In a method and a device for synchronizing a first printing device with a second component (e.g. second printing device), based on a property of a print image printed by the first printing device, which the property is detected by an optical sensor, a first print image is printed and at least one part of the first print image is detected using the optical sensor to generate a corresponding sensor signal. A virtual sensor signal is determined based on first print data and a known position of the optical sensor. The virtual sensor signal is compared with a curve of the sensor signal and a position signal is generated based on the result of the comparison. A second component is started depending on the position signal.