PaperCut General Frequently Asked Questions

PaperCut screen-shots show a "$" currency symbol. My country uses a different symbol?

PaperCut fetches the currency format from the Windows Operating system's "locale" settings. PaperCut will adapt to the regional settings configured under the Windows Control Panel-> Regional Options.

But I don't want to "charge" my users?

Most organizations don't use PaperCut to "charge" their users. In an education-based organization, PaperCut is more often used to restrict users to a sensible quota - for example $5.00 a week. In business, PaperCut can be installed in a "silent logging" mode, enabling the tracking of statistics. With PaperCut's logging it's possible to track; who prints the most, how much each departments prints, and which printers are the most used.

PaperCut Quota's "User Inquiry Tool" displays the user's current account balance (remaining quota) in a currency number format. If organizations don't like the idea of using currency-based credits, the currency sign can be removed from view.

Can I install PaperCut on a single standalone system or on a peer-to-peer network?

Yes. PaperCut Quota is suitable as long as the system is running Windows 2000, XP, 2003 or Windows NT. In fact, if you have less than 5 users using this system, you can user PaperCut for free! When installing PaperCut on a standalone system, when prompted in the setup wizard, select "Synchronize user information with this computer".

What hardware is recommended?

Postscript, PCL or compatible networked printers are strongly recommended. Most printers now come with a built-in network card option. Printers without network cards can be used with network interface boxes such as AXIS boxes or Netgear PrintServer boxes. Hardware interface boxes usually cost less than US$100 . Parallel Port connections direct to either the print server or to network clients are also supported, however this is not the preferred option.

For more information, see the product system requirements:

PaperCut NG Requirements

PaperCut Quota Requirements

PaperCut ChargeBack Requirements

Will PaperCut slow printing?

Users will experience no noticeable slowing of normal print jobs. Very large jobs may experience a few seconds delay as the job spools to the printserver.

What printers are supported?

PaperCut works with the majority of printers including printers supporting:

PCL is language supported by Hewlett Packard and many other printer manufacturers make their products compatible with PCL. We strongly recommend Postscript compatible printers and drivers if available.

You can find more information on specific models and manufactures in our knowledge base at: http://www.papercut.com.hk/kb/Main/SupportedPrinters

Does PaperCut support different charging prices for color, duplex and different page size printing?

Yes. PaperCut supports a variety of charging techniques, including charging by specific page size (with different color and grayscale rates), page area charging, page size category charging, and discounts for duplex printing to encourage paper conservation.

The powerful print charging capabilities of PaperCut make it suitable for both simple (eg. schools) and complex (eg. design, architecture, engineering firms) applications.

I only want to monitor or charge a small number of users on my domain. Do I have to buy a license that supports all users?

PaperCut NG :The license is based on the number of user logon accounts registered on the domain. PaperCut counts the number of users within the domain, and will prompt you if you exceed your license quota.

If you only intend to monitor a small percentage of your users, you can import the users from a Windows group that contains a subset of your domain users.

PaperCut Quota:The license is based on the number of user logon accounts registered on the domain. PaperCut counts the number of users within the domain, and will prompt you if you exceed your license quota.

If you only intend to monitor a small percentage of your users, you can import the users from a Windows group that contains a subset of your domain users. This is discussed in the knowledge base here.

PaperCut ChargeBack:You'll only need to purchase licenses for the users who will print to monitored printers. (These are the users who will usually have the popup window installed.) Only these users should be added to the PaperCut Database.

To achieve this you can import the users from a Windows group that contains a subset of your domain users. This is discussed in the knowledge base here.

What about Mac or Linux (Unix) workstations?

Many large networks contain a mixture of operating systems. PaperCut will track printing not only from Windows systems but also from Macintosh, Linux and Unix workstations. Please take a look at our cross-platform solution PaperCut NG.

What if my question isn't answered here?

Many common questions are answered in our knowledge base, and we recommend you look for an answer there. You can also see the product specific FAQs.

If you can't find the answer in the knowledge base, we're happy to answer your questions by email or to chat online. You can find our details on the contact page.