TripWorks supports printing physical tickets through QZ Tray, a lightweight application that runs on your computer and connects TripWorks to a locally attached or networked printer. This is separate from receipt printing — ticket printing uses custom-formatted commands and merge fields to generate tickets for individual bookings.
In this article
How it works
When a ticket is printed from TripWorks, the system:
- Retrieves the raw printer command you configured.
- Merges booking data into the command using the fields you defined.
- Sends the result to QZ Tray, which forwards it to the selected printer.
QZ Tray must be running on the device you are printing from. It connects to TripWorks automatically when present.
Install QZ Tray
QZ Tray is a free application from QZ Industries. It isn't bundled with TripWorks and doesn't arrive with your account, so you install it yourself on each computer you want to print tickets from.
- Go to qz.io/download and download the installer for your operating system. QZ Tray runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
- Run the installer and follow the prompts. Everything QZ Tray needs is included, so there's nothing else to install alongside it.
- Launch QZ Tray. It runs quietly in the background, with an icon in the Windows system tray or the macOS menu bar.
- Set QZ Tray to start automatically when the computer starts, so it's already running before your team needs to print.
Once QZ Tray is running, open TripWorks on that computer and your printers will be available to select.
Install QZ Tray on every computer that will print tickets. It's what connects TripWorks to the printers that computer can reach, so a machine without it running can't print, even when ticket printing is fully set up on your account.
Configure ticket printing
- In TripWorks, go to Settings → Ticket Printing.
- In the Raw Printer Command field, enter the command your printer expects. This is specific to your printer model — consult your printer's documentation for the correct command syntax.
- Use merge field tokens (in the format
%Field Name%) anywhere in the command to insert booking data at print time. See the available fields below. - Under Default Printer, select the printer you want to use. QZ Tray must be running for printers to appear in this list. Your selection is saved to this device.
- Click Save.
Keep QZ Tray up to date
QZ Tray does not update itself. QZ Industries releases new versions periodically with printer compatibility and security improvements, and each computer stays on whatever version was installed on it until someone updates it.
To update, download the current installer from qz.io/download and run it. You don't need to uninstall the old version first. Installing over it works, even if QZ Tray is currently running. Repeat on each computer that prints tickets.
Updating doesn't change anything on the TripWorks side. Your Raw Printer Command stays saved on your account and your Default Printer selection stays on the device, so there's nothing to reconfigure afterward.
If your ticket printing is working well, there's no need to rush an update. Good moments to do it are when you're working through a printer problem, when you're setting up a new computer anyway, or when your own IT policy calls for it.
Who can print tickets?
There's no separate "ticket printing" permission to grant to individual users. Once ticket printing is configured on your account — a Raw Printer Command is saved and QZ Tray is running on the device — the Print action is available to any signed-in user on a reserved booking.
In other words, it's an account-level setup, not a per-user permission: configuring the printer under Settings → Ticket Printing is the one-time setup step, and after that anyone on your team can print tickets without being individually granted access. If the Print option isn't showing, it's almost always because ticket printing hasn't been set up on the account (no Raw Printer Command) or QZ Tray isn't running on that device — not a permissions issue.
Available merge fields
Insert these tokens into your raw printer command. TripWorks replaces them with the booking data at print time.
Customer
%First Name%%Last Name%%Full Name%%Email%%Phone%%Confirmation #%
Ticket
%Booking ID%%Ticket Type%%Ticket Price%
Activity
%Experience Name%%Experience Internal Name%%Experience Date%%Experience Time%%Experience Date & Time%
The label used for "Experience" may differ in your account if you have configured a custom activity label under account settings.
Troubleshooting
No printers appear in the Default Printer dropdown QZ Tray isn't running on that computer, or it was never installed there. Start it, installing it first if the computer doesn't have it, then reload the page.
Printers appear on one computer but not another QZ Tray has to be installed and running on each computer separately. The Default Printer selection is also saved per device, so each computer chooses its own printer even though the Raw Printer Command is shared across your account.
Printing worked before and has now stopped on one computer Check that QZ Tray is still running on that machine, since it can be closed at shutdown if it isn't set to start automatically. If the printer itself was replaced or renamed, reselect it under Settings → Ticket Printing, since the saved selection points at the previous printer name.
Ticket prints but data fields are blank Check that your merge field tokens match the exact field names above, including capitalization and spaces. For example, %First Name% will work but %firstname% will not.
Printer command produces unexpected output The raw command is sent directly to the printer without modification (after merge field replacement). Verify the command syntax against your printer manufacturer's documentation.
The Print option doesn't appear on a booking Ticket printing hasn't been set up on the account (no Raw Printer Command saved), QZ Tray isn't running on the device, or the booking isn't a reserved activity booking. It is not caused by a missing user permission — there is no ticket-printing permission.
Related
- What printing options does TripWorks support?
- Send or print a receipt for a booking
- Sell a product (point of sale)
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