Question to Print Audit on PA Forum

Hi Art,

Unfortunately, this is a known limitation of Print Audit 5. Plot Client WIN (and other similar plot-submission tools) bypass the Windows print drivers when they generate multiple copies the file you are plotting. As a result, Print Audit 5 can only detect the first copy being generated, and will only report that one page was printed.

While there is currently no way to have Print Audit automatically track the number of plots being generated, there are a couple of workarounds that you can use.

Option 1: Allow the user who is plotting to override the costs when they plot.

Print Audit 5 has a setting which allows users to override the default costs on the Print Audit pop up window. In this way, the user would have the ability to manually enter the correct cost for the job when they are plotting more than one copy using Plot Client WIN.

Open the Print Audit 5 Administration program.

Click on User Profiles on the left.
Double-click on the profile you are using. By default this will be called "Track".
Click on the Client Options tab.
Ensure both of the Allow user to override job costs on the Client popup and Show job costs on the Client popup options are checked.
Click the Save button.
If you have more than one profile listed in the User Profiles section, you will have to modify each of them in this fashion.

After modifying the user profiles, the users will be able to override the costs displayed on the Print Audit 5 pop up window that appears when they plot, and set the costs to the correct values for the job.

Option 2: Adjust the number of copies after the jobs have been recorded in the Print Audit 5 database.

After the jobs have been plotted, you can edit the records in the Job Manager to indicate the correct number of copies, and automatically have their costs adjusted.

Because the jobs will be changed after they are recorded, it is useful to allow the users to enter a comment about the job when they are plotting it, so that they can record the number of copies being made.

Open the Print Audit 5 Administration program.
Click on Client Settings on the left
Set the option Do you want the users to be able to enter job comments on the client? to "Yes".
Click the Save button at the top of the window.
Now, there will be a comment field on the pop up window. When plotting multiple copies as you described, the user can enter "3 copies" or something similar into the comment field. In cases where they are not using the plot tool or only plotting one copy, they can leave the comments field empty.

At some point after the jobs have been recorded, the Job Manager can be used to edit the number of copies and re-cost the jobs.

Open the Print Audit 5 Job Manager.
Set up the query. For example, select "This month" from the Date Printed drop down.
Click the Find Jobs button at the top of the window.
Double-click on the job you want to edit
Change the number of copies by entering a new value.
Click the Save button.
Print Audit will update the record and automatically recalculate the cost based on the new number of copies.

Option 3: Use a Client Custom Field to allow users to select the number of copies.

This option creates a drop-down on the Print Audit 5 popup window where the users can select the correct number of copies, and the job cost will automatically be adjusted. This has the advantage that the users do not have to calculate the job costs themselves, and the jobs do not have to be edited after the fact.

Unfortunately, it is a bit more difficult to set up than the other two options discussed previously. If you wish to try this option, please take advantage of our free telephone-based technical support at 1-877-412-8348 (toll-free). We would be happy to walk you through the process of setting up this option over the phone.