Use the Station app

The Omnilinker Station app runs on the station’s PC and prints what Omnilinker sends. It has no window of its own to work in: it lives in the Windows notification area, next to the clock, and speaks up when a printer needs someone. Everything else, such as the station’s name and what each printer prints, is set in Omnilinker; see Stations and locations. The app shows its texts in Polish when Windows is set to Polish, and in English otherwise. To install it, see Install the Station app.

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The icon

Hover over the icon to see the station’s state: Click the icon to open the panel. Right-click it for Open, Troubleshoot, Settings and Close the tray icon. Closing the icon does not stop printing: the service keeps running.

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The panel

The panel shows:

• the connection, for example “Connected. Printing normally.”;
• Printers on this PC, each with its state and what it prints, and how many labels wait for it;
• Last printed, with Reprint last, which prints the last label printed here again;
• Test label, which prints a test label;
• Pause printing;
• Open in Omnilinker, Troubleshoot and Settings, and the app’s version.

Anyone signed in to the PC can use these.

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When a printer stops

When a printer runs out of labels, has its cover open, is unplugged or switched off, the labels for it wait. They are not lost and they do not fail: they print by themselves, in order, as soon as the printer is ready again. The app tells the people at the desk:

• A large prompt on screen, for example “Load labels into the …”, with two or three steps to fix it and how many labels are waiting. It closes by itself a few seconds after the printer is ready again, with “Printing again”. Click Minimise to the tray to hide it.
• A Windows notification, for example ”… was unplugged”.
• The panel, which names the problem and, when another station at the same location is online and can print these labels, offers Print them at …. It sends the waiting labels there.

In Omnilinker, the station shows Needs attention and the labels show On hold. The station can also be set to send its labels to another station by itself when a printer stops; see When a printer stops. You can turn the prompt, its sound and the Windows notifications off in Settings; see Settings.

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Pause printing

Pause the station when you need the printer for something else, or while you change the label roll. While the station is paused, new labels wait in Omnilinker and print when printing resumes. Omnilinker shows the station as Paused, with who paused it and until when. A pause for a set time ends by itself. To end it earlier, open the panel and click Resume now. You cannot pause or resume a station from Omnilinker in the browser.

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A label that did not print

When a printer refuses a label, for example because the driver failed, the app shows “A label didn’t print” with the reason and Open in Omnilinker. The label has the status Failed in Print jobs, where you retry it or print it somewhere else. Failed labels are never retried by themselves. If the PC restarted or lost power while a label was going to the printer, the app cannot know whether it came out. The panel says “1 label may not have printed after a restart. Check it in Omnilinker.” Check the printer, then mark it printed or print it again in Print jobs.

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Troubleshoot

Open Troubleshoot from the panel or the icon’s menu. The app checks, failing checks first:

• Internet connection
• Omnilinker reachable, or “Omnilinker is blocked on this network” when other websites work but Omnilinker does not
• Connected as the station’s name
• App version
• Windows print service
• Printers the app can see
• Jobs stored on this PC, including labels that may not have printed
• each printer

Each failing check says what to do. Check again runs them again, and Print test label prints a test label. If you are still stuck:

• Copy details for IT or Copy report copies the report.
• Send to support sends the report and the last 24 hours of logs to Omnilinker support, and shows a reference. No passwords or label contents are included.
• Save report to file saves it when the PC is offline, so you can email it from another device.

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Settings

Right-click the icon and choose Settings. The settings under At this desk are saved for each Windows user. Changing the proxy and disconnecting need an operator of the PC; see Who can change the app. Open logs folder opens the app’s logs.