What This Article Covers

• The Printers list, and what replaced the old single Printer setting

• How to add a printer, and the connection types available

• Which settings each connection type offers

• Why you'd add the same physical printer more than once

• How to use a printer across all your events

• How per-printer settings and default settings work

• What happens when a printer isn't available

• Troubleshooting common printer list issues

Printing setup used to be a single Printer row in your event configuration — one printer, one set of settings. That's now a Printers list that holds as many printers as your event needs, each configured independently.

Open it with the Configure Printers button on the event configuration screen — the screen where you set an event up before starting it. The button's subtitle tells you where the event stands at a glance: None Configured, the printer's name when there's just one, or 2 Printers, 3 Printers and so on.

Each row shows the printer's name and its connection type, plus a dot for whether it's reachable and a red badge counting jobs waiting on it. Printers that report their own state add live status to the row — the media loaded and the prints remaining, for example Direct USB · 6x8 (A5) · 213 prints left. Where no media reading is available, the row shows the printer's state instead, such as Idle, Printing or Cooling Print Head.

A problem outranks all of that: a printer that's connected but can't print says so directly — Not ready — Cover Open. That status on the list rows is worth getting used to. It's the fastest way to spot a printer that's about to run out of media, or has quietly stopped, before a guest does.

AirPrint works slightly differently: its section holds a single AirPrint printer… row that opens the iPad's own printer picker, because that's the only way iPadOS exposes AirPrint printers.

All connection types are always listed, whether or not your hardware can use them, so you can see what's available. Where your iPad can't support a type, Snappic says what it would need rather than searching — Direct USB, for instance, reads Not available on this device — Requires an iPad with M-series chip, iPadOS 16 or later.

You can mix connection types in the same event. There's nothing stopping you running a Direct USB printer alongside an AirPrint unit if that's what your kit looks like.

The settings on offer differ by connection type — Direct USB offers the most, while an AirPrint unit or print server keeps some settings on the unit or server itself.

On Direct USB the list is narrower still than the column suggests: rows appear based on the printer model, its firmware and the media currently loaded, so two DNP entries won't always offer exactly the same settings. Cut Strips Apart, for example, only appears where the chosen layout and print size are ones the cutter can actually cut.

This is the part that's easy to miss, and it's the reason the list is useful even if you only own one printer.

A printer in the list isn't really "a printer" — it's a printer plus a set of settings. So you can add the same physical machine twice and give each entry a different job:

Both point at the same printer, but each carries its own size, finish and routing rules. Snappic then sends each template to the entry that matches it.

Name these entries carefully. Snappic names the second entry after the device it found — DS620A (2) — which tells you nothing when something goes wrong mid-event. Choosing a name like DNP – Strips (matte) tells you what you need to know at a glance.

A printer you add belongs to the event you added it in. If you run the same kit at every event, you can lift a printer out of that event and have it appear in all of them instead of setting it up each time.

Open the printer and turn on Use for all events. It then carries an All events badge in the list, and shows up in every event you open.

This suits operators with a fixed setup — the same two printers, the same media, the same sizes, event after event. Set it up once and it's there every time.

Two things follow from a shared printer belonging to no single event:

Every printer in the list keeps its own copy of whichever settings its connection type offers, plus its own routing restriction. Nothing is shared between printers.

That independence is the point — it's what lets one printer run matte strips while another runs glossy 4×6. But it also means there's no global setting to change any more. Adjusting sharpening on one printer doesn't touch the others.

Once you've dialled in a setup you like, tap Save as Default Settings on that printer. Every printer you add from then on with the same connection type starts from those values, which saves repeating the same adjustments on each new printer. Saving defaults on a Direct USB printer doesn't change what a new AirPrint printer starts with.

With several printers configured, it's worth knowing that each job goes to the printer set up for it, and if that printer is offline the job fails and waits in the print queue for you to retry it. It does not fall back to another printer — that's what stops a job landing on the wrong media or the wrong printer. Fix the printer, then retry from the print queue.

Where two or more printers are equally eligible for a job — two identical unrestricted printers, say — Snappic spreads work between them rather than favouring one.

Two checks are worth running before doors open.

Test Print sits on each printer's settings screen. It prints a card with ruler marks measured from the paper's edge, using that printer's current settings — the quickest way to confirm margins and alignment. Where a printer can receive both, you get two buttons: Standard and Strips. A strip test goes through the same layout and cutting your real strips will, so it's a genuine rehearsal rather than a picture of one.

Printer Check runs by itself when you start an event. It tells you if any templates have no printer that can print them, if a configured printer can't be found, or if a printer is reporting a problem such as a cover open. You can Continue Anyway, or choose Review Printers to go straight back to the list and fix it.

Where has the Printer setting in my event configuration gone?

Cause: The single Printer row has been replaced by the Printers list.

Fix: Tap Configure Printers and add your printers there. Because Snappic never used to remember which printer you'd chosen, the list starts empty the first time — add each printer once and it stays.

Why did changing a setting on one printer not affect the others?

Cause: Print settings are per printer. There are no global print settings any more.

Fix: Change the setting on each printer that needs it. To avoid repeating this on new printers, set one up how you like it and tap Save as Default Settings.

Why doesn't this printer have margins, or a print size?

Cause: Those settings live wherever the layout is decided. A print server lays the print out on its host machine, and an AirPrint unit holds its own sizes.

Fix: Set margins and sizes on the print server or the AirPrint unit. See What Each Connection Type Can Set above for the full picture.

Why did editing a printer change my other events too?

Cause: That printer has Use for all events switched on, so there is only one of it.

Fix: If an event needs its own settings, add a separate printer for that event instead of editing the shared one.

Why can't I switch on "Use for all events"?

Cause: The printer is restricted to specific templates, and templates belong to a single event.

Fix: Change the restriction to Any job type, Strips only or Standard prints only, then switch the toggle on.

Why do I have two entries for one printer?

Cause: Either you or a previous setup added the same physical printer more than once — which is supported, and often deliberate.

Fix: Check what each entry does before removing one. If they have different sizes or routing restrictions, deleting one will stop those templates printing.

Why does one of my printers show no status information?

Cause: Not every connection type reports status back to Snappic. AirPrint and the Print Server don't report media or prints remaining.

Fix: Check the media at the printer itself. For live status in the app, use a Direct USB connection.

Why did a job fail when another printer was sitting idle?

Cause: There's no automatic failover between printers — a job waits for the printer it's routed to.

Fix: Bring the intended printer back, then retry the job from the print queue. If you want two printers to share the load, give them the same restriction rather than relying on failover.

Why is Printer Check saying some templates can't be printed when I have several printers?

Cause: Usually a routing restriction that's tighter than intended, or a print size that doesn't match the media loaded.

Fix: Open each printer and check its restriction and print size. See Routing Templates to Printers for how routing decides where a job goes.

Visit the Snappic Help Center or chat directly from your dashboard for live support.