The print queue to-do list: what to change to unlock more prints

The To-Do tab turns your whole queue into a short, prioritised checklist of physical changes - swap this filament, change that nozzle, refill a spool - so the person walking in each morning knows exactly what to touch to get the most printers running. This article is part of the print queue and explains how the to-do list works, what each task type means, and how to hand the list to whoever is on shift.

On this page

• The daily ritual
• How the list is built
• Task types
• The "You need:" line
• Reading a printer card
• Card actions
• Assigning tasks to operators
• The daily digest
• Related articles

The daily ritual

Open the To-Do tab when you walk in. It is the third tab at the top of the queue page, next to Queue and Timeline, and it is built to be the first thing you look at on shift.

Instead of making you scroll the whole queue and work out why printers are sitting idle, the to-do list reads everything for you and hands back a short list of physical changes. Make those changes, and the maximum number of printers can start pulling work again. It answers one question: what should I physically change right now to unlock the most prints?

The header tells you where you stand at a glance, for example "Printer to-do list" with "2 printers need changes · 28 already matched". The "already matched" count is the good news: those printers are set up correctly and can pick up queue items as they free up. The "need changes" count is your work for the morning.

How the list is built

Every time you open the tab, SimplyPrint reads your entire queue and every printer, then works out the single highest-impact physical change for each printer that needs one. It is not a flat dump of everything wrong - it is the change that would let that printer print the most queued items right now.

That is why a card might say "Put PLA in this printer and it can print 16 items." The list looked at what is waiting in the queue, saw that 16 items only need a printer with PLA loaded, and noticed this printer currently matches nothing. Loading PLA is the one move that turns an idle machine into 16 prints' worth of throughput.

The list is grouped by queue group, so printers and their changes sit under the group they belong to. If you run separate groups for different jobs or rooms, each group's printers and tasks stay together.

The to-do list is the action side of the same logic the queue inspector uses to explain why a single item will not print on a printer. The inspector tells you the reason for one item and printer; the to-do list takes every reason across the whole farm and turns it into the shortest checklist that fixes the most.

Task types

Each change is one of a few task types. Filter chips at the top let you show only the type you want to work through, which is handy if you would rather do all the filament swaps in one pass and all the nozzle changes in another.

The chips show a count where relevant, so you can see how many printers fall under each type before you start.

The "You need:" line

Near the top of the list there is a You need: line that summarises the materials to grab before you start walking the floor. It rolls up the filament across all the listed tasks into a small set of tags, for example "Sediment Brown Bambu Lab PLA" and "PLA".

Treat it as your pick list. Grab those spools from your shelf first, then work down the cards, instead of making a separate trip for every printer. The tags use the same filament identity as the rest of SimplyPrint, so a named spool like "Sediment Brown Bambu Lab PLA" points at a specific spool, while a plain "PLA" tag means any PLA will satisfy the match.

Reading a printer card

Under each queue group, every printer that needs attention gets its own card. The card names the printer and shows its current state, then explains the change in plain language and what it unlocks.

A typical card reads "This printer doesn't match any queue items. Put PLA in it and it can print 16 items." That single sentence carries everything you need: why the printer is idle (it matches nothing), the one change to make (put PLA in it), and the payoff (16 items become printable). A card can also list a follow-on, like "would match spacer + 15 more", naming the specific items that would start matching.

Printers that are already set up correctly are not in your way - they are counted in the "already matched" number in the header rather than shown as tasks.

Card actions

Each card gives you the actions to act on the change without leaving the tab.

• Set the tag - set the printer's filament, nozzle, or other tag to match the queued items, so SimplyPrint knows what is loaded. This is the digital half of the swap: after you physically load the spool, set the tag so matching picks it up. The button is labelled by the change the card is asking for, so it reads Set tag for a filament change, Set nozzle for a nozzle change, Set bed type for a bed change, and Replace spool for a refill.
• Assign spool - assign a specific spool from your filament inventory to the printer, which both records what is loaded and keeps your spool tracking accurate.
• Go to printer - jump straight to that printer's page to make changes there, check its camera, or start a print by hand.

The flow is meant to mirror what your hands are doing: walk to the machine, load the filament from your "You need:" pick list, then either Set tag or Assign spool so the system knows. Once the tag matches, that printer can start pulling the items the card promised - automatically if you use 1-Click Print or AutoPrint.

Assigning tasks to operators

On a larger floor, you can hand the list out rather than work it alone. You can assign tasks to operators, so each person sees the changes they are responsible for, and set auto-assign rules by task type and printer group so the right tasks land with the right person automatically.

For example, you could auto-assign every Filament task in one room's group to whoever runs that room, and every Nozzle change to a more experienced operator. New tasks that match a rule are routed to that operator as they appear, so nobody has to divide up the morning by hand.

The daily digest

You do not have to be looking at the screen for the list to be useful. The daily digest sends the to-do list at a time you choose, so it is waiting for whoever opens up.

You can send it two ways, and you can use either or both:

• Webhook - the digest fires the todo_list.daily_digest event to your webhook at the set time, so you can route it into Slack, a dashboard, or any internal tool. See the webhooks article for how to set up an endpoint and pick events.
• Email - the digest is emailed at the set time, so the morning shift has the day's changes in their inbox before they reach the floor.

Either way, the person on shift starts with the same prioritised checklist you would see in the tab, without anyone having to remember to pull it up.

The to-do list pairs closely with two other settings. Working hours make the rest of the queue honest about when prints actually finish (a print that ends overnight is not done until someone clears the bed), and scheduling and distribution include a "never skip queue items" option that makes a printer wait for the right material instead of skipping ahead - which is exactly the kind of change the to-do list is telling you to make.

Related articles

• The print queue - the hub for everything in this section
• Working hours and expected finish times
• Scheduling and distribution
• Why won't my printer print this item?
• The queue timeline
• Queue groups

Updated on: 24/06/2026