Windows 7 / Getting Started

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Creating and Using Printer Filters

You can use Print Management to create custom printer filters to simplify the task of managing hundreds of print servers and thousands of printers. To create a custom printer filter, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the Custom Filters node in Print Management and select Add New Printer Filter.
2. Type a name and description for the new filter. For example, type All HP Printers for a filter that displays printers whose driver names begin with HP, indicating Hewlett Packard printers. If desired, select the check box labeled Display The Total Number Of Printers Next To The Name Of The Printer Filter and then click Next.
3. Specify up to six filter criteria for your new filter. For example, to filter for printers whose driver names begin with HP, select the Driver Name field and the Begins With condition and type HP as the value.
4. Click Next and configure an e-mail notification or script action that occurs when a printer matches the filter criteria specified by the filter. Configuration notification is optional and is described further in the section titled "Monitoring and Troubleshooting Printers" later in this tutorial.
5. Click Finish to create the new filter. Select the new filter to activate it and display printers that meet the criteria specified by the filter.

Table below lists the filter criteria fields, conditions, and possible values that you can specify when you create a custom printer filter. Filter criteria fields marked with an asterisk (*) are new to Print Management in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

Fields, Conditions, and Possible Values for Printer Filter Criteria

Field	Conditions	Value
Printer Name Server Name Comments Driver Name Location Shared Name Driver Version* Provider*	Is exactly, is not exactly, begins with, not begin with, ends with, not end with, contains, not contains	(type a value to specify)
Queue Status	Is exactly, is not exactly	Ready, paused, error, deleting, paper jam, out of paper, manual feed required, paper problem, offline, IO active, busy, printing, output bin full, not available, waiting, processing, initializing, warming up, toner/ ink low, no toner/ink, page punt, user intervention required, out of memory, door open
Jobs in Queue	Is exactly, is not exactly, is less than, is less than or equal to, is greater than, is greater than or equal to	(type a value to specify)
Is Shared	Is exactly, is not exactly	False, true

Note To modify a printer filter after you create it, right-click the filter and then select Properties.