Printing receipts on a 58 or 80 mm printer in PointLit

Set the default paper width

1. Open Manage, then Business.
2. Under Receipt template, choose the Default paper width: 58 mm (32 columns) or 80 mm (48 columns). Every till that has not chosen its own width uses it, and so do receipts printed from a web browser and emailed receipts.
3. Choose the Font size (Small, Normal, Large or Extra large) and the Font weight (Regular or Bold) for the sale receipt, reprints and refund slips. Sizes other than Normal print on tills from version 0.8.0 with the printer installed in Windows; other tills print Normal size.
4. Check the Receipt preview: it is laid out by the same code that drives the printer.
5. Add Header text, Footer text or a Logo if you want them, then press Save.

Connect the printer in the Windows app

1. The first time the app starts, Set up your hardware asks how the receipt printer is connected. If Windows already prints to it (by USB, or shared from another computer), choose Printer installed in Windows and pick it from the list. For a printer on a COM port, choose Serial port and pick its port. Press Next.
2. The cash drawer opens through the printer, so pick a port for it only if it is wired separately. Press Skip for any device you do not have, then Finish.
3. To change it later, open Settings, then Printer. Choose the connection, then the printer or the serial port, and press Test.
4. If a printer on a serial port prints garbled characters, open Advanced and change the Baud rate: some printers ship set to 38400 instead of 9600.

A printer shared from another computer

A second till can print on the receipt printer of the first one when Windows on the first computer shares it. On the second computer, choose Printer installed in Windows and pick the shared printer: Windows names it after the first computer, for example \\PC1\POS-80C. If the test fails with a message that the printer refused raw receipt data, the fix is on the first computer, the one the printer is plugged into. Install the printer maker's own driver for it there, not a Microsoft or generic driver, and share the printer again. Then choose it again on the second computer and press Test.

Print a receipt

When a sale is paid, the receipt opens on screen. Press Print. In the Windows app the slip goes straight to the printer and the screen says Sent to the printer; in a web browser, the print dialog opens. Print again prints a copy.

Arabic receipts

From version 0.8.0, the Windows app prints the whole receipt as one picture when the receipt printer is connected as Printer installed in Windows and a Paper roll is chosen on that till. Arabic text, including Arabic product names, then prints the way the Receipt preview shows it, with your logo and the barcode. Three cases still print text, where Arabic comes out as question marks: a till on an older version, until you install the new one from the Downloads page; a till with no Paper roll chosen yet; and a printer connected to a serial port, because a picture is too slow to send over a serial cable. For a serial printer, install it in Windows with the maker's driver and choose Printer installed in Windows. You can also print an Arabic receipt from PointLit in a web browser, through the print dialog and the printer's Windows driver. Barcode labels are not affected, because they always print as pictures.

Set the paper width on each till

Each till keeps its own paper width, saved on that computer, so two tills with different printers can each print the full width of their paper. The number the till saves is the printer's print width in dots, not the width of the paper: 58 mm prints 384 dots and 80 mm prints 576 dots, because the print head is narrower than the paper.

1. In the PointLit Windows app, open Settings, then Printer. A new till asks the same question in Set up your hardware.
2. Under Paper roll, choose 58 mm or 80 mm. The line under it then says how wide this till prints, for example: Receipts on this till print 576 dots (72 mm) wide, 48 characters per line.
3. If neither matches your printer, choose Custom and follow Custom print width below.
4. Print a width check to confirm the choice.

Print a width check

Next to Paper roll, press Print a width check. The printer prints two things. First a ruler in the printer's own letters, longer than any printer is wide: the printer wraps it where its print head ends, so the number where the ruler's first line ends is the printer's real print width in dots. Then a frame as wide as the width you chose, with an edge line on the left and on the right and a mark every 8 mm. If both edge lines print, the width is right.

If the right edge line is missing

The width chosen on the till is wider than the printer can print, so the right side of every receipt would be cut off. Read the number where the ruler's first line ends, then choose Custom and type that number, or choose 58 mm. If nothing of the frame prints, or the printer only feeds a short blank strip, the printer itself may be set to a narrower width: print its self-test page by holding the FEED button while you switch it on, and look for the print width it shows. Some printers switch between 58 mm and 80 mm only with the maker's own tool. If instead the receipt uses only the left part of a wide roll, the till is set narrower than the printer: choose 80 mm, or the number the ruler shows.

Custom print width

Use Custom when the width check shows that neither 58 mm nor 80 mm matches your printer.

1. Open Settings, then Printer, and press Print a width check.
2. On the slip, read the number where the ruler's first line ends. That is the printer's print width in dots.
3. Under Paper roll, choose Custom and type that number in Print width (dots). The till rounds it down to a multiple of 8 and shows the width in millimetres and the characters per line. It accepts 256 to 832 dots.
4. Press Use this width.
5. Press Print a width check again and confirm that both edge lines of the frame print. If the right one is still missing, type a smaller number and check again.