Receipts print through the browser dialog or silently with PrintNode: connect PrintNode from Store Config, assign a computer, printers and scale per location and register, and the point of sale prints receipts and labels and pops the cash drawer automatically.

PHP Point Of Sale prints two ways. Out of the box, receipts go through your browser's print dialog — nothing to install, works on any device. With PrintNode connected, printing becomes silent: the receipt goes straight to the right printer, the cash drawer pops on its own, and the browser dialog disappears from the flow entirely.

Most stores start with browser printing and add PrintNode once they want a faster checkout. Both paths print the same receipts — what the receipt says is covered in customizing receipts.

Choosing a printer

The recommended receipt printer is the Star TSP100 series (such as the TSP143 ECO) using Chrome or Firefox; customers have also had success with Epson and similar thermal printers. If you buy something else, get one that prints on paper 72 mm or wider. The recommended label printer is the Zebra LP 2824 Plus / ZD410 with 2 × 1 labels — label printing is covered in barcodes and labels. The hardware overview and hardware store list tested equipment.

If you add a store logo to receipts, use a 255 × 90 pixel image — black and white looks best on thermal paper.

Browser printing

With no extra setup, finishing a sale renders the receipt and hands it to the browser's print dialog. Two Store Config → Receipt settings shape the flow:

• Print receipt after sale — send the receipt to print automatically when a sale completes.
• Wide Printer Receipt Format — a wider layout for full-width printers when the narrow receipt is too cramped.

One-time browser setup for a thermal printer (Windows)

1. Install the printer driver — for the Star TSP100, download TSP100 futurePRNT from the Star Micronics support site and follow the wizard.
2. Set the paper size: Control Panel → Printers → right-click the printer → Printer Properties → Device Settings, and under Form to Tray Assignment choose 72mm x Receipt.
3. In the browser's print dialog, set all margins to 0 and headers and footers to blank (Firefox: menu → Print → Page Setup → Margins & Header/Footer; Chrome: expand More settings in the print dialog). Uncheck printing of background images.
4. To cut between copies when printing duplicates, set Page Cut Type to Partial Cut in the same Device Settings tab.

Printing without the dialog (kiosk printing)

• Firefox — type about:config in the address bar, create a new Boolean preference named print.always_print_silent, set it to true, and restart Firefox. With Print receipt after sale checked, receipts print with zero clicks.
• Chrome — edit your Chrome desktop shortcut and append --kiosk --kiosk-printing to the Target field. Chrome then launches full-screen and prints instantly to the default printer (print preview must remain enabled).

Mac setup

Download the CUPS driver for your printer from the manufacturer (Star publishes one for the TSP100), run the installer package (it needs your Mac admin password), then add the printer under System Settings → Printers & Scanners with the + button. For a LAN/wireless printer you need its IP address: power the printer off, hold the feed button while powering on, and release — it prints two test pages, and the second shows "Current IP Parameters Status" with the address.

iOS and Android

The PHP Point Of Sale mobile app prints to LAN receipt printers (for example a Star TSP100 LAN): connect the printer to your router, put the phone or tablet on the same network, tap the print button on a receipt, and pick the printer in the dialog.

Set up PrintNode

PrintNode is the silent-printing service and a plan entitlement, so check that your plan includes it. Everything lives in Store Config → PrintNode:

1. Click Setup Print Node — PHP Point Of Sale creates a managed PrintNode account for your store; no separate signup or API-key hunt is needed.
2. Click Download Application and install the PrintNode client on the computer the printer is physically connected to. It runs in the background and exposes that computer's printers (and scales).
3. Assign hardware per location and register (next section).

The same screen offers:

• Enable Test Print — send a test page from inside the point of sale to verify a printer.
• Update Profile / Delete Account — manage the managed PrintNode account.
• Cache settings — an enable switch and a timeout (default 300 seconds) that reduce lookups of your printer list.
• Print Job History with a view logs page — a log of every print job sent, so when someone says "it never printed" you can see whether the job went out and what PrintNode reported.

