Troubleshooting the print release process

When a user releases a print job from the Mobile app or the Hive embedded app on a copier, the expectation is simple: the job prints. But sometimes the job doesn’t reach the printer as expected. This can happen if the printer is out of paper, jammed, low on toner, or requires service. It can also occur if the printer’s IP address changes, causing the job to be sent to the wrong device or fail to deliver entirely. In these cases, the job may appear to release successfully even though it never prints.

Sometimes the job remains in the queue for another attempt, or the user is prompted to try a different printer. This article walks through the steps to troubleshoot print release problems, helping you identify where the process is breaking down and how to resolve it.

If the job isn’t showing up for release at all, check out Troubleshooting job submission issues .

Check the Job Trace for errors

If a print job isn’t printing out as expected, start by checking the Job Trace.

1. Follow the steps in Troubleshooting print job problems using Job Trace to:
   • enable Diagnostic mode.
   • find the print job in question.
   • open the Job Trace.
2. Look for any Highlighted Issues. If you see them, use the instructions in that article to diagnose and fix the problem.
3. If you don’t see any highlighted issues, then PaperCut Pocket or Hive believes the job was released successfully. In that case, keep reading for more suggestions.

Verify the printer’s IP address

Make sure PaperCut Hive or Pocket is pointing to the right printer.

1. In the admin interface, go to Printers.
2. In the search field, enter the printer’s IP address.

If PaperCut Pocket or Hive has the correct IP address listed for the printer, that’s good! Skip to the next section for more troubleshooting.

If the printer’s IP address has changed or if multiple printers share the same IP, that’s a problem. See our advice below.

If the printer has a different IP address

1. Go to Easy Print & Scan > Auto Printer Discovery and click Discover now. All new printers and printers that have had changes will be discovered. If possible, existing printers will have their details automatically updated. However, if there’s not enough information,  the printer will be added to  the Newly Discovered list on the Printers page.
2. Go to Newly Discovered list, find the printer and click the Review button. The side drawer opens and shows the printer details.
3. If you’re happy that it is the same printer as your existing printer, click Update existing printer. The Update an existing printer page is displayed.
4. Click Select existing printer and select the printer.
5. Click Review final version and check you’re OK with all the details.
6. Read the information at the top of the screen and then click the I understand the above information checkbox.
7. Click Confirm and update. The existing printer is updated with the IP address and any other new details that were found. 
8. Try printing again via PaperCut Hive or Pocket. If the print job fails, turn on diagnostic mode and view the job trace for your job to get more details. 

If multiple printers share the same IP address

We’ve seen firsthand that print jobs may be routed to the wrong device if two printers share the same IP address. This can happen if an organization reuses the same private IP ranges at different sites (for example, 192.168.1.x at both Site A and Site B), or if printers aren’t reserved to static IPs and end up swapping addresses.

If two printers share the same IP, here’s what we recommend:

• Assign unique IP addresses to each printer in your organization, and reserve those IPs to avoid collisions. This is the best long-term fix and can’t be emphasized enough.
• If unique IPs aren’t possible, set up a Print Delivery Profile to limit which Edge Nodes are allowed to talk to which printers. This makes sure jobs can’t be misrouted across sites.
• As a last resort, PaperCut Support can enable additional printer identity checks for print release. This option is off by default because it adds extra load to each print job. Contact your PaperCut Partner or PaperCut Support to enquire about this option.

Review the print log on the device

The printer’s own log can reveal what happened to the job after PaperCut sent it.

The steps vary by make and model, but usually you can:

1. Open a web browser.
2. Enter the printer’s IP address to access its web interface.
3. Sign in with administrator credentials for the device.
4. Different brands may use different names for the print log, so look for a section called Job Log, Job History, Print Log, Job Status, Job List, or similar.
5. This log may give us a clue whether the printer received the job, printed it successfully, or reported an error.

These details are extremely useful when working with PaperCut support. If possible, take screenshots or export the log before sharing.

Try another print delivery protocol

If you’re in a bind and you just need to get printing up and running as soon as possible, you can try a workaround by changing the Print Delivery Protocol to see if it affects it being released. If you use IPP (“Internet Printing Protocol”), you can add a queue, and if you’re using queue printing, add IPP if it’s available.

You set the primary and secondary delivery methods in the Advanced printer configuration page.

1. On the Printers page, click the printer. The Details tab is displayed.
2. Click Advanced > Custom. 
3. Configure the primary and secondary delivery methods and click Save Changes.

Troubleshoot print delivery protocols

The next step should be to test printing without PaperCut’s involvement. Ideally this test should mimic whichever Print Delivery Protocol is being used (IPP, local queue, or Raw 9100).

See our article Some Jobs Failed to Print for instructions on how to test printing via local queues and IPP.