> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.omnilinker.pl/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Stations and locations
> Add stations, group them in locations, set up their printers, and remove a station you no longer use.
Open **Devices** > **Stations** to see every station of your organization: the Windows PCs that print for Omnilinker,
grouped by the locations you define. You need the **Stations** permission to open the page and **Manage stations** to
change anything on it. See [Permissions](/devices/overview#permissions).
## The Stations page
The line at the top, **Station health**, counts the stations that are online and offline, the printers that need
attention, and the people printing right now.
Below it:
* The filters **All**, **Online**, **Offline** and **Needs attention**. **Not seen 30+ days** appears when a station has
not been in touch for 30 days or more, or was added 30 or more days ago and never paired. **Removed** appears for
people with **Manage stations** once a station has been removed; see [Removed stations](#removed-stations).
* The search box, **Search stations, printers, people**.
* **Locations**, which opens the [Locations](#locations) dialog, **Print jobs**, which opens
[Print jobs](/devices/print-jobs), and **Add station**.
Stations are grouped by location, with **No location** last. Each group shows who can print there, for example
**Everyone**, and **Edit location**.
| Column | Shows |
| --------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Station** | The station's name, and the Windows computer name and app version once it is paired. A new station carries **New**. |
| **Status** | The station's health; see [Station health](#station-health). |
| **Devices** | How many printers are ready, for example "2 of 3 printers ready", and their names. |
| **Printing here now** | The people whose computer prints to this station and who were active in the last 30 minutes. |
| **Last job** | The station's latest print job. |
| **Actions** | **Test print** (for an online station, with **Manage printers**), **Station settings** (the gear), and **Remove** (with **Manage stations**). |
Click the arrow next to a station's name to see its devices, what prints there and its recent jobs.
## Station health
| Status | Meaning |
| ---------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Online** | The app is connected and no printer needs attention. |
| **Needs attention** | The app is connected, but a printer reports a problem: out of paper, cover open, offline or an error. The station shows the printer and the problem. Waiting work prints by itself once it is fixed. |
| **Offline** | Omnilinker has not heard from the app for 3 minutes. The station says since when, and asks you to check that the PC is on and online. Waiting work prints when it is back. |
| **Paused** | Someone paused printing in the Station app on the PC. The station shows who and until when. Jobs wait until printing resumes. |
| **Waiting for its PC** | The station was added in Omnilinker, but no PC has paired with it yet. |
| **Disconnected** | The station was removed. |
A station that is offline shows **Offline** even if it was paused. You cannot pause or resume a station from
Omnilinker: that happens in the Station app; see [Pause printing](/devices/station-app#pause-printing).
Each printer has its own status: **Ready**, **Needs attention**, **Offline**, **Error** or **Unknown** (the printer's
driver does not report its state). A printer that is no longer in Windows on the PC shows **Not connected**. A
virtual printer, such as Microsoft Print to PDF, shows "Virtual printer · makes files, not paper".
## Add a station
You need **Manage stations**. Do this together with the person installing the app on the PC, or give them the code.
Click **Add station**. In **Add a station**, enter the **Station name**, for example "Packing desk 4", and choose a
**Location**, or leave **No location**. The location decides who can print at the station. Station names must be
unique.
Click **Get the pairing code**. The dialog shows three steps:
1. **Install Omnilinker Station on that PC**: **Download for Windows** downloads the installer, and **Copy a link to
open on that PC** copies the download link. See [Install the Station app](/devices/install-station-app).
2. **Open the app and type this code**: a 6-character code. It expires after 10 minutes and works once. **Get a new
code** replaces it; only the newest code works.
3. **Wait for it to connect**: the dialog moves on by itself once the app connects.
The **Printers** step lists the printers the app found on the PC. For each one, choose **Shipping labels**,
**Documents** or **Don't use**. Omnilinker suggests a choice: a printer that "Looks like a label printer" gets
shipping labels, and virtual printers get **Don't use**.
Then answer **Print shipping labels automatically at this station?** with **As the location decides**, **Always**
or **Never**. See [Automatic printing](/devices/automatic-printing).
Click **Continue to test print**, or **Set up later**.
Omnilinker sends a test label to each printer you chose. Check the paper and answer **Did it come out right?**:
* **Yes, looks good** finishes.
* **It's cut off or blurry**: check the label size and resolution in the printer's settings, then print again.
* **Nothing came out**: check that the printer is on, has paper, and prints from Windows on that PC.
If you close the dialog before the app connects (**Finish later**), the station waits on the page as **Waiting for its
PC**. To see its code again, click **Show the pairing code**. **Discard station** deletes a station you have just
added and not paired, for example after a typo. A station that is never paired is deleted automatically about a day
after it was added.
## Printers
The app reports the printers installed in Windows on the station's PC, and checks for new, removed and changed printers
every 15 seconds. You never add a printer by hand. A printer installed for one Windows user only is invisible to the
app; install it for all users of the PC.
### What prints here
Open **Station settings** (the gear) to set, under **What prints here**, which printer prints each kind of document:
**Shipping labels**, **Courier manifests** and **Documents**. Choose **Don't print here** for a kind this station should
not print. One printer per station prints each kind.
