Whether it’s Product labels, sales documents, or packing slips, there are times when you need to commit something to paper. Here is a quick guide to LightSpeed’s printing capabilities.
Full Page vs. Receipt Layout
All sales documents - Quotes, Invoices, Orders, and SROs – can be printed in full-page (8.5x11 or A4) format, and can:
Invoices can also be printed on Receipt layout, and include all data listed above with the exception of Product images. The End of Day report can also be printed on a receipt printer.
POS
Printing Invoices from the POS will depend on what you have set in the Station Setup panel for full page vs. receipt, as outlined above. The Action menu in the POS (indicated by the small gear at the top right) also allows you to print the End of Day report in either full page or receipt layout.
PDF Print Backgrounds
Branding customization of full-page printed documents can be done using PDF Print Backgrounds. This allows you to customize an 8.5x11” PDF that includes your customized header and footer section, as well as watermarking you’d like to add to the body of the document.
To add your customer 8.5x11” PDF Background, go to Tools > Setup > PDF Backgrounds, and choose Quote, SRO, SRO Claim, Order, Invoice, PO, or Statement. Then, drag your PDF and drop it into the space indicated. Choose Print Blank PDF if you want a blank PDF added to any specific document.
Labels
Product labels or Customer labels can be printed from either the Product or Customer card itself, or under the Tools menu. Labels can be printed spool-style, or on label sheets. Barcodes are normally produced by the Product’s UPC code, but in the absence of a UPC, you can use the Product ID as a barcode. Product labels can include tax-inclusive selling prices, or Pricing Level prices. The Label Designer will allow you to create custom labels and print them on any CUPS-compatible printer. (For more on printing labels, see the Labeling article)
Reports
Each report can be produced in PDF format, and printed in full-page format. (For more info, see the Reporting article)
User Reports
User Reports can be accessed at File > Print User Reports, and can produce:
Batch Printing
Batch Printing (File > Print Batch…) allows you to print batch Invoices and statements for Customers with outstanding balances over a date range, and can be filtered to view Credits, Paid, and Invoices Owing 1-30 days, 30-60 days, etc.
Action Menu
From the Action Menu of profiles, documents, and labels, accessed by the “gear” icon at the bottom of the relevant window, you have several options regarding printing:
Choosing Printers
LightSpeed allows you to specify various printers and formats for the range of printing requirements in LightSpeed, including Invoices, labels, and receipts.
If you wish to bypass the OS X print dialog box, enter the number of copies you’d like printed when you print an Invoice, and choose Without Dialog Box from the pop-up menu. However, if you are using your receipt printer to kick open your cash drawer, you must not bypass the OS X print dialog box.
To specify which format to print your invoices to, go to File >Station Setup, and click Full Page or Receipt next to Printing. To indicate which particular printer model that you are printing to, see the section below on Printer Setup.
To set up a receipt printer for the first time, you must perform a Page Setup. Go to File > Page Setup, and choose to format for the Star Micronics printer. Choose the 72mmx2000mm paper size, and from the Settings pop-up menu, choose Save as Default. Click OK. You will see another dialog appear – choose Save for Receipt Printing, and click OK.
To set the destination printer for various printer workflows in LightSpeed, click the Printer Setup button at the bottom of the Staton Setup panel. In the resulting window, you will be able to choose the printer models you wish to perform the following functions: Full Page printing (sales documents and reports); Label printing (Products and Customers); and Receipt printing (Invoices only). For each function, you can choose the system default (defined in the Print and Fix System Preference), or the exact model of the printers you have installed.
Full-Page Printer
You must define a Full-Page printer, even if your station is only printing Invoices to a receipt printer. If you do not have a full-page printer accessible, you can create a "fake" printer in OS X Print & Fax System Preferences, using the following steps.
1. Go to Apple Menu > System Preferences > Print & Fax.
2. Click the + icon to add a new printer.
3. In the Add Printer window, click the IP icon, then enter "127.0.0.1" in the Address field, and tab out of the field.
4. Click Add when the button is accessible.
5. Go back to LightSpeed's Printer Setup window, and select "127.0.0.1" as your Full Page printer.
Full page printers are used for printing reports, Quotes, Orders, SROs, Purchase Orders, and can be used for printing End of Day reports and Invoices. A receipt printer can be used for printing End of Day reports and Invoices. A label printer can be used to print Product pricing labels, or Customer address labels.
Beginning in 3.6, users can set a specific number of printed copies for Invoices based on the Payment Method. For example, if a customer pays by cash, a retailer may choose to have only one copy of the Invoice printed, but set LightSpeed to print two copies if the payment method is credit card. To set the number of copies printed per Payment Method, go to Tools > Setup > Basics > Payment Methods. Double-click any Payment Method, and in the resulting slide-out window, set the desired number of printed copies when this Payment Method is used. To set whether to display the OS X Print Dialog box, go to File > Station Setup. This setting affects all Payment Methods.
