What This Article Covers
• The difference between a per-session copy limit and an event print limit
• What counts as a print — copies, not sheets of paper
• How guests see the limit, and what a dimmed Print option means
• When a print gets counted
• Why each iPad counts its own event total
• How to change a limit while an event is running
• Troubleshooting common print limit issues
Before You Start
Your event print limit is now enforced exactly — a booth can no longer print past it.
Each iPad counts its own event total. Stations do not share a running count. If you run several stations on one event, set the limit as a per-station figure.
The limit counts copies — the pieces a guest walks away with — not sheets of paper. On a strips event those two numbers differ.
Changing a limit in your dashboard reaches the iPad on an event refresh, not instantly.
The Two Limits
Limit | What it controls |
Per-session copies | How many copies of a single photo session can be printed. This is what caps the number a guest can choose in the copies picker. |
Event total | How many prints the event can produce on this iPad, across every session it runs. |
Both are set in your event settings. Either can be set to unlimited, or set to zero — and zero means something specific: printing is switched off, so the Print option is hidden entirely rather than appearing as a limit that's been used up.
What Counts as a Print
Both limits count copies — the individual pieces a guest ends up holding. They do not count sheets of paper.
For standard prints the two are the same thing: one copy is one sheet. For strips they aren't. Snappic lays several strips onto one sheet according to that printer's Strips per Sheet setting, then the sheet is cut. So a guest who asks for four strips on a printer set to two strips per sheet uses two sheets of media, but four comes off the print limit.
This is why the media reading on a printer row — 213 prints left — won't agree with your event limit on a strips event. That number counts sheets left in the printer. The event limit counts copies handed to guests. Both are right; they measure different things.
How Guests See the Limit
When printing isn't available, the Print option doesn't quietly vanish. It shows dimmed, and tapping it explains why. There are three explanations:
What the guest sees | What it means |
Print Limit Reached — "This photo has reached its print limit." | This session has used its per-session copies. Other sessions can still print. This is the one you'll see most. |
Print Limit Reached — "The print limit for this event has been reached." | This iPad has used the whole event total. No further session on it can print until you raise the limit. |
Printing Automatically — "Your photo will be printed automatically." | Not a limit. The session's auto-print hasn't gone out yet, and printing manually now would double up. |
The print form itself is titled Print Options, and where a session has printed before it carries a line reading 3 copies already printed — so you're not guessing whether a guest has already collected prints.
The copies picker on that form only ever offers what's actually left, taking the lower of the session limit and the event total. When just one print remains the picker doesn't appear at all, and the form prints a single copy.
An option that disappears entirely means something different: that output can't be printed at all. That happens when the output is a video, when printing is switched off for its template, when no configured printer's routing rules cover it, or when the event's print limit is set to zero. None of those are a limit that's been used up.
When a Print Gets Counted
A print counts when it's actually going to come out — not when a guest asks for it, and not when they pick it up off the printer:
Prints are counted as they print. A job cancelled while it's still waiting, or that fails, is not counted.
The exception is auto-print on the share screen, which counts as soon as it's queued — cancelling it afterwards doesn't un-count it.
Retrying a failed job never counts twice.
Test Print never counts against limits. It does use a sheet of media, so it shows on the printer's own counter.
Each Station Counts Its Own Event Total
This is the part that catches people out, and it's worth being precise about.
The event's print allowance comes down from your dashboard, so every station running that event gets the same number. The count of prints used, however, is kept on each iPad separately. Nothing syncs that running total between stations.
An event limit of 500 running on three booths allows up to 500 prints on each booth — 1500 in all, not 500 shared between them. Treat the event total as a per-station figure and divide it by the number of stations you're running.
The per-session limit is unaffected by any of this, because a photo session belongs to the station that captured it.
Counting needs no connection — prints are tallied on the iPad itself, so limits are enforced normally through a wifi dropout or a whole offline event.
Your dashboard is the place to look for an event-wide total across stations.
Changing a Limit While an Event Runs
You can, but it isn't instant. The iPad works from its stored copy of the event settings, and that copy is refreshed on the event configuration screen — when you open it, or when you tap refresh. A booth that's already running never re-fetches its settings.
