USB connected Zebra ZP 505 doesn't print EPL while printing ZPL is fine. Why?

[wlfst...@gmail.com]

I'm using Zebra ZP 505 which is connected to my laptop using USB port. Printer is installed in OS (Windows 7) as "Zebra ZP 500 (EPL)".

When I test in https://demo.qz.io/, Raw Printing ZPL works fine but Raw Printing EPL doesn't work (doesn't print, no error, no printer task pending).

What could be the problem?

[Tres Finocchiaro]

Being mostly a FedEx-exclusive printer, the ZP500's driver is downloaded directly from the FedEx website and it's printing modes (EPL/ZPL) are likely to be driver configurable.  This is something we're not yet familiar with.

One of our partners offers instructions for naming this particular printer with (ZPL) in the name, is there a chance you have followed these steps from a 3rd party site?

If you happen to work directly with one of our partners, I recommend placing a support call with them, they're likely to have more experience with this particular driver.

If you are a developer looking to re-purpose your ZP500 with QZ Tray, we'd be happy to work with you, but we would need to first install the driver and examine the options that FedEx provides for it.

We'll install the FedEx ZP500 driver on a test machine and see if we can determine where the EPL/ZPL distinction lies.

Best regards,

- Tres.Fin...@gmail.com

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[Lite Finocchiaro]

While the Fedex-supplied driver for this printer 'supports' both EPL and ZPL languages, this is to help send print jobs to the ZP500. Some versions of the ZP500 support both EPL and ZPL, but not all. FedEx never made another driver to support the ZP505. Instead, they simply recommend using their ZP500 driver.

Your Zebra ZP505 will only print ZPL.

Either on the back of the printer, or the bottom of the printer, you should have a sticker that lists the part number, product number, a few barcodes, quality/energy compliance stamps, and a little box with 'ZPL' in it. This will confirm compatibility.

To simplify what's happening here, what the FedEx driver actually does is setup a raw queue for your printer.

You may do this yourself without using the FedEx driver (many QZ-Print/QZ-Tray users already do this):

https://qz.io/wiki/setting-up-a-raw-printer-in-windows

We have instructions for Linux and OSX as well on our wiki.

The reason your printer prints ZPL just fine even with the "EPL" driver is that a raw queue is a simple pass-through with no filters. The driver does not actually care what gets sent to the printer; it is up to the printer to process jobs in its own native markup language, which in your case is ZPL.

When you send EPL data, it arrives at the printer successfully, but the printer does not process it. Raw printers generally are much less verbose when incorrect information is sent, and they may also print a few pages of gibberish instead of the desired label.

Thanks for writing to the list, and let us know if you run into any other problems.

Kind regards,

Lite

On Mon, Aug 22, 2016 at 2:02 PM, <wlfst...@gmail.com> wrote:

[wlfst...@gmail.com]

Thanks Tres and Lite for your replies. They are very helpful.

But I forgot to mention that if I use LPT port to connect printer, it prints both EPL and ZPL fine in the QZ Demo page. It's just when using USB port it doesn't print EPL.

What could that problem be?

[wlfst...@gmail.com]

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Thanks Tres for your helpful reply.

[wlfst...@gmail.com]

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Thanks Lite for your helpful reply. But I forgot to mention that if I use LPT port to connect printer, it prints both EPL and ZPL fine in the QZ Demo page. It's just when using USB port it doesn't print EPL. What could that problem be?

[Tres Finocchiaro]

Have you tried the step Lite provided, but for USB?

https://qz.io/wiki/setting-up-a-raw-printer-in-windows#for-usb-printer

If LPT1 works as you've mentioned, the connection type shouldn't make a difference if using the Generic/Raw driver.

[Carlos Prisgrove]

Hi - Can anyone help me change my ZP505 FedEx printer from EPL to ZPL?

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[Lite Finocchiaro]

Carlos:

The ZP 505 only supports ZPL, not EPL.

Since no conversion is available, you will want to reach out to whomever supplies your printing data to inquire about ZPL formatted labels.

Kind regards,

Lite Finocchiaro

VP, QZ Industries

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/qz-print/be41e8d5-8385-4697-b2f8-76026dcfad6fn%40googlegroups.com.

[Phatmandrake]

I also have a Zebra ZP 505 that does not work when using the MacOS ZPL Driver, but works with the EPLII driver. 

Are you sure it doesn't support it?

[Tres Finocchiaro]

"Does not work" is a big vague, but according to Zebra's spec sheet, the firmware is ZPL:

https://www.zebra.com/content/dam/zebra_new_ia/en-us/support-and-downloads/misc/ZP505_datasheet.pdf

- Tres.Fin...@gmail.com

On Wed, Apr 28, 2021 at 3:33 PM Phatmandrake <phatma...@gmail.com> wrote:

I also have a Zebra ZP 505 that does not work when using the MacOS ZPL Driver, but works with the EPLII driver. 

Are you sure?

On Tuesday, April 20, 2021 at 2:50:59 PM UTC-5 Lite Finocchiaro wrote:

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/qz-print/9c42a77e-32e3-46a4-aa88-d6c3d0ab9d41n%40googlegroups.com.