Print Censor - Documentation How to install and use printer quotas

Content:

• Introduction
• Licensing (Print Censor Professional, Print Censor Enterprise)
• Print Censor Installation
• Print queue
• Quotas
• Remote control

Introduction

Print Censor is an easy-to-use program designed to record a printer usage statistics and to simplify the management of network printers. With Print Censor you can save the print jobs content. You can limit the number of pages a user can print by setting quotas for the number of pages printed or for the print cost. After a user exceeds a specified quota, access to the printer is denied.

Print Censor gives you complete information about every print job:

• user name;
• computer name;
• document name;
• time & date of printing;
• number of pages ;
• number of copies;
• document size;
• priority;
• paper size;
• color of printing (colored or black and white);
• whether it was a duplex printing or not;
• print job cost.

Using Print Censor you can:

• Copy/move print jobs from printer to printer;
• Preview contents of print job before sending to printer;
• Pause or lock all new print jobs;
• View the printed jobs content;
• Notify users when quotas are exceeded;
• Control all the printers simultaneously;
• Sort printers by a desired parameter (e.g. when sorting by the number of jobs currently running, you can see the most overloaded printers).

Print Censor can monitor and store print jobs created under various operating systems: Microsoft Windows, Mac, Linux and other. Print Censor features an improved print jobs manager. All basic operations and print jobs can be handled directly from Print Censor. The software also features remote management of printers installed on other computers. You can also remotely install and configure Print Censor to store print jobs on remote computers.

All the information can be collected for preview in any number of ways. Exporting the data into files of various formats is also supported.

Print Censor works as service. This means it automatically starts when the computer boots up and all print jobs will be recorded, even if a user does not log in to the system.

Thus, using Print Censor, you can make routine print job management easy, cut down your printing expenses and better predict the need for printing materials for the whole network.

Continue to cut your printer supplies cost by comparing prices on printer cartridges before buying.

Licensing

Print Censor Professional

A license is granted for one computer. This means one license is needed to use the software on one computer (print server). You can use different types of licenses:

• Single printer license;
• 2-5 printers license;
• 6-10 printers license;
• 11-20 printers license;
• 21-50 printers license;
• Unlimited printers license.

Before installing Print Censor, let's look at a typical network configuration, and determine the computers to which we should install Print Censor:

Printer A and Printer C are connected to computers directly (using LPT or USB ports). Printer B is connected to network using a TCP/IP netcard.

In this case, to control:

• Printer A - install Print Censor on Computer 1;
• Printer B - install Print Censor to a computer which will be a print server for all the other computers in the network, and make Printer B shared for all the other users;
• Printer C - install Print Censor on Computer 4.

In this case, one license "Single printer license" and one license "2-5 printers license" are needed if you choose Computer 1 or Computer 4 as a print server for Printer B. 3 licenses "Single printer license" are needed if you choose Computer 2 or Computer 3 as a print server for the same printer.

Printer B, Printer D and Printer E are connected to computers directly (using LPT or USB ports). Printer A and Printer C is connected to network using a TCP/IP netcard.

In this case, to control:

• Printer A and/or Printer C - install Print Censor to a computer which will be a print server for all the other computers in the network, and make this printers shared for all the other users;
• Printer B - install Print Censor on Computer 1;
• Printer D - install Print Censor on Computer 2;
• Printer E - install Print Censor on Computer 4.

In this case, 2 licenses "Single printer license" and one license "2-5 printers license" are needed if you choose Computer 1, Computer 2 or Computer 4 as a print server for Printer A and Printer C. 4 licenses "Single printer license" are needed if you choose Computer 3 as a print server for these printers.

Print Censor Enterprise

A license is granted for one computer. This means one license is needed to use the software on one computer (print server). You can use different types of licenses:

• Client module license;
• 1-5 Printers license;
• 6-10 Printers license;
• 11-20 Printers license;
• 21-50 Printers license;
• 51-100 Printers license;
• Unlimited Printers license;

For example: with "11-20 Printers License" you can install the Print Censor Enterprise on one computer (print server) and monitor up to 20 printers from this computer. If you need monitor printers from other computers than you need Client Module Licenses for these computers.

Before installing Print Censor, let's look at a typical network configuration, and determine the computers to which we should install Print Censor:

Printer A and Printer C are connected to computers directly (using LPT or USB ports). Printer B is connected to network using a TCP/IP netcard.

In this case, to control:

• Printer A - install Print Censor on Computer 1;
• Printer B - install Print Censor to a computer which will be a print server for all the other computers in the network, and make Printer B shared for all the other users;
• Printer C - install Print Censor on Computer 4.

In this case:

• If you choose Computer 1 or Computer 4 as a print server for Printer B (for example Computer 1): you need one license "1-5 Printers license" for Computer 1 and one license for Client module for Computer 4. You can monitor all printers from Computer 1;
• If you choose Computer 2 or Computer 3 as a print server for Printer B (for example Computer 2): you need one license "1-5 Printers license" for Computer 1 and 2 licenses for Client modules on Computer 2 and Computer 4. You can monitor all printers from Computer 1.

Printer B, Printer D and Printer E are connected to computers directly (using LPT or USB ports). Printer A and Printer C is connected to network using a TCP/IP netcard.

In this case, to control:

• Printer A and/or Printer C - install Print Censor to a computer which will be a print server for all the other computers in the network, and make this printers shared for all the other users;
• Printer B - install Print Censor on Computer 1;
• Printer D - install Print Censor on Computer 2;
• Printer E - install Print Censor on Computer 4.

