Applications Administration Guide > Batch Printing >

About Batch Printing

Batch printing simplifies the task of printing multiple correspondence items. The user first selects one or more correspondence items, and then selects the Print option from the menu button. The documents are then printed on the appropriate printer.

Siebel applications support two types of batch printing, server-based and client based. Initially, the print menu item appearing in the Correspondence and Fulfillment screens is configured to perform client-based batch printing. However, the administrator can use Siebel Tools to reconfigure these menus to use server-based batch printing, either in addition to, or instead of, client-based batch printing.

Client-Based Batch Printing

When a user prints a document using client-based batch printing, the Siebel application launches Microsoft Word on the user's client system. It then retrieves the document from the Siebel File System and prints it to the default printer configured for the user's desktop session.

For this feature to work correctly, the end user must configure the browser to allow the Siebel application to launch Microsoft Word. This requires changing the security option called "Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked safe" to either Enable or Prompt for the security zone containing the Siebel application URL. Typically, this is either the "Local intranet" zone or the "Trusted" zone. Users should verify that any other URL in this zone can be trusted with this security privilege.

Server-Based Batch Printing

When a user prints a document using server-based batch printing, a request is sent to the DocServer server component. This component then prints the document to the printer specified by the user in User Preferences. If the user has not specified a preference, the document is printed on the default printer configured on the Document Server machine by the system administrator.