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Introduction

Printy watches folders on your computer and prints whatever appears in them. A scanner drops a PDF, an ERP export writes a delivery note, a label generator produces one file per parcel — Printy picks it up and sends it to the printer you chose for that folder.

Nobody has to open the file, pick a printer, set the number of copies and close it again. That is the whole idea.

Why it exists

Section titled “Why it exists”

The work Printy removes is invisible until you count it. Somebody scans a stack of documents and prints each one. Somebody exports twenty delivery notes and prints them one at a time. It is a minute of clicking per document, several times an hour — and it stops entirely the moment that person is in a meeting, on holiday, or simply not at that desk.

The rule behind the clicking is almost always trivial: everything that lands in this folder goes to that printer, two copies, double-sided. Printy is a place to write that rule down once.

How it works

Section titled “How it works”

You add a watched folder. For it you choose:

  • which printer its files go to,
  • how many copies, single- or double-sided, colour or greyscale,
  • which file types count,
  • how often the folder is checked,
  • and what happens to a file after it has been printed.

From then on Printy checks that folder on its own interval. A new file that is not still being written gets queued, printed, and moved out of the way — or left where it is, or deleted, whichever you chose.

Printy runs in the background with an icon in the system tray. It can start with the computer, and it can start minimised, so in normal operation you never open it at all.

What it is careful about

Section titled “What it is careful about”

A tool that prints by itself is a tool that can waste a lot of paper, so several behaviours exist specifically to stop that:

  • A file still being written is not printed. Printy waits until a file stops changing before queueing it. A scan that is half transferred would otherwise print as half a page.
  • Existing files are not printed when you add a folder. Everything already lying there counts as done. Only what arrives afterwards is printed — unless you explicitly ask for the existing files too, which the form offers when you create the folder.
  • The same file is not printed twice. Printy remembers what it has seen, by content, not just by name.
  • A printer that is off holds the queue. Nothing fails, nothing is lost, and no retries are consumed. When the printer comes back, printing continues.
  • A broken file gives up quietly. After three attempts it is moved aside and the queue carries on with the next job instead of jamming.

What it does not do

Section titled “What it does not do”

Worth knowing before you plan around it:

  • Local folders only. Network shares, UNC paths and cloud-sync folders are not supported — a file that syncs in pieces looks finished more than once.
  • No subfolders. Only the folder itself is scanned, never its subdirectories.
  • No Office formats. DOCX and XLSX are not printed. Export to PDF first.
  • No tray or paper-size selection. Printy uses the printer’s own defaults.
  • One user, one machine. Printy is a desktop application, not a print server.

Where to go next

Section titled “Where to go next”