Kitchen docket printing twice, once when the order is placed an again when i print the bill

[8degree]

Hi, recently kitchen docket is printing twice, once at the time of order placed an again when the bill is printed.

We are currently using 2 ipad with 1 printer. This printing issue only happens when we place order with the 2nd ipad and issue the bill on the main ipad. However when order is placed with the main ipad this doesn't happen. It was working fine couple of weeks ago, we haven't changed any setting since we started.

Can anyone shed some lights for me?

[Arie]

Hi @8degree,

Welcome to our Seller Community 👋
 

It sounds like there might be an additional printer station set up on one of your iPads. To check out your printer settings - do this on both iPads: 

1. Tap More > Settings > Hardware > Printers.

2. Select your printer and check what's turned on under "Use this printer for"

Please let us know how you go!

[8degree]

Hi Arie

I have double checked, both Ipads has In-Person Orders turned on, however Main Ipad has the Receipts option turned on as well. I have also setup different Printer name on each Ipads, tested it and its still printing 2 dockets.

[Madala]

This is also happening for our restaurant.  It used to work just fine, but now even if we just view the order (not add anything to the order) or add a single item to an order, it prints the entire kitchen docket again and the drinks docket as well which we have set on a separate printer.  We are chewing through so much paper on the printer now and have not been able to work out why this is happening.  It probably only happens 50% of the time when we view dockets or when customers pay their bill.

I have put in an email to Square support a week or so ago but, like usual, they have not responded.  I generally cant ring them between 9am and 5pm so have to rely on them emailing me back, but they never do.

This is really annoying now 😠

[Arie]

I understand your frustration, @8degree @Madala. 

My next suggestion would be to delete and create your printer stations anew, following these steps. I've also reached out to our Square for Restaurants team to see if there are any other troubleshooting steps, or known issues regarding multiple tickets printing. 

[8degree]

Thanks Arie, I have also done that and it is stil doing the same thing, is like the main ipad does not recognise the docket has already printed. I have resulted to turning the function off on the 2nd ipad, but it is very frustrating as I have to remember which docket has been printed and which hasn't.

[Madala]

We have tried multiple things as well.  Deleted and recreated printer stations, rebooted printers, rebooted the register, toggled off and on the printer settings - nothing seems to fix it.  We still have multiple kitchen dockets printing at random.

This must be happening to other users as well - surely??  The problem just appeared out of nowhere for us so must be something in the programming from a recent update to the software.

We are considering going back to our old hand written dockets and eftpos machine and turning square off because it's that much of a problem.  Our kitchen is cooking the same order multiple times and our bar is pouring out multiple drinks for the same customer when they only ordered one - this is wasting so much product which is costing us a fortune.

[Madala]

I've also tried calling Square in the phone.  After waiting on hold for 20 minutes, I got disconnected.  I have emailed them as well and had no response at all other than the robot reply that said my email was received and would be responded to as soon as possible - that was 8 days ago now.

[Arie]

I'm still waiting to hear back from our Restaurants team to see if something else may be at play here, @Madala. I'll be back with an update as soon as possible! 

[Madala]

We had no issues tonight.  Kitchen dockets printed normally.  Not sure how it has "fixed" itself, but hoping that the issue is now resolved.  I'll come back if the problem occurs again.

[lawnbrook]

Sometimes we get weird behaviours when updates get out of sync between devices. Perhaps that's why it seems to have resolved itself?

[Madala]

Hi Arie.  It's back! Our kitchen dockets are again printing twice at random.  We haven't changed any settings and are using the same devices as we always have.  The double docket printing is now happening almost every time now whereas previously it was perhaps only half the time.

For some context, we have Square Register, an iPad and an iPad mini.  We use the iPads to take orders at the tables and send the order to the printers.  We have one printer for kitchen (food) and a second printer for the bar (drinks) so when the order is sent, it automatically prints separate tickets for food and drinks.

The issue of the ticket reprinting happens when we open the order on the Square Register.  We open the order on the register regularly to check that tables have all their meals and drinks (so not adding items - just looking) or to add items to orders (say if someone comes to the counter and orders an extra drink or dessert).  As soon as we save the oder to get back to the main screen, the printers print the entire table order for food and drinks again - regardless if we added anything or not.  When we do add an item, it prints the entire table order with the new item at the end, not just the new item as it used to do.

My thoughts are that there may be some form of software compatability issue between the iPads and the Register that has crept in recently.  We have all the units set to automatically update the software, but maybe this isn't happening properly??  It seems that the register is not being notified that the iPads have sent the order to the printer, though it knows the order is there - it just doesn't know that it was printed.

Hoping this makes sense.

[Arie]

Yes, that makes sense, @Madala. We were just notified of a disruption impacting open tickets on Android devices, including the Square Register, that might be at cause here. Our team is posting updates via issquareup.com, and we're working on rolling out a fix with the next software update.