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How to customise printing behaviour

How to customise printing behaviour

Rebecca avatar
Written by Rebecca
Updated over a week ago

In this article:

  • Add your Company Details to the Receipt
  • Print more than one copy of a docket
  • Print different product variants at separate printer locations
  • Rearrange categories on dockets
  • Print one docket per item
  • Group printing for dockets
  • Separating dockets by order type, e.g. takeaway
  • Print different products on separate dockets
  • Print an item with a different name
  • Key placeholders

Go to Print Settings > Printing Templates to see what your printers can print.

Note: Don't forget that whenever you change a printing template, you will need to sync printing templates on Abacus POS to apply the changes.

Add your Company Details to the Receipt

Australia requires businesses to include their company details, including ABN/ACN on receipts (see ACCC Receipts). You will need to edit your Invoice Receipt printing template to accomplish this. 

  1. Click the pencil button on the right of the Invoice Receipt listing
  2. Insert the following placeholders in the Invoice Receipt Template underneath the [logo] placeholder:
[company_address]
Tel: [company_phonenumber]
ABN: [company_registration]

These details are pulled from the Company Profile

3. Click Save

4. Sync printing templates on Abacus POS

To print your Logo on the receipt, upload it in your Company Profile > Logo, then perform a Master Sync.

Print more than one copy of a docket

By default, only one copy of the docket is sent to the printer. You can change this!

  1. Go to the Order Docket printing template details
  2. Add this to the start of the template:
<copy>2</copy>

The number in the code determines how many copies will be printed.
3. Click Save
4. Sync printing templates on Abacus POS

Different printer locations for different product variants

If you would like to have different printer locations for each product variant, you should create matching products (with printer locations of your choosing) and then link each product to its corresponding product variant.

For example, if you have a pizza with the variants "large" and "small, you will need to:

  1. Make a product called "Large pizza"; this will not actually be ordered on the POS
  2. Set the appropriate printer location for large pizzas
  3. Set the Product for your product variant "large"

This is because any product variant will use the printing attributes of the product selected within the variant value.

Rearrange categories on dockets

  1. Go to Print Settings > Category Print Order 
  2. Drag and drop the categories into the order you want categories to print

3. In the Abacus POS settings, switch on the setting C.10. ITEMS PRINT MODE to SORTED BY CATEGORY

Note that only order docket items are printed in this order (i.e. items for production), not bills or receipts.

Print one docket per item

By default, our dockets are formatted to print all ordered items on the single docket.

If you want to print single dockets for each item, then you should do the following:

  1. Go to the order docket for the printer that you wish to print individually from
  2. Move [item_list] to the very start of the template body (so that all the information on the docket is repeated for every item)
  3. Add <cut-feed> immediately before [/item_list] (to separate each item's docket from the next item's docket)
  4. Save.
  5. Sync receipt templates on the POS.

If you change your mind later on, just go to your Order Docket template and copy and paste the original code (below):

[item_list][item_quantity] x [item_name][item_note][item_extras][/item_list].

Group printing for dockets

Group printing, which is also known as reference printing, is necessary for kitchen environments where two items that belong to different printer locations need to be served together.

For example, you may have one printer for drink orders, and one printer for food orders. Usually, this would mean that as soon as any drink is prepared or as soon as any food item is prepared, it is served individually to the customer, regardless of what else was ordered with it. 

However, you may have a policy to serve drink and food together, at the same time. This is when you need Group Printing.

Group printing will automatically print out the order for both food and drink orders at both printer locations, so your kitchen staff know to serve both parts of the order (food and drink) together.

WITHOUT GROUP PRINTING

WITH GROUP PRINTING

  1. Go to Print Settings > Printer Locations 
  2. Click on the Group tab
  3. Click the New Group button
  4. Enter the Name of the group

5. Go back to the Printer Location tab
6. Add a printer location to a group by selecting the newly created group

7. On Abacus POS, perform a Master sync

Now, when food and drink are ordered together, they will appear on both dockets!

