You can set up the Barr Host Communications Suite to automatically save or retain copies of printed or deleted spool documents. If you need to print a retained document, you can restore it from the Retain Window to the Spool Window.
You might want to enable the Retain feature so you can have backup A duplicate copy of data that you can use if the primary data is lost or destroyed. copies of documents after they print. The retain feature is also helpful while you are learning to use the Barr Host Communications Suite because you can reuse your test files or recover from operator errors.
You can retain all files or selectively retain only certain files. If you add the Disposition (BARR_DISPOSITION) column to the Retain or Spool Windows, you can easily identify which documents you want to retain, and you can change the disposition on-screen.
You can set up a Retain folder and retention period from the Configuration Utility's Spool and Retain tab.
The many features of the Retain Window make it easy to manage retained documents. The Retain Window is similar to the Spool Window but does not include the spool printers list. The Retain Window offers the following features.
You can configure the Barr Host Communications Suite to automatically purge the Retain folder at regular intervals to free disk space. The software checks the file date and deletes any files that are older than the user-specified retention period.
You can choose to display a subset of documents in the Retain Window based on the document date. This feature is useful if you are retaining hundreds of files. Choosing a document subset reduces the time it takes to display or scroll through a list of documents.
You can manage how documents display in the Retain Window with these features.
Choose which document attributes to display as column headers.
Save your settings to configuration files so you can quickly switch between common display settings.
You can change document attribute values from the Retain Window by clicking a column and typing over the value. When documents enter the Retain Window, their state is automatically set to Hold. To change the document State, right-click the document and select a new value from the pop-up list. For example, you can set document criteria to match the criteria of the desired printer, and then set the document state to Ready. Then, when you restore documents to the Spool Window, they are ready to print.
From the Retain Window, you can use the Viewer utility to view or reprint retained documents, much like you can from the Spool Window. You can set the document state to Reprint with the Viewer before or after you restore the document to the Spool Window.
You can send retained documents to programs of your choice. Destination programs are stored in the SendTo folder. You can set up a maximum of 20 destination programs to display in the Retain Window's Send To list.