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Directly print from workstations to printers

This page applies to:

This topic describes how to let users connect directly to printers using any driver, without the need for a print server. This option does not support Print Archiving which is dependent on a print server.

The high-level steps are:

  1. Set up the print queues on the reference computer
  2. Clone the print queue details into Print Deploy
  3. Connect print queues to a zone

And if you need to set up Find-Me printing, also take a look at (Optional) Configure Find-Me printing in a print serverless (Direct Print) environment at the end of this page.

Diagram showing users connected to the application server, and also being able to print directly to the printers (not through a server).

For steps on how to print through a server, go to:

Step 1: Set up the print queues on the reference computer

A reference computer is a Windows and/or Mac computer where you set up and test the print queues before deploying them to the users. It’s also where you set the default settings for print queues (for example, grayscale, 2-sided) and capabilities (for example, finishing options like stapling and hole punching).

Windows drivers often support multiple versions of Windows, for example, Windows 10 and Windows 8. PaperCut NG/MF automatically detects which versions of Windows the driver supports and displays them in its Admin web interface.

  1. On the designated reference computer, install the network printers that you want to deploy to your users. In other words, pretend that you are setting up this computer for a user.

  2. Configure the printer defaults for each queue. @@ -107,7 +97,7 @@ If you’re using Windows and need more details than just the summary steps below,

  3. Select Enable Printing > Print Deploy. The Print Deploy page is displayed.

    Screenshot showing the Print Deploy screen with zones listed on the left, and options to download the cloner tool, and 'Import Mobility Print queues'.
  4. In the right panel, do one of the following: @@ -148,14 +138,6 @@ By default Print Deploy has one zone, called Everyone, that deploys print qu Before you can add new zones, you’ll need to purchase the Advanced Print Enablement Pack .

  1. Click Zones, then in the Your zones list, select the zone you want to connect printers to.

    If you need to add a new zone first, take a look at how to add zones and user groups to Print Deploy .

    Screenshot showing the Print Deploy screen, with the 'Everyone' zone selected on the left hand side showing the details of the zone. 3 print queues are listed on the right hand side, ready to be selected.
  2. In the Print queues list, select which printers you want to be automatically installed on the users’ computers; then click Connect to zone. They are added to the list of print queues for that zone.

    Screenshot showing the Print Deploy screen with one example print queue now added to the zone and listed in the zone details.
  3. If required, add print queues to the zone that you want to make optional for users to install on their computer. They can install them via the Add printers tab in their Print Deploy client.

    1. In the Print queues list, select which printers you want to make optional for users to install.

    2. At the bottom of the list of printers, select the Optional install checkbox.

      Screenshot showing the 'Print queue' panel in Print Deploy, with 2 print queues, one of which is selected. At the bottom of the panel is the 'Connect to zone' button and also the 'Optional Install' checkbox which is checked.
    1. Click Connect to zone. They are added to the list of print queues for that zone.

      Screenshot of the zone details panel in Print Deploy - the panel shows the 'Everyone' zone with two printers attached to the zone. One of which is labelled as an 'optional install'.

By default, all computers that already have the Print Deploy client installed will automatically install the print queues within 15 minutes. This time is configurable though, so if you’d like to change it, go to Change the polling time for the Print Deploy client .

(Optional) Configure Find-Me printing in a print serverless (Direct Print) environment

Find-Me printing enables users to print to a single print queue and securely release their print job at any printer.

When using Direct Print queues, you can deploy your Find-Me queue to all zones, so when users move between sites their Find-Me queue follow them around. That means that if they print a document at one site but don’t release it, they’ll still be able to release their print job when they arrive at a new site.

Before you start, we recommend that you create a test zone in the PaperCut Print Deploy page and limit it to connect to only one test computer in it.

  1. On your reference computer:

    1. Create a print queue called ‘Find-Me-Virtual’ (‘virtual’ is mandatory).
    2. Create the relevant print queues pointing to physical devices, for example ‘Room 201’, ‘Room 202, ‘Room 203’.
  2. Clone your reference computer.

  3. In the My zones drop-down list, select the appropriate zone in the Print Deploy page.

  4. Add the ‘Find-Me-Virtual’, ‘Room 201’, ‘Room 202’, ‘Room 203’ queues to the zone.

  5. Save and deploy.

  6. Confirm your test computer has received the appropriate queues. The test computer will ‘register’ the four deployed queues as direct print monitor queues. That is, jobs sent via these queues will be monitored and tracked locally.

  7. In the PaperCut Admin web interface left menu, click Printers; then select Find-Me-Virtual. It will be listed as a ‘Direct Print Queue’. The Printer Summary page is displayed. If you’re after more information about direct printing, take a look at Configuring Direct Printing .

  8. In the Job Redirection Settings section, select ‘Room 201’, ‘Room 202’, ‘Room 203’ as queues it can redirect to.

  9. In the Hold/Release Queue Settings section, select Enable hold/release queue.

  10. Click Apply. Here’s an example of a completed Printer List:

    Screenshot showing the 'Printer List' tab in PaperCut MF/NG. There are 4 printers listed: the template printer, 'Office-201', 'Office-202' and 'Find-me-virtual' which is labelled as a 'virtual' queue.
  11. Configure your release stations with your Find-Me-Virtual print queue as the source print queue, and the appropriate destination physical print queues where jobs will be redirected to. See Find-Me printing for more information.

  12. Test printing. Print to the Hold Release queue and release the job.

For more information, take a look at Configuring Direct Printing .

What’s next?

If the Print Deploy client has already been installed on some computers, click Save and deploy. The print queues will be automatically installed on the computers within 15 minutes. (This time is configurable ). Otherwise, decide if you want to:

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