Watermarking and Burst / Separator Pages - Showing print job information on prints

What is Watermarking?

(Wikipedia definition)

Watermarking a printed document generally refers to inserting extra text, such as a username or date at the the bottom of each page.

PaperCut, as of version 10.5, supports watermarking (and digital signatures) as a core feature. See the user guide for details.

What are Burst Pages (AKA Separator Pages)?

(Wikipedia definition)

Burst/Banner pages are generally a single page inserted after a print job. They are most often used to identify the user who printed the job. PaperCut doesn’t offer an option to create a banner page, as they are dependent on the printer’s driver or the host operating system configuration.

Burst pages are often preferred over watermarking where it is not desirable to include any extra information on print jobs, however burst pages use one extra page per print job and add significantly to paper waste.

On Windows:

• Windows Server 2012 can produce burst pages that can include several variables; this is outlined in a support article here:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-r2-and-2012/jj149734(v=ws.11)

• Third party applications are available that can perform watermarking.
• Some printer drivers (generally of the high-end / office variety) can also perform watermarking.

On CUPS (the print system on Mac OS X and Linux):

• While CUPS can produce burst/banner pages, they are not currently supported by PaperCut.

PaperCut Watermarking

See PaperCut Watermarking in the PaperCut MF/NG manual for more info.

PaperCut can insert watermarks into PostScript, PCL5, and PCL6 print jobs. PostScript in particular allows us precise control of watermarking, and is available on most modern printers. PaperCut PostScript watermark insertion takes a minimally invasive approach:

• The PostScript of the print job is changed as little as possible.
• Conflicts between the PaperCut watermark and the original PostScript are resolved by leaving the original PostScript intact.

There may be times when watermarking is enabled in PaperCut and a print job is printed with its own watermark in a way that conflicts with the PaperCut watermark. In this case the PaperCut watermark should not be printed. If the PaperCut watermark is printed instead of a watermark in the document, or if the PaperCut watermark fails to print when the document does not contain a watermark, there may be a conflict between the PostScript driver and PaperCut. If you see this, please contact PaperCut support.