Set up printers and kitchen tickets - what each printer prints, pre-check, KDS and reprinting

Applies to the Admin Panel and Invu POS 6.10.1. Labels are shown as they appear when the panel and the POS are in English. If a printer that is already set up does not print, see "The printer does not print kitchen tickets or invoices - how to check it".

Most important:

• There are two places:
  • Kitchen printers (kitchen tickets, KDS and labels) are set up in Printers > Printer List and only work over the network.
  • The pre-check and invoice printer is set up on the cash register and can be network, USB, Bluetooth or built-in.
• Each product prints on its subcategory's printers and, in addition, on the printers assigned to the product itself.
• A product with no printer does not print anywhere, and there is no warning.
• After any change, run Update Data on each device.

1. Create a kitchen printer

1. Go to Printers > Printer List and tap Create Printer.
2. Enter the Description (for example, "Kitchen") and the printer's IP. The printer should have a fixed IP.
3. Leave Status as Active, choose the kitchen-ticket Printer Type and the Font Size.
4. Optional:
   • Secondary IP: a backup printer. If the main one fails, the POS sends the same ticket to this one.
   • Print Individual Commands?: one ticket per product.
   • Print summary: at the top, the station gets a summary of everything sent to the other areas, then its own items.
   • Print Item Description?: prints the product's long description.
   • Exclude order types for this printer: this printer does not receive those order types (for example, so the bar does not get delivery).
5. Tap Create Printer.

• Print Copy? only adds a "COPY" header; it does not print a second ticket.
• Cut Paper and Printer Group do not change anything on POS 6.10.1.
• Kitchen tickets are always laid out for 72 mm paper.
• To retire a printer, use Archive Printer. Do not use Delete All: it deletes every printer and cannot be undone.

2. Decide what each printer prints

1. On the printer's row, tap Assign Categories. Even though it says "Categories", the list is the menu's subcategories. Move the ones that should print there to Assigned and confirm.
2. For individual products, tap Assign Items on the printer, or on the product go to the Printers tab > Add Printer.
3. If you use the Publish Center, tap Publish Now. Then, on each device, press and hold the Invu logo and choose Update Data.

How the POS decides:

• Each product goes to all the printers of its subcategory plus the ones assigned to the product, except those that exclude the order's type.
• Assigning a product to the bar does not remove it from its subcategory's printer: it prints on both. For it to print only at the bar, move it to a subcategory assigned only to the bar, or remove the subcategory from the kitchen and assign the products one by one.
• Modifiers and combo options print under the product, on the same printers, and only if the option has Visible on Print? turned on.
• Check that every product that is prepared has at least one printer. A product with no printer is never marked as sent, so to print the pre-check the POS will ask for the PIN of someone with Allow Printing Pre-bill with Pending Kitchen Items.

3. Pre-check and invoice printer (register)

In Cash Register > Cash Register List, edit the register:

• Pre-account type: the pre-check device (network, USB, Bluetooth, Sunmi and other built-in printers). Do not use the system print dialog type ("Impresora por red") for the pre-check: with that type the pre-check does not print.
• Pre-account IP: the IP, if the pre-check is on the network.
• Number of characters on pre-account?: the paper width for the pre-check and the invoice (under 40 = 58 mm; 40 to 47 = 72 mm; 48 or more = 80 mm).
• Printer type: how the invoice prints (fiscal, direct print or electronic invoice). With direct print, fill in ID FROM, ID TO and, if you want, Print Prefix.
• Command when closing?: when the order closes, sends what is pending to the kitchen.
• Pre-account when closing?: when the order closes, prints the pre-check.

Then run Update Data. USB or Bluetooth printers are chosen on each device: in Troubleshoot, pre-check row, Edit > Device.

4. When the kitchen ticket prints

By default, the kitchen ticket prints with the order's send button (the icon with the number of pending products). It asks for the PIN of an employee allowed to send kitchen tickets.

