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When a print request for multiple copies sends double the requested number

Question asked by Colleen Keenan on Jan 28, 2016
Latest reply on Feb 3, 2016 by John Siegel

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Three students reported that when printing more than one copy of something there was strange behavior. One student reported that when requesting 3 copies it printed 9 copies and when printing 5 copies it printed 25.

A second student reported that she noticed when she requested to print 3 copies of something it was going to charge her double (for 6 copies) so she did not release the job and instead sent three separate single copy jobs to the printer which charged her the appropriate amount.

A third student has just printed a job for 5 copies and received 25. It looks like at the printer that it is sending the job 5 times, because it says printing 1 of 5, 2 of 5

Scott Olswold Jan 28, 2016 3:38 PM

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All,

"Mopier Mode" is functionally a toggle between "in-job collation" and "electronic collation." When Disabled, it causes multiple copy requests by the end user to wind up as discrete jobs within the actual print file (so if you ask for 2 copies of a page, two copies of the job data are written to the file). Enabled and you end up with one copy of the job data with a command to basically "while n < x, do."

I am also a big fan of PCL5 and a detractor of PCL6 (I'm an even bigger fan of PostScript, but that's really just a personal preference).

In other news:

Colleen, if this printer is being deployed via a Package with the Updater module installed, you can make some material change on the server's queue and basically recreate the new printer on all installed clients (which is a great thing). Then, ensure that the "Copy printer settings" option is enabled for the queue in Pharos Administrator, and rebuild the Package. When your clients perform their next update check, their local queue instance will be deleted and recreated with your new settings.

Scott

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Scott Olswold Jan 28, 2016 2:08 PM
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Colleen,

You should check your driver settings. It sounds like it is increasing the number of copies requested from the application. Pharos doesn't affect the inbound job (it comes preformatted from the client-side) unless you're in MobilePrint/Print Center. Here's an example, using the HP Universal Print Driver:

From Properties, go to Advanced > Printing Defaults and then the Advanced tab. The Copy Count of "1" is where it needs to be set.

Regards,
Scott
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- Colleen Keenan @ Scott Olswold on Jan 28, 2016 2:08 PM
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  I'm new to supporting this print server, it's 2008 R2 and looks like the
  driver is the HP Universal PCL5. I'm going to try installing the latest
  Universal PCL6 driver. Do you think that will help?
  Thanks for your response.
  
  On Thu, Jan 28, 2016 at 2:04 PM, solswold@pharos.com <pharos-ext@jiveon.com>
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  - Paul LaFollette @ Colleen Keenan on Jan 28, 2016 2:38 PM
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    I would stay with the PCL 5 driver (of course, newer is usually better) or with Postscript. PCL 6 performs well, but is not very "forgiving" to imperfections in the data stream. PCL 5 is much more agreeable with all applications. Postscript is slower and print jobs will require more data, but is more favored by graphics/arts.
    
    I also doubt changing away from the Universal PCL 5 driver at the server will make any difference on this error. I would most suspect the user's computer has more than one copy selected at the driver/printer object on the user's computer plus the user specifying more than one copy in their application. This has the effect of acting as a multiplier. ... But I could be completely wrong.
    
    I have seen some applications (Word Perfect anyone?) where the user specifies multiple copies at the print dialog and the application manages to set the same number of multiple copies at the driver level ... and you get the "multiplier effect". It seems to happen more with applications that do their own print job spooling in addition to the computer's built-in printer spooling (yeah, Word Perfect does this).
    
    If I'm totally "out to lunch" or way wrong... just ignore me.
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Steven English Jan 28, 2016 2:07 PM
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Colleen Keenan,

You might want to check out the driver that is being used at the workstation and check the driver at the queue level as well. I have seen odd behaviors with certain printer drivers dealing with number of copies before. Usually it is the other way around - ask for more than one but only receive a single copy - but the root of the issue deals with how the driver handles the spool file.

In the example above, the spool file only contains a single copy of the job, and there is the equivalent of a digital post-it note on the front that says make 5 copies. If the printer fails to recognize the flag (digital post-it instructing 5 copies to be made), instead of printing the job once, then reprinting the same spool file an additional 4 times, only one comes out. This can also happen when the device is incapable of storing the job in order to reprint the 4 additional copies. A benefit of only including a single copy of the job in the spool file is to save space on the print server, network bandwidth as it is transmitted back and forth, and probably time at the printer as it can just run off another copy of the job instead of having to receive another copy into memory and then process it again.

