# Snapmaker Orca demands I edit filament before printing, but doesn't let me do so **URL:** \ **Category:** Snapmaker Orca\ **Created:** [December 28, 2025, 1:17am UTC](https://forum.snapmaker.com/t/snapmaker-orca-demands-i-edit-filament-before-printing-but-doesnt-let-me-do-so/40722 "2025-12-28T01:17:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TylerTork](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/forum.snapmaker.com/tylertork/32/31063_2.png) [@TylerTork](https://forum.snapmaker.com/u/TylerTork)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2025, 1:17am UTC](https://forum.snapmaker.com/t/snapmaker-orca-demands-i-edit-filament-before-printing-but-doesnt-let-me-do-so/40722/1 "2025-12-28T01:17:29Z")
Latest Snapmaker Orca Beta, Snapmaker U1 printer with updated firmware and 4 reels of PLA loaded – one Snapmaker and three of another brand. When I select to print, a Print Preprocessing dialog opens. The Edit Filament box shows two filaments which are the right colors for this print. But there’s an (!) error icon on them in red and the Send button is disabled. When I click Send anyway, the message “Please select filament type” is displayed. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/snapmaker/original/3X/f/4/f4faa4ce45cbf7dadad96222860b4f621d50c02e.png) I don’t understand how to resolve this issue. The filament “badges” in the Edit Filament section of the dialog aren’t active controls. Exactly how am I supposed to select filament type? I feel that I **have** selected the filament type – Generic PLA. It’s right there on the screen, in the Printer panel. I’ve confirmed on the printer’s console that it has correct information about the material I’ve loaded, and was able to print the built-in test print. **What does it want from me!?!?!** Once this question is answered, can we also change the slicer software so whatever it’s asking for is either unnecessary or more obvious how to do? I’ve been stuck at this point for 2 days now and reading manuals and searching online haven’t helped. ---
**Author:** ![Simon\_Zhi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/forum.snapmaker.com/simon_zhi/32/30470_2.png) [@Simon\_Zhi](https://forum.snapmaker.com/u/Simon_Zhi)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2025, 12:38pm UTC](https://forum.snapmaker.com/t/snapmaker-orca-demands-i-edit-filament-before-printing-but-doesnt-let-me-do-so/40722/2 "2025-12-29T12:38:06Z")
Looking at this interface, it seems to be asking you to select which spool’s material—maybe the prompt wording isn’t accurate. ---
**Author:** ![TylerTork](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/forum.snapmaker.com/tylertork/32/31063_2.png) [@TylerTork](https://forum.snapmaker.com/u/TylerTork)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2025, 4:09pm UTC](https://forum.snapmaker.com/t/snapmaker-orca-demands-i-edit-filament-before-printing-but-doesnt-let-me-do-so/40722/3 "2025-12-29T16:09:21Z")
It does seem to be asking me to select which extruder goes with which color, but it doesn’t actually let me make a selection because nothing in the Edit Filament area does anything when I click it. ---
**Author:** ![Wyphorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@Wyphorn](https://forum.snapmaker.com/u/Wyphorn)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2025, 4:35pm UTC](https://forum.snapmaker.com/t/snapmaker-orca-demands-i-edit-filament-before-printing-but-doesnt-let-me-do-so/40722/4 "2025-12-29T16:35:32Z")
Do you have loaded filaments? How is your filaments menu on the machine is looking like? ---
**Author:** ![TylerTork](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/forum.snapmaker.com/tylertork/32/31063_2.png) [@TylerTork](https://forum.snapmaker.com/u/TylerTork)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2025, 5:44pm UTC](https://forum.snapmaker.com/t/snapmaker-orca-demands-i-edit-filament-before-printing-but-doesnt-let-me-do-so/40722/5 "2025-12-29T17:44:23Z")
I do have loaded filaments. I’ve been continuing to play around with this, and I’ve found that it sometimes does let me select filaments and then I can print, while other times this error happens. In between, I’ve changed nothing on the printer nor in the Printer panel of Orca. It seems to just be random. So I suspect this is a case of a wonky connection and suspect a firmware issue in the printer where it is sometimes dropping the connection or otherwise not responding correctly to the software trying to connect to it over the wifi network. ---
**Author:** ![Simon\_Zhi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/forum.snapmaker.com/simon_zhi/32/30470_2.png) [@Simon\_Zhi](https://forum.snapmaker.com/u/Simon_Zhi)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2025, 3:31am UTC](https://forum.snapmaker.com/t/snapmaker-orca-demands-i-edit-filament-before-printing-but-doesnt-let-me-do-so/40722/6 "2025-12-30T03:31:47Z")
I asked the tech team; they’re aware and will optimize it later. Their workaround: power the machine off, so the filament you manually set on the machine can sync to Orca. You can try！ ---
**Author:** ![pbritt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e79b87/32.png) [@pbritt](https://forum.snapmaker.com/u/pbritt)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2026, 1:44pm UTC](https://forum.snapmaker.com/t/snapmaker-orca-demands-i-edit-filament-before-printing-but-doesnt-let-me-do-so/40722/7 "2026-02-13T13:44:47Z")
Why isn’t there a “sync with printer” button in the filament section of th main UI, like Bambu Labs have? ---
**Author:** ![Wyphorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@Wyphorn](https://forum.snapmaker.com/u/Wyphorn)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2026, 7:11am UTC](https://forum.snapmaker.com/t/snapmaker-orca-demands-i-edit-filament-before-printing-but-doesnt-let-me-do-so/40722/8 "2026-02-14T07:11:11Z")
When you are connected to the printer you can just click on any filament assignment and Orca will display the currently loaded filaments first. Works great for me.