Setting up thermal receipt printers

MediPOS prints bills on 58 mm and 80 mm thermal receipt printers, the kind most medical stores keep at the counter. This guide is for whoever sets up the counters: connecting a USB or network printer, choosing it on each PC for silent printing with no print dialog, the receipt width and footer, the cash drawer, a test page, and the most common fixes.

How MediPOS sends a receipt to the printer

When the cashier completes a bill and presses Print receipt (Enter), the MediPOS app on that PC tries two ways, in this order.

Direct printing is the one to aim for. Step 3 below turns it on.

Step 1: Connect the printer and check it in Windows

1. Connect the printer by USB, or by network cable for a LAN printer, and switch it on.
2. Install its driver from the CD or the maker's website. It then appears in Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Printers & scanners, with a name such as BlackCopper 80mm or XP-58.
3. Open the printer there and choose Print test page. If this fails, the problem is the cable, the driver or the paper, not MediPOS.
4. Load the roll with the shiny, coated side towards the print head. A roll put in the wrong way round feeds out blank.

Step 2: Set the paper and how receipts print

1. Open Administration → Settings and find the card Receipt printer (in the Windows app: Printing).
2. In Paper width, choose 80 mm thermal, 58 mm thermal or 76 mm (dot-matrix). An 80 mm roll fits 48 characters a line, 76 mm fits 40 and 58 mm fits 32. Leave Characters per line on Automatic unless the test page (below) shows otherwise.
3. Choose Copies of each receipt, and whether to Print the receipt as soon as the sale is saved, Cut the paper after each receipt and Open the cash drawer on cash sales.
4. Under What the receipt shows, type your Receipt footer, for example "Shukriya. Medicines are returned only with the bill.", and tick what the receipt should carry: batch & expiry, the cashier's and customer's names, the You saved line, the barcode and your NTN. The Preview shows the result.
5. Click Save POS & receipt settings.

These settings apply to the whole pharmacy and every counter. Changing them needs the Manage settings permission. Every option is explained in Pharmacy settings, receipts and POS options.

Step 3: Turn on direct printing

Each PC chooses its own receipt printer, in the MediPOS Windows app. Do this on every counter that has a printer:

1. On that PC, open Administration → Settings and find the card Receipt printer on this PC. It says: "Receipts print straight to this printer, without a dialog, and open the cash drawer. Each counter PC has its own."
2. MediPOS detects the printers on this PC and lists them, receipt printers first. Each shows its driver and port, a Receipt printer tag when its name or driver looks like a POS printer (Black Copper, Xprinter, Epson TM, POS-58/80 and so on), the paper width its model suggests (such as 80 mm), and Windows default. Click Use this printer next to yours: it is chosen, and the paper width is set to match. If no printer is chosen yet and exactly one receipt printer is found, MediPOS offers it straight away. Click Detect printers after plugging in a new one.
3. Or open the Printer list, which shows the same printers with the same names as in Printers & scanners, and choose your thermal printer.
4. For a network printer, choose Network printer (IP address)… instead. A Printer IP address box appears: type the printer's address, for example 192.168.1.50. MediPOS uses port 9100 unless you add another, as in 192.168.1.50:9100.
5. Click Save printer. Or click Print test page straight away (see the test print below), which saves your choice first. If Use this printer changed the paper width, also click Save POS & receipt settings.

Not set — use the Windows default printer, at the top of the list, leaves direct printing off on this PC, so receipts print on the Windows default printer instead.

The MediPOS Host service saves the choice on this PC itself, in the MediPOS data folder, so each counter can have its own printer and counter 2's bills never come out at counter 1. The printer is chosen on this screen now; you do not need support to set it in a file or with a command.

If the MediPOS service is not running on that PC, the card cannot list printers. It says instead: "The MediPOS service is not running on this PC, so receipts print on the Windows default printer (no cash drawer). Restart the PC; if it keeps happening, reinstall MediPOS on this counter."

It still helps to make the thermal printer the Windows default, so a receipt that has to go through Windows does not come out on the A4 printer. In Printers & scanners, turn off Let Windows manage my default printer, open the thermal printer and choose Set as default.

