Log into the PaperCut NG user interface and click the Web Print link in the navigation menu.

Figure 20.6. Web Print link in the user interface

The front page contains a list of active and recently submitted Web Print jobs for the logged in user. At first the list will be blank. Later the list will show the status of submitted jobs.

Figure 20.7. The front Web Print page before any jobs have been submitted

The message at the top of this page may be customized, e.g. to include site specific information or other details that users may need to know. See the Introductory message option in Figure 20.15, “Web Print settings in the admin interface”.

Figure 20.8. Customizable Web Print introductory message

The administrator may restrict access to the Web Print feature by group, by IP address/range or disable the feature entirely. See the section called “Advanced Web Print Configuration” for details.

Click Submit a Job to start the Web Print wizard.

The first step of the Web Print wizard is selecting a printer. This is the printer that the uploaded document will print to.

Figure 20.9. Web Print wizard step 1: list of printers available for Web Print

The printers available for Web Print are chosen by the administrator. See the section called “Web Print Configuration” for details.

The printer list may be replaced with a clickable map or other custom content. See the section called “Designing Printer Maps / Custom Printer Selection Lists” for details.

After selecting a printer the second step is to select the print and/or account selection options. Most users will simply see an option to select the number of copies to print:

Figure 20.10. Web Print wizard step 2: selecting the number of copies for a Web Print job

The maximum number of copies a user may submit is configurable via the user.web-print.max-copies config editor key. See the section called “Advanced Web Print Configuration” for details.

Users with print account selection options (i.e. users who are using an account selection popup) will see additional options on this page, equivalent to what they would see on their popup:

Figure 20.11. Web Print wizard step 2: account selection options

After selecting the print options and/or account selection settings, the third and final step in the Web Print wizard is to upload a document to print. This page lists the applications and associated file extensions that are supported.

Figure 20.12. Web Print wizard step 3: upload a document

If a supported application/file extension that is listed in the section called “Supported Applications and File Formats” is not shown on this page but you expect that it should be, see the section called “Troubleshooting Web Print Problems” for assistance.

Once a document has been selected and Upload & Complete » is pressed the file will begin uploading to the server.

Figure 20.13. Web Print wizard step 3: document upload in progress

The maximum file size a user may upload is configurable, with a default of 100MB. See the option Maximum document/file upload size in the section called “Advanced Web Print Configuration” for details.

Once the document upload is complete the user is returned to the front Web Print page. The table now displays the status of the user's job. The status will change to indicate the progress of the job from rendering to printing, and job details such as cost and number of pages will be populated when known. The user may stay at this page to track the status of the job or navigate away / close their browser - the job will not be affected.

Figure 20.14. List of active Web Print jobs

At this stage the PaperCut application server accepts the uploaded document and sends it to the Web Print server. The Web Print server renders the document into a print queue by automating the process of opening the application (e.g. Adobe Reader) and printing to the target printer.