Printer monitoring
Printer monitoring that says “out of paper”, not error 41.2.
Commontray checks every printer once a minute and tells you what’s wrong in plain words, in the place your team already looks: email, Slack, Microsoft Teams or Google Chat. You hear about the paper jam before the member at the front desk does.
How it works
Checked every minute. Alerted only when it matters.
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Every minute
Commontray asks each printer how it is: ready, printing, stopped, and why.
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Twice to be sure
A problem has to show up in two checks in a row before anyone is alerted, so a printer waking from sleep isn’t an alarm.
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Alert, then all clear
The alert goes to email or chat, and a “resolved” message follows once the problem clears.
In plain words
Printer status anyone at the front desk understands.
Printers report problems as codes. Commontray turns them into words, and tells you which ones stop printing (red) and which are only a heads up (yellow).
- Out of paper (stops printing)
- Paper jam (stops printing)
- A door is open (stops printing)
- Out of toner (stops printing)
- The output tray is full (stops printing)
- The printer is offline (stops printing)
- Not reachable (stops printing)
- Paper is low (warning)
- Toner is low (warning)
- Ink or toner is low (warning)
- The waste ink/toner box is almost full (warning)
- The printer is warming up (warning)
A selection. Commontray understands the standard IPP printer states, and shows anything else the printer reports as it is.
Printer alerts in Slack, Teams, Google Chat or email.
Alerts go where someone will see them. Set an email address, a chat webhook, or both, on the admin page, and use Send test alert to check they arrive.
- Slack: paste an incoming webhook for the channel your front desk watches.
- Microsoft Teams: use a Workflows webhook for the team’s channel.
- Google Chat: add a webhook to the space.
- Email: any address, through the outgoing mail server IT sets up once.
Each message names the printer and the location, says whether printing has stopped, and is followed by a “resolved” message when it’s fixed.
Members see the problem before they pay.
Nothing frustrates a member like paying for a print that’s stuck in a broken printer. Commontray checks the printer before it takes the job.
- While a printer has a problem that stops printing, people see it on the print page before they confirm.
- A printer that prints straight away won’t quote a price until it’s fixed.
- On a printer with release, documents can still be sent. They wait, and can be released once it’s fixed.
- Nobody is charged for a job that didn’t print. See charging.
Beyond alerts
A quiet daily check-in, and everything on one screen.
Daily status
Once a day Commontray writes a status line to its log: each printer’s state, the jobs printed and failed in the last 24 hours, and any charges not yet sent.
Ink and toner levels
Shown on the admin page wherever the printer measures them, so you can order before it runs out.
On the Commontray Box
The Box shows the printer’s state and ink levels on its screen, next to the code people scan.
Questions
Printer monitoring questions
How often does Commontray check the printers?
Every minute. It asks each printer for its state, any problems it reports and, where the printer measures them, its ink or toner levels.
Will we get an alert every time a printer goes to sleep?
No. A problem only raises an alert when it shows up in two checks in a row, so a printer waking up, or a door opened for a moment, doesn’t set anything off. When the problem clears, a “resolved” message follows.
Where can alerts go?
To an email address, and to a chat webhook: Slack, Microsoft Teams (through a Workflows webhook) and Google Chat all accept it. Email alerts need an outgoing mail server, which IT sets up once.
Why does my printer show ink levels as unknown?
Some printers don’t measure them. Ink-tank printers, for example, often report their levels as unknown. Commontray shows levels wherever the printer reports them.
What do members see when a printer has a problem?
If the problem stops printing, they see it before they pay. A printer that prints straight away won’t take new jobs until it’s fixed. On a printer with release, documents can still be sent and wait, but can’t be released until it’s fixed.
Hear about the paper jam first.
Add your printers, paste a webhook, and Commontray starts watching within a minute.