Connecting a Receipt Printer

Connecting a Receipt Printer

HandyBook prints to ESC/POS thermal printers (Star, Epson, Bixolon, Munbyn). You connect one under Point of Sale → Hardware → Receipt printer. Settings are stored locally on this device.

Turn the printer on

In the Receipt printer section, check Enable printer. A Mode dropdown appears with three choices:

• Network (LAN via local bridge)
• PrintNode (cloud relay)
• WebUSB (coming soon) — not implemented yet; pick Network or PrintNode

Mode 1 — Network (LAN via local bridge)

Best for Star and Epson LAN printers.

1. Connect the printer to your network and note its IP address (print a self-test if needed)
2. Set Mode to Network
3. Enter the Printer host (IP) (e.g. 192.168.1.50) and Port (usually 9100)
4. Enter the Bridge URL (default http://localhost:9100/print)
5. Click Test print, then Save settings

Important: browsers can't open raw TCP sockets, so network mode relies on a small companion bridge running on this machine that relays the print bytes to the printer. The Bridge URL points HandyBook at that bridge. If you don't have a bridge running, use PrintNode instead.

Mode 2 — PrintNode (cloud relay)

Best for USB printers, firewall-restricted networks, or print-from-anywhere.

1. Sign up at printnode.com and install the PrintNode client on a computer near the printer
2. Confirm the printer is connected (USB or network) and get your PrintNode API key and the printer's ID from the PrintNode dashboard
3. In HandyBook set Mode to PrintNode
4. Enter the PrintNode printer ID and PrintNode API key
5. Click Test print, then Save settings

Testing

The Test print button sends a sample receipt ("If you can read this, your printer is wired up."). On success the section badge flips to Connected; on failure it shows Error with a reason. Test is disabled until a working mode is selected.

Receipt header and footer

The text at the top and bottom of receipts comes from your POS settings (the receipt header and footer), and prints on both ESC/POS and emailed receipts.

What prints

Each completed sale's Receipt dialog has Print and Email buttons. If a printer is enabled, HandyBook also auto-prints the receipt when the sale completes, and for cash sales it can fire the drawer kick (see Cash Drawer Setup).

Paper

Use 80mm thermal paper for standard counter printers (about 32 characters wide). Thermal paper only — plain paper won't print.

FAQ

My test print fails — what do I check?

1. Printer powered on with paper, and you've run its self-test
2. For Network mode: the companion bridge is running, and the IP/port are correct and reachable on this network
3. For PrintNode: the PrintNode client is running, and the printer ID and API key are correct
4. Re-run Test print and read the error reason in the toast

Can I print without any hardware? Yes — the Print button uses your browser's print dialog, and Email sends a receipt with no hardware at all.

Do USB printers work? Through PrintNode, yes. Direct WebUSB is "coming soon" and not yet usable.

Do these settings sync to my other devices? No — printer settings are saved locally per device. Configure each device.

Can I run a separate kitchen/back-office printer? No — the Hardware page configures one receipt printer per device.