Software to remove colour from print jobs

[d-taylor]

Hi,

 

We have some Ricoh GelSprinter GX e5550N printers, which will not run without colour cartridges in them. We have set the default print settings to black and white, but we still have issues with students printing in colour at a rate we cannot afford to buy new colour cartridges for.

 

Am I correct in thinking there is some software out there that converts print jobs from colour to black and white before they reach the printer, or am I just imagining it?

 

Regards,

 

Dan

[RabbieBurns]

if you set the default to B+W you can then use the printer permissions to disallow students from changing the settings (assuming windows here) in the printer security ysettings

[tmcd0035]

Maybe a somewhat expensive answer - but we use Papercut NG here to monitor all print jobs. It includes the exact feature (among meny others) you're after.

[d-taylor]

Papercut might have been an option, but we have already bought into Equitrac Express which does many similar things but not this!

 

What settings do I need to change on the printer security settings? I've had a look and there's print, Manage Printers and Manage Documents. Currently, the students only have allow ticked on print and that's it

 

Dan

[RabbieBurns]

if the printer is set to B+W print by default, they shouldnt be able to change it to colour as this would involve 'manage printer' permissions.

 

You need to ensure the default is set both at General -> Preferneces and also at Advanced -> Printing Defaults

 

(I think!)

[d-taylor]

Yeah, it's set to default on both screens. I've logged on to the computer as a student, the default is black and white but they are able to change it

 

Dan

[andy_b]

Well, my cunning plan was to use pdfcreator .

 

This could setup a virtual printer which could create, save and then print a (BW) pdf to a different printer automatically.

 

Then no amount of print preferences fiddling would enable colour printing.

 

Sadly, this plan is a little failed as the final print job always seems to be "Letter" sized not A4. Which creates annoying scaling issues

 

But I thought it may provoke ideas.

[Big_Ted]

i'd be surprised if equitrac couldn't auto convert documents to B&W

other than that as suggested setup the print queue for only B&W printing and stop students being allowed to change it.

[gds64]

Equitrac has the "force monochrome printing" option within the rules and routing section. Alternatively, you could set a rule to deny colour (and delete the job) for specific users.

[d-taylor]

There are 4 options at the start of the rules wizard in Equitrac:

 

*Apply this rule to server and workstation direct IP printing

*Apply this rule to desktop printing

*Apply this rule to copying

*Apply this rule to printing or copying

 

The first one offers me a lot more choices for rules to create, including auto-convert to monochrome. However, there's no way to control this per device type, only user type. So I could stop students from printing in colour, but that would include on the MFD's too which I don't want to do.

 

I think the easiest way to do this with Equitrac is to do gds64's second suggestion on the desktop printers rule, and have it delete any colour jobs. The users would have to be told, but this is simpler and cheaper than adding new software.

[gds64]

Assuming that your desktop devices are used for direct printing via Equitrac, you could still create a rule and apply it per device.

[d-taylor]

The only way I can see you acan apply it by device is if the device meets a criteria such as paper low or toner low

[gds64]

Sorry for not being clear. Create a rule based on force monochrome > "User is in the specified group" (students?) & "Job has one or more colour pages" > Call it "Force Mono" or similar. Go to Equitrac Express Manager > devices > select device > apply the "Force mono" rule to the Print Queue.

[d-taylor]

Ah I see, I thought it assigned that rule to all devices by default, I didn't know it didn't apply unless it was assigned to a queue. I'll give this a go!

[d-taylor]

Sorry for not being clear. Create a rule based on force monochrome > "User is in the specified group" (students?) & "Job has one or more colour pages" > Call it "Force Mono" or similar. Go to Equitrac Express Manager > devices > select device > apply the "Force mono" rule to the Print Queue.

 

This solved my issue, I didn't quite understand how rules/rule sets work, although I get it now.

 

Cheers!

[gds64]

No problem

[Alis_Klar]

I have also done this (with the assistance of Ricoh customer support). We have totally blocked colour printing. If I need colour I can print to another printer port set up as standard TCP/IP port rather than a Equitrac port. This then bypasses equitrac completely so is not recorded. Obviously is still billed as Ricoh go off machine totals not software.

 

Does anyone know how to block colour copying. We have equitrac express and PCC insstalled on our Copiers. There is no option to set up a rule. Have even tried charging £5000 per colour copy but is does not take the £5000 from the users balance but the charge still shows up on reports. So weird. I find equitrac completely confusing and inconsistant. Even Ricoh support don't know the product that well.

Edited December 4, 2012 by Alis_Klar

[d-taylor]

If you are printing and copying to that copier only in B+W, can you just remove the colour toners, or will the device not work with a missing toner?

 

Is there no setting on the device control panel itself or in the Web GUI for the device itself to block colour copying?

 

Daniel