How to get Support

If you’re reading this, it’s likely that you have a problem, or you’re thinking about getting one soon! This helpful article helps you get help in three simple steps:

Step 1 - Scope the Knowledge Base

Solutions to many issues are easily found by checking out our industry-leading Knowledge Base; don’t panic, you’re doing it already! Throw a few key words into the search field on our support page and there’s a good chance you’ll turn up your answer. Prefer mice over keyboards? Links to our FAQs, manuals, and downloads are all Click Compatible and Y2K Ready:

• Help Center - links to manuals, faqs, KBs, system requirements, release history and more!
• Support Portal - search for answers to your questions.
• Known Issues list - see if your issue is a currently known issue!

Now, if you’ve poked around and can’t seem to find what you’re after, gather the information that you’ll need before contacting us - see below!

Step 2 - What to Tell Us (and How to Tell It)

Software is complicated stuff. There’s a lot of moving parts in-between your document and a printed page, which means there’s a lot of important variables for us to consider. The more we know about your particular variables right off the bat, the more informed our initial thoughts will be, and the quicker we can get to the bottom of things! Here’s some items that will help immensely for practically any support request:

• Customer Reference Number - Your Customer Reference Number tells us who you are, and gives us an idea of the scale of your PaperCut deployment. It can be found on the ‘About’ tab of the PaperCut administration console, next to ‘Support’. See here for steps and screenshots: How do I find my PaperCut Support ID or Customer Reference Number (CRN). Your Customer Reference Number allows us to look up your license information, and see useful details about your setup - e.g. how many devices you’re licensed for, or how many users you’re licensed for, and if you have current Maintenance and Support (M&S) and access to free upgrades!

• Edition, Version, and Build - It’s possible that your problem is specific to a particular version of PaperCut. In fact, if the version you’re running isn’t the latest and greatest, there’s a chance we’ve fixed it already! You can find this information on the ‘About’ tab of the PaperCut administration console, next to “Version Info”. Make sure to include all of the edition (e.g. ‘NG’ or ‘MF’), the version (e.g. ‘21.0.2’), and the build (e.g. ‘33771’). Oh, and whilst you’re here, click the “Check for updates” button found just below the version information. If there’s a new version available, you’ll be linked straight to it!

• Operating System of Servers and Workstations - How best to approach your problem will depend closely upon your OS. Be sure to let us know what version of Windows, macOS, or Linux your PaperCut servers employ, as well as that of your users’ workstations.

• Make, Model, and Driver of Affected Printers/Copiers - Some issues affect some devices uniquely; a lot of others can be alleviated just by trying out a different driver. To that end, be sure to tell us about the devices you’re using, as well as what drivers you’ve installed for them. Even better, send us links to where we can download the relevant drivers ourselves!

• Logs, Screenshots, and Details of Tests Performed - Oftentimes the quickest way to spot what’s wrong is to get a look under the hood. You can preemptively pop that hood for us by checking out the instructions found here, and here!

Gather it all together and send it on over. With the above in hand, we can hit the ground running!

Oh and even better - your log files and other information you send to us will be treated with care in accordance with our privacy policy!

Step 3 - Who You Gonna Call?

Technology is cool and all, but some situations still call for a human touch (… for now). Thankfully, technology makes it easy to pick the right human! Login to the PaperCut administration console, hop over to the ‘About’ tab, and take a look at your “Version Info”.

• If you’re using PaperCut MF, your reseller or Authorized Partner should be your first port of call; their familiarity with your hardware, as well as any customisations they’ve implemented for you, makes them the ideal candidate. You’ll find their contact details in the ‘Support’ section of the ‘About’ tab - or on the ‘Help’ tab of more recent versions.

• If you’re using PaperCut NG, you’ll want to speak with the source, and the source just happens to have an extremely fancy web page for that: Contact Us