Licensing and Activation

Offline Activation

If BarTender activation fails because your PC has no active Internet connection, please follow these steps to activate BarTender using another PC's active Internet connection. Note: This knowledge article and our activation site do not work properly in Internet Explorer. Please use any browser ot...

Moving your license to a new computer

Internal note: Significant activations for 2019 have changed Deactivate / reactivate - counts as 1 significant activation Move licence function in the admin console - does not count as a significant activation if the new license host is on the same network A BarTender license consists of four...

Activating the BarTender Suite

If you're getting an error during activation, please see our Activation Troubleshooting Guide Activating BarTender 2019 What you'll need: A BarTender Product Key Code If you have an existing BarTender license that has an active Maintenance and Support agreement, you can use your existing pr...

Managing Printer Groups and their printers

This articles applies to BarTender 2019. In BarTender 2019, you can manage printer usage and permissions with Printer Groups in the administration console. If you're not familiar with what Printer Groups are or where to find them, please see: What are Printer Groups? Default Printer Groups Ther...

How to set and manage Printer Group Mapping Rules to automatically sort printers

This articles applies to BarTender 2019. In BarTender 2019, you can add sorting rules called Printer Group Mapping Rules to automatically sort printers into Printer Groups without any manual management needed. You can set any number of rules you desire, sorting printers into printable groups or i...

What are Printer Groups?

This articles applies to BarTender 2019. What are Printer Groups? A Printer Group is a group of printers that can be assigned printing priority or completely block use of a printer with BarTender. With Printer Groups, you can: Block access to a printer using the Blocked Group Assign user access ...

Controlling User Access in the Administration Console

This articles applies to BarTender 2019. What is User Access? In BarTender 2019, you can use the Administration Console to select which users and groups have access to certain aspects of the license as well as managing and using the license itself. Note: User Access is not used to control access ...

Creating, modifying, and managing Printer Pools

This articles applies to BarTender 2019. In BarTender 2019, you can create Printer Pools to control user access to License Partitions. If you're not familiar with the basics of Printer Pools and where to find them, please see this article: What are Printer Pools? By default, your license will hav...

Creating, modifying, and managing printer counts with the License Partition dialog

This articles applies to BarTender 2019. In BarTender 2019, you have the option of segmenting your license. This is done by utilizing License Partitions in the Administration Console. If you are not familiar with License Partitions or where to locate them, please see this support article: What ar...

How to add Printer Pools and License Partitions to a license

This articles applies to BarTender 2019. In BarTender 2019, you now have the option to segment a license and control access to each segment. This is done by using Printer Pools and License Partitions. If you're not familiar with either, please see these two articles to get you started: What are ...

What are Printer Pools?

This articles applies to BarTender 2019. What are Printer Pools? Printer Pools work hand in hand with a License Partition and do the heavy lifting for the pair. By default one Printer Pool is created upon installation. Here are some of the features of a Printer Pool Control user permissions to u...

What are License Partitions?

This articles applies to BarTender 2019. What is a License Partition? A License Partition is an allocation or group of printer licenses (sometimes called seats). Here's some basic information about License Partitions: a license has a single partition by default can break up the license into as m...

What is provisional activation? How do I provisionally activate my software?

This articles applies to BarTender 2019 and newer. What is provisional activation? Provisional activation allows you to activate a BarTender 2019 license on one computer for a temporary period, while your older license remains active in production. Provisional activations last for the following ...

Seagull License Server Remote Assistant

The License Server Remote Assistant helps BarTender maintain the proper printer count when printing in Citrix and Remote Desktop environments. You should install the Remote Assistant when all of the following conditions are true: You are running an edition of BarTender that is licensed by print...

How to find the BarTender License Server on your network in BarTender 2019

This articles applies to BarTender 2019 only. If you are looking to find your License Server in version 2016 and earlier, please see Locating Seagull License Server on your network. Question How do I find which computer or server is hosting my license? Answer Open the Administration Console Sele...

How to Deactivate BarTender

Internal note: there is a lot of version switching in this article. It will look strange in Zendesk but what the customer sees will look normal depending on the version they select on the article itself. When deactivating BT2019, you will need to select the following options in BOAS: Methods...

Is the Seagull License Server Backwards Compatible?

Question Can my newer version of the Seagull License Server work with my older version of BarTender? Answer BarTender 2019 No. In BarTender 2019, the Seagull License Server was replaced with a new Licensing Service that is not compatible with older versions of BarTender. BarTender 2016 and earl...

Getting version details about your BarTender installation

The BarTender About screen contains many useful details about your specific BarTender installation. You will often be asked to provide some or all of these details when contacting Technical Support. To open the About dialog: Open BarTender Designer Click the Help Menu Choose the About option Y...

What is Seagull License Server?

This article applies to BarTender 2016 and below. Overview Seagull License Server (SLS) came with the Automation and Enterprise Automation editions of BarTender 2016 and below. SLS is Seagull's tool for monitoring BarTender and enforcing printer licenses. Seagull License Server's only job is lic...

Locating Seagull License Server on your network

This articles applies to BarTender 2016 and below. If you are looking to find your license host in version 2019, please see How to find your License Host on your network in BarTender 2019. Overview Seagull License Server (SLS) is used for tracking printer licenses. There are times you may want to...