When no printer has been given a kind yet and the station has exactly one real printer, that printer prints it. With
more than one printer, a job that no printer takes waits **On hold** until you choose one; it then prints by itself.
### Printer settings
Expand the station and click **Printer settings** under **Prints here**.
| Setting | What it does |
| -------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Name** | The name shown in Omnilinker. The Windows name stays under **Reported by Windows**. |
| **What it prints** | **Shipping labels**, **Courier manifests**, **Documents**. Ticking a kind another printer at the station has moves it here: "Takes this over from …". |
| **Format** | **ZPL**: "Sharp, fast labels. Best for thermal label printers." **PDF**: "Works with any printer; Windows renders the page." The recommended format is marked. |
| **Label size** | **100 × 150 mm (4 × 6 in)**, **100 × 100 mm**, **62 mm roll**, **A4 sheet**, or **Not set**. The Station app uses it when it asks someone to load labels. |
| **Resolution (dpi)** | 203, 300 or 600, or **Not set**. |
| **Don't use this printer** | Nothing is sent to the printer until you turn it back on. |
Omnilinker suggests **ZPL** for printers whose name or driver says Zebra, ZDesigner or ZPL, and **PDF** for others.
A label only goes to a ZPL printer when the carrier sent a ZPL copy. Labels from carriers that send only PDF need a
printer set to PDF; see [Courier accounts](/shipping/courier-accounts#supported-carriers).
**Test print** in the dialog sends a test page to that printer; **Test print** in the station's **Actions** sends one
to the station's printer and says where it went. You need **Manage printers** to change printer settings and to send a
test print.
## Station settings
Click the gear in a station's **Actions** to open its settings. Without **Manage stations**, you can look but not
change anything.
* **Station name** and **Location**. The location decides who can print at the station.
* **What prints here**; see [Printers](#printers).
* **Print labels automatically**: **As the location decides**, **Always** or **Never**. See
[Automatic printing](/devices/automatic-printing).
* **When a printer stops** (out of paper, cover open, unplugged): **Hold the labels until it's back**, or **Send them to**
another station. See [When a printer stops](/devices/automatic-printing#when-a-printer-stops).
* **App on this PC**: the app's **Version** and when it was **Paired**.
* **Pair again with a new code**, for a PC that was reinstalled or replaced. The new pairing replaces the old one; the
station keeps its name, settings and history.
Click **Save changes**. Changing the printing settings needs **Manage printers**.
## Locations
A location groups stations the way you work: a building, a floor, a room. It decides who can print at its stations and
where automatic labels go. Locations are separate from your inventory warehouses.
Click **Locations** on the Stations page. You need **Locations** to see the list and **Manage locations** to change it.
Click **New location** and enter a **Name**. Names must be unique.
Under **Who can print here**, choose **Everyone**, or **Only these roles or people** and add roles and users with
**Add a role or person…**. Other people do not see these stations when they choose where to print, and cannot
print at them or move jobs to them.
* **Default station**: labels made at this location with no station print at this one. You can pick one of the
location's paired stations, so add the stations to the location first.
* **Print labels automatically**: "Stations here print a shipment's label as soon as it's ready. A station can
override this." It is on for a new location.
Changing these needs **Manage printers**. See [Automatic printing](/devices/automatic-printing).
Select **Ask people to confirm their station at the start of each shift**. See
[Still at the same station?](/devices/choose-station#still-at-the-same-station).
Click **Save location**, then **Done**. To add stations to it, set **Location** in each station's settings.
To delete a location, click the bin next to it and confirm with **Delete**. Its stations are kept and move to
**No location**, where everyone can print at them.
## Remove a station
Remove a station when its PC no longer prints for Omnilinker. You need **Manage stations**.
Click the bin in the station's **Actions**, or **Remove station** in its settings. To remove several, tick them and
click **Remove N stations** in the bar above the list; you can remove up to 200 at once.
Omnilinker says what will happen:
* A station where something was printed or shipped is **removed**: "Its PC stops printing. Its print history stays in
Omnilinker."
* A station where nothing was ever printed is **deleted** completely.
What happens next:
* The station's key stops working at once. The Station app on the PC shows "This PC is no longer connected".
* Print jobs waiting for the station move to **Unassigned**, where someone chooses another station. A job the station
was printing at that moment becomes **Not sure it printed**, because the paper may already have come out. See
[Print jobs](/devices/print-jobs).
* People who had chosen the station in the top bar have no station until they choose another one.
* A deleted station also loses its printer settings. Another station that sent its work there when its printer stops
holds the labels instead, and a location that had it as default station has none.
Removing the station does not uninstall the app from the PC. See
[Remove the app](/devices/install-station-app#remove-the-app).
### Removed stations
The **Removed** filter lists removed stations with their **Location**, when they were **Removed** and when they were
**Last seen**. They are kept so that print jobs and shipments still say where they were printed.
To use a removed station again, for example after reinstalling its PC, click **Pair again**. The station waits for
pairing again with its history, and **Add station** shows its new code. Its name must still be free.