Tablets, printers and scanners

This page explains how to set up the tablets, receipt printers, cash drawers, barcode scanners and card readers at a store.

Who can do this: a corporate administrator creates enrollment codes and lets tablets take payments. On the tablet, printer and scanner settings need a manager's PIN.

Install the app

Your tablets may arrive with the Fran-Trak POS app already installed. If a tablet does not have it, install Fran-Trak POS from the tablet's app store.

Enroll a tablet

Enrolling ties a tablet to one store and gives it a ticket letter (A, B, and so on). You need a one-time enrollment code.

To create the code in the portal:

1. Open Getting Started. Click Administer, then Administration Home, then Getting Started (POS Setup).
2. Open the Hardware step and select Open Manage POS Devices.
3. Click New Enrollment Code.
4. Choose the Store.
5. In Code Expires In, choose 24 Hours or 7 Days.
6. Click Create Code. The code appears under Read This Code To The Store.

You can also create the code right on the Hardware step. See Getting Started.

To enroll the tablet:

1. Open the Fran-Trak POS app. It shows Enroll this tablet.
2. Type the code in Enrollment code. The hyphen is optional.
3. In Tablet name, type a name you will recognize, such as "Front counter".
4. Leave the server set to Production.
5. Tap Enroll.

The tablet loads the store's menu and opens the order screen. One code enrolls one tablet. To stop an unused code, click Void next to it in the portal.

Let a tablet take card payments

A tablet can only take cards after the office allows it.

1. In the portal, open Manage POS Devices, the same way as in Enroll a tablet. Click the tablet in the list.
2. Click Grant Take Payment.

In Getting Started, the Hardware step has a Take payment button for each tablet. Select it to switch it On.

The tablet picks up the change within about two minutes. To check it on the tablet, tap Tools, then Payments & card reader. Portal grant should read "Granted by the office".

Open the tablet's Tools

Most hardware settings live in the tablet's Tools screen.

1. On the order screen, tap Tools.
2. Tap the setting you need.
3. If the tablet asks, a manager types their PIN.

Set up a receipt printer

The tablet prints to receipt printers that use the common ESC/POS commands. The printer can be on the store network or plugged into the tablet.

To use a network printer:

1. Switch the printer on. Make sure it is on the same network as the tablet.
2. On the tablet, tap Tools, then Printers & labels.
3. Under Receipt printer (ESC/POS), tap Network.
4. Tap Find network printers. Looking takes a few seconds.
5. Tap your printer in the list.

If the printer gives its serial number, the tablet finds it again when the network gives it a new address. If it does not, give the printer a fixed address on your router.

If the printer is not found, tap Type an address instead. Type its IP address. Leave Port at 9100 unless your printer uses another port.

To use a printer plugged into the tablet:

1. Under Receipt printer (ESC/POS), tap USB (this tablet).
2. Tap Find USB printers.
3. Tap your printer. If Android asks for permission, allow it.

Note

If the tablet says it cannot use USB printers, its app is older than USB printing. Update Fran-Trak POS from the tablet's app store.

Changes on this screen save as you make them.

The Hardware step of Getting Started shows each tablet's printer in its Receipt printer column.

Set the receipt paper width

The tablet needs to know how many characters fit across the paper.

1. Tap Tools, then Printers & labels.
2. Under Paper width, tap one:
   • 80 mm - 48 wide: most Epson 80 mm printers.
   • 80 mm - 42 wide: many other 80 mm printers, such as SNBC and Star.
   • 58 mm - 32 wide: narrow paper.
3. Tap Test print. The test receipt has a ruler that shows which width fits.

Tip

If amounts drop onto their own line, or a dashed line breaks in two, the width is set too wide. Choose a narrower one.

Each tablet keeps its own paper width setting.

Test the printer

1. Tap Tools, then Printers & labels.
2. Tap Test print.

If the paper comes out blank, tap Plain test (bare text, no commands). If the plain test prints but Test print does not, contact support. If both are blank, check the printer's own settings, such as its emulation mode and paper sensor.