Advanced group printing configuration

If you only want group printing to occur for specific products (eg. not any drink, but only coffee), you will need to create separate printer locations for them.

  1. Go to Print Settings > Printer Locations
  2. Create and name a New Printer Location
  3. Go to the Group tab and create a new group
  4. Add the relevant printer locations to the new group (as per above instructions)

5. Assign the new printer locations to its products. Remove the old printer location from these products to avoid double-printing.

6. On the Abacus POS, perform a Master Sync 

7. Reconfigure the printer locations so your existing printer also serves as the new printer location

Separating dockets by order type, e.g. takeaway

If you want to set up a separate printer just for takeaway orders, you'll need to make sure that all takeaway orders are sent to that printer. 

  1. Click New Printer Location
  2. Call this location "Takeaway"

3. Let's say you already have a "Kitchen" printer location set up for most of your products. You still want Kitchen products to go to the Kitchen, unless they are takeaway orders. Click the small arrow button next to "Kitchen" to show extra options.
4. Click Add New Record
5. Select your Order Type (e.g. Takeaway)
6. Set the Target Location as Takeaway.

7. (OPTIONAL) If you want the kitchen printer to still receive takeaway orders, too, set Kitchen as a second target printer.

8. Repeat steps 3-7 for any other existing printer locations that you want to redirect to the Takeaway printer (e.g. if you want takeaway drinks to print at the takeaway printer)
Next, you'll need to update your Printing Templates.

Update Printing Templates

  1. Go to Printing Templates. A new template will have been generated: "Order Docket - Takeaway". 

2. Click the pencil button next to "Order Docket - Takeaway" to edit it.

3. Set the Printer Location as "Takeaway"

4. Save. 

5. On the POS, sync receipt templates.

6. Assign your Takeaway Printer to the Takeaway Printer location as per standard procedure. (See How do I configure printer locations in the app?)
7. Finally, when you put through a Takeaway order, it will print at the Takeaway Printer!

Print different products on separate dockets

(How can I print different products on separate dockets?)

Someone orders 2 coffees and a muffin. You want the printer to print out two dockets: one for the coffees, one for the muffin. This means creating two separate printer locations for one printer.

  1. In the Abacus back end (app.abacus.co), go to Printer Locations
  2. Click New Printer Location
  3. Create as many printer locations as you like. Multiple products (on one order) that have the same printer location will be printed on the same docket.

4. Assign your printer locations to their respective products

5. In the Abacus front end (iPad app), sync your Receipt Templates

6. Go to the Printer Settings and tick both of the Printer Locations created in steps 2 and 3.

The next time someone orders products from both printer locations, the products will be separated on the dockets.

Print different product variants at separate printer locations

When you link a product variant to a product, it will print at that printer location.

If you would like to have different printer locations for each product variant, you should create matching products (with printer locations of your choosing) and then link each product to its corresponding product variant.

  1. Create a product for the variant value, where the printer location is set


2. Link the variant value to the product, for that variant to print at the printer location set in step 1

Print an item with a different name

How can I get an item to print with a different name?

If you wish the name of the product to differ when it is printed in dockets and receipts, input a Print Name. This will override the Product Name in receipt/docket printing.

  1. Go to Product Details in the backend 
  2. Enter a Print Name
  3. Save

4. Go to Print Settings > Printing Templates and edit all relevant templates to use the placeholder [item_print_name] instead of [item_name].

5. Perform a Master Sync on Abacus POS

Key placeholders

You can find a list of placeholders underneath the printing template.

Here are some key placeholders you should know:

  • Customer name [customer_name]
  • Order number [order_num]
  • Extra large font <font-extra-large> Your text here </font-extra-large>
  • Large font  <font-large> Your text here </font-large>
  • Medium font  <font-medium> Your text here </font-medium>
  • Small font  <font-small> Your text here </font-small>
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