Queue groups: organize your print queue by printer or purpose

Queue groups split your print queue into tabs so you can organise jobs by what they need or which printers should run them. This guide covers what a group is, how to create and edit one, the one thing people most often get wrong about printer assignment, virtual queues, per-group file types and approval, and which use cases groups are (and aren't) the right tool for.

Table of contents

• What queue groups are
• Creating and editing a group
• Important: "for printers" controls matching, not moving
• Virtual queues
• Limit a group to certain user groups
• Accepted file types per group
• Per-group deadline and approval policy
• Reordering and deleting groups
• Good use cases (and one to avoid)

What queue groups are

Without groups, your print queue is one long list. Queue groups let you split that list into separate tabs, each with its own name, its own set of printers it can match, and optionally its own file types and approval rules.

A group is a way to organise the queue around either what the items need (for example a group whose items only run on your large-format machines) or a logical purpose (a group for a recurring batch, a group for outsourced work you track by hand). Items live in exactly one group at a time, and you move them between groups when you want to.

Groups are best thought of as an organisation tool. They do not change how matching fundamentally works - a printer still has to physically match an item's filament, nozzle, bed type and file type before it can print it. What a group adds is a layer on top: a way to say "items in this group should only ever consider these printers", plus per-group settings.

A queue-groups screenshot is needed here (the group tabs across the top of the queue, and the group editor). One is not yet available in the image set.

Creating and editing a group

You manage groups from the print queue. Open the group editor to add a new group or edit an existing one. A group has these settings:

• Name - what the tab is called.
• "Virtual" queue - the group's items are never sent to a real printer; you mark them done by hand (see virtual queues below).
• Accept all supported file types - leave this on to accept everything, or turn it off to restrict the group to certain file extensions.
• For printers / models / groups - which printers items in this group are allowed to match. This is the setting most people misunderstand, so read the next section carefully.
• Pause this group - skip the whole group's items in automation; AutoPrint and 1-Click Print leave a paused group alone until you unpause it.
• Limit to user groups - restrict who can see and use the group (multi-user accounts).
• Approval policy - override your account's default approval requirement for this group.

To create one, click the "+" tab labeled Add queue group, fill in the settings above, and save. To edit, open the same editor for an existing group and change what you need.

Important: "for printers" controls matching, not moving

This is the single most common misconception about queue groups, so it gets its own section.

Here is what that setting actually does and does not do:

• It does restrict matching. If a group is set "for" your large-format printers, then items in that group will only ever match (and be auto-started by 1-Click Print or AutoPrint on) those printers. An item in this group will never be picked up by a printer that isn't in the selected set.
• It does not auto-fill the group. Choosing "for Printer A" does not sweep every item that could run on Printer A into the group. Items only enter a group when you add them there or move them there yourself.

So if you create a "Large format" group, pick your big printers, and expect your existing big-format jobs to appear in it, they won't. The group starts empty. You move the relevant items into it, and from then on those items only match your big printers.

When matching feels wrong - an item that won't start anywhere, or a printer sitting idle next to a full queue - the queue inspector tells you exactly why, including when a group's "for printers" setting is the thing excluding a printer.

Virtual queues

Turn on "Virtual" queue and the group becomes a tracking lane that never touches a real printer. SimplyPrint will not try to match or start its items on any machine.

You progress virtual items by hand:

• +1 finished decrements the remaining amount by one each time you complete a copy.
• Mark finished closes out the last one.

Virtual queues are handy for work that happens off-platform but that you still want counted in the same queue - parts you've outsourced to another shop, a manual finishing step, or jobs run on a machine SimplyPrint doesn't control. You get the same queue position, deadline and tracking without SimplyPrint ever sending the file anywhere.

Limit a group to certain user groups

You can restrict a group so only certain user groups (ranks) can see and use it. This is part of the Multiple users capability on multi-user accounts.

When a group is limited to specific user groups, members of other groups won't see that tab or its items. Owners, and anyone with the queue-group management permission, always see every group regardless of the restriction, so you never lock yourself out.

This is useful in larger setups where one team should only see their own work - a classroom section, a department, or a particular shift - without the rest of the queue cluttering their view.

Accepted file types per group

Each group can restrict which file types it accepts. Leave the list empty and the group accepts everything; add extensions and the group only takes those.

Across SimplyPrint, the supported file types are:

Restricting file types per group keeps incompatible files out of a group meant for a specific kind of work - for example only allowing sliced gcode in a group dedicated to printers that print pre-sliced files.

Per-group deadline and approval policy

A group can override your account's default deadline and approval behaviour.

For approval, each group can use the account default, always require approval, or never require it - so one group can route submissions through review while another prints straight away. The full review flow, who can approve, and how to set it up live in the queue approval article.

Reordering and deleting groups

Drag groups to reorder the tabs - the order is purely how they appear across the top of the queue.

When you delete a group, you're given the option to move its items into another compatible group rather than losing them. Pick a destination group that can accept those items - the move is only blocked when the destination group rejects a file type that's in use by the items you're moving. As long as the destination accepts the file types in play, the items carry over.

Good use cases (and one to avoid)

Groups pay off when they map to something real about how the work runs.

Organise by what items need. The strongest use is printer-matching: a group whose items should only run on a specific class of machine. Large-format parts in one group tied to your big printers, multi-material jobs in another tied to your AMS-equipped machines. This makes matching predictable and keeps the right jobs on the right hardware.

Organise by logical purpose. A group per recurring batch, per project, or per stage of work (a virtual group for outsourced parts, for instance) keeps related items together and lets you apply one deadline or approval policy to the whole set.

Per-single-printer groups are usually unnecessary. You can make a group for one printer, but printer matching already routes items to the right machine. Reach for a per-printer group only when you genuinely want to wall off one machine's work, not as your default way of assigning jobs.

Track the channel and order instead of grouping by it. Put the order number and shop on each item as a custom field, then filter, sort and reorder the single queue by that field. Custom fields (including order number) are a Print Farm and up feature - see all about custom fields. Integrations push jobs in with these fields attached, so an order-management automation can stamp the channel and order number on every item without you splitting the queue. More on that in adding queue items.

That way the whole farm stays in one queue (the most efficient way to keep every printer busy), and you keep full per-order traceability through fields and order numbers rather than through tabs.

Related articles

• Print queue overview - the hub for everything queue-related
• Queue approval - the review workflow groups can require (School and Enterprise)
• Queue inspector - why a printer won't print a given item, including group matching
• Adding queue items - amounts, tags, custom fields and order numbers
• All about custom fields - track channel and order number without splitting the queue

Updated on: 24/06/2026