Microsoft Pushes Pull Print, So You Don’t Have To Dash To The Printer To Grabthe ‘fire Everyone’ Memo
Microsoft has made the “Pull Print” feature of Universal Print generally available, which means confidential print jobs should no longer appear in unintended locations.
The feature, also known as “Universal Print Anywhere,” allows a user to turn up at any registered printer and release their print jobs. The user does not need to select a specific destination printer – instead, they can find hardware that is available, authenticate at it, and then retrieve their jobs.
According to Microsoft, the update reduces “the risk of sensitive information being left unattended and making the printing experience more convenient and secure.”
Universal Print has two ways to release a print job: direct print or secure release. Direct print immediately releases the print job to the device after the user sends it. Secure release works by the user sending the job and then turning up at the destination printer to release it by scanning a QR code stuck on the machine.
The scanning can be done by the user’s smartphone camera app or via the Microsoft 365 app.
On the administration side, the printer needs to be registered and secure release enabled with a QR code through the Universal Print management portal. Then, someone has to print out the code, find the printer, and, in Microsoft’s words, “Tape/glue the printout of the QR code onto the printer.”
With Pull print, rather than pick a specific printer, a user can retrieve their documents from any printer – there is no need to select one in advance.
In the future, Microsoft intends to extend the functionality to include badge release technologies to securely release print jobs at the printer, “ensuring compatibility with existing authentication systems and providing even more flexibility for organizations with diverse printer fleets.”
There are alternatives to Microsoft’s solution. PaperCut’s “Find-Me” printing will, for example, do a similar job. PaperCut describes it as “the ability for your users to send their print jobs to a single print queue from their computer or device, and release their jobs from whichever printer they’re close to, whenever they want.”
However, for an organization that has gone all-in on Microsoft 365 and already has Universal Print licenses, the addition of Pull print (which doesn’t incur additional cost) will be appealing. If only to stop the occasional confidential document dropping out of a printer when the wrong person is standing beside it… ®
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