Windows printing client
The program sits on the computer next to the printer and asks the server every 15 seconds whether anyone has ordered a print. It needs no attention during the party — you set it up once, at the start.
1. Download and start
Download the program from the event panel with the “Download the program (Windows)” button. Save it in any folder and run it.
Nothing has to be installed. The program is a single file with everything inside, so it needs neither .NET nor administrator rights. It also runs from a USB stick.
The print token of your event travels in the name of the downloaded file, so the program sets it up by itself on first start. There is nothing to copy by hand.
2. Connecting to the event
In the program window check the service address (my.partyprinter.link) and the print token. The token is a long string, separate from the code your guests have on their phones — you will find it in the event panel, under the PRINTING gear.
Click CHECK. The program shows the name of the event; if that is not your party, the token belongs to another event and has to be corrected. Only then click START and leave the program running.
The token can be revoked in the panel when the computer at the printer changes hands. The code for guests stays the same.
3. Printer
Two modes, you pick one. The program arrives set to your own printer, because that works from the very first start — with nothing to install.
a) Any Windows printer (the default)
The box “Print the photos on my own printer” is ticked and the list shows this computer’s default printer. If that is not the one you connected to the photo booth, pick yours from the list.
Can’t see your printer? The list comes from the printers installed in Windows, so hardware connected by cable but without a driver will not appear there at all. Install the driver first:
Set the paper, do not leave the default. An ordinary printer defaults to A4 — the photo then comes out on an office sheet with a huge margin. For a photo booth choose 10×15 cm (4×6"). Landscape photos are rotated by the program itself so that they fit the paper.
b) Printing from a folder — a DNP printer through HotFolderPrint
Untick “Print the photos on my own printer”. PartyPrinter then only saves the files into a folder, while a separate program prints them and deletes them: HotFolderPrint by DNP. This is the recommended mode for DNP photo-booth printers and the only one where something has to be installed. Without HotFolderPrint nothing gets printed — the folder just fills up with photos.
You do not have to hunt for anything yourself. Click the “DNP printer — step-by-step setup” button in the program. A window opens that shows what is already done, opens the driver page, downloads and runs the HotFolderPrint installer (290 MB) and detects the print folder, writing it into the settings.
The folder set in PartyPrinter must be the same one HotFolderPrint watches — which is why the “Detect automatically” button beats typing the path by hand.
4. Language of the program
The program speaks the same ten languages as this page and takes the language from Windows on first start.
If the computer at the printer is borrowed and its language differs from the crew’s, change it with the “Language” list at the bottom of the window. The choice is saved at once and survives restarts, and the “Manual” button opens this page in the same language.
When something does not work
- “Could not connect” after clicking CHECK
- A wrong token or a typo in the service address. Copy the token from the panel in full — it is long and the last character is easy to lose.
- The program runs but nothing gets printed
- Check in the event panel whether PRINTING is switched on and whether anything is waiting in the queue. An event that has already ended accepts no new jobs.
- Photos pile up in the folder but nothing comes out of the printer
- The program is in folder mode and HotFolderPrint is either not installed or watching a different directory. Tick “Print the photos on my own printer” and pick a printer from the list, or install HotFolderPrint with the wizard.
- “Windows does not know the printer…” after clicking START
- The chosen printer is gone from the system — usually after a change of computer or an uninstalled driver. Pick it from the list again; if it is not there, install the driver.
- Prints come out blank or cut off
- With your own printer, check the paper size. In folder mode, the folder set in PartyPrinter and the folder watched by HotFolderPrint have to be the same directory.