Introduction

My Print Charges is an application that has been installed on all the computers in the Open Access Labs to help lab customers keep track of the printing charges they accumulate. This page is designed to serve as a comprehensive guide to using and understanding the My Print Charges application.

Current Printing Allocation for Each Student

Each student’s computer access fee covers $30 of printouts for a single semester (Fall or Spring), and $15 of black-and-white printouts during the Summer session. 

This allocation may be used for black-and-white, color, transparencies, and 11 x 17 printing (both black and white and color). The instructions in the Reducing Print Cost Handout can help you get the most from your print allocation.

If a student’s print charges for a semester do not exceed the allocation, the student will not receive a bill for printouts for that semester. If a student prints more than what is covered by the allocation, however, they will be billed for the excess printouts. This bill will be included in their fee statement the following semester, or in their final bill if they are graduating seniors.

Printing charges for the current semester will not block students from graduating.

The printing allocation per semester is the same for both undergraduate and graduate students. Students will be billed for documents sent to the plotter. Please check My Print Charges in the Start menu for plot charges (see What My Print Charges Tabs Show for more information).

How to Display Your Printing Account Information

To display your Printing Account Information using My Print Charges, follow these steps:

1.  Click Start > My Print Charges. The TAMU Print Accounting Detailed Report dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. TAMU Print Accounting Detailed Report dialog box

2.  Enter your NetID in the Logonid box at the top of the dialog box. Your Net ID should automatically appear by default in the Logonid text box.

Note: Your NetID is your universal username for most OAL systems. It is the ID you use to log in to Neo, the computers in the Open Access Labs, and MyRecord. 

3.  Any print charges you may have incurred for the current semester appear in the main window (gray area). 

What My Print Charges Tabs Show

The tabs in the My Print Charges application display different sets of information about your printing account. 

Report Tab

The Report tab displays a breakdown of your print charges for the current semester, including the total billable print charges you have accumulated. Figure 2 illustrates the key fields under the Report tab.

Figure 2. Report tab

Data Sheet Tab and All Print Menu

The All Print menu lists all of the printouts you have made in the current semester. By clicking any of the column headings that describe document characteristics – ‘Print Date and Time’, ‘From Computer’, ‘Printer’, ‘Copies’, ‘Pages’, ‘Costs’, ‘Credit’, and ‘Document Name’ – you can sort the list of printouts by that characteristic. Click the same column heading again to sort the list in the opposite order. Figure 3 shows a sample representation of the All Print menu.

For example: Clicking once on the ‘Print Date and Time’ heading sorts the printouts in descending order according to the date and time that they were printed.  Clicking the ‘Print Date and Time’ heading again sorts the printouts in ascending order by the date and time they were printed.

Figure 3. All Print menu

Black and White Print Tab

The Black and White Print tab shows a list of only the black-and-white printouts you have made in the current semester. This list is a subset of the All Print tab's list, as are the lists shown by the next two tabs. 

Color Print Tab

The Color Print tab shows a list of only the color or transparency printouts you have made in the current semester, both 8.5 x 11 and 11 x 17.

Plotter Tab

The Plotter tab shows a list of jobs sent to the plotter for large format printing.

Using the Print Command

The Print command allows you to preview and print the printing account information displayed on the Data Sheet tab you are currently viewing. 

1. Click the Print  button. The Print Preview window appears.

2. Click the Print icon in the upper left corner to print the information displayed in the Print Preview window.

Note:  Use the Zoom in and Zoom out buttons to enlarge or reduce the page shown in the Print Preview display.

Export to File Tab

The Export to file command allows you to save the file detailing your printouts to your computer.

Moving Print Charges From One Account to Another

If you have been authorized to print from a billing account other than 01 (undergraduate) or 02 (graduate) accounts, you can change the account charged for billing.

Click in the Account column for the document that you want to change the charges. A drop-down box gives you a list of the accounts you may use for billing. Click the account number you wish to charge.

Figure 4. Changing account numbers for billing

Using the Set Date Menus

You may want to view your printing account information for a specific period of time only. For example, you might want to find out what you had printed in the month of September. By default, My Print Charges displays printing information for all of the current semester. To choose a different range of dates to view your printing account information, click the Beginning Date and Ending Date menus. The beginning and ending dates of each semester appear. 

To set the range of dates within the select dates box, click the first day of your desired range of days on the Beginning Date menu, then click the last day of your desired range of days on the Ending Date menu. For example, to select the month of September as the range of dates, select September 1 on the Beginning Date calendar, and September 30 on the Ending Date calendar.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if I exceed my allocated funds for printing? You will still be able to print. The print charges you accumulate in excess of your allocated funds will be included on your SIMS bill at the beginning of the next semester, or on your final bill if you are a graduating senior. Printing charges for the current semester will not block students from graduating.

What happens if my print job fails?  If your print job becomes corrupted or if the print quality is poor due to some malfunction of the OAL printers, you may request a credit for your print job. You will need to fill out a Printout Credit Request form, which can be obtained from the print counter staff. Attach the printout to the credit request and turn it in to the print counter staff. If you are requesting a credit because your print job did not print, you can use the My Print Charges application to determine the information needed on the credit request. Please print legibly when filling out the form.

What happens if I accidentally print?  Accidentally sending a job to the printer is not a valid printing excuse for receiving credit for the print job. For all print jobs less than 100 pages, the print job will be charged to your account. Print jobs exceeding 100 pages will be paused in the print queue and can be cancelled by you or OAL print operators.

For More Help

For further information on printing in the OALs, check the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list (http://oalinfo.tamu.edu/faq/default.asp?topic=Printing).

If you need more assistance, please feel free to ask the CIS Support Staff in any Open Access Lab, or call Help Desk Central at (979) 845-8300.