# Investigate and record uncertain output

Check the physical printer and record what you found before further printing.

Source: https://help.smartfact.ai/manuals/printstation/uncertain-output

Review edition: 25 October 2026

Roles: owner, supervisor

Unknown output means a copy may or may not have printed. PrintStation holds the affected printing path so that uncertainty is addressed before uncontrolled further output.

A Supervisor investigates ordinary production-copy uncertainty. Owner alone can investigate calibration copies as part of printer set-up, but does not gain authority over production copies. Operators should stop, preserve the reference and ask the appropriate authorised person to investigate.

## Locate the attempt

Open the PrintStation job from the source product's link or the permitted job list. Identify the copy, attempt number, station and printer. Read the attempt history before touching the physical queue.

For an uncertain attempt, the page asks you to check the printer, its queue and the work area. Include any output already collected by another person in your investigation.

## Inspect before recording

Check the physical printer for labels, sheets, jams or partial output. Review its queue using your site's equipment procedure. Ask the people handling the work whether they collected a copy. Do not clear the queue simply to make the status disappear.

Record facts you can support. A restarted application or reconnected network does not establish whether the old copy printed.

## Choose the outcome

Under **What did you find?**, choose the offered outcome:

- **I can see the printed copy:** you have observed the affected output.
- **I found no printed copy:** you checked but did not find it. This does not prove no copy exists.
- **Still not known:** the available evidence does not resolve the outcome.

For a submitted copy awaiting observation, the page offers confirmation of observed output rather than the full unknown-output set. Use the form actually shown for that attempt.

## Record the evidence

Enter **What you checked** with enough detail for another person to understand your decision. If you found no printed copy, acknowledge that sending again may produce a duplicate. Choose **Record** and read the result beside the action.

Leave the outcome unknown if it is still unknown. Do not record “printed” or “not found” just to remove a blocking condition.

## Decide on further work

Return to the source-product record and refresh it. Confirm it shows the PrintStation outcome. Have the authorised person decide on any further print through that product's workflow.

A printer investigation does not authorise changed label content or a courier rebooking. Account for any additional physical copies according to the site's process.

## If the hold remains

Give support the exact job, copy and attempt references, current state, observation note and source-product reference. Keep the history intact. Changing destinations, recreating a job or deleting local evidence does not resolve the original uncertainty.