In your case, perhaps the spool file itself contains all 5 copies of the job, but the number of copies flag is also set. If the printer recognizes that flag (the digital post-it note), it would then print out 5 copies of the spool file which already contains all 5 copies resulting in you getting the squared amount of the number of copies that you wanted (5 ^2). Pharos usually correctly interprets the job and charges correctly. Is that happening in your case? I would think that changing the print driver would likely resolve the issue, but I could be way off here.

Regards,
Steven
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- Colleen Keenan @ Steven English on Jan 28, 2016 2:39 PM
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  I'm getting a little more information for end users,
  - when 5 copies of a 1 page job is sent, the user is:
  *charged for 25 copies
  *20 pages print out
  
  This is happening on a bunch of different queues. One printer has the
  latest HP Universal driver, the rest have an old version. I created new
  printer packages last week and in the queue settings in Pharos Admin I
  selected "copy printer settings" other than that I did not change anything.
  
  On Thu, Jan 28, 2016 at 2:08 PM, stevene@tracsystems.com <
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- Colleen Keenan @ Steven English on Jan 28, 2016 2:41 PM
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  Where on the "driver level" would I look for these settings?
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  - Paul LaFollette @ Colleen Keenan on Jan 28, 2016 2:54 PM
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    Scott Olswold posted a nice screenshot of where that setting is at.
    
    There are two locations on the "driver level" where this setting is at. One if for the current user and the other is as a "default" for all new user profiles from that point on. In the printer's properties, on the General tab, the Preferences button takes you to the settings for the current user and the Advanced tab for the preferences is where you'll find the setting. For setting the "default" for all new user profiles from that point on, in the printer's properties, on the Advanced tab there is a "Printing Defaults" button which takes you to a set of preferences that act as setting the "default" preferences.
    
    I've stated "for all new user profiles from that point on" because any user who has already used the computer will have already got a set of preferences applied to their account. Any changes to the "default" printer settings at this point will not apply to those already existing accounts. Only to those accounts/profiles added after you set the defaults. Important to be aware of this.
    
    - Paul L.
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    - Colleen Keenan @ Paul LaFollette on Jan 28, 2016 3:00 PM
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      Thanks, I was viewing this in my email and didn't see the screenshot. I've confirmed the copy count is correct on both the server and client.
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  - Steven English @ Colleen Keenan on Feb 25, 2016 8:38 PM
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    Please see note at the end of this post regarding Mopier Mode being enabled (electronic collation) or disabled (in-job collation).
    
    Colleen Keenan,
    
    As Paul said, I would stick with the PCL 5 driver. I am not sure which version of the driver you have, but the Mopier Mode setting is one of the settings to look at (instructions to follow). The screen shot at the bottom is from a slighter older version of the PCL5 UPD.
    
    I agree with the others that have said you should also confirm that you are not dealing with independent counters for numbers of copies (one within the program and one within the driver settings). This should be easy enough to test just by changing it in the application and seeing if the number of copies at the driver level matches. Once you can replicate the program from which you are printing, and the settings on the driver at the workstation level, we should have a better picture.
    
    Regards,
    Steven
    
    ON THE WORKSTATION (not the server), open print management (search the start menu, or execute printmanagement.msc from the run command or a command prompt)
    Drill down to Print Servers > XXXXXXX (local) > Printers (where XXXXXX is the name of the computer you are on)
    Right click on the print queue you are sending the test prints and click on Properties
    Under the Advanced (tab) > Print Processor (button) > Set print processor to WinPrint and the data type to RAW
    Under the Device Settings (tab) and change the following options (bets practices)
    Printer Status Notifications = Disabled
    Job Storage = Disabled*
    Secure Printing = Disabled
    Color Print Mode = On for color queues, Off for mono/BW queues
    Mopier Mode = Disabled*
    Device type = Color for color queues, Monochrome for black & white queues
    
    *These items could have a direct impact on the issue described.
    
    **** NOTE ****
    After further discussion with Scott Olswold, the Mopier mode setting is one that can go both ways. In this case, the particular model Colleen had mishandled jobs rendered using in-job collation whereas the models I have interacted with primarily react negatively to Mopier mode being enabled as it uses electronic collation.
    
    It seems that perhaps that the fancier devices like those with finishers prefer electronic collation (Mopier Mode enabled) or they print out the square of the number of copies requested - e.g. 5 copies give you 25, 3 copies gives you 9, and so forth. When Mopier Mode is disabled, in-job collation is used which creates a spool file that already contains all 5, 3, or however many copies were requested. The printer then prints out 5, 3, or however many copies were requested which gives you the squared number of copies., enabling
    
    On the more simplistic single function printers, enabling Mopier Mode (electronic collation) may have the opposite effect. As a result of that configuration (Mopier Mode enabled), only a single copy of the job is included in the spool file, and some printers fail to make the additional digital copies requested. In this case the user gets charged for all copies, but only receives one.
    
