--- title: Set up a printer summary: Install POSAgent on the till, register it, add a USB or network printer, test it and tell Omviq which printer each station uses. id: set-up-a-printer type: how-to audience: - owner - manager areas: - printers - settings since: "2.0" updatedAt: 2026-11-07T15:47:58.638Z release: 2.5.0 url: https://help.omviq.com/printers/set-up-a-printer/ markdown: https://help.omviq.com/printers/set-up-a-printer.md related: - fix-printing-problems - make-a-sale - take-a-payment keywords: - printer - POSAgent - USB printer - network printer - label printer - kitchen printer - cash drawer - test print lang: en --- # Set up a printer Omviq prints through POSAgent, a small app that runs on each till and connects the browser to receipt printers, kitchen printers, label printers, barcode scanners and cash drawers. A browser cannot talk to a USB printer on its own, so POSAgent bridges the gap. This page takes you from a new till to a printer that prints. ## Before you start - You need to be signed in on the till you are setting up, with a role that can change settings. - Changing where a printer prints needs the **Printing** row in your role set to **Manage** or **Full**. Without at least **Manage**, the Printing view is visible but every control is greyed out. You set this under **Settings → Staff & Permissions → Roles**. - Omviq works with these printers: | Type | Connection | Used for | |---|---|---| | **Thermal receipt printer** | USB or network, ESC/POS | Customer receipts and kitchen tickets | | **Label printer** | USB or network, ZPL or CPCL (Zebra and compatibles) or ESC/POS | Product labels, shelf tags and barcodes | | **Network printer** | Ethernet or Wi-Fi, port 9100 | A printer shared by several terminals | ## Set up a new till Open **Settings → Hardware & Agent → POSAgent Setup**. On a till that has not been set up, the **Dashboard** tab shows a guided **Set up this till** checklist with five steps. Each step checks itself off as it completes. 1. **Download & install POSAgent.** The page detects your operating system and offers the right installer. Run it and let it finish. 2. **Let this browser connect to POSAgent.** This step appears only when the browser stands between the page and the agent. Current Chrome and Edge ask before a website may talk to apps on the same computer. When the browser **asks**, click **Allow** in the box near the address bar. When it **blocks** the page, set the site's **Apps on device** permission to Allow. The **Local network** setting is different and does not cover it. Use a normal window, because a private window forgets the permission. 3. **Waiting for the agent.** Omviq watches for the agent and shows its live status. If the agent is installed but cannot be reached, troubleshooting tips appear here. 4. **Register this till.** One button registers this computer with your business and turns on **Full Agent** mode. 5. **Add your first printer.** Jump straight into printer setup, as described below. Once the till is set up, the **Dashboard** tab shows a mode selector (**Cloud Mode**, **Browser Till** or **Full Agent**), the **Till ID**, a status card with the agent version, the time of the last health check and **auto-updates on**, and a **Demo Mode** toggle. Omviq keeps one live connection to the agent for the whole session, on every screen, so printing works at checkout without visiting setup first. The Dashboard always shows the current state. | Status | What it means | What to do | |---|---|---| | **Offline** | No agent is installed or reachable on this computer. | Use **Download** to install it. | | **Connecting…** | Omviq is reaching the agent. | Wait. It becomes Connected or a specific error. | | **Connected** | The agent is responding. | Nothing. | | **Agent slow** | The agent is up but answering late. | Watch it. You may need to reprint if a print seems to hang. | | **Reconnecting…** | The connection dropped and Omviq is retrying. | Nothing. It recovers by itself. | | **Unavailable** | Retries are used up and the cause is known, for example a certificate, a version mismatch or a blocked port. | Read the specific message shown. Omviq keeps checking and recovers on its own when the agent returns. | The till must be registered in the business to print. If you switch to a business where this till was never registered, the Dashboard prompts **Register this till here**. ## Add a USB printer Make sure POSAgent is installed and the till is registered first. Then, on the **Printer Setup** tab, choose **Add Printer**. The dialog has two steps. 1. **Pick printer.** Installed printers and connected USB devices appear in one list, each badged by where it was found. Select one, then confirm its **name**, **paper width** (58mm or 80mm) and **protocol**. If exactly one printer is found, it is already selected. If discovery fails, you see an error with **Retry**. If nothing is found, the dialog suggests plugging the printer in and checking the cable, and offers to add a network printer instead. 2. **Test & finish.** The printer is added straight away. Send a **test print** and see the result in the dialog. Choose **Done**. Auto-cut, cash drawer and QR or barcode support are set afterwards, from the printer card's **Edit** dialog. **Print method.** A USB receipt printer can print two ways. You choose during setup and can change it later in the printer's **Edit** dialog. | Method | How it works | When to use it | |---|---|---| | **Direct USB** (recommended) | POSAgent sends the data straight down the USB cable. No driver queue, so it prints at once. | Thermal receipt printers that support it. Omviq offers it when it detects one. | | **System printer** | Prints through the operating system's queue. | Printers without direct print, or printers the system shares. | On Windows, a printer's queue is tied to one USB port (USB001, USB002 and so on). When you add a printer with **System printer**, or any time from **Edit**, POSAgent lists the ports it found. Choose **Test this port** and watch the printer. When one prints, choose **Use this port**. If a printer stops printing after it was unplugged and reconnected, run the port check again, because Windows can assign a different port. ## Add a network printer Choose **network printer** in the **Add Printer** dialog, enter its