Creating forms printers

A forms printer is a virtual printer in the Lexmark Distributed Intelligent Capture system to which print queues on other computers can send data files for forms merge. The forms printer can print, e-mail, or save the results, or run a script using the input data.

1. If necessary, install e-forms virtual printer licenses on the Lexmark Distributed Intelligent Capture system. For more information, see Adding an MFP, e-forms virtual printer, or software client license to an existing server.

2. Click the E-Forms tab.

3. Select Forms Printers from the list.

4. Click Add.

5. Enter the port number to be used by print queues that connect to the forms printer.

   Notes:

   • Each forms printer in the system must have a unique port number, and the port number must not be used by any other network traffic. For a list of ports used by Lexmark Distributed Intelligent Capture, see Ports used by the Lexmark Distributed Intelligent Capture system, and for a list of commonly used ports, see the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) list of port numbers at http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers. Do not use well-known ports (port numbers 0–1023), and make sure that other applications using the network are not using the selected port number.
   • Communication using the selected port number must be allowed on the network.

6. Type a description of the forms printer, and then click Next.

7. Configure an action to perform when a user submits a job:

   Notes:

   • If you do not want to perform an action, then select None from the Action drop-down menu.
   • Actions can also be included in forms merge scripts. If an action is both selected in LMC and specified by a script, then it is executed twice. For information on actions included in a forms merge script, contact the person who developed the solution.

   1. Select an action to perform:

      • Email—This sends an e-mail message with the output attached.

      • File—This saves the output to a file.

      • Print—This prints the output to a printer.

   2. Click Action Settings.

   3. Configure the action settings.

      • E-mail

        Note: To use the e-mail action, make sure the e-mail service is correctly configured from the Services tab.

        1. Type the addresses in the To, CC, BCC, and From fields, and then type the e-mail subject and message.

           Note: If you want to use the formset e-mail addresses when merging with the To, CC, and BCC fields, then select the Use ‘To’ defined in formset, Use ‘CC’ defined in formset, and Use ‘BCC’ defined in formset check boxes in the e-mail action settings of the virtual form printer.

        2. Click OK.

      • File

        1. Type the file path and name to use for each saved file.

        2. To add a time stamp to the file name of each saved file, select Append Time Stamp.

        3. If Append Time Stamp is not selected, then select the Overwrite check box to overwrite the existing file each time. If neither option is selected, then only the first output file is saved.

        4. To create the folder specified by file path and name if it does not already exist, select the Create Directory check box.

        5. Click OK.

      • Print

        1. Type the name of the output printer queue where jobs are to be printed. This name must match the name of a printer in the Printers folder on each server computer. When multiple servers are used, the same print queue should be installed with the same name on each server.

        2. Type the number of physical copies to print for each print job that is processed by the forms printer.

        3. Select the settings for duplex, paper type, paper size, and orientation.

        4. Select the appropriate printer type for your output printer:

           Printer type	Description	Printer support	Relative speed
           Lexmark PCL	Sends jobs using PCL data	All models, including those without PostScript support	Slow
           Lexmark PostScript	Sends jobs using PostScript with PJL commands	Most models	Slow
           Lexmark printer with PDF support	Sends jobs using unformatted PDF data and PJL commands	Specific models	Faster
           Lexmark printer with PDF and page formatting support	Sends jobs using formatted PDF data	Specific models	Fastest

           
           

           Note: For more information on the type of data supported by your printer, see the documentation that came with your printer.

        5. Click OK.

8. If you want to run a script when a user submits a job, then select a script from the list. If you do not want to run a script, then select None.

9. If a particular type of input data is expected, then select an appropriate Datatype filter to remove commands and data not needed by Lexmark Distributed Intelligent Capture. If you do not want to filter input data, then select None.

10. Click Finish.