• Why do I have to pay to print?
• Where are the WolfCopy locations?
• Why do many pages of meaningless characters come out of the printer when I print certain things?
• When I print certain PDF files, the printer locks up and my job never comes out. Why?
• If 'Print A File' only accepts ps, pdf, and text, how do I print my Microsoft Word file?
• Where can I find a list of publicly available printers?
• What are the terms of an IOU?
• Can someone else, e.g., my parents, buy print quota for me?
• Can I buy print quota online with a credit card?
• What kinds of credit cards can I use to buy print quota online?
• Can I use my ATM or debit card to buy print quota online?
• How soon after I buy print quota online will it be added to my print quota balance?
• What if there is a problem with my online order?

WolfCopy maintains most of the printers on campus. WolfCopy provides staff to take care of the printers Monday through Friday, 8:00 am-5:00 pm. These employees maintain the printers and supply paper and toner. Your print quota fees pay for these supplies and repairs.

You can find WolfCopy representatives at the following locations:

• D.H. Hill Library, Photocopy Services Room
  • Open from 8:30am-5:30pm, M-F
• Materials Management Warehouse, 3240 Ligon Street

The printer prints these characters when it receives a file it does not understand how to print. Instead of simply ignoring the file, the printer attempts to print what it can. These files contain a seemingly random mix of viewable letters, numbers, and symbols, as well as other characters that cannot be viewed. The printer is capable of printing the letters, numbers, and symbols, but the other characters often signal a page break. Since these other characters show up just as often as the letters, numbers, and symbols, you will see strings of only a few letters, numbers, and symbols before the printer switches to a new page. Most programs know how to translate your print job into printer language, such as PostScript. If such a file is sent to a printer without being translated into printer language, e.g. PostScript, the printer tries to print it "as is", and you receive pages of meaningless characters.

This issue occurs in two different scenarios. You may see this symptom because of a conflict between Adobe's version of PostScript printer language and HP's proprietary version of printer language. Your file is rendered into HP's propietary printer language, rather than Adobe's native PostScript, when it reaches the printer. When the printer tries to translate from Adobe's native PostScript language to HP's proprietary version of PostScript, your file may become corrupt, or badly encoded. The result of the conflict is apparent when a user sends his/her job to the printer, but it never comes out, disappearing from the print queue some time later.

You may also see this symptom if you try to print a PDF file directly from a web browser. The printer interprets the file's URL as its filename. In many cases, URLs consist of many characters. A long URL may fill up the printer's memory before the rest of the print job reaches the printer.

There are several ways to work around troublesome PDFs. However, no single one of these solutions will work in every case.

1. If you are trying to print from Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser, your PDF has opened in Adobe's Acrobat Reader Plugin. If you have tried choosing File>Print from the Internet Explorer menu without success, try using the Adobe Plugin's own Print button, which is located directly to the right of the Save a Copy button. If your print job is still rejected, charges will not be deducted from your print quota account balance.

2. If you are trying to print from Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser, and if #1 above doesn't work, try downloading the PDF file, saving it to your desktop and then printing it from Adobe Reader instead of from the Internet Explorer plugin. When you save the PDF file to your desktop, choose a short filename, such as myfile.pdf; a long a filename may run the printer out of memory before the rest of the job can be rendered. After you have saved the file to your desktop, open Adobe Reader from the Novell Applications Launcher, and then choose File>Open to open the PDF file you saved to your desktop. Finally, choose Adobe's own printer icon rather than going to File>Print.

3. If you are not trying to print from a web browser, please download and save the file to your desktop as described in #2 above, and then try using the web-based Print A File utility to send your file to the printer.

If you still haven't received your job, please report the problem on the web. In your report, please specify the name of the file you tried to print. We will then be able to extract the file from the print server, and analyze it in order to isolate which PostScript commands are offending the printer.

If 'Print A File' only accepts ps, pdf, and text, how do I print my Microsoft Word file?

If you are using a Windows XP machine in a computing lab, you can convert your file to PDF format with Adobe Acrobat Distiller. If you are using a personally-owned Windows XP machine and you do not own a copy of Adobe Acrobat Distiller, you can use the Windows 'Print a File' option to generate a file in printer language (.prn) that can subsequently be sent to a printer. To use the Windows 'Print a File' option to generate a file that can be sent to the printer via the WolfPrint Print a File Utility, you will need to own a PostScript printer, or you will need to fake that you own a PostScript printer.

The following instructions are written assuming Microsoft Word XP and the Windows XP Operating System. The exact procedure may be different depending on which version of Microsoft Word or the Windows Operating System you are running. If you have questions, please direct them via e-mail to help@ncsu.edu or via telephone to 515-HELP(4357).

1. After you have opened your document in Microsoft Word, choose Print from the File menu.
2. When the print dialog box appears, click the Print to File checkbox.
3. Click on OK.
4. The Print to File dialog box will appear.
5. Navigate to the location on your hard drive in which you would like to save the file after it is converted to .prn format.
6. In the file name field, type in a name for the file you wish to convert to .prn format.
7. Make sure that Printer Files (*.prn) shows in the Save as Type field.
8. Click on OK to convert your Microsoft Word document to a .prn file.
9. Submit the resulting .prn file to a WolfCopy printer with the Print a File Utility.

Under normal circumstances, you shouldn't need a list of available printers. Most labs are configured so that all of the workstations in that lab point to the correct printer (i.e., the one that lives in the same lab). However, if you need to be able to print to another lab there is a list of publicly available lab printers available here.

When you request an IOU, $10 will be immediately credited to your WolfPrint quota account balance, and your account will be flagged. At 8:00am, two days from when you request the IOU, the IOU'd $10 will be deducted from your WolfPrint quota account. While your account is flagged, you will not be allowed to request further IOUs.

Important Notes:

• If you are over $10 in debt, you may not request a Quota IOU.
• If your balance is positive when the IOU'd $10 is deducted from your account, the IOU flag will be removed.

If you have a privacy block on your directory information, no one else can buy print quota for you. Due to FERPA restrictions, NC State University is not allowed to indicate that you are a member of the university community. As such, your identity can not be verified in the online store. If you do not have a privacy block, someone else may purchase print quota for you at http://print.ncsu.edu/.

Yes. You can purchase print quota online with a credit card by choosing Buy Quota Online from the WolfPrint main menu. You can purchase a minimum of $5.00 and a maximum of $100.00 in print quota in one transaction.

Only Visa and Mastercard are accepted. Visa checkcards bearing the Visa logo will also be accepted, because they behave like credit cards.

ATM or debit cards are only accepted if they bear the Visa or Mastercard logo.

Your print quota account balance will be updated within 5 minutes of your credit card transaction. After arriving at http://print.ncsu.edu, you may need to reload/refresh to see your updated balance and transaction under Last Quota Addition.

In the event of a problem with your online order, please contact the helpdesk at 515-HELP(4357) or send an email to help@ncsu.edu.