For a network printer, give it a fixed IP address (in its settings, or a reservation in the router); a printer that picks up a new address after a power cut stops printing. Its self-test page shows the address: on many models you hold the feed button while switching it on. If MediPOS cannot reach it, the receipt goes through Windows instead, so the bill is not lost.

What prints on the receipt

From top to bottom: the pharmacy name in large letters; the address, phone and drug sale licence number (DSL:) from Settings, your NTN if you chose it, and your line under the shop's details; *** DUPLICATE *** on reprints; the invoice number, date, cashier and customer; each item with quantity × price and any discount, and its batch and expiry; the totals; each payment with any reference the cashier typed (such as a JazzCash transaction ID), cash received and change, or On account (udhaar); You saved Rs. … on discounted bills; your footer; a barcode of the invoice number; and the software line, MediPOS by Innobrains | medipos.pk. Each of the optional parts can be switched off under What the receipt shows.

If your pharmacy has switched on FBR POS integration, the receipt also carries the FBR lines and a QR code of the FBR invoice number. Direct printing prints a real QR code, and printing through Windows draws the same QR. See FBR POS integration for pharmacies (optional).

How the cash drawer opens

Plug the drawer's cable into the drawer port on the back of the receipt printer, not into the PC. MediPOS opens the drawer only when printing directly, only when the bill includes a cash payment, and only while Open the cash drawer on cash sales is on. A bill paid entirely by EasyPaisa, JazzCash, card or udhaar does not open it, and neither does a reprint. To check the drawer without a sale, use the test page below.

How to do a test print

1. Open Administration → Settings and go to the card Receipt printer on this PC.
2. Choose the printer in Printer (and its Printer IP address for a network printer).
3. Tick Open the cash drawer with the test page if you also want to check the drawer.
4. Click Print test page.

Print test page saves your printer choice first, then prints a short test page with the options on the screen, even before you save them: the paper width, characters per line, blank lines and cutter. It includes a ruler, a line of digits exactly as wide as one receipt line. If the ruler fills the paper on one row, the setting is right. If it wraps onto a second row, choose fewer Characters per line (for example 42 instead of 48); if it stops well short of the right edge, choose more. If nothing prints, check the printer's power, paper and cable, and for a network printer its IP address. A test page makes no bill and needs no customer, so you can print one on a brand-new PC.

On the Cloud edition in a browser, the Receipt printer card also has Detect printers and Test print with these settings when the MediPOS service is running on that PC; choosing the printer itself is done in the Windows app.

To see a real receipt, open Sales → Invoices, open an earlier bill and click Reprint. It prints marked *** DUPLICATE ***, does not open the drawer, and counts as a reprint of that bill. Reprinting needs the Reprint receipts permission.

Common fixes

Printing on the Cloud edition

In a browser, the Cloud edition opens the receipt in a small window that prints through the browser's print dialog. For silent printing on a Cloud counter, the MediPOS Windows app is installed on that PC and pointed at your online account. MediPOS support sets this up, as the installer has no Cloud choice.

Common questions

Which thermal printers work with MediPOS?

58 mm and 80 mm thermal printers and 76 mm dot-matrix receipt printers that understand ESC/POS commands, which covers the brands common in Pakistan such as Black Copper, Xprinter, Rongta, Bixolon and Epson. USB printers connect through their Windows driver; network printers use port 9100.

Can I print Urdu on the receipt?

Not with direct printing. Urdu letters come out as question marks, so write names and the footer in English or Roman Urdu.

Why does the drawer not open when a customer pays by JazzCash?

The drawer opens only for bills that include a cash payment. A Rs. 850 bill paid wholly by JazzCash puts no cash in the drawer, so MediPOS leaves it shut. It also needs direct printing: through the Windows default printer, the drawer never opens.

Related guides

• Pharmacy settings, receipts and POS options
• Billing at the counter (POS)
• Held bills, reprints and voiding a sale
• Adding counter PCs on the shop network