Jobs configured to print as "black and white" (also known as monochrome or grayscale printing) are identified as color print jobs in reporting, and are also priced out as such for billing/charge back.

Question:

When a user sends a print job configured for "black and white" printing (also called monochrome or grayscale in several printer drivers), it is identified as a color print job in reports, and is also priced out as a color print job for billing or charge back. Why is this?

Information:

Why This Happens

Different printer makes and models have different ways to specify if a job is to print in color or monochrome. Sometimes, this can change even between printer driver versions for the same printer model. The Pharos Page Counter software (part of the Blueprint Tracker client and the Uniprint Print Server application) is the component of the Pharos solution that parses the print job for its color (or lack thereof) mode. While this component understands most of the ways that printer drivers identify the color mode of a print job, it must be constantly updated to ensure that it remains compatible with new printer models and drivers as they are released.

How To Fix It

To determine if the latest available Page Counter software resolves your specific challenge, download and install the new Page Counter. The download location is below.

Pharos Page Counter Hot Fixes

To install, follow the steps below for the different Pharos products:

Installation steps (Uniprint)

- Browse to the folder ..\Pharos\bin\

- Archive (save, rename, etc.) the existing Page Counter files

- Copy the new Page Counter files into the ..\Pharos\bin folder

- Test the Page Counter with print jobs that are known to be problematic

Installation steps (Blueprint)

- Browse to the folder ..\PharosSystems\Blueprint\Bin

- Archive (save, rename, etc.) the existing Page Counter files

- Copy the new Page Counter files into the ..\PharosSystems\Blueprint\Bin folder

- Test the Page Counter with print jobs that are known to be problematic

And If It Still Doesn't Work?

If the upgraded Page Counter does not resolve the issue, then the driver (or file format of the spool file) is producing a command for the color mode that Page Counter does not understand, and it must be upgraded to support it. In this case, generate several spool files (see KB Article How to capture a Print Spool File (.SPL file). ) and submit them to Pharos Support. After submitting the files, they will be reviewed and changes, when possible, will be made to Page Counter and provided to you through the same download link as above. In some cases, we may suggest additional changes to the printer driver configuration to ensure consistent color mode capture.

Other Ways Around This

The way the Device is configured will also help alleviate the problem. Both Uniprint and Blueprint allow the administrator to specify if a Device is monochrome or not. In Uniprint Administrator, modify the Printer Type property to "Black and White". In Blueprint Administrator, select the Device and make sure that the Model specified is a monochrome device. This change will affect all go-forward interaction and reporting.

Note that in Pharos Blueprint, this method will not resolve client-side issues with Policy Print (where a Policy can flag for color printing). To manage a Policy Print correction, the Page Counter application will have to be updated to accommodate the printer driver.