School burns while Fire evac prints - InVentry & Papercut

[EliteCommander]

We use InVentry for staff/visitor/pupil access. In the event of an emergency admin staff and/or fire marshals need to print an evacuation list. We also have Papercut print management. Currently a staff member has to authorise multiple print jobs to print off the 6 or 7 pages of the evac report. I have contacted InVentry to see whether the report can be condensed into a single print file, but they claim that this is impossible (some excuse about reading from multiple data sources). Has anyone come across this or a similar situation, or can any InVentry or Papercut experts suggest a way forward. Thanks people.

[mrnoisy]

Can’t you just use the inventry app to do your fire register, seems a bit daft waiting for a printout when there’s a fire [emoji848]

[pantscat]

Can one/all of the staff that would print the report have the authority to authorise these print jobs?

[mavhc]

Can't you a) bypass papercut or b) add an exception in papercut to allow the fire system to print without auth?

[EssentialRug]

Admin office have a tablet with 4G SIM here with the sign in system app on to do the fire register outside. Just grab and go

[6Foot2]

Can’t you just use the inventry app to do your fire register, seems a bit daft waiting for a printout when there’s a fire [emoji848]

 

If I recall correctly from our use of InVentry, the app is the way forward here. Staff can use it on their phones/pads/laptops, and the designated member(s) of staff can see the roll call updated live on their device(s)

 

*We never got it to work the way it should, though.

[jthompson]

Have you considered the InVentry Evac mobile app? That would give you a paperless evac checklist. You might want to include it in addition to paper lists.

 

EDIT: InVentry Evac on Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.inventry&hl=en

Note that that's a separate app from Inventry Anywhere.

Edited July 22, 2022 by jthompson

[noelmm]

We are moving to papercut over the summer so hopefully we won't have this issue with our inventry reports. Currently we use Equitrac and simply have a dedicated laptop on reception that is mapped directly to a printer so when a user presses the report button instead of having to release a print job it just automatically prints, it takes no more 30 seconds to print the report this way.

[FN-GM]

We are moving to papercut over the summer so hopefully we won't have this issue with our inventry reports. Currently we use Equitrac and simply have a dedicated laptop on reception that is mapped directly to a printer so when a user presses the report button instead of having to release a print job it just automatically prints, it takes no more 30 seconds to print the report this way.

 

There is no reason why you can’t do the same.

[psydii]

While the app should definitely be the primary go-to in this scenario, in the interests of resiliency through diversity getting registers etc onto paper is important.

 

I'd have thought papercut could be configured to have an queue usable in emergencies that over-rides all charging options and just lets the job print.

 

Also when I last did this (back when winfolder was a thing) we sent the emergency registers to two printers at either end of the building, so in the event that the incident had already taken out the school office, another the office could take over.

[andy_b]

You could also probably do a Papercut script to bypass the hold/release queue based on the document name?

 

(actions.job.bypassReleaseQueue() & inputs.job.documentName)

[MYK-IT]

We have a dedicated 'Inventry' printer setup within PaperCut, that prints direct to nominated printer with no prompts for cost centre etc. allowing all (combined) Fire Evac Reports to print straight out.

 

We do have access to the Inventry Evac App too; in addition we have pre-printed student / tutor group lists however that all form part of a wider school evac procedure (in case of loss of power, IT systems etc).

[EliteCommander]

Thanks for all your replies, almost overwhelmed by the number of responses already. I have suggested the app as I have it on my phone and it works well, but they're not keen on using it for some (possibly luddite) reason. I'm not hot on Papercut so creating scripts is not a great option, however there may be someone in the organisation that can do this, so I'll look into it. Your posts have given me a lot to think about, and I thank you all for your time and knowledge.

[howartp]

We have a dedicated printer under reception that does nothing but fire evac.

 

It may be overkill, but the direct queue to the reception/office copier is only ok until the copier is jammed or in the middle of a large run, then it can't be accessed whilst printing fire reports.