In Settings > System > Settings (tap Enable Save Button), Commands section, you can turn on:

• Force Print Commands When Leaving: when leaving the order, sends what is pending without a PIN.
• Automatic print kitchen order when pre-account is printed: the employee who prints the pre-check also needs Allow Printing Pre-bill with Pending Kitchen Items.
• Group Items by Printer: joins identical products into one line with the quantities added up.
• Print modifiers in the configured order, Print Consecutive and Separate Items in Command: change the ticket's layout.

If the order type has Automatic Pre-Account (in Settings > System > Order Types), the pre-check prints by itself after each send to the kitchen.

5. Print everything on the register's printer (Command By Pre-check)

If you have no kitchen printer, you can send every kitchen ticket to the register's pre-check printer:

1. Tap the Invu logo and choose Cash Register Actions. Use the PIN of an employee with Register Initial Cash and Withdrawals.
2. Tap Command By Pre-check.

• The menu shows the action, not the state: if you see Command By All Commands, the option is on, and tapping it goes back to the kitchen printers.
• With the option on, everything pending goes to the register's pre-check printer, regardless of assignments or exclusions.

6. Reprinting and failed kitchen tickets

• Reprint: press and hold the send button and confirm "Do you want to reprint the kitchen tickets?". It reprints the whole order, marked "(Reimpreso)", with the PIN of an employee with Allow Reprinting Sent Kitchen Tickets. A single product cannot be reprinted.
• If a printer fails, "Error in following printers… Do you want retry?" shows:
  • Retry Print sends again.
  • No continues without printing and asks for the PIN of an employee with Allows ignoring kitchen ticket errors. Give that permission at least to the manager; if nobody has it, the message keeps coming back.
  • With Force Reprint on (Pre Check section of Settings), the No button does not show.

7. KDS (kitchen display)

1. In Printer List, create a printer with the KDS Printer Type (INVU KDS).
2. In IP, enter the KDS device ID (sends over the internet), or IP:port if the KDS is on your local network. An IP without a port is taken as a device ID and does not arrive.
3. Optional: in Secondary IP, the other destination as a backup (for example, the ID in IP and the local IP:port in Secondary IP).
4. Assign it subcategories or products like any printer and run Update Data.

8. Change or replace a printer

Common problems

• The pre-check or invoice prints, but the kitchen ticket does not. They are different printers: the pre-check and the invoice print on the register's printer, and the kitchen ticket on the kitchen printers. Check that the ticket was sent (send button), that the product has a kitchen printer (section 2) and that the printer shows as connected in Troubleshoot. If the kitchen printer fails, "Error in following printers…" shows.
• A product does not print on any kitchen ticket. Neither its subcategory nor the product has a printer, or all of them exclude that order type. Assign one and run Update Data.
• The product prints in the kitchen and at the bar. It has its subcategory's printer and another one assigned to the product: they add up.
• Delivery (or another order type) does not reach a station. The printer has that type in Exclude order types for this printer.
• Every kitchen ticket prints on the register's printer. Command By Pre-check is on: in Cash Register Actions tap Command By All Commands.
• The waiter cannot print the pre-check even though the send button shows 0. Some products have no printer. Assign them one or give the Allow Printing Pre-bill with Pending Kitchen Items permission.
• The pre-check does not print and no message shows. The register's Pre-account type is the system print dialog type: choose another one.
• "Operation not allowed" when sending. Command By Pre-check is on with a pre-check of the system print dialog type.
• I changed the printer in the panel and the POS is the same. Publish Now is missing (if you use the Publish Center) or Update Data on that device.
• The KDS does not get kitchen tickets. If you use an IP, enter it with the port (IP:port).
• The ticket says "COPY" but no second ticket prints. Print Copy? only adds the header.
• Print Individual Commands? does not split the tickets. That printer has Print summary on; turn off one of the two options.
• The pre-check prints by itself every time you send. The order type has Automatic Pre-Account.
• Zebra labels do not print on Windows. They only work on Android and iPad.