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# Maintenance jobs: scheduling and completing printer maintenance

# Maintenance jobs: scheduling and completing printer maintenance

Maintenance jobs are the core of SimplyPrint's printer maintenance system. A job is a work order for a specific printer - it has a title, description, priority, assigned tasks, and tracks progress from start to finish. Whether you're scheduling routine maintenance or responding to a reported problem, jobs help you keep your printers in good shape and your team on the same page.

|| The printer maintenance feature is part of the Print Farm plan and the School plan.

## Table of contents
- Creating a maintenance job
- Job lifecycle
- Working with tasks
- Batch jobs (multi-printer maintenance)
- Auto-created jobs
- Creating a job from a problem
- Comments and activity
- Exporting job data

## Creating a maintenance job
To create a new maintenance job:

1. Go to the **Maintenance** page and open the **Jobs** tab.
2. Click **Create job** in the top right.
3. Select the printer(s) you want to maintain. You can pick a single printer or select multiple printers to create a batch job.
4. Enter a **title** and optionally a **description** with more details about the work.
5. Choose a **priority**: normal, high, or urgent.
6. Set the **schedule**: start now, or schedule for a specific date. Quick presets like today, tomorrow, and in a week make scheduling fast.
7. Select **task templates** to include. These become the task checklist for the job - each template adds one or more tasks that need to be completed. See the [task templates article](https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/task-templates-define-reusable-maintenance-procedures-358nuv/) for how to create templates.
8. **Assign team members** to the job (on accounts with multiple users).
9. Click **Create** to save the job.

![Create job modal](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/f/f/2/2/ff22a914001c1000/jobs-create-job-modal_z1nhj0.png)

### The "puts printer in maintenance" toggle
When creating a job, you'll see a toggle called **Puts printer in maintenance**. When this is on, the printer automatically enters maintenance mode when the job starts (moves to "in progress"). While in maintenance mode:

- AutoPrint will skip the printer
- 1-Click Print will skip the printer
- Other users can see a maintenance indicator on the printer

This keeps the printer out of rotation while it's being worked on. When the job is completed or cancelled, the printer exits maintenance mode - unless another active maintenance job also has this toggle enabled for the same printer.

## Job lifecycle
Every maintenance job follows a simple lifecycle:

**Scheduled** > **In progress** > **Completed** (or **Cancelled**)

### Scheduled
The job is planned but hasn't started yet. The printer is not in maintenance mode at this stage - it can still receive print jobs normally.

### In progress
The job has been started. If **Puts printer in maintenance** is on, the printer is now in maintenance mode and other users will see the maintenance indicator. Team members can start working through the task checklist.

### Completed
All required tasks are done and the job is marked complete. The printer exits maintenance mode (if no other active maintenance jobs are keeping it in maintenance).

### Cancelled
The job was cancelled before completion. The printer exits maintenance mode, same as with a completed job.

### Reopening a completed job
If you need to go back and redo something, you can reopen a completed job. It goes back to the "in progress" state, and if the maintenance toggle was on, the printer re-enters maintenance mode.

![Job detail view with task checklist](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/f/f/2/2/ff22a914001c1000/jobs-job-detail_3in8nh.png)

## Working with tasks
Tasks are the individual steps that make up a maintenance job. They come from the task templates you selected when creating the job.

![Task checklist close-up](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/f/f/2/2/ff22a914001c1000/jobs-task-checklist_141icvm.png)

### Required vs optional tasks
Each task is either required or optional (set in the template). Required tasks must be completed before the job can be marked as done. Optional tasks can be skipped if they don't apply.

### Completing tasks
Check off tasks as you work through them. The job tracks overall progress based on how many tasks are done.

### Skipping optional tasks
If an optional task isn't needed for this particular job, you can skip it. Skipped tasks don't block job completion.

### Spare parts
Some tasks require spare parts from your inventory. When you complete a task that requires parts, the parts are automatically deducted from your spare parts inventory. See the [spare parts article](https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/spare-parts-inventory-track-and-manage-maintenance-supplies-12ixp35/) for more about inventory management.

### Tool integration
Certain tasks can trigger actions directly on the printer. Depending on how the task template is configured, completing a task might trigger:

- Bed leveling
- Filament change
- Preheat
- Z-offset calibration
- Sending custom G-code

This lets you combine manual checks with automated printer actions in a single workflow.

## Batch jobs (multi-printer maintenance)
When you need to do the same maintenance across several printers, batch jobs save time.

### Creating a batch job
When creating a job, simply select multiple printers instead of one. Each printer gets its own individual job, but they're all linked together by a batch ID.

### Working with batch jobs
Batch jobs give you a unified view across all the linked jobs:

- **Unified task checklist** - complete the same task across all printers at once, rather than opening each job individually
- **Bulk start** - start all jobs in the batch at once
- **Bulk complete tasks** - mark a task as done on all printers simultaneously
- **Bulk complete jobs** - finish all jobs in the batch when everything is done

This is especially useful for scheduled maintenance like nozzle cleaning or belt tensioning that needs to happen on every printer.

## Auto-created jobs
You don't have to create every job manually. Maintenance schedules can automatically create jobs based on triggers you define - like time intervals, printer usage metrics, or failure counts.

For example, you might set up a schedule that creates a "nozzle inspection" job every 500 print hours, or a "general checkup" job every 30 days.

See the [schedules article](https://help.simplyprint.io/en/article/maintenance-schedules-automate-recurring-maintenance-i4of7u/) for details on setting up automatic job creation.

## Creating a job from a problem
When someone reports a problem with a printer, you can create a maintenance job directly from the problem report. The problem gets linked to the job, so you have full context on what went wrong.

When the job is completed, any linked problems can be automatically resolved - so the person who reported it knows the issue has been addressed.

This keeps your problem tracking and maintenance workflow connected without extra manual steps.

## Comments and activity
Each job has a comments section where team members can leave notes, updates, or questions. You can also attach files to comments - useful for photos of worn parts, reference documents, or anything relevant.

### Editing and deleting comments
You can edit your own comments after posting them - hover over a comment and click the pencil icon to make changes. Edited comments show an "(edited)" indicator so the team knows the text was updated.

You can also delete your own comments by clicking the trash icon. Users with the "Manage maintenance" permission can delete any comment, not just their own. Deleted comments are permanently removed.

### Activity timeline
The activity timeline shows a log of everything that's happened on the job: when it was started, when tasks were completed, who completed them, and other events. This gives you a clear history of the maintenance work.

## Exporting job data
You can export your jobs list as a CSV file. From the **Jobs** tab, use the export option to download a spreadsheet with job details, status, priority, timestamps, and task completion data. Handy for reporting or keeping external records.

![Jobs list view](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/f/f/2/2/ff22a914001c1000/jobs-jobs-list_y7azhn.png)