How to Set Up Brother QL-820 Printers with Planning Center Check-Ins | Step-by-Step Guide

[@paulmmobley]

Nice job guys, this is exactly what i needed to create for our teams. Thrilled to find your video and to have it well done. Thanks!

[@mikegill1669]

I know this seems to make sense to a non-tech person but the argument for a dedicated SSID has problems. The SSID is coming from the same AP that would be broadcasting the shared ssid. The ‘other clients’ connected, still using that AP. Additional SSID’s may burden the AP if it’s already broadcasting multiple SSID’s. Depending on the brand or generation of existing WiFi hardware, this burden can be more or less, but it’s not zero.

[@ThreefoldSolutions]

Great points to consider Mike and appreciate your comments. The hope with dedicated and separate SSIDs is based on recommendations and experience with Check-ins just working better overall when set up this way, rather than all being on the same network that all congregants use.

[@AndrasGyaraki]

Hello Guys! Is it possible to use the Brother QL-810Wc in this manner with a MacBook as a Station? It seems that only mobile devices are supported for Brother. Any experiences?

[@ThreefoldSolutions]

Hey Andras, unfortunately, Planning Center's Check-ins Station software only support the Brother printers from a mobile device. Having said that, you can use a "proxy" type of mobile device to act as the "Shared printing station" where the mobile device is actually the station connected via wifi, but the macbook will print labels through the shared mobile device station. You can experiment with using LAN connections and POE options (if you understand those things) on a single ipad or tablet and that might offer addtional shared printer station options as well.

[@DavidBrockJr]

Have you found a way to successfully change the printer's name to be visible in Planning Center? The device name is changed when I log in through the IP address and appears changed in everything except within the Planning Center Check-Ins app where it always displays the Model followed by the Serial Number. We're trying to change the name so it's easy for volunteers to know which printer they are selecting when having multiple printers on the network.

[@ThreefoldSolutions]

Hey David, thanks for taking the time to ask a question! That's a great question, I do not know of a way to identify or set a name outside of the model or IP Address. We generally print out the Printer Information (under Information/Print Configuration/Printer Settings) and then use labels on the Printer and on the Station that say exactly which printer that station should be paired with. We hope to not change them up, but when we do, we know which station was paired with what printer by the label we attached to the bottom of the printer (i.e. Printer 01 and Station 01).

[@ThreefoldSolutions]

One additional thought, you can change the name when using Bluetooth connections. Not sure that is helpful, but wanted to mention that you can modify the name when pairing for the first time with your device.

[@DavidBrockJr]

@@ThreefoldSolutions thanks! I actually just heard back from PCO on this, they said that at the moment, the Check-In's app does not pull the name of the printer and instead over the network will only show the Model and Serial Number as the printer's name from an iPad.