[EliteCommander]

We have a dedicated printer under reception that does nothing but fire evac.

 

It may be overkill, but the direct queue to the reception/office copier is only ok until the copier is jammed or in the middle of a large run, then it can't be accessed whilst printing fire reports.

 

This is what I recommended, but the powers that be think it's far too much expense for the job. I'll remind them if and when anyone is late leaving the building in a real emergency, which obviously I hope does NOT happen.

[PaperCutterBrenda]

Hi there EliteCommander, PaperCutter Brenda here! I chatted with our Supporties and they recommend you dedicate an “emergency printer” on the print server that the responsible staff member(s) have access to using the existing printer share method of the organization. You can use this printer explicitly for this purpose and make a change to the print provider config file to exclude this printer from PaperCut's tracking and control. https://www.papercut.com/support/resources/manuals/ng-mf/applicationserver/topics/printer-add-remove-printer.htmlThe result being that any jobs sent to this queue will be ignored by PaperCut, and jobs will output immediately.The important thing to note is that by ‘ignore printer’ we only mean ignore the print queue. Any other print queues pointed at the actual physical MF/copier/printer would not be affected. Also it would need to be a queue pointed at the IP of the printer.

 

Hope that helps and if you need any further guidance, please don't hesitate to reach out to [email protected]!

 

Happy weekend!

[EliteCommander]

Thank you Brenda, that's an excellent idea, now I just have to get it past the Change request guys. I hope they agree that it's a pretty elegant solution.

[mavhc]

B/W laser printer is £100, £130 if you want ethernet, inc vat, that's nothing

[jmak]

We have a thermal printer to avoid issues with toners running out, print heads clogging etc on a printer that's only used rarely.

[Planehazza]

On 22/07/2022 at 18:06, PaperCutterBrenda said:

Hi there EliteCommander, PaperCutter Brenda here! I chatted with our Supporties and they recommend you dedicate an “emergency printer” on the print server that the responsible staff member(s) have access to using the existing printer share method of the organization. You can use this printer explicitly for this purpose and make a change to the print provider config file to exclude this printer from PaperCut's tracking and control. https://www.papercut.com/support/resources/manuals/ng-mf/applicationserver/topics/printer-add-remove-printer.htmlThe result being that any jobs sent to this queue will be ignored by PaperCut, and jobs will output immediately.The important thing to note is that by ‘ignore printer’ we only mean ignore the print queue. Any other print queues pointed at the actual physical MF/copier/printer would not be affected. Also it would need to be a queue pointed at the IP of the printer.

 

Hope that helps and if you need any further guidance, please don't hesitate to reach out to [email protected]!

 

Happy weekend!

Hi,

 

This link is dead now it seems. Is there an updated article I can look at, please?

 

EDIT, for anyone else needing it: https://www.papercut.com/help/manuals/ng-mf/applicationserver/printer-add-remove-printer/

Edited October 20, 2025 by Planehazza

[David44]

https://www.papercut.com/help/manuals/ng-mf/applicationserver/printer-add-remove-printer/

[howartp]

https://www.papercut.com/help/manuals/ng-mf/applicationserver/printer-add-remove-printer/

[howartp]

(Sorry, hadn't refreshed the page before I posted)

[Planehazza]

Weird. I've added a duplicate queue to my print server, essentially two queues to the same copier. I've added the printer name FIRE EVACUATION to the ignore list following the guide, restarted the service and confirmed that the deleted printer in PaperCut does not reappear.

 

However, clicking print test page from the server to either queue on the same IP port, nothing happens. I see the job appear immediately disappear from the print queue just like what happens when PaperCut handles it. Something's not quite right. Does PaperCut not liking having multiple printers on the same port?

I see nothing relating to my user or document in Jobs Pending Release section, so it's like PaperCut is instead immediately rejecting the job? The Job Log section, however, does show it as printed, which it certainly is not. 100% the correct IP, I'm sat next to the copier and have just checked it locally.

 

Thanks! 

Edited October 20, 2025 by Planehazza