Receipt layout setup in LS Central: what prints, where, and how to change it

Configuration · 8 min read

A receipt complaint — missing tax number, a logo from the old branding, a barcode the returns desk cannot scan — is rarely a printer fault. It is almost always a setup question: which part of the receipt is wrong, and which level of setup controls that part? LS Central splits receipt control across the store card, the terminal card, the POS Printer Card, the hardware profile, and, for structural changes, code. Changing the wrong level either does nothing or fixes one terminal while breaking the pattern for the other nine. This guide maps the receipt from top to bottom, then gives a change procedure that ends with a test print worth checking properly.

The receipt, section by section

POS receipts are generated after every transaction on the POS, and the default LS Central receipt divides into three sections: a header, a body, and a footer. Knowing which section a piece of content belongs to decides where it can be changed.

• Header. Static identity content: the store name, the GST/VAT number, and the store address are the typical entries, plus the logo where one is configured. Header text is editable setup; the logo is not — it is handled at the printer and terminal level described below.
• Body. Transaction data, not editable text: information related to the current transaction, then the items of the transaction with VAT and other details. Nobody types the body into a setup page — it prints what the transaction contains. The one body-adjacent choice in text setup is whether the item number or barcode appears on the receipt.
• Footer. Static closing text defined in the same place as the header, plus the receipt barcode where one is configured. Footer text is editable setup; the barcode is a terminal printing setting.

Two elements sit across the sections. The receipt number is unique and is a combination of the POS number and an incremental number — it is generated, never typed, and it is not a layout field. The receipt barcode exists so a transaction can be found again: when a cashier voids a transaction from the transaction register or by scanning a receipt barcode, the POS Lookup form shows the available items and their quantities. A barcode that will not scan is therefore a returns-desk problem, not a cosmetic one.

Which level controls what

The level decision is the whole game. Header and footer text added with Receipt Printing can be defined at POS level for an individual terminal, or at store level for all the POS terminals in a store. Store level is the default choice for anything legal or brand-related — a tax number that exists on three terminals out of four is a compliance gap, not a style choice. Terminal level is for genuine exceptions: the one terminal at a different trading address, or a seasonal kiosk. Profiles follow the same fallback logic: an empty Hardware Profile field on both the store and the terminal makes the ##DEFAULT profile the active one, and a value set on the store card becomes active for terminals whose own field is empty. That fallback is useful — set the normal printer setup once, override only the terminal with the different printer — and dangerous when forgotten, because a terminal-level value silently wins over a later store-level change.

Change procedure: header and footer text

1. Decide the level first. Store level for identity, legal, and brand text; terminal level only for a named exception. Write down which level was chosen — the next person inherits the decision.
2. Open the right card. For store level, open the Store Card; for a terminal exception, open the POS Terminal Card. Go to Printing, then Receipt Printing.
3. Edit the header and footer text. Add or correct the static content — store name, GST/VAT number, store address in the header; closing or returns text in the footer. Apply bold, italic, or wide only where emphasis helps scanning; a receipt where everything is bold reads as if nothing is.
4. Set the item identifier option. In the same setup, define whether the item number or barcode is specified on the receipt, based on what the returns and lookup process actually uses.
5. Check for terminal overrides. Before assuming the change is live everywhere, check the terminals in the store for terminal-level Receipt Printing or profile values that would override or bypass the store setup.
6. Distribute and test print. Run a test transaction on one standard terminal and one terminal with any override, and verify the printed receipt against the checklist below before calling the change done.

Logo, receipt number, and barcode

A logo can be included in two ways. With Download, the logo is acquired and printed from a local hard disk drive path. With EPSON Flash, it is acquired and printed from printer memory — a feature not necessarily unique to EPSON printers where the printer offers a flashing utility. EPSON Flash provides faster printing, and in both cases the data size of the logo is a major factor for print speed: an oversized logo file slows every single receipt. The configuration sits on the POS Printer Card: the Logo Download Path for the Download option, Logo Align for alignment, and Logo No. for the memory section the logo is acquired from, since printers can hold multiple files in memory. A logo can also be specified down to each POS terminal on the Terminal Card — again, an exception mechanism, not the place to manage a chain-wide rebrand. Receipt printing itself uses the ESC/POS approach.

For the barcode, the format choice matters: CODE128 supports printing a 20-digit barcode, while the older Code39 does not, and Code128 is also the recommended symbology for receipt barcodes because it takes up less width on the printed bitmap. The Receipt Barcode ID refines the content: if it is higher than 0, the printed barcode contains that number in 4 digits combined with a 9-digit transaction number — a typical barcode of 14 characters — while a value of 0 prints barcodes in the old style with 20 digits. Separately, confirm the printer itself is reachable through the hardware profile: to use a Windows printer as the main POS printer, the Printer field on the hardware profile in use points at the POS Printer definitions, and the printer is linked in the profile's POS Printers section with Job and Sub-Job left empty so it covers all print jobs. For Web POS hardware, the Hardware Station is synced to the hardware profile, with port 8082 as the default when no port is specified — a layout change cannot fix a printer the POS cannot reach.

When text setup is not enough: the print procedures

Some requests are structural: a new line in the sub-header, a different order of body content, a field that no setup page exposes. Those live in the POS Print Utility procedures. PrintHeader prints the header content defined in Receipt Printing; PrintSubHeader prints the information related to the current transaction; PrintSalesInfo prints the items of the transaction with VAT and other details; and PrintFooter prints the footer text defined in Receipt Printing. In Business Central, these procedures are not edited directly — changes are made by subscribing to their events, with the subscription setting its handled flag so the original procedure exits, and with printed lines built from a design string of at most 40 characters and formatting flags for wide, bold, high, or italic. That is developer work with a deployment attached. The decision rule is simple: if the request can be satisfied with text, styling, the item-identifier option, a logo setting, or a barcode setting, it is configuration and belongs in this guide's procedure; if it changes what transaction data prints or in what order, it is a development request, and it should be scoped and priced as one rather than attempted as a setup tweak.

What success looks like

• The test receipt shows the corrected store name, tax number, and address in the header, and the intended closing text in the footer, with styling only where it was deliberately applied.
• The logo prints once, aligned as configured, at a size that does not visibly delay the receipt.
• The receipt number is present and unique to the terminal that printed it, and the item lines show the item number or barcode exactly as the setup option specifies.
• The receipt barcode scans at the returns desk and brings up the transaction's items and quantities in the POS Lookup form.
• A terminal with no deliberate override produces the identical receipt to the standard terminal — proof the store-level setup, not a local accident, is in control.

Note: receipt content can carry fiscal and consumer-law requirements that vary by jurisdiction, including which identifiers must appear. Treat this guide as configuration information, not legal advice, and confirm required receipt content with the responsible adviser for the jurisdiction the store trades in.