Printing; Frequently Asked Questions
Help! -The print station ate my credits!
I've printed a document but I can't find it!
I was logged on as myself but I still cannot find the document to print!
As I was printing, the toner ran out and the print is faded.
A few good tips when printing.
How do I print a document?
Some computer rooms have a printer in them. Printing is accessed in the normal way on the computers but is controlled exclusively by the WITCard office (which is located next to the games room in the Courtyard). These printers are padlocked to prevent paper being removed from them.
Some computer rooms contain a print station which is attached to a laser printer. There are also a number of photocopiers/printers around the institute (mainly in the atrium near the shop, in the library and on the second floor of the IT Building, outside the Library in College St.) and users can print their documents on these machines. There is also a photocopier/printer located in auxiliary services (above the games room in the Courtyard -access is via the metal staircase). There are some rooms in the institute which belong to specific departments and are not part of the system. To find out how to use these machines (and how to print from these machines), ask the technician in that area -your lecturer will be able to give you the relevant names.
In order to print, you need to have credit on your WITCard. Check with the WITCard office for details of cost per page for printing and photocopying. So the normal procedure for printing would be as follows:
- Log in as you would normally to your account.
- Print your document as you would normally to any printer, by pressing the printer icon on the toolbar.
- Go to the printer in the room, or any other printer in the institute. Next to the printer is a print station {which looks like a computer).
- On the top of the print station is a box. You must swipe your WITCard through the box on top of the screen. If you are not sure the direction through which the card should be swiped, just follow the instructions on the screen. If you print from your account and swipe another student's card through then a list of documents that that student has sent to be printed will appear on the screen -not yours. It is similar to using a bankcard -if you use someone else's card, you will see their bank details -not yours.
- The system then checks the servers dotted around the institute to see if you have printed any documents in other rooms. As a result you can go to any print station in the institute, swipe your card through and see what jobs are queued for you -similar to a cash machine -just because your account is in Mayo, doesn't mean that you can't check your details/withdraw money from elsewhere!
- Select the job you want to print -you may have jobs queued that you don't want to print -ignore these. The WITCard office cleans the server every now and then, in order to make space so any jobs you don't want printed will eventually be removed from the system. Bear in mind though that you shouldn't leave jobs you want printed too long on the system or they will be deleted. .When you have selected the job you want to print, click on the word print. Money is taken from your account before you print so make sure you have enough money on your card.
For more details about the WITCard and how it works, please contact the WITCard office.
Help! -The print station ate my credits!
If this happens, contact the WITCard office as the operation of the WITCard belongs exclusively to them.
I've printed a document but I can't find it!
Think back to when you printed the document - were you logged on as yourself or as someone else {which you are not meant to be!)? If you were logged on as someone else, then when you swipe your card through, you won't see the document as the document is not associated with your username but with the other person's username!
I was logged on as myself but I still cannot find the document to print!
If this happens, you will have to try printing again. If you still can't get anything after 20 minutes, contact the WITCard office.
As I was printing, the toner ran out and the print is faded.
Contact the WITCard office. Bring your printout with you to show them what happened. Contact computer services so that they can replace the toner as soon as possible. The only way we have of knowing if the toner has ran out is if you, the user, tells us.
A few good tips when printing.
If you are printing a large document, divide it up into sections for printing purposes, for example, print from page 1 to page 10, page 11 to page 20, so on and so forth.
As stated earlier on in this section, credits are taken from your account before you print so if you are printing a large document all at one go, all necessary money will be taken from your account. For numerous reasons, this is not a good idea for example, the paper could run out, the toner start to fade, or a paper jam could occur. At least if this happens, you won't loose too many credits. You can then re-enter the section, which didn't print out correctly, go to another print server and print out all remaining documents and the re-entered section. Some documents can cost a fortune to print for example, a thesis due to its size, so the last thing you want to happen is to have all your credits used up and a problem to occur.
Please note that computer services do not have any involvement when it comes to monetary issues -this is handled exclusively by the WITCard office.
