Difference in Print Functionality

There are some online printing application printers from Markem-Imaje, Mectec, and Videojet that handle printing little bit differently with BarTender.

Instead of controlling printing through BarTender's print dialog menu (such as with the number of copies, serial numbers etc.) this is controlled directly by the physical printer. The concept of “number of copies” and “serial numbers” in the BarTender print dialog is not applicable to these types of printers. 

BarTender is simply used to create the label design. From there, the BarTender document is downloaded via the Seagull driver to the printer when the user selects Print from the print dialog menu.  After the label design is downloaded to the printer, it is up to the printer when to print, which is controlled by some other factor. For example, there may be an optical sensor that comes with the printer. Every time the sensor is triggered such as by a box passing down a conveyor belt, printing occurs.

You can distinguish these printers pretty easily by looking in the driver properties and printing preferences. You will see options like this below for downloading jobs to the printer.

Creating a BarTender Document for these Printers

Setting up a BarTender document for these types of printers is pretty simple since most of the printing is controlled by the printer.

Once you finish designing your label in BarTender, you will need to specify the quantity in the BarTender print dialog in a specific way:

• Set the number of copies to 1 and serial numbers to 2 (if you have serialization set in the BarTender document).

Why, you ask? Remember that you are only uploading the BarTender document to the printer. Everything else is controlled directly by the printer.

Serial numbers needs to be set to 2 if you are using serialization because BarTender only enables printer serial optimization if the “serial numbers” field is greater than 1. 

If you specify more than one copy in BarTender, you are just uploading the same document multiple times to the printer. This is not what you are looking to do.

Setting the copies to just 1

Setting the copies to just 1, and the serialization to 2

Serialization Considerations for Application Printers

 There are some other things to note about serialization with application printers:

• Objects in a BarTender document that uses serialization must be using printer fonts.
• Performance Optimizations for “Allow Serialization” in the BarTender print dialog also needs to be enabled.

• For barcode objects that have serialized fields, change the Print Method in the barcode properties to "Barcode and human readable text controlled by the printer".

In the Barcode Properties, go to Symbology and Size and select Print Method

Set the Barcode option to "Barcode and human readable text controlled by the printer"

• Bidirectional support in driver properties and ports tab usually also needs to be enabled for most of these printers to communicate properly.

Markem-Imaje and Multiple Printer Heads in a Printer

Markem-Imaje application printers are the only printers of this type to feature multiple printer heads.

Printing to multiple printer heads corresponds to the number of templates that you have in a BarTender document. Essentially, the first printer head will print Template 1, the second Template will print Template 2, and so on. If, for example, you are using a Markem 5200 (with two printer heads), Template 3 would print through printer head 1.