminating, binding or library fines.
• Deposit funds to a user’s personal printing account, usually after receiving a cash or electronic payment.

It’s early days for Web Cashier so expect a lot of enhancements to come.

Also of note here is the fact that SNMP Page count hardware validation may now be used in Windows clusters – Mr Microsoft finally fixed the issue. While we are talking about SNMP we noticed a lot of requests for using a different SNMP community string, you can now use a custom string if needed. In terms of embedded software the biggest changes came about on the Kyocera platform, thanks to feedback from Kyocera UK for the input. Also its worth noting that we have added SSO support to the Sharp OSA platform. Third party applications such as scanning apps can now access information about the logged in user, as authenticated by PaperCut.

Thank you PaperCut!

Full release notes below.

12 October 2011 – PaperCut MF 11.5 (Build 15204)