We are excited to announce that Universal Print anywhere, a new feature that enables users to print securely from any location and retrieve their documents at any printer—a capability known as "pull print"—has reached general availability. This enhancement empowers users with greater flexibility and privacy, allowing them to release print jobs only when they are physically at the printer of their choice, reducing the risk of sensitive information being left unattended and making the printing experience more convenient and secure.
We want to thank you for participating in our public preview adopting the functionality, your feedback has been invaluable to bring this functionality to market. Universal Print anywhere is ready for production deployments across Microsoft 365 organizations.
What is Universal Print anywhere?
Universal Print anywhere transforms how users interact with corporate printers by enabling them to print from anywhere and securely release their jobs to any printer in the organization. This "pull print" functionality builds on Universal Print's existing secure release capabilities, allowing users to print without having to choose a specific printer in advance.
With Universal Print anywhere, employees can:
- Print from any device to any corporate printer without choosing a destination printer in advance
- Authenticate at any printer to securely release their jobs
- Prevent confidential documents from being left unattended
- Reduce toner and paper waste from uncollected prints
Universal Print anywhere pull-print management blade in the Azure portal
Key benefits for organizations
Enhanced Security and Privacy Universal Print anywhere ensures that confidential documents are never left on printers for unauthorized viewing. Users must authenticate at the printer before their jobs are released, maintaining document security in shared printing environments.
Simplified User Experience Gone are the days of choosing the right printer from a long list. Users simply print, then walk to any available printer in their organization to retrieve their documents. This seamless experience reduces support tickets and improves productivity.
Reduced Waste and Cost Savings By requiring user authentication before printing, organizations can reduce paper and toner waste from forgotten or uncollected print jobs. This leads to measurable cost savings and support for sustainability initiatives.
Cross-Platform Support Universal Print anywhere works seamlessly across Windows and macOS devices, ensuring all employees can take advantage of pull print functionality regardless of their device preference.
How Universal Print anywhere works
The deployment architecture remains straightforward and builds on your existing Universal Print infrastructure:
- Printer Registration: Printers are registered to Universal Print directly or through the Universal Print connector.
- Secure Release Configuration: Administrators configure the secure release option for each printer they want to include in the pull print experience.
- User Authentication: Users print as normal to the pull print printer, then authenticate at any configured member printer to retrieve their jobs.
Administrator control and management
Universal Print anywhere provides administrators with enhanced control over the printing experience:
- Print Option Management: Configure specific print options for Universal Print anywhere printer shares, with end users only seeing administrator-approved options.
- Printer Membership Control: Administrators can configure which printers are members of the pull print printer group, providing flexibility in determining which devices participate in the anywhere printing experience.
Coming Soon: enhanced Partner integration
Universal Print anywhere is designed to work with existing printer infrastructure and partner solutions. In the coming months, we will be extending this feature to enable original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to integrate their 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.
Getting started with Universal Print anywhere
Universal Print anywhere is now available to Microsoft 365 organizations worldwide. The feature is included with your existing Universal Print licensing at no additional cost. For more details, please refer to the Universal Print licensing documentation.
Ready to implement Universal Print anywhere in your organization? We recommend referring to the comprehensive Universal Print anywhere documentation for detailed setup instructions and best practices. The documentation provides step-by-step guidance for both organizations already using Universal Print and those new to the service.
Additional Resources:
Disclaimer:
This blog post is for informational purposes only and outlines Microsoft’s current product direction and plans. Product availability, licensing terms and capabilities may vary by region and are subject to change. All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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