So to apply a new limit mid-event:
Change the limit in your dashboard.
On the iPad, leave the running event back to the event configuration screen and let it refresh.
Start the event again.
Prints already counted are kept, so raising a limit from 500 to 800 gives you the remaining 300 rather than a fresh 800.
Queued Prints and the Print Queue
The print queue keeps working while you move around the app. Leaving the gallery, changing a setting, or ending the event doesn't cancel queued prints — they carry on printing, and they're counted as they print.
Relaunching the app, or a crash, clears anything still waiting in the queue. Those prints don't come out and are never counted. If you have a deep queue, let it drain before quitting the app.
Failed jobs rest in the queue so you can retry them. If a large number pile up, the oldest move to History to make room — those were never printed and are never counted.
The queue's History section shows what has finished, but it's a recent-jobs list and it clears when the app restarts. It's a good check on what just happened; it isn't a full record of the event. For that, use your dashboard.
Troubleshooting
My event produced far more prints than its limit. Why?
Cause: Each station counts its own event total, so the limit applied once per iPad rather than once across the event.
Fix: Set the event total to the number you want per station. For 600 prints across three booths, set the limit to 200.
Why is my event hitting its print limit sooner than it used to?
Cause: The event total is now enforced exactly, so a booth that used to drift past its total now stops at it.
Fix: Raise the event's print limit in your dashboard to match what you actually want each station to produce.
Why is the Print option dimmed?
Cause: The session limit is used up, the event total is used up, or an auto-print for that session hasn't gone out yet.
Fix: Tap the dimmed option — Snappic names which of the three it is. If it's a limit, raise it in your dashboard and refresh the event.
The Print option has disappeared completely. Is that the limit?
Cause: No. A hidden option means the output can't be printed at all — it's a video, printing is off for its template, no printer's routing rules cover it, or a print limit is set to zero.
Fix: Check the template's print settings and your printers' routing restrictions. See Managing Multiple Printers.
Why can't a guest choose as many copies as they used to?
Cause: The copies picker is capped by whichever is lower — the prints the event has left on this iPad, or your per-session copy limit.
Fix: Raise whichever is binding. If only one print remains, the picker is hidden entirely and the form prints a single copy.
A guest chose 3 copies but only 2 came out. Why?
Cause: The remaining allowance ran down while the print form was sitting open, so the job was trimmed to what was actually left. The usual culprit is auto-print of downloaded sessions spending the same budget in the background.
Fix: Raise the event limit, or lower the auto-print copy count. If the allowance reaches zero while the form is open, the guest gets the limit alert instead of a reduced print.
My print count doesn't match the sheets used on a strips event. Why?
Cause: The limit counts copies — individual strips — while the printer consumes sheets holding several strips each.
Fix: Nothing to fix. Work out your limit in strips, not sheets: at two strips per sheet, a 400-print limit is 200 sheets of media.
I raised the limit in the dashboard but the booth still says it's reached.
Cause: A running booth doesn't re-fetch its event settings.
Fix: Leave the event back to the event configuration screen so it refreshes, then start the event again.
Do test prints use up my event limit?
Cause: Not a fault — a common question when checking margins before doors open.
Fix: No. Test prints don't count against the limits. They do use a sheet of media, so they'll show on the printer's own count.
Why do prints appear on my count that a guest never collected?
Cause: Prints are counted when they go to the printer, not when a guest takes them off it. A share-screen auto-print that's cancelled after queueing also stays counted.
Fix: If prints are being made that nobody wants, check whether auto-print is enabled and how many copies it's set to.
My queued prints vanished when I reopened the app.
Cause: The print queue doesn't survive a relaunch or a crash.
Fix: Reprint those sessions from the gallery. They weren't counted against your limit, so the allowance is intact. Let deep queues drain before quitting the app.
Related Articles
Using the Print Queue — track, cancel and retry jobs while the event is running.
Managing Multiple Printers — the Printers list, per-printer settings, and printer status.
Batch Printing from the Gallery — batch prints draw from the same limits, one copy per photo.
Auto-Print After Download — auto-prints count against the event limit too.
Reprinting with Snappic — reprint a session from the gallery.
Need Help?
Visit the Snappic Help Center or chat directly from your dashboard for live support.