About Client Printing Compatible Models

When you configure client printers, you must match your client printer to a printer or print driver model on the web server. This process ensures that when you print a document, the print code that is generated for the document on the web server is compatible with your client printer, so that when the client printer receives the print code, it can print the document.

When you configure your client printer, use the Compatible Printer Selection page of the New Printer wizard to select a printer or print driver model that is installed on the web server and that is compatible with the client printer model that you are configuring. You might need to consult your printer's manufacturer before you configure the client printer to determine an appropriate compatible model that can be installed on the web server.

ClosedDefining default compatible models

If you have many printers and/or print drivers connected to your web server, and especially if many are from the same manufacturer as the client printer that you are configuring, it can be a challenge to select the most appropriate compatible model. To simplify the selection process, you can specify default compatible models on the Print Settings property page. Subsequently, when a user is configuring a client printer, the default compatible printer model for the client printer is automatically selected when the New Print wizard reaches the Compatible Printer Selection page.

The default compatible models are matched to client printers by using either a wildcard or regular expression. For example, suppose that you have many users who are connected to client printers of various models from the XYZ manufacturer. On your web server, you can install a single XYZ printer or print driver model that is compatible with the majority of the client XYZ printer models that might be encountered. Then, you can define the wildcard expression "x*" to automatically match client printer XYZ models with the compatible XYZ printer model on the web server.

ClosedTo define a default compatible printer model

  1. In the Client Printing Compatible Models section of the Print Settings property page, click to open the Add a Client Printing Compatible Model Definition dialog.

  2. In the list of printers that are installed on the web server, select the printer that you want to match to a client printer.

  3. In the Match Value field, enter a wildcard or regular expression to identify the client printers that you want to specify as compatible matches for the selected web server printer.

  4. Click to select Wildcard or Regex to specify whether the Match Field value should be read as a wildcard or regular expression.

  5. Click OK to close the Add a Client Printing Compatible Model Definition dialog. The new client printing compatible model definition is now listed in the Client Printing Compatible Models pane on the Print Settings property page.

  6. Optionally, click or to move your new client printing compatible model definition up or down in the list. The order of the definitions in the list determines the order in which the New Printer wizard evaluates the expressions.

  7. Click OK to save your changes and to close the Administrative Setup page.