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# Adding print hours from before SimplyPrint to a printer's runtime

If a printer was already printing before you added it to SimplyPrint, its runtime in SimplyPrint starts at zero. **Print hours before SimplyPrint** is a printer setting where you enter that earlier print time, so the printer's lifetime runtime reflects how much it has actually been used. This guide shows where to set it, where the number shows up, how it differs from the hours you enter for a maintenance schedule, and where to find your printer's total print time.

| The setting is optional. Leave it empty if your printer is new or you don't know the number. An estimate is fine - round numbers work.

## Table of contents
- [What the setting does](#2-what-the-setting-does)
- [How to set it](#2-how-to-set-it)
- [Where it shows up](#2-where-it-shows-up)
- [Not the same as "Hours since this was last done"](#2-not-the-same-as-hours-since-this-was-last-done)
- [Where to find the number on your printer](#2-where-to-find-the-number-on-your-printer)
- [Things to keep in mind](#2-things-to-keep-in-mind)
- [Related articles](#2-related-articles)

## What the setting does
SimplyPrint counts every hour a printer prints from the moment it is connected. A printer you have owned for two years has done a lot of printing that SimplyPrint never saw. Without this setting, its maintenance profile says it has run for a handful of hours, which makes it look newer than it is.

The number you enter is added to the printer's **lifetime runtime** in the maintenance views listed below. SimplyPrint keeps counting on top of it as the printer prints.

It does not change anything else. It does not count towards maintenance schedules, and it does not change print history or statistics.

## How to set it
1. Open the printer in the panel and click the **settings** button. See [Finding the printer settings](https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/finding-the-printer-settings-17tbtqt/) if you can't find it.
2. Stay on the **General** tab.
3. Find **Print hours before SimplyPrint**, near the bottom of the General tab, below the printer note.
4. Enter the printer's total print time in hours, for example 1800.
5. Click **Save changes**.

To remove it again, set it to 0.

If you imported your printers from another platform and the import included print hours, SimplyPrint has already put that number in this field. You can check it or change it here.

## Where it shows up
|| These places are part of the maintenance feature, which is available on the Print Farm, School and Enterprise plans.

The number is added to the printer's lifetime runtime in these places:

- **The printer's maintenance profile.** Under **Printing**, **Runtime** shows the total, with a line below it saying how much of it was before SimplyPrint (for example "incl. 1.8k h before SimplyPrint").
- **The Maintenance widget on the printer's control panel.** **Runtime** gets an asterisk (**Runtime\***). Hover it to see how much was before SimplyPrint.
- **Maintenance jobs.** The printer stats in a maintenance job, and in a bulk job across several printers, show the same lifetime runtime.

Read more about the maintenance profile in [Printer maintenance: keep your fleet running smoothly](https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/printer-maintenance-keep-your-fleet-running-smoothly-1vr27om/).

## Not the same as "Hours since this was last done"
||| Print hours before SimplyPrint does not make maintenance come due sooner. A schedule like "every 500 print hours" does not count it.

This is the part that is easy to mix up. A printer's lifetime hours tell you how much it has printed in total. They say nothing about when you last replaced its nozzle or lubricated its rods. A printer with 3,000 hours might have had a fresh nozzle last week.

So maintenance schedules ask a separate question. When you create or save a schedule that comes due every so many **print hours**, SimplyPrint opens a **Hours since this was last done** window for each printer the schedule has just started to apply to:

1. For each printer, enter how many hours it has printed since that maintenance was last done. If a printer has printed before, its total print time so far (including any print hours before SimplyPrint) is shown below its field as a reference point.
2. Click **Save hours**, or **Skip** to leave them all empty.

Each value is optional. A printer you leave empty starts counting from zero, the same as without it. The question is only asked while the schedule is new to a printer - once the schedule has counted a print or completed a job on that printer, it is not asked again for it.

In short:

| What | Print hours before SimplyPrint | Hours since this was last done |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Where you enter it | Printer settings, General tab | When you create or save a print-hours schedule |
| What it means | Total print time before SimplyPrint | Print time since this maintenance was last done |
| What it changes | Lifetime runtime | When that schedule comes due |
| Set per | Printer | Printer and schedule |

Read more about print-hour triggers in [Maintenance schedules: automate recurring maintenance](https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/maintenance-schedules-automate-recurring-maintenance-i4of7u/).

