A printer problem never loses a sale: MartPOS saves the bill first and prints after. If the receipt does not come out, fix the printer and print again with Reprint. This guide goes through the usual problems.
If your printer misbehaves in a way this guide does not cover, open a support ticket with the printer's make and model.
The messages
| Message | Meaning |
|---|---|
| "No receipt printer is set up on this PC; the receipt is shown on screen." | This PC has no printer chosen. See Receipt and printer settings. |
| "The receipt did not print (…). The sale is saved; use Reprint." | Windows or the printer refused the job. The reason is in brackets. |
| "Not sent: …" under a test button | The same, for a test print of the receipt, label or A4 printer. The words after it say why: Windows has no such printer any more, the print spooler is not running, or the printer did not answer. |
| "Sent to Windows' queue of …" or "Sent to the printer at …" | Windows, or the printer's network port, took the test. It does not prove paper came out. |
| "Could not list this PC's printers: …" | Windows would not list its printers; check the Windows print spooler. |
| "Receipt sent to the printer." | Windows accepted the job. It does not prove paper came out. |
Reprint (or Ctrl+P on Point of sale) prints the last receipt again. If the first attempt failed, the reprint is still the original; if it was sent, the reprint is marked DUPLICATE COPY.
Nothing prints
- Is the printer on, with paper, the cover closed, and no red light?
- Does it print from Windows? Print a test page from the printer's properties in Windows.
- On the till, open Settings › Printers on this PC: is the right printer chosen and saved? Choose Print test page.
- With How to print on ESC/POS, try The printer's Windows driver (or the other way round), print a test page, and keep whichever works.
- For a network printer, see below.
The receipt is too wide, wraps, or stops short
Print a test page: its ruler should be exactly one line long.
- The ruler wraps onto a second line: choose fewer Characters per line under Counter & receipts (for example 42 instead of 48 on some 80 mm printers).
- The ruler stops well short of the edge: choose more.
- The paper width is wrong: set Paper width to your roll: 58 mm, 80 mm, or 76 mm for dot-matrix.
These are shop settings: they change every till's receipts.
Receipts are long, or item names take two lines
Each item prints its name in bold on its own line, then the quantity, unit, price and amount on the line under it. A name longer than the line wraps onto the next one, so on 58 mm paper a long name such as Premium basmati rice extra long grain (5 kg bag) takes two or three lines. The size comes from Variant / size on the item and prints in brackets after the name, so do not repeat it in the name. The Preview under Counter & receipts shows how a sample bill wraps at your paper width.
The last line is cut off, or there is too much blank paper
Change Blank lines before the cut under Counter & receipts: raise it if the cutter cuts through the last line, lower it to save paper. A printer without a cutter needs Cut the paper after each receipt turned off.
Urdu prints as boxes or question marks
- With ESC/POS, MartPOS sends a receipt that contains Urdu (an item name, a customer's name, or a header or footer typed in Urdu) as an image, so any ESC/POS printer can print it. Choose Urdu test to check.
- With the Windows driver, MartPOS draws Urdu itself, in the Noto Nastaliq Urdu font that comes with it, and the driver prints the drawing. If it fails, switch to ESC/POS.
- A receipt whose own words are in Urdu (Settings › Counter & receipts › The receipt's words) always goes to an ESC/POS printer as an image. It is longer and a little slower to print than an English one.
- If the Urdu letters come out broken or too faint to read on your printer, tell us its make and model through a support ticket.
The cash drawer does not open
- Open the cash drawer on cash sales must be on under Counter & receipts.
- The drawer opens only for an original receipt of a sale with cash, and only with the first copy. It never opens for a reprint or a card or wallet sale.
- It opens through ESC/POS. On the Windows-driver path, the drawer is left to the printer's driver settings.
- The drawer must be plugged into the receipt printer's drawer port.
- Tick Open the cash drawer with the test page and print a test page to try it.
A network printer does not answer
- Type only the printer's address, for example 192.168.1.50, or with its port, 192.168.1.50:9100. Port 9100 is used unless you give another.
- The printer and the PC must be on the same network. Print the printer's own network settings page (usually by holding its feed button) to see its address.
- Printers can get a new address after a restart; give the printer a fixed address on the router.
- Network printers always get ESC/POS.
Barcodes or QR codes do not scan
Print a test page and scan its barcode with the till's scanner. Clean the print head, and replace a roll that prints faint. For labels, print the PDF at 100%. See Printing barcode labels.
Sending details to support
On the PC with the problem, Settings › Printers on this PC › Export diagnostics for support saves a file with versions and printer details, but no customer names, amounts, passwords or keys. Open a support ticket in the owner portal and mention it.
Common questions
Does a printer problem stop billing?
No. Bills are saved whether or not the printer works. With no printer, receipts show on screen.
Can two tills share one printer?
Each till prints to the printer chosen on that PC. A network printer can be chosen on more than one PC.
Why did the receipt print twice?
Check Copies of each receipt under Counter & receipts: 2 copies prints a customer copy and a shop copy.
Related guides
Last updated 05 October 2026. Still stuck? Contact us.