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Swann Swann Retail Help

Hardware & network overview

This section is for setting up the hardware and network that run your till — the receipt printer, the cash drawer, and (for a network printer) the small print agent and the store network they sit on. It’s for whoever does the setup: you, your IT person, or your installer. Once it’s in place you won’t touch it again day to day.

The one decision that shapes everything

Section titled “The one decision that shapes everything”

How you connect your receipt printer decides whether you need the rest of this section:

  • USB printer — plugged straight into the register computer. The simplest setup: no print agent, no store network to lay out. Good for a single till with the printer right at it. You can skip almost everything here — just pair it in the app under Receipt printers & devices.
  • Network printer — wired into your router so any till in the store can print to it. This needs a print agent (a small program on a store PC) and a store network that keeps the printer reachable only from that agent. The rest of this section walks you through it.

What’s in your setup

Section titled “What’s in your setup”
  • Receipt printer — a standard 80mm thermal (ESC/POS) printer. See Choosing a receipt printer.
  • Cash drawer — plugs into the printer and pops when a cash sale ends; not a separate device on the network.
  • Print agent — for a network printer only, a small Windows program that relays each receipt to the printer. See Installing the print agent.
  • Store network — the router (and any switch) that connects the register tablets, the print agent PC, and the printer together. See Setting up your store network.

A note on safety

Section titled “A note on safety”

A network printer’s print port has no password — that’s normal for thermal printers, but it means the network is what keeps the printer (and your cash drawer) reachable only from your print agent, not from every phone and laptop in range. That’s why Securing your store network is part of the setup, not an extra. A brand-new store can get a router pre-configured by Swann with all of this done out of the box — ask us about the setup kit.

Setting it up, in order

Section titled “Setting it up, in order”
  1. Choose a receipt printer — what to buy, and the cash drawer that pops with it.
  2. Install the print agent on a store PC (network printer only).
  3. Set up your store network so the tablet, agent, and printer all talk to each other.
  4. Secure your store network — keep the printer reachable only from the agent.
  5. Run through the go-live checklist before you open the doors.