Assign hardware per location and register

Once PrintNode is connected, each location's form (Locations → edit → PrintNode tab, labelled Hardware Configuration) assigns the defaults:

• Select Computer — the PrintNode-running computer that serves this location.
• Receipt Printer — with a Test Print button next to it.
• Receipt Printer Width — the layout the receipt renders in: Receipt (80 × 297 mm) for standard thermal paper, Full Page (A4 / Letter) for office printers, or Ticket (54 × 28 mm) for ticket stock.
• Label Printer — so barcode labels go to the right device, with its own Test Print.
• Select Scale and Weight Type (KG / LB / OZ) with a Test Scale button — PrintNode also reads weights from a connected digital scale, covered in scales, scanners and customer displays.

Each register row on the Registers & Terminals tab then gets a PrintNode Open Setting button that opens a per-register dialog with three tabs — Computer Based (pick the computer, receipt printer, label printer, and scale for that lane), All Printers (every printer on the account with an Online/Offline badge and an assign control), and All Scales. Because assignments are per register, a two-lane store can give each lane its own printer and drawer while sharing one label printer in the back. See locations and registers.

Cash drawers

Automatic-opening cash drawers connect through the receipt printer — an APG Vasario-style drawer with an RJ12 cable (it looks like a phone cord) plugs into the drawer port on the printer, and the drawer kicks open when a receipt prints.

One-time driver setup on Windows for a Star printer:

1. Control Panel → Devices and Printers → right-click the printer → Printer Properties → Device Settings.
2. Set Peripheral Unit Type to Cash Drawer.
3. Set pulse width to 200 ms and Peripheral Unit 1 to Document Top.

On a Mac, open the CUPS admin pages in a browser at localhost:631/printers/ (if CUPS says its web interface is disabled, run the command it shows in Terminal first), select the printer, choose Set Default Options, and set the cash drawer control options there.

Opening the drawer without a sale: the register's three-dot menu has Pop Open Cash Drawer. With PrintNode connected it sends the drawer-kick command directly to the printer — no paper, no dialog; without PrintNode it opens a minimal page whose printing triggers the kick using very little paper. Either way the action is gated by the Sales permission action Add Remove Amounts From Cash Drawer, so only employees allowed to touch the drawer can pop it. Drawer counting and closeout live in registers and cash management.

Copies and duplicates

• Print Copies — the PrintNode settings accept a copy count (default 1) when a sale should print more than one receipt.
• Automatically print duplicate receipt for credit card transactions (Store Config → Receipt) — prints a merchant copy for card sales, for signed-slip requirements.
• Always print duplicate receipt for all transactions (Store Config → Receipt) — duplicates everything.

Troubleshooting

Receipts stopped printing silently. Check the PrintNode client is running on the assigned computer (the All Printers tab in the register's PrintNode dialog shows Online/Offline), then check Print Job History in Store Config → PrintNode to see whether jobs are being sent and what happened to them.

The print dialog shows on every sale. That is normal browser printing. Either set up kiosk printing (Firefox print.always_print_silent, or Chrome's --kiosk --kiosk-printing shortcut) or connect PrintNode for true silent printing.

The receipt prints tiny or with huge margins. Set the printer's paper size to 72mm x Receipt in its driver, zero the browser margins, and blank the headers/footers. With PrintNode, make sure Receipt Printer Width on the location matches your paper.

The cash drawer doesn't open. The drawer only kicks when the receipt printer tells it to: check the RJ12 cable is in the printer's drawer port, and on Windows confirm Peripheral Unit Type = Cash Drawer in the driver. With PrintNode, use Pop Open Cash Drawer from the register menu to test the kick without a sale.

Can each register have its own printer? Yes — click PrintNode Open Setting on the register's row under Registers & Terminals and assign that lane's computer, receipt printer, label printer, and scale.

Does PrintNode work from tablets and phones? Yes — that is its best trick. The browser on any device sends the job to the PrintNode computer, which prints it, so an iPad register prints to the counter's thermal printer with no dialog.

Who can pop the drawer without a sale? Employees with the Sales permission action Add Remove Amounts From Cash Drawer. Everyone else doesn't see the menu item.