In this case:

• If you choose Computer 1, Computer 2 or Computer 4 as a print server for Printer A and Printer C (for example Computer 1): you need one license "1-5 Printers license" for Computer 1 and 2 licenses for Client modules on Computer 2 and Computer 4. You can monitor all printers from Computer 1;
• If you choose Computer 1 as a print server for Printer A and Computer 2 as a print server for Printer C: you need one licenses "1-5 Printers license" for Computer 1 and 2 licenses for Client modules on Computer 2 and Computer 4. You can monitor all printers from Computer 1;
• If you choose Computer 3 as a print server for Printer A and Printer C: than you need one license "1-5 Printers license" for Computer 3 and 3 licenses for Client modules on Computer 1, Computer 2 and Computer 4. You can monitor all printers from Computer 3.

Print Censor Installation

Please read this before installation

Print Censor is designed to control printers in a Microsoft Windows network. It is presumed that all the print jobs are sent from workstations to a Windows server (or a workstation which serves as a print server) and not directly from a workstation to network printers.

You will need administrator privileges to install Print Censor to a local workstation or print server.

Installing Print Censor

Print Censor consists of two components: client and server. You can install them both, or only a client for remote management.

Before installing Print Censor, make sure you are installing the latest version of the software. Run setup.exe and follow the instructions.

When installing Print Censor, you may have to reboot the computer if the files which should be replaced are currently in use. After system reboot, all the necessary files are updated.

If the installation wizard did not ask for a system reboot, you can start using Print Censor immediately.

Server component

The Server component is the Print Censor, service which should be installed to a print server to allow the following:

• Print job recording.
• Control of quotas.
• User notification of quota status.

Client component

The Print Censor client component can be installed to any server or workstation and can remotely manage any print server on which the Print Censor service is installed.

Previous version update

You have to un-install previous version of Print Censor before installing a new version. If you want to keep print job history, do not delete the old database when un-installing the software.

The new database format is incompatible with the Print Censor 3.� and 4.1x database format.

Print Queue

You can manage the print queue of any network printer using Print Censor.

Working with printers

All standard printer operations are available in Print Censor. Right click the necessary printer and select the command:

• "Open queue�" - open the standard Print Queue View window for the selected printer (you can also simply double click the necessary printer);
• "Set as default";
• "Suspend printing";
• "Cancel all jobs";
• "Delete printer";
• "Page cost�" - for this option description refer to the quotas help;
• "Properties�" - open a standard printer settings window.

All these commands are available for several printers simultaneously (except the default printer setting).

Working with printing tasks

Unlike the standard Windows Print Queue window you can see more information on the print jobs in Print Censor. The following information is provided:

• The user sending the print job;
• The PC from which the print job has been sent (you can see the DNS computer names instead of the IP addresses, for this just open the Settings window from the "Options" - "Preferences�" menu item and set the "Determine PC name" option in the General tab);
• Print job status;
• Name;
• Number of pages (you can see the approximate number of the printed pages even for printing tasks not visible in the Windows standard Print Queue View window);
• Number of copies;
• Print job size;
• Print job creation date and time;
• Priority;
• Paper size;
• Color mode;
• Duplex mode (double-sided print).

The following operations are available in the Print Queue window:

• Pause print job;
• Continue print job;
• Restart print job;
• Cancel print job;
• Change print job priority.

All these operations are available for several print jobs at once.

Besides, you can hide the unnecessary columns. Just right click the columns header and select the necessary columns.

Network Printers

To view the print queue of network printers select the "Settings"-"Show network printers" menu item.

Note: Net printers are not displayed at remote control, for additional information see the Remote Control section.

If you have to work with print job queues for a long time, for more convenience you can switch to the "Queue manager only" mode (menu "Options" - "Queue manager only").

Quotas

We realized in Print Censor the quota support using which you can easily control and restrict the number of printed pages of the user.

You can specify the quotas according either to the number of the printed pages or to the cost. In order to setup the quotas switch to the "Users" or "Groups" page and click the "General User/Group Options". First of all, specify how you would like to count the printed pages - according to the number or to the cost. If you select the quotas according to the number of the printed pages all the pages printed by the user will be counted, but in case you select according to the cost, the cost of the printed pages will be accounted. It can be useful when you need to manage several printers at a time. For example, the printing cost for color printers is higher than for black and white ones, and the printing cost for the A3 format is higher than for the A4 format. If you specify the quotas according to the cost all these differences will be considered automatically. You can set the cost of one page for a specified printer on the "Printers" page. You can find out the approximate one page printing cost for your printer either from its documentation or on the printer manufacturer site.

Remote Control

To start the remote control it is enough to get connected to the necessary computer (menue "File" - "Connect�"). Now all the operations with printers on this computer are available and you can control the remote printing queue and configure the job logging for the printers connected to the remote computer.

Remote Printer Control

Using the remote printer control you can easily provide the shared access to the printers.

Without Print Censor you would have to go to the computer and configure the shared access right on it. Thus, using Print Censor you can save much time managing the printers work especially for large networks.

Remote Print Queues Control

When managing the remote print queues all the standard operations the same as with the local control are available for you, but the net printers queue mode view is unavailable.

Remote Configuring Print Jobs Logging

With the remote control you can configure the print jobs logging for the remote printers in exactly the same way as with the local control. You can view the logged jobs in the same way as with the local connection.

Remote Quotas Configuring

The quotas on the remote computer are configured in exactly the same way as on the local computer.

In other words, the remote control is exactly the same as the local control of all standard print tasks.