Updates to Print Station and Print Portal in BarTender 2022
Question
Print Station and BarTender Print Portal are getting some major updates in BarTender 2022 R1. What are some of the updates?
Applicable to
BarTender 2022 R1 and later
Print Station
Print Station is getting a makeover. The application now runs on the same framework as Print Portal but as a local application, no server or internet connection needed. Here's a preview of the new interface:
With the new updated interface come customization options that were previously only available in BarTender Print Portal.
Branding allows you to customize the look and feel of the interface. This includes
- Changing the brand logo (by default, it is the Print Station icon)
- Background colors
- Header and footer colors
- Folder navigation tree colors
- Button colors
- Folder icons
- Link text and hover colors
Despite the makeover, Print Station continues to have many of its old features including
- When to save a document after printing
- Idle times
- Showing and hiding folders and navigation
- Showing and hiding the print dialog
BarTender Print Portal
While Bartender Print Portal is not getting a makeover, it is getting some updates as well.
BarTender Print Portal will now be available in Professional and Automation Editions with some limitations:
- Cannot use Librarian files
- Cannot use Workflows
- Cannot use Print Portal's security settings
Enterprise Edition will continue to have all these features.
In addition to the edition change, there are some new, highly requested settings.
- You can set documents to print immediately and to hide the print dialog
- You can show and hide folders in the site navigation much like in Print Station
Differences between Print Portal and Print Station
While the two applications look the same now, there are still several key differences in functionality between the applications
| Print Station | BarTender Print Portal |
|---|---|
| Can print Batch files, Process Builder files, and BTXML | Cannot print these files due to the limitations of a web app |
| Can use Windows-side printer restrictions and permissions based on the Active Directory | Cannot limit printer restrictions this way |
| Can use Client-side scales like Designer can | Unable to use scales |
| Can run in Kiosk mode* natively |
Can run in Kiosk mode using Chromium |
* Kiosk mode is a Windows-based mode that forces an application to run full-screen and be the top-most application, much like a kiosk at a check stand.
Known Issues
The following are some notable issues to be aware of when using BarTender 2022 Print Station and Print Portal. We are aware of these issues and our development team is looking to address them in a later release of BarTender.
- When using Print Station and Print Portal to print serialized labels, the pervious serialized value is not automatically saved with the BarTender document. In order for the previous serialized value to be saved, change the Save documents setting in the Advanced tab of Print Portal/Print Station to ‘Always save’.
- Using conditional document form actions with Print Station and Print Portal will be supported in a later release.
- Newly installed printers may not display in Print Portal until the Windows Internet Information Services (IIS) application pool (BPP_AppPool) is restarted.