From the Spool Window, you control the spool printer state, send commands to the printer, and modify the printer attributes. Spool printers are used only for outbound spool data. They route files from the Barr spool queue to a physical destination, such as a laser printer, an RJE or NJE host, or other locations on the LAN. You can control spool printers from the Spool Window with the following procedures.
Printers must be in the Disabled state before printer attributes can be changed.
Complete the following steps to change a spool printer’s state from the Spool Window.
Right-click the printer.
Select a value from the pop-up menu.
You can start individual spool printers or groups of spool printers from the Spool Window. Disabled spool printers are immediately set to the Ready state.
Use one of the following methods to start spool printers.
Select the printers you want to start, and then click the Ready toolbar button.
On the toolbar, click the Ready Mode button. (When the button is active, it appears pressed in on the toolbar.) Click the rows for the printers you want to start. When you have finished, click the Ready Mode button again to switch to your normal mouse pointer.
Right-click the printer you want to start, and select Ready.
Select the printers you want to start, and then select Printer | Ready on the menu bar.
To restart printers that were stopped with the Stops All Printers toolbar button, click the Stops All Printers button again. Spool printers resume printing documents where they left off.
Use one of the following methods to restart spool printers. This is typically used when the printer is in an error state.
Right-click the printers you want to restart, and select Reset.
Select the printers you want to restart, and then select Printer | Reset from the menu bar.
Use one of the following methods to pause spool printers.
Right-click the printer you want to pause, and select Pause.
Select the printers you want to pause, and then select Printer | Pause from the menu bar.
You can stop individual printers or groups of spool printers from the Spool Window. Idle spool printers are immediately set to Disabled. Active spool printers are set to Draining until their current document completes and then are set to Disabled.
Use one of the following methods to stop spool printers.
Select the printers you want to stop, and then click the Hold toolbar button.
On the toolbar, click the Hold Mode button. (When the button is active, it appears pressed in on the toolbar.) Click the rows for the printers you want to stop. When you have finished, click the Hold Mode button again to switch to your normal mouse pointer.
Right-click the printer you want to stop, and select Disable.
Select the printers you want to stop, and then select Printer | Disable on the menu bar.
Click the toolbar’s Stops All Printers button to immediately stop all spool printers without changing the printer state field. All outgoing documents stop, an image displays next to each printer, and the button remains pressed in on the toolbar. This option does not change the printer state field.
To restart all the spool printers, click the Stops All Printers button again. Printers restart and continue where they left off. Incoming documents will not be displayed until the Stops All Printers button is released.
Setting the printer state to Reprint will send the printer's next job directly into the Viewer utility. From the Viewer, you can set the reprint range and choose whether to print all or part of the document. This is usually needed when a document prints incorrectly and you were not given the opportunity to recover from the printer error. For more information on printing from the Viewer utility, refer to the Using the Viewer topic.
From the Spool Window, you can send a form feed command to the printer to advance the printer to the top of form. The printer must be disabled before you can send the command.
Complete the following steps to send a form feed.
Right-click the printer you want to send a form feed, and select Disable.
Right-click the printer again, and select Form Feed.
You can modify the values for all spool printer attributes Attributes that control which jobs a spool printer can process. When a file's attributes match a printer's attributes, the file can print. except for the columns that appear gray in color. Use the following methods to modify fields in the Spool Window.
You can modify multiple nonadjacent fields by selecting a single row, and then holding down the CTRL key while you click other rows. You can modify multiple adjacent fields by selecting a single row, and then holding down the SHIFT key while you click the last row.
Right-click a printer and choose the appropriate printer command from the menu.
Double-click a field and modify the existing value or type a new value (if the field accepts data entry). You can also right-click to display a menu of edit choices, such as cut, copy, and paste.
You can print a list of the printers that display in the Spool Window or write the list to a file. The name of the active spool configuration file and the column headings from the Spool Window are included at the top of the list.
Before you print the spool listing, you can use the Spool menu’s Print Setup command to set up the printer and the Print Preview command to view how the listing will print.
On the menu bar, select Spool | Print Spool Listing.
Select Printer list, and then click OK.
From the Name list, select a printer.
Click Properties to view or change printer properties such as paper size, paper source, page orientation, and duplex printing.
Specify the Print Range. You can print the entire list or a range of pages.
Specify the number of Copies and whether to Collate them.
Click OK to start printing.
On the menu bar, select Spool | Print Spool Listing.
Select Printer list, and then click OK.
Select the Print to file check box.
Click OK.
Jobs with recoverable errors sent using RJE readers, IP, or LPR will be automatically scheduled to reprint in five minutes. Recoverable errors may include TCP/IP communication problems, such as a missing IP address, a closed connection, an invalid queue, or a busy queue. If you are printing to a printer that has the Print directly to the printer option selected, you can recover the print job by following these steps.
Once the printer enters the error state (intervention), a message displays asking if you would like to cancel or retry the print job. If you fix the printer error, the message will disappear and act as if you clicked the Retry button.
Cancel – The printer will return to the ready state and the document to the hold state. The reprint range will be set from the page the error occurred to the end of the document. This is the recommended option, as the remainder of the document can be printed in its entirety.
Retry – If you select Retry, the printer will attempt to reprint the document from where the error occurred to the end of the document. This could cause the printer to skip pages in the document. For example, if the printer jammed on several pages of the document, the printer will skip the jammed pages and print the remaining pages. The printer will attempt to reprint for five minutes.
If you select Cancel, make sure the reprint range is correct and reprint the document from the Viewer utility.