## Where to find the number on your printer
Many printers keep a running total of their print time, and on some it's right there on the screen. Where it lives depends on the brand, the model and the firmware. Menu names can differ slightly from what's below if your firmware is older or newer.

### Prusa
Prusa printers keep print statistics on the printer itself, with both total print time and filament used.

- **MK4 / MK4S, MK3.9, Core One and XL:** on the printer's screen, go to **Info > Print Statistics > Statistics** and read **Print Time**. The menu is there when the printer is idle.
- **MK3S / MK3S+ (and the rest of the MK3 family):** open the LCD menu and choose **Statistics** while the printer is not printing. During a print it shows the current job instead of the total.
- **MINI / MINI+:** go to **Info > Statistics**. This needs firmware 4.3.3 or later.

A factory reset that includes statistics clears the total. On the MK3 family that is the **Statistics** or **All data** reset. On the MK4, Core One, XL and MINI, statistics are one of the parts a factory reset can clear. Prusa support has said the statistics can be off, so treat the number as a good estimate.

### Bambu Lab
Bambu Lab doesn't document this clearly, but owners report a usage counter on the touchscreen, on the device page under **Settings**. The exact place varies by model and firmware:

- **A1 mini:** **Settings > Device**, under **Printing time**.
- **P1P / P1S:** **Settings > Device**.
- **X1 series:** look for the device information page in **Settings**. Its place has moved between firmware versions.

As far as we know, the total is only shown on the printer itself. On the P1 series, the counter arrived with a firmware update in early 2024, so it may not include printing from before then. It's also not documented exactly what the counter includes, so compare it with your own estimate.

### Klipper printers (Mainsail and Fluidd)
Klipper printers keep a job history through Moonraker, and Mainsail and Fluidd both show totals from it:

- **Mainsail:** open **History**. The statistics show **Total Print Time** and total filament used.
- **Fluidd:** open **History**. Its printer statistics include total print time and filament used.

This also applies to printers that come with Klipper and Mainsail or Fluidd out of the box. The total only covers prints since the job history was turned on, and the totals can be reset.

### OctoPrint
OctoPrint itself does not keep a lifetime total. History plugins such as **Print History** and **PrintJobHistory** log your prints, but only the ones made after you installed them.

### Other brands
Recent Qidi printers such as the Q1 Pro, X-Plus 3, X-Max 3 and Plus4 run Klipper with Fluidd, so check the Klipper section above. Qidi's X-Smart 3 firmware notes say a factory reset also clears its web-based print records and accumulated time. We couldn't find a documented total print time counter for Creality, Elegoo, Anycubic, UltiMaker or Snapmaker printers. Look for a **Device info**, **About** or **Statistics** screen in the printer's settings, or check the manufacturer's app. If you find nothing, estimate it: roughly how many hours a week the printer runs, times the number of weeks you've had it.

## Things to keep in mind
- **Not every printer shows it.** Some printers keep no total at all. If yours doesn't, a rough guess is better than nothing - or leave the field empty.
- **Counters can be reset or lost.** A factory reset, a firmware reset or a replaced mainboard can clear a printer's own counter, so the number on the screen may be lower than the real total.
- **It's an estimate.** Printers count print time differently. A Prusa MINI, for example, only saves finished or stopped prints. Round to the nearest 10 or 100 hours - it does not need to be exact.
- **Don't count hours twice.** Enter only the time from before the printer was added to SimplyPrint. The printer's own counter keeps going after you connect it, so if the printer has been in SimplyPrint for a while, subtract the runtime SimplyPrint has already recorded (the **Runtime** in its maintenance profile before you enter anything).
- **It's optional.** Nothing depends on it. It only makes the printer's lifetime runtime more honest.

## Related articles
- [Printer maintenance: keep your fleet running smoothly](https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/printer-maintenance-keep-your-fleet-running-smoothly-1vr27om/)
- [Maintenance schedules: automate recurring maintenance](https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/maintenance-schedules-automate-recurring-maintenance-i4of7u/)
- [Maintenance jobs: scheduling and completing printer maintenance](https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/maintenance-jobs-scheduling-and-completing-printer-maintenance-gu6vev/)
- [Finding the printer settings](https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/finding-the-printer-settings-17tbtqt/)