Biller

Printer Setup on Biller.app: A 6-Digit Pairing Code, and a Cash Drawer That Opens Itself

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Ask a restaurant owner what put them off switching billing software, and printer setup comes up almost as often as menu entry: an IP address to hunt down, a driver to install, a port number nobody wrote down. Biller.app's printer setup skips all of that with a one-time 6-digit code -- and once a printer is paired, the same screen lets a wired cash drawer open itself on every cash sale, no extra tap at the counter.

The Add Printer form in Biller.app, showing connection type, host/port, role and paper width fields

Pairing: a code, not a network address

Install the free printer companion app once on any always-on computer at the outlet -- a spare PC, a laptop, even a Raspberry Pi. It needs no terminal commands and no typing IP addresses. On Admin → Printers, tap Pair a new device for a one-time 6-digit code, type it into the companion app, and that computer is connected to your outlet's Biller.app account for good -- it reconnects on its own every time the computer starts.

Three steps from a new printer to a printed ticket: pair once with a 6-digit code, add the printer with a role and paper width in the same step, then let the cash drawer open itself on cash payments, off by default and scoped per printer

The same page adds the printer, too

The pairing page that opens on that computer also looks for any printer already plugged into it. Found one? Give it a name, choose its role -- Receipt, Kitchen or Both -- and its paper width (58mm or 80mm), and one submit finishes both pairing the computer and adding the printer. Nothing found yet, or adding a second printer later? Admin → Printers → Add Printer covers network (Wi-Fi/Ethernet), Bluetooth, USB and plain A4 printers directly, any time -- see our KOT setup guide for how roles and auto-print toggles work once a printer's connected.

Cash drawer: one toggle, wired to a real printer

Most cash drawers aren't a separate gadget you pair -- they're a mechanical box wired by a standard RJ11/RJ12 cable straight into a thermal receipt printer's own drawer port, and the printer sends a short electrical pulse to pop it open. Once you have a network receipt printer paired, Admin → Printers shows a new toggle: Open the cash drawer automatically on cash payments. Turn it on, and the drawer pops the instant a bill completes with cash -- no separate button, no manual "open drawer" tap.

  • Off by default. Most outlets don't have a drawer wired at all, so Biller.app never assumes one and never pulses a printer that isn't wired for it.
  • Network printers only. A Bluetooth printer, a USB label printer, or the plain system/A4 print dialog has no drawer-kick wiring to fire -- only a real network ESC/POS receipt printer gets the pulse.
  • Scoped per printer, for multi-till outlets. The kick only fires on a printer whose own auto-print receipt toggle is also on -- turn that off for one register's printer and its drawer stays put, even with the outlet-wide setting on, so a second till's drawer doesn't pop for a sale that happened at the first.
  • Fires on a settled khata bill too. Sell on credit and collect cash later? The same drawer-kick fires the moment that credit bill is settled in cash, not just on a same-visit cash sale.
  • Best-effort, never blocks the sale. A drawer that fails to open (unplugged, out of paper, offline) never fails or delays the payment that triggered it -- printing and cash handling are two separate concerns.

No computer at the counter? Use your phone

Running a small counter with just a phone and a Bluetooth thermal printer, no computer at all? Print bridge mode on the Printers & Peripherals screen turns that phone itself into the printer -- open Biller.app on it and turn on Use this device as the printer. It's the one setup where the cash-drawer toggle doesn't apply, since a Bluetooth-bridged phone has no network drawer port to pulse.

What's honest to say isn't automatic

Test-printing a Bluetooth printer only works from the Biller.app mobile app, not this admin screen. A4/system-default printers have no ESC/POS drawer-kick signal at all, so a cash drawer wired to one won't open automatically -- that setup needs a network thermal printer specifically. And the drawer toggle only appears once you have at least one eligible printer paired; there's nothing to configure before that.

Bottom line

Setting up a printer used to mean an IP address, a driver, and a support call. On Biller.app it's a 6-digit code typed once, a role and paper width picked in the same step, and -- for outlets with a wired drawer -- a single toggle that keeps a human hand off the cash box on every cash sale after that. It's core product, free to start with 510 Biller credits once per outlet — a plain bill costs one credit, and credits never expire — whether you're running one counter or five.