Tips for supporting your Bluetooth printer if it stops working

The Brother QL-820NWB printer offers Bluetooth connection direct to the iPad, this means you do not need to connect the printer via Wi-Fi. You can create a direct connection between the iPad and the Printer

Note: Bluetooth printers can only connect to one iPad at a time. You will not be able to connect multiple iPads to one printer when using the Bluetooth option.

If your printer stops working or loses connectivity you may need to reconnect the printer to your iPad but first, you will need to un-pair it from the Visitor Manager Central App and the iPad itself.

1. Check to ensure the Bluetooth printer is not paired with the Visitor Manager Central app. Login to your Visitor Manager Central application and view Printer Settings.

2. Check your iPad’s settings app, if the Bluetooth printer is still showing as connected, select it and tap the Information (i) icon.

3. Tap “Forget this Device”

Now reconnect your Bluetooth printer to the iPad following the instructions provided in our Printer connection articles.

Apple recently changed how auto lock mode works with guided access enabled. Follow this guide to stop your iPad screen from locking.

Apple changes how guided access mode works with the auto lock feature being enabled. Since iOS 11 both of these being enabled can cause the iPad to lock and screen switch off after guided access is enabled.

The Visitor Manager Central Kiosk app has its own “sleep” mode built into the settings of the app. Once you login to the app you will see a SETTINGS tab on the home screen, on this screen you can enable a sleep mode to put the kiosk to sleep and wake up at a time you set.

If you wish to disable the auto-lock on the default iPad settings follow the instructions below.

How to disable auto-lock in guided access mode

1. Go to Settings > Display & Brightness
2. Disable Auto-Lock, set this to Never
3. Go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Guided Access
4. Turn ON Guided Access
5. Turin ON Accessibility Shortcut
6. Turn ON Mirror Display Auto Lock

In this article we work through common reasons that badges fail to print. This can be generally fixed quite easily and quickly.

This is the most common support request we get at Visitor Manager Central. But with some simple steps and following the setup guides for each type of printer you have, you can minimise or completely resolve this happening!

Supported Printers

Visitor Manager Central supports the following label printers for correctly printing badges for visitors and your users. Please ensure you are only using one of these supported models.

• Brother QL-720NW (Lan, Wireless)
• Brother QL-800 (Lan)
• Brother QL-810W (Lan, Wireless)
• Brother QL-820NWB (Lan, Wireless, Bluetooth)

The best printer you can invest in is the Brother QL-820NWB currently.

Other models in the series may be supported, please contact visitormanagercentral.com.au if you are unsure of what printer will perform best for your needs.

How printing works

Setting up a printer is easy, it’s a direct connection between the iPad and the Printer over your office wi-fi network or Bluetooth (if supported).

• When a visitor signs in the iPad sends data back to the Visitor Manager Central cloud
• Visitor Manager Central then sends data back to the iPad confirming the visitor sign in and requests a badge to be printed
• The iPad then talks to the connected printer over the network and tells it to print the badge for the visitor.

You can connect multiple iPads to one Wi-Fi printer buy if you are using Bluetooth you can only connected one iPad to one printer at a time.

Printer Configuration Options

The screen below shows the settings screen of the Visitor Manager Central iPad app. Once you install the iPad app and login with your username and password you will be presented with your Kiosk and Printer options.

To access the printer settings, tap “SETTINGS” at the bottom of the screen.

1. Wi-Fi Printer – tap to select your network connected printer. If your printer is correctly setup on the network, it should appear in the printer list after a few moments once it has been detected.
2. IP Address – this is your printers network IP address, it will display here once the printer is connected, you can also manually enter a printer IP address if it is not detected on the network or not discoverable.
3. Bluetooth Search & Pair – for the QL-820NWB series printer, this function operates the same as the Wi-Fi printer option, it will display a list of printers you can connect.
4. Printer – this will display a list of Bluetooth enabled printers you can connect to
5. Paper Size – the default paper size will be 100mmx60mm and we recommend these labels, however if you use a continuous label roll you may need to change the default paper size. Only use the labels marked DK-11202.
6. Print Test – sends a test badge print job to the printer, this is prefect for testing/troubleshooting.
7. Reachability Test – as above but without badge printing, it simply makes sure there is a connection and will confirm this on screen.

Printer Stops Working

There are a few options to try if your printer displays an error message on the iPad and will not print, or simply nothing happens.

1. Logout of the iPad app by tapping the bottom right corner of your iPap kiosk until you see a settings icon appear, tap this and then enter your iPad kiosk password.
2. You can also logout of the app by closing the application and clearing it from the iPad memory (double tap home button on iPad and swipe up on the app window).
3. Login to the iPad app again and navigate to the Printer settings (as pictured above)

It’s likely none of your settings have changed at this point. If the Printer is not shown on the settings page, try reconnecting it again. If the printer does show there are a few options to try.

1. Use the Print Test function, if the printer prints then it should work fine
2. Use reachability test, if it reaches the printer, also try a Print Test function
3. The same applies for both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connected printers
4. Ensure you are running the latest version of Visitor Manager Central (the App Store will always have the latest version available)
5. Ensure your iPad is a supported model and is updated to the latest version of iOS

Please note

• It’s highly unlikely you will need to delete the Visitor Manager Central app and reinstall just to get a printer to work, there is no need for this unless our support team instruct you to do so.
• If you turn off the Printer it may need to be connected to the iPad again, Printers are assigned a unique IP address on the network, if they are turned off this could be reset, and you will need to reconnect it again. Same applies for a power failure or similar.
• Sometimes your IT Admin will set a fixed (static) IP to a printer so the IP never changes even when it’s turned off. If you know this number, ensure its displaying correctly on the iPad printer settings and matches.
• If you cannot see your Printer on the network, ask your IT Admin for assistance.

Important

Visitor Manager Central supports the DK-11202 labels which are 62x100mm. Other formats may work at times, but we do not officially support these types. Please check to ensure you are using the DK-11202 labels always and that they have been inserted into the printer holder carefully.

In some cases, your iPad may be performing slower than expected. Here are a few tips to keep things running nice and fast.

There are some key things you can do to ensure your iPad performs well and requires little to no maintenance for ongoing performance. Most of these tips can be enabled in the iPad’s Settings app.

• Use a recent iPad model – if you can, ensure you have a later model iPad. Check out our Hardware support articles for the iPad models we officially support.
• Keep your iPad up to date with the latest version of iOS
• Keep your Visitor Manager Central iPad app up to date with the latest version
• Turn off auto updates for the iPad and apps. This means you will need to run a manual update when we release new versions and approve iOS versions to work with Visitor Manager Central but it gives you the opportunity to do a quick health check on the device also.
• Disable night mode and any other setting that allows the iPad to go to sleep.
• Ensure your iPad is plugged into power always

If your iPad/App is performing slowly or is not responsive, please check your Wi-Fi settings. Wi-Fi connectivity is essential to performance of the Visitor Manager Central App.

• Can you load a website in the safari browser?
• Can you see other devices on the network?

If performance is still an issue, follow these steps:

• Delete the Visitor Manager Central app from the iPad
• Update the iPad version of iOS
• Restart your iPad
• Reinstall the Visitor Manager Central application
• Load the Visitor Manager Central app and add your printer settings
• Load your kiosk and test the app with

This is similar to upgrading the Visitor Manager Central app when we release a new version.

Got any questions or need support? Get in touch with the team at visitormangercentral.com.au or use the chat widget to send us a live message.