Having issues with a Holt folder for a printer

Ethnod · January 14, 2019

I’m hoping that someone here knows how to help me. I need to automate some printing and I am hoping that someone knows a bit about it to help me with some questions.

At my work place they have moved some functions from another country to here in Ireland and over there they used to have this odd printing system which I’ve never used before. The staff would drop pdf files into a hot folder which would then be sent to the printer with some special requirements (last page of each document needed the paper sourced from a different printer tray) and then that file would be deleted once spooled by the printer.

Another issue we are having is that the person who set all this up years ago has now left and none of the IT guys in the country of origin know anything about it, never mind how it was set up.

Oh, not sure if it matters but printer is a Xerox

Questions:

Can this be done with a simple script?

Or is setting up a hot folder more complicated and requires server side software? And if so, does anyone know what this software could be?

Does anyone know an easy way to find out what script/software is monitoring the hot folder?

Anyone have experience with this and if so, what way to they recommend setting this up?

Scheer · January 15, 2019

Sounds like they had a Fiery server, which is a $5-10k add on to higher end copiers. In the Fiery Command Center there is a plugin for "Fiery Hot Folders" where you set your jobs up per folder and just drop files in them to have them print. https://www.efi.com/products/fiery-servers-and-software/fiery-command-workstation/hot-folders-virtual-printers/hot-folders/

I'm only familiar with Sharp and Fiery, so it may be different for Xerox... but on the Sharp machines you install an interface kit inside of the copier that uses a Display Port cable for communication out to the Fiery server, which will either be Linux or Windows based depending on the model. As far as I am aware you have to have the server to use the Hot Folders, there isn't a standalone software package available.

Scratch that, after doing some research it looks like a lot of machines support Hot Folders, it will just be a setting in the machine. What model is your Xerox?