IP address and port (the default is 9100) and send a test print. Network printers belong to the whole business, so every terminal can use them. When you add or edit a network printer on a till that has POSAgent running, Omviq also records the printer's hardware address (MAC). If your router later gives the printer a new IP address, Omviq finds it again by that address and keeps printing. With no agent connected, the dialog says **Automatic re-find unavailable without a local agent**. The printer still works at the address you typed, but it cannot be found again if that address changes. ## Label printers Pick the **protocol** in the dialog. Label printers default to ZPL. Omviq draws the label once and speaks the right language to whichever printer you chose, so changing printer brand does not change your label design. The **Label Settings** section lets you choose the **Label size** (a preset such as retail 2×1, jewelry 30×15mm or 4×6 shipping, or your own width and height), the print quality (darkness, speed and media type), print a **Test Label** with crop marks and a barcode to check alignment, and run **Calibrate** after you change stock (ZPL printers). ## The printer card Each printer on the **Printer Setup** tab is a card with its name, a **USB** or **Network** badge, its address, its paper width, a star on the default printer, and a status that starts as **Not checked** with a **Check now** link for USB printers. Each card has a **Test print** button and a menu with **Edit**, **Set as default** and **Delete**. Printers added from one till are saved for the business you were in at the time, so USB printers appear in that business only. ## Tell Omviq where each print goes **Kitchen stations.** Customer receipts and kitchen tickets route through your kitchen stations. Under **Settings → Kitchen Display → Stations**, each station (for example Grill, Fry, Bar and Customer) has: | Field | What it does | |---|---| | **Output mode** | Kitchen display only, printer only, or both. | | **Primary printer** | The printer from POSAgent setup that this station uses. | | **Fallback printer** | Used when the primary printer cannot be reached. | | **Copies** | How many kitchen ticket copies print. | When something prints, Omviq finds the item's fulfillment center, finds its station and uses that station's primary, then fallback, then default printer. Use **Test Print** on each row to check the whole path. **Customer receipts use the Customer station's printer.** Setting a default printer is not enough if the Customer station has no printer assigned. **How a printer is reached.** Under **Settings → Printing**, each printer has a **modality**: **Local** prints through this till's POSAgent connection, which is the normal path for a till with a printer plugged in, and **Browser** prints through the device's own print dialog, for a till with no agent. Pick one for each printer and save. It applies to the very next print. **Health and the log.** Each printer row has a health chip: **OK** (green) when it is reachable and ready, **WARN** (amber) when something needs attention but it may still print, and **ERROR** (red) when it cannot print. Tap a WARN or ERROR chip to see the fault, for example offline, out of paper or cover open. The **Print Log** lists each print with the printer it went to and its outcome: **Printed**, **Queued** (waiting for a degraded printer to recover) or **Failed** (tap the entry to see why). A print that cannot go through always shows a message on screen at once. It never fails silently and never reroutes quietly. ## Paper, copies and the cash drawer Paper width is 80mm unless you choose 58mm when you add the printer. Kitchen tickets print one copy by default, and a station can print more (for example one for the cook and one for the expeditor). The cash drawer connects through the receipt printer. When a cash payment is taken, Omviq signals the printer, and the printer opens the drawer. If it does not open, check the cable between the printer and the drawer, and check that the **cash drawer** capability is on in the printer's **Edit** dialog. ## What prints and when | Print | Prints when | |---|---| | Customer receipt | The sale completes. | | Kitchen ticket | An order is sent to the kitchen. | | End-of-day report | A till is closed. | | Refund receipt | A refund is processed. | Printing goes through POSAgent, with an automatic fall back to the browser's print dialog. ## If something goes wrong | What you see | What to do | |---|---| | Nothing prints | POSAgent may not be running, or the till is not registered. Check the **Dashboard** tab in POSAgent Setup and follow the status guidance. | | The Dashboard says **Not installed** | Use the **Download** button. It offers the right installer for your system. | | The Dashboard says **Installed but offline** | The agent is not running or is blocked. Follow the on-screen tips, such as starting the agent and checking the firewall, then click **Check again**. | | The Dashboard says **Online, not registered** | Click **Register this till**. | | The printer card shows **Not checked** | Click **Check now** on the card. | | The printer list shows an error, or **Failed to add printer** | You may be in a different business from the one this till's printers were set up in. USB printers are saved for each business. Use the business switcher at the top left to return. Network printers are shared and are not affected. | | No printers found when adding | Plug the printer in and check the cable, then **Retry**. Or add it as a network printer. | | Garbled text | The protocol is wrong. Check that the printer uses ESC/POS, in the Add Printer or Edit dialog. | | Slow printing | The network may be congested. Check it, or use a USB connection. | | The wrong printer gets a ticket | A station's printer is set up wrong. Check **Settings → Kitchen Display → Stations**. | | A receipt cuts off | The paper may be jammed or the roll empty. Replace the roll. | For failures at print time, see [Fix printing problems](https://help.omviq.com/printers/fix-printing-problems/). ## Related pages - [Fix printing problems](https://help.omviq.com/printers/fix-printing-problems/) - [Make a sale](https://help.omviq.com/selling/make-a-sale/) - [Take a payment](https://help.omviq.com/payments/take-a-payment/)