Terminal and external printer

[Thj]

Morning all. I have 3 square terminals and would like all food orders to be printed using our kitchen printer. The kitchen printer is connected to our Internet by ethernet cable. When I select external printers in settings on the square terminal, the kitchen printer doesn't show. Am I doing something wrong or am I not able to do this?

Tia

Alison 

[tranguyen]

Hi Alison, sorry to hear you are running into this!

As long as the Terminal and the kitchen printers are on the same network, you should be able to connect the two together and send tickets from the Terminal to the kitchen printers to be printed. It's also worth making sure that the kitchen printers you are using are on our list of compatible device as well. 

Here are also some printer troubleshooting steps which might help (the steps for Ethernet and WiFI interface receipt printers should also work for kitchen printers). 

[Sam_400º]

Hey @Thj - I know @tranguyen has given all the information to troubleshoot, but couple of questions that might help pinpoint.

1) What printer

2) Is it new/new to you or have you been using it with another system

3) When it gets powered up does it confirm it has an IP address on your network? (this could be a small confirmation printout or just a connected light) 

Sam

[JayAshton]

Hello,

I'm jumping onto this thread too... My printer is a Star TSP100III ethernet-connected printer (and incidentally has a cash drawer attached). It's working perfectly fine with my standard iPad + Square Retail app.

BUT in cranking up a Terminal, guess what: it doesn't show up in Terminal's Settings > Hardware > Connect & Manage > External Printers.

I went to 'Create Printer Station' and 'Select Printer'.

I'm using OS Version 5.29.0062

App version 6.2

I also realise that it's not on the 'supported list' but I'm not sure how up to date that list is... Any suggestion?

Thanks.

[k_atie]

Hey @JayAshton, thanks for flagging this to us. 

I had a quick look through our internal resources, and the Star TSP100III Ethernet printer should be compatible with our hardware, but I'd have to double-check. 

I'd recommend running through the Ethernet Printer Troubleshooting as well as General Troubleshooting Steps for the Terminal to see if that makes a difference in being able to connect your printer to your hardware. If not, let me know! I can take another look into this for you. 

[JayAshton]

Thanks for your reply, @k_atie 

Yeah I've had a look through those troubleshooting guides; like I say - it all works perfectly fine with Square for Retail app on the iPad and iPhone. Granted; I had to input the printer's IP Address but I can't even find an option to do that on the Terminal interface.

[k_atie]

Thanks for running through those steps for me, @JayAshton! Are you using an ethernet cable to connect your Terminal to your printer by any chance? 

Usually, when you turn on Square Terminal for the first time, you will be prompted to connect to a network.

To connect your Square Terminal via an Ethernet cable, you’ll need to purchase Hub for Square Terminal.

Once you have the hub, you can connect your Ethernet cable to your Square Terminal.

Simply select the Ethernet option and connect an Ethernet cable to your Square Terminal:

1. Plug Hub for Square Terminal into the port on the side of Square Terminal.
2. Plug the power adaptor into Hub for Square Terminal.
3. Plug one end of the power adapter cable into the adapter and the other end of the power adapter cable into a power outlet.
4. Plug your ethernet cable into the hub.

Your Square Terminal will automatically connect to your network once the Ethernet cable is plugged into the Hub for Square Terminal.

[JayAshton]

Hi.

I am not using an ethernet cable to connect my Terminal to the printer.

The printer connects to my internal network via Ethernet. The iPad runs off Wifi and it all works harmoniously.

The Square terminal needs to be portable and not restricted by cables.

So it appears to be another half-hearted effort by Square. As I recently posted in one of my other queries elsewhere, the more I get to use Square, the more frustrated I become with it and its under-developed limitations.

[Breffni]

Hi @JayAshton, just following up here. 

I'm sorry to hear about your frustration. 

While the Point of Sale apps can connect to ethernet printers wirelessly by being on the same network, this is not currently possible with the Square Terminal. 

We hope to have more flexibility on this soon, so thanks for your continued patience.

[mercuryfrost]

Hi, just to touch on the topic in this post - 

Support just told me that an ethernet receipt printer will work wirelessly with Square Terminal using Square for Restaurants - is this the case?

I currently have a USB receipt printer connected to my Square Register, and want to print order tickets from the Square Terminal units

[Breffni]

Hi @mercuryfrost - thanks for your post!

I had a look and found the following: 

"When you turn on Square Terminal for the first time, you will be prompted to connect to a network. To connect your Square Terminal via an Ethernet cable, you’ll need to purchase Hub for Square Terminal. Once you have the hub, you can connect your Ethernet cable to your Square Terminal.

Simply select the Ethernet option and connect an Ethernet cable to your Square Terminal:

1. Plug Hub for Square Terminal into the port on the side of the Square Terminal.
2. Plug the power adaptor into Hub for Square Terminal.
3. Plug one end of the power adapter cable into the adapter and the other end of the power adapter cable into a power outlet.
4. Plug your ethernet cable into the hub.

Your Square Terminal will automatically connect to your network once the Ethernet cable is plugged into the Hub for Square Terminal." 
 

I believe you would need to connect the printer via WiFi in order to be wireless. There is a suggested printer in this article for setting up Order Tickets.