Share a printer between tablets

Several tablets at one store can use one printer.

1. On the tablet the printer belongs to, tap Tools, then Printers & labels.
2. Turn on Share this printer with the store's other tablets.
3. On each other tablet, tap Another tablet's for that printer.
4. Tap Find shared printers and tap the tablet.

The tablet that owns the printer must be on, with the app open. Paper width is set on that tablet and followed by the others.

Connect a cash drawer

The register opens the cash drawer through the receipt printer. The drawer does not plug into the tablet.

1. Plug the cash drawer into the receipt printer's drawer port.
2. Ring a test cash sale. The drawer opens when the receipt prints.

The open drawer session and its closeout are under Tools, then Payments & card reader, then Cash drawer.

Connect a barcode scanner

Most USB barcode scanners work as they come. The scanner must be in USB keyboard mode and end each scan with Enter.

1. Plug the scanner into the tablet.
2. Tap Tools, then Barcode scanner.
3. Under Plugged in, check that it reads Scanner. If it reads Keyboard, turn on Treat as a scanner.
4. Under Test a scan, scan an item. The screen shows what the register would ring.

With Scans act on the screen that is showing on, a scan on the register rings the item. On a refund or void it finds the ticket. A gift card shows its balance.

This build has no scanner support

If the screen shows this, the tablet's app is older than scanner support. The scanner still works as a keyboard. Tap the search box on the register, then scan. To scan without tapping first, update Fran-Trak POS from the tablet's app store.

For a scan to ring an item, the item needs its barcode number in the portal. Open the item in Manage Menu Items. On the Basics tab, fill in Barcode, or PLU for an item with no barcode. See Menus.

Connect a card reader

The card reader depends on how the store takes cards. See Choose how you take cards.

Payment processing through Fran-Trak

The store uses a countertop card reader. It sits on the store network and takes the card on its own screen.

1. On the reader, open its settings and tap Generate pairing code. It shows three words.
2. On the tablet, tap Tools, then Payments & card reader.
3. Under Card reader (countertop), type the three words in Pairing code (three words). Separate them with dashes.
4. If you like, type a Reader name (optional).
5. Tap Register reader.
6. Under Card reader connection, tap Network (countertop).

Your own merchant account

Your payment processor supplies the card readers, called PIN pads. Each tablet uses its own PIN pad.

1. In Getting Started, open the Hardware step.
2. Find the tablet. In its PIN pad serial column, type the PIN pad's serial number.
3. Select Save next to it.

To take a PIN pad off a tablet, clear the serial number and select Save. Fran-Trak support switches live processing on once your payment processor has set you up.

Keep the app up to date

The tablet downloads most updates by itself, in the background. It never changes software in the middle of a sale. The update applies after the day-end close, or when a manager applies it.

To apply a downloaded update now:

1. Tap Tools, then Server & app software.
2. Tap Restart & update now.

To look for an update, tap Check for updates on the same screen.

Some updates come through the app store instead. When that happens, the order screen shows a notice such as "A software update is available". Update Fran-Trak POS from the tablet's app store. Updating keeps the tablet's enrollment.

Server & app software needs the PIN of the store's most senior POS employee.

See which version a tablet runs

Each tablet reports its app version every time it checks in.

• On the tablet: tap Tools, then Server & app software. See App version. The line below it says whether the tablet is current.
• In the portal: open Manage POS Devices and click the tablet. See App Build. A red behind label means the tablet needs the newer app from the app store.

The Published POS App Builds table on the same page lists the newest app versions, with how many tablets are behind.

Rename, deactivate or reactivate a tablet

In the portal, open Manage POS Devices and click the tablet.

• Rename changes its name.
• Deactivate Device stops it ringing sales at its next check-in. Use this for a lost or stolen tablet.
• Reactivate Device lets the same tablet carry on. It does not need a new code.

In Getting Started, the Hardware step has a Deactivate link for each tablet.

To move a tablet to another store, unenroll it, then enroll it again with a code for the new store. On the tablet, tap Tools, then Unenroll this tablet. This needs the PIN of the store's most senior POS employee.