Summary

Choosing the Virtual Printer option during a brand new install of DocScanFx will ensure all the DocScan.INI options for virtual printing are already in place.  However it's fairly easy to add the virtual printer manually to an existing install by following the steps below.   These instructions require at least DocScanFx v3.4.0.1.


Virtual Printing Workflow

Once installed, there are two workflow methods for using the virtual printer:

  1. Run DocScanFx, search for an exam to add images to, and proceed to the screen where document scanning would normally occur.  Switch to the program with the information you want to "print" and choose the "DocScanFx Printer" virtual printer for the output.  Each page of the printout will appear in DocScanFx ready for you to send to PACS.
  2. Alternatively, you can also print to the "DocScanFx Printer" virtual printer without DocScanFx running.  In this workflow, after the print job completes, DocScanFx will start up and possibly prompt you to pick a "mode" and search for an exam to add the "printed" images to.  Once the user proceeds to the "scanning" screen, the "printed" images will appear ready to be sent to PACS.


Manual Install

If you are adding virtual printing to an existing installation you will need to install the printer and add/confirm some INI settings are in place to support the virtual printer.

  1. Download the latest DocScanFx virtual printer install here.
  2. Run the installer with local admin rights and follow the prompts to completion.
  3. Note that manually installing the virtual printer assumes that your DocScanFx installation is located at C:\Program Files (x86)\DocScanFx.  If you customized your install location to a different location please contact support for steps to adjust the virtual printer settings.
  4. Browse to your DocScan.INI file and search for the following settings in the COMMON section.  If any are missing, add them, save the file, and then test out either of the virtual printing workflows described above. 


Required DocScan.INI Settings

Look in your COMMON section of the DocScan.INI file and add/edit/confirm these settings are present.  See the notes below for details about each.


SourceOptions=Scan, Import, Capture, Forms, Print
VirtualPrintAttemptDsfxLaunch=True
VirtualPrintDefaultMode=Name of Mode to Launch
ClearVirtualPrintFolderOnExit=True
VirtualPrintProcessTimeout=90
VirtualPrintDeleteRemenantPrints=True

Notes:

  • 'SourceOptions' doesn't have to have all the comma separated values for virtual printing.  It only needs the "Print" in the comma separated list.  You can omit some of the other items if you don't need options like Import, Capture, etc.
  • 'VirtualPrintAttemptDsfxLaunch' set to False will prevent DocScanFx from starting if you virtual print when it isn't already running.  You probably want this set to True.
  • 'VirtualPrintDefaultMode' should be set to the name of a mode you want automatically run when you do virtual print and DocScanFx isn't running.  Typically this would be 'VirtualPrintDefaultMode=Scan Documents (Multi-Search)' - assuming you have a mode with that name.  This will prevent you from having to manually select a mode when you virtual print without DocScanFx running.  Instead the desired mode will already come up, ready for you to search for an exam.
  • 'ClearVirtualPrintFolderOnExit=True' will ensure stray print job image files are deleted if a virtual print was performed and then not sent to PACS because the Cancel or Close buttons in DocScanFx was clicked.
  • 'VirtualPrintProcessTimeout=90' this how long in seconds after a virtual print job is performed that DocScanFx waits for you to complete a search for the exam you want the images added to.  If this process tends to take a long time, increase this value.
  • 'VirtualPrintDeleteRemenantPrints=True' this setting ensure that when a new print job occurs any remnant prior prints from a failed print job are deleted so they are not accidently added to the current job.