    Summary: At sites that have conflicting printer models - i.e., printers which require Mopier Mode to be enabled or they print too many copies, as well as having printers that require it to be disabled or they only print a single copy - the solution is to simply have two queues with driver configurations that play nicely with the print models in that group.
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    - Scott Olswold @ Steven English on Jan 28, 2016 3:38 PM
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      All,
      
      "Mopier Mode" is functionally a toggle between "in-job collation" and "electronic collation." When Disabled, it causes multiple copy requests by the end user to wind up as discrete jobs within the actual print file (so if you ask for 2 copies of a page, two copies of the job data are written to the file). Enabled and you end up with one copy of the job data with a command to basically "while n < x, do."
      
      I am also a big fan of PCL5 and a detractor of PCL6 (I'm an even bigger fan of PostScript, but that's really just a personal preference).
      
      In other news:
      
      Colleen, if this printer is being deployed via a Package with the Updater module installed, you can make some material change on the server's queue and basically recreate the new printer on all installed clients (which is a great thing). Then, ensure that the "Copy printer settings" option is enabled for the queue in Pharos Administrator, and rebuild the Package. When your clients perform their next update check, their local queue instance will be deleted and recreated with your new settings.
      
      Scott
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      - Steven English @ Scott Olswold on Jan 29, 2016 9:50 AM
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        Scott Olswold,
        
        Thanks for the proper terminology! A digital post-it note with instructions to make multiple copies does not sound as good - nor as clear - as "in-job collation" and "electronic collation." :-)
        
        Regards,
        Steven
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      - Colleen Keenan @ Scott Olswold on Jan 29, 2016 10:08 AM
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        Thanks for your input. I've changed the drivers back to PCL5. I re-built
        the packages and deployed them to a few clients. I had some one test and
        here is what they found:
        Chrome was not good
        FF was good
        Word printed 16 pages when I asked for 4 copies
        
        On Fri, Jan 29, 2016 at 9:51 AM, stevene@tracsystems.com <
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      - Colleen Keenan @ Scott Olswold on Jan 29, 2016 10:12 AM
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        I went back and checked, Mopier Mode is set to Disabled. If I am
        understanding you correctly, I should "enable" it?
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        Scott Olswold @ Colleen Keenan on Jan 29, 2016 10:40 AM
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        Colleen,
        
        Yes, please enable it. When using the HP UPD, it is a good idea to install a queue first to a real HP LaserJet (something that does the most in your environment, including print in color) and let it "self-configure." This usually enabled Mopier mode and also puts in some optimized profile for image printing (a good thing; this helps remove unnecessary heft from the spool file). Then, once that's done, go ahead and configure it as a Secure or Direct printer in Pharos Administrator.
        
        In your previous post, "Word printed 16 pages when I asked for 4 copies." How many pages was the document? 1, 2, 4? I sense that there is a multiplier involved, and its either coming from the driver or the device.
        
        Scott
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        Paul LaFollette @ Scott Olswold on Jan 29, 2016 11:10 AM
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        Scott Olswold said "and its either coming from the driver or the device." ... This points out something I don't think any of us suggested checking. At the physical printer, it is possible to set a default number of prints. It's a long shot, but it's possible someone has set the number higher than 1. Print jobs from most applications "override" this setting, but not all applications. Might be a good idea to check if the printer physically "thinks" it's supposed to do multiple prints. Where to check that varies a LOT from one printer model to the next. On HP brand printers, it's usually under Default Print Options.
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        Andrew Wynbissinger @ Paul LaFollette on Feb 2, 2016 10:46 AM
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        We had similar issue with printing to an HP. When print jobs were sent that had multiple copies selected it seemed as if the print job would be doubled. For us this was only happening with windows based workstations. We are using a PCL 6 driver. We ended up removing Pharos from the workstation, stopping/starting the printer spooler, deleting the print driver from the print server properties on the workstation, then installing Pharos again. In a few cases we had to go into the registry key and remove the driver. Hope this helps. .
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        Colleen Keenan @ Andrew Wynbissinger on Feb 2, 2016 10:50 AM
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        Hi All-
        It was the Mopier Mode. I Enabled it and the problem was gone. Thank you to everyone who chimed in!
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        Scott Olswold @ Colleen Keenan on Feb 2, 2016 10:52 AM
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        Woo hoo!!!
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John Siegel Feb 3, 2016 2:47 PM
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I think I remember reading that as an Algebra problem in high school.
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When a print request for multiple copies sends double the requested number

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