Share printers across workstations

How it works

Each paired computer reports its printer list to BadgeBadger. Operators on any other browser can pick a remote printer from the Print picker; we queue the job and the target workstation prints it within a couple of seconds. No new pairing per remote operator: the workstation hosts the printer, and everyone routes to it.

Setup

1. Install the Print Agent on the workstation with the card printer. (See Install the Print Agent.)
2. Pair it once. (See Pair your computer.)
3. That’s it. Settings → Printers → Print agents → Paired computersnow shows the workstation and its printers. The “Shared” checkbox on the row is on by default.

Picking a remote printer

Click Print on any employee. The printer picker groups options:

• This computer:printers attached to the workstation you’re sitting at, if any.
• Other workstations: printers attached to remote paired computers, each labeled with the hostname / nickname and a last-seen indicator.

Pick a remote printer and click the print button. We show a confirmation dialog spelling out “About to print Sam Rivera’s badge to Seaory S25 on Front Desk PC”. Confirm and the job dispatches. A toast tracks status live: Queued → Printing → Done.

Stop sharing a printer

Hide a workstation’s printers from the org-wide picker without revoking the device: Settings → Printers → Print agents → Paired computers, uncheck Shared. The workstation still works locally for the person sitting at it.

Guardrails

• Print jobs stay inside your organization: you can only send them to computers paired with it, and each computer only picks up jobs addressed to it.
• When the agent claims a queued job it verifies the requested printer is currently connected. If you yanked the USB cable between dispatch and claim, the job acks “failed: printer not connected” rather than silently retargeting.
• The confirmation dialog before every cross-machine send is the last line of defense against mis-clicks.