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Setting Up Your Receipt Printer

ForkLine prints receipts and kitchen tickets on Star receipt printers using CloudPRNT. The printer checks in with ForkLine over the internet and collects jobs — which is why it works from anywhere without any software installed on a computer at your counter.

Once this is working, control what actually prints in Receipt Layout & Kitchen Tickets, and connect a drawer with Cash Drawer.

What you need

  • A Star CloudPRNT-capable receipt printer — the TSP143 series is the common choice.
  • The printer connected to power and to your network (ethernet or wifi, depending on model).
  • Receipt paper loaded.

Printers that aren't Star CloudPRNT models won't work. If you already own a printer, check the model before assuming.

Step 1: Turn on printing in ForkLine

  1. Go to Settings → Printer.
  2. Turn printing on.

This reveals the setup walkthrough and, importantly, the exact Server URL your printer needs. Leave this page open — you'll copy that address in the next step.

Step 2: Point the printer at ForkLine

This part happens on the printer's own configuration page, not in ForkLine. Check your printer's manual for how to reach it — usually you print a self-test to find the printer's IP address, then open that address in a browser on the same network.

In the printer's CloudPRNT settings:

  1. Set the Server URL to the address shown in Settings → Printer. It looks like:
    https://print.forklines.com:8443/api/printers/your-restaurant/cloudprnt
  2. Set HTTPS trust to accept ForkLine's certificate — either install the certificate ForkLine provides, or select "Accept all" if your printer offers it.
  3. Save, and restart the printer if prompted.

This URL lives on the printer, and ForkLine can't see or change it. If a printer is ever replaced, factory reset, or moved to a different shop, it has to be pointed at ForkLine again. A printer holding the wrong URL looks completely healthy from its own front panel and will never print.

Step 3: Confirm the printer checks in

Back in Settings → Printer, watch the printer status. It turns green once the printer successfully checks in — this can take up to a minute after a restart.

If it never goes green, the printer isn't reaching ForkLine. Recheck the Server URL character by character, confirm the printer is actually on the network, and restart it.

Step 4: Test print

  1. Choose test print from Settings → Printer.
  2. Confirm paper comes out.

There are two test variants — a setup slip, and a realistic kitchen ticket that runs through your actual kitchen layout. See Receipt Layout. Test prints never trigger print-failure alerts, so you can fire as many as you need.

Step 5: Decide what prints

Now set up the documents themselves:

  • How many kitchen copies per order (0–5) — set 0 if your kitchen works purely from the kitchen display.
  • Font size, alignment, and bold for readability.
  • A separate kitchen layout, so tickets can be large and price-free while customer receipts stay normal.

All of it is in Receipt Layout & Kitchen Tickets.

Adding a cash drawer

The drawer plugs into the printer, not into a computer. See Cash Drawer — and check the cable orientation, which causes most drawer problems.

Troubleshooting

Work these in order. Printer problems all look identical from the admin — no paper — but have completely different causes, so guessing is expensive.

  1. Power and network. Cable seated, status lights normal.
  2. Paper and cover. Out of paper, or a cover not fully latched, is the most common cause by far.
  3. Status in Settings → Printer. Not green means the printer isn't checking in — that's a connection problem, not a ForkLine one.
  4. Test print. If a test prints but real orders don't, check your kitchen copy count isn't 0.
  5. Re-verify the Server URL on the printer itself. See the warning in Step 2.
  6. Restart the printer.

Receipts print but look wrong — sizing, alignment, or missing fields — is a layout question, not a hardware one. See Receipt Layout.

One of two copies didn't print. Check paper, then the copy count.

If you've worked all six steps and still have no paper, contact support with your restaurant name, printer model, and which steps you've ruled out.

Where to go next

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