Choosing the Best Driver for PaperCut Pocket and Hive

What’s a “Print Driver”?

Simply put, a print driver helps translate a human-readable document, like a full-color PDF, to a language that printers understand (PDL). This allows the device to reproduce that image on a printed page with all the right formatting, fonts, images, and finishing selections. There are some printer languages (PDLs) that most printers can understand, like PCL6 and PostScript, and others are more proprietary to a specific printer brand (e.g. UFR drivers). Picking the right driver is key to getting the most out of printers and MFPs (Multi-function Printers).

How do drivers come into play within PaperCut Pocket and Hive?

The default configuration of PaperCut Pocket and Hive only supports basic print options, including:

• Simplex/Duplex
• Changing the number of copies
• Color or Grayscale conversion

For those who need more advanced capabilities, admins can easily deploy a device-specific driver from the Manufacturer instead of the generic alternative. By doing this, end-users will be able to leverage advanced finishing options like:

• Finishing (Stapling, Hole punch, etc…)
• Tray Selection
• Color modes (Draft, Vivid, etc…)
• Etc…

What kind of driver is best?

When trying to find the best driver, there often isn’t one “best” option. A variety of drivers may work completely fine with a given printer, but one may offer better color accuracy or advanced selections. Below are some suggestions to help you narrow down your options:

Go with a Type 3 Driver in most situations to get consistent results

It’s important to clarify that Type-4 drivers do work fine in many instances, however, Type-3 drivers tend to be both reliable and flexible for “most” situations so we view them as the preferred choice. In more detail…

Type-3 drivers

• Immediately generate a page description language that the printer understands (e.g. a PostScript (PS) file, PCL, etc…)

Type-4 drivers

• Generate XPS and not all printers understand XPS
• XPS doesn’t support watermarking via Hive

Lean toward the most capable driver for the Find-me queue

For situations where there is a mix of full-size MFPs and printers from the same brand, we recommend picking the driver that is designed for the most capable MFP in the mix.

• This will ensure that users can select all the finishing options they need when printing.
• If a job is released at a printer that can’t utilize some of those advanced features, smaller printers will ignore those extra commands (e.g. staple).
• It is up to the user to release their job at the appropriate printer for the selections they’ve made.

Ensure all printers support the driver language you select

• If you select a Postscript driver but some of your smaller printers don’t have PS kits, this can result in some odd behavior at the printer (e.g. constant pages flowing out of the printer or the text on the page containing unreadable fonts).
• PCL is a safe bet if you’re unsure since many printers support PCL.
• If using a driver with a proprietary language from the manufacturer (e.g. Canon UFR, Kyocera KPDL, etc..), printers not from that manufacturer may not be able to work with that language.

Still have questions?

Let us know! We love chatting about what’s going on under the hood. Feel free to leave a comment below or visit our Support Portal for further assistance.

This article was last edited by Noah on June 13, 2023, at 10:34 AM.