Commontray Box
Commontray Box: the print server appliance you just plug in.
No spare computer at the site? The Commontray Box is a small print server appliance with a touch screen that sits next to the printer. Plug it into power and your network and it sets itself up. Its screen shows people the code to scan, and its printer port takes your printers off the shared network for good.
Setting it up
Out of the packaging and printing in minutes.
-
Plug it in
Power, and a network cable to your network. That’s the only wiring the Box needs.
-
It sets itself up
On first start it downloads the current version of Commontray, checks its signature and installs it. Nothing is out of date on day one.
-
Add the printers
Connect it on the admin page and add your printers, or plug them straight into the printer port.
-
People scan the screen
The screen shows the code to print or release, so there’s no sticker to print.
A print release terminal without the terminal price.
The Box’s screen is the release point. It shows one big code for the printer next to it, and everything people need to know before they walk over.
- The code to scan. “Scan to print here” or, for secure release, “Scan to release your documents”.
- Whether the printer is ready. Online, or the problem in plain words, like “Out of paper”.
- Ink levels, where the printer reports them, and how many documents are waiting.
- In your language. English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish or Chinese, with the clock in your location’s time zone.
Before it’s set up, the screen walks you through connecting it. If it can’t get online, it says where the problem is, from the cable to a blocked firewall port, in words you can pass to whoever runs the network.
Isolate printers from the network, without touching the network.
Plug a printer into the Box’s printer port instead of the wall, and it no longer has an address on the shared network. Nobody can print around Commontray: not with AirPrint, not with Windows’ printer search, not by sending raw jobs to the printer’s port. Only the Box can reach it.
- Any network printer. It needs nothing from the printer. Printers that ask for an address get one; printers with a fixed address keep it and are found by themselves.
- Never on the wrong side. If someone plugs a network into the port instead of a printer, the Box notices and turns the port off.
- No internet for printers, unless an admin allows it with one switch: useful for ink subscriptions or firmware updates.
- Visible on the admin page. Which printers are on the port, which ones you’ve added, and why one can’t be reached.
For more on why this matters, see security.
Looks after itself
A box you won’t have to think about.
Signed updates
Commontray and the Box’s own software update themselves overnight. Only updates signed with the Commontray keys are installed.
Network check in plain words
Offline? The screen says where the way out stops: cable, address, router, name lookups, firewall or a sign-in page.
Diagnostics in one file
One download from the admin page holds what support needs, with private identifiers masked.
Office files built in
LibreOffice is included, so Word, Excel and PowerPoint files print without anything else to install.
Restart from anywhere
Restart the screen or the whole Box, or install updates now, from the admin page. Each action is logged with who asked.
Your time zone
The Box follows your location’s time zone, so updates and restarts happen at night where it is.
Box or computer?
Run Commontray on the Box, or on a computer you already have.
| Your own computer | Commontray Box | |
|---|---|---|
| What you need | A Windows, macOS or Linux computer that stays on | Power and a network cable |
| Office files | Install LibreOffice | Built in |
| Code on a screen by the printer | Print a QR sticker | Yes |
| Printer port to take printers off the network | No | Yes |
| Updates | Commontray updates itself | Commontray and the Box update themselves |
| Network check and diagnostics | Logs | On screen, and in one download |
The details
What’s in the Box.
- Runs
- Commontray, with LibreOffice for Office files
- Screen
- Touch screen showing the release code, printer status, ink levels and waiting documents
- Network
- Wired Ethernet to your network
- Printer port
- A separate Ethernet port for printers, on a USB adapter. Add a small switch for several.
- Power
- USB-C power supply, or Power over Ethernet with a splitter
- Languages
- English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish, Chinese
- Updates
- Automatic, overnight, signed
- Printers
- Network printers that take PDF or support IPP Everywhere. Check yours
Questions
Commontray Box questions
Do we need the Commontray Box?
No. Commontray runs just as well on a Windows, macOS or Linux computer that stays on at your site. The Box is for spaces without a spare computer, that want the release code on a screen, or that want the printers off the shared network.
Does the printer port work with any printer?
Yes, any network printer with an Ethernet socket, because it needs nothing from the printer. Printers that get their address automatically get one from the Box; printers with a fixed address keep it and are found by themselves. For more than one printer, add a small network switch.
What about the printer’s own Wi-Fi?
Turn off the printer’s Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct when it moves to the printer port. A printer that’s also on the shared Wi-Fi can still be reached there. The admin page reminds you, but it can’t switch them off for you.
Our printer needs the internet, for ink subscriptions or firmware. Can it still have it?
Yes. Printers on the port have no internet by default. An admin can allow it with one switch on the admin page, for printers with a service like an ink subscription, or for a firmware update.
Can people still scan to their computer?
Not to a computer on the shared network while the printer is on the printer port, because nothing on that network can reach it. If you rely on scan-to-folder, keep that printer on the network instead. The printer’s own web page isn’t reachable through the port either.
Can we look after it remotely?
Yes. The admin page shows the Box’s software version, temperature, network, disk and printer port, and lets you restart the screen, restart the Box, install updates now and download diagnostics for support.
Plug it in. Print.
The Commontray Box runs everything next to your printers, and keeps them to itself.