Create a new printer filter

Create a new printer filter

Updated: August 22, 2005

Filters display only those printers that meet a certain set of criteria. For example, it might be helpful to filter for printers with certain error conditions or those printers in a group of buildings regardless of the print server they use. Filters are stored in the Custom Printer Filters folder in the Print Management tree and are dynamic, so the data is always current.

Two default filters are provided with Print Management (Printmanagement.msc). For each filter that you create, you have the option to set up an e-mail notification or to run a script when the conditions of the filter are met. This is useful when you want to be alerted about printer problems, particularly in an organization with multiple buildings and administrators.

For example, you can set up a filter of all printers managed by a particular print server where the status does not equal Ready. Then, if a printer changes from the Ready status to any other status, the administrator could receive a notification e-mail from Print Management.

Note
The print server role must be installed and you must be a member of the Administrators group to perform these procedures.

To set up and save a filtered view

1. Open the Administrative Tools folder, and then double-click Print Management.
2. In the Print Management tree, right-click the Custom Printer Filters folder, and then click Add New Printer Filter. This will launch the New Printer Filter Wizard.
3. On the Printer Filter Name and Description wizard page, type a name for the printer filter. The name will appear in the Custom Printer Filters folder in the Print Management tree.
4. In Description, type an optional description.
5. To display the number of printers that satisfy the conditions of a filter, select the Display the total number of printers next to the name of the printer filter check box
6. Click Next.
7. On the Define a printer filter wizard page, do the following:
   1. In the Field list, click the print queue or printer status characteristic.
      
      
   2. In the Condition list, click the condition.
      
      
   3. In the Value box, type a value.
      
      
   4. Continue adding criteria until your filter is complete, and then click Next.
      
      
8. On the Set Notifications (Optional) wizard page, do one or both of the following:
   • To set an e-mail notification, select the Send e-mail notification check box, and type one or more recipient and sender e-mail addresses. An SMTP server must be specified to route the message. Use the format account@domain and semicolons to separate multiple accounts.
     
     
   • To set a script to run, select the Run script check box, and then type the path where the script file is located. To add more arguments, type them in Additional arguments.
     
     
9. Click Finish.

   Note
   To set notifications on existing printer filters, right-click a filtered view, and then click Set Notifications.

Setting Optional Notifications

When you create or modify a filter, you have the option of sending an automatic e-mail notification to someone or running a script when the conditions of the filter are met. This is useful for resolving printer problems, particularly in an organization with multiple buildings and administrators.

For example, you can set up a view of all printers managed by a particular print server where the status does not equal Ready. Then, if a printer changes from the Ready status to another status, the administrator could receive a notification e-mail from Print Management.

In addition to setting notifications on a custom set of printers, you can set notifications on printer server objects. For example, if the server is offline, or the spooler goes down, an e-mail notification can be sent.

Setting script notifications are useful for resolving printer problems and troubleshooting. For example, you could automatically run a script to restart a spooler when printers go offline. You could also automatically run a script that prints a test page.

Scripts can be written in Visual Basic Script (.vbs) or any scripting language available on the computer. The script has to be on the computer with Print Management. The script should be running with your credentials and you need to have the permissions to do whatever it is that you want the script to do.