User printing off network - remote printing

Many organizations need their end users to conduct printing while they are not on the main network. Over the past several years there’s been an increase across almost all businesses in the number of users wanting to print outside of the company network. In fact, in several cases, some industries are specifically hiring staff to be able to work in a remote or hybrid setup.

Some of the typical user scenarios requiring this type of access include:

• Remote workers - Users who are hired by a company to permanently work remotely from the company offices. This could either be working interstate or perhaps working from a home office.
• Hybrid workers - Users who typically split their time between the office and their home location.
• Travelling staff - Users who are either moving between offices or perhaps their job role means that they are on the road several days a week and rarely in the office.

Recommended solution

There are two different core scenarios and setups for users wanting to print while they are disconnected from the company network.

Scenario 1: The user is outside of the company network and wants to print their documents to the office printers

An example of this scenario is a traveling staff member or a staff member working from a coffee shop/home/etc. who is heading into their office later in the day.

For this printing to be available, the PaperCut Hive cloud node needs to be enabled via your PaperCut Hive console. At the time of print, the cloud node allows jobs to be submitted from off the network and routed to the Edge Mesh network. You’ll need to ensure that the machine submitting the print job has access to the cloud node services, so it requires internet access.

If you also want users to release their print jobs remotely, they will need a mobile phone with internet access and running the PaperCut Hive app.

1. In the PaperCut Hive console, go to Print Security > Secure Print Release.
2. Find and enable the List option. This lets the end user select the output printer from their mobile phone to release the print job to a printer on the company network.

Scenario 2: The user works remotely and wants to print to their local printer, and you want to capture and track the print jobs

An example of this scenario is that the user is working from home and wants to print their job to their home printer, but the company still wants to capture and track their print jobs.

We recommend using the Direct Print Tracking feature in PaperCut Hive. It allows the user’s edge node to detect and report any direct print queues installed on the user’s machine. Then, when the user prints, the job is tracked and reported in your PaperCut admin console. However, the job does not go into a hold/release queue. Instead, it immediately prints out on the local printer.

How printing with PaperCut Hive and Pocket works

For a summary of how printing works with PaperCut Hive and Pocket, take a look at the How it works page in the manual.

For a detailed look at the print job process and release print job process, including the ports and communications at each step, refer to The print process and The release print job process below.

Pros and cons

Network diagram

Ports

If you’re running the Full Embedded app, some platforms (MFDs) need additional ports to allow communications. For the complete list of ports, refer to Firewall ports and Networking .

The print job process

We are going to assume at this point that you have already read through the articles about getting your users joined to your print environment and that their computers or devices are configured to print. If you haven’t, read Getting started for administrators , which details the prerequisites and how to get your users set up.

Let’s now run through the process involved when a user prints in this environment.

Printing from Windows/Mac/Chromebook/Android

Printing from iOS devices

The release print job process

When it’s time for the end-user to release the print job, there are two different methods:

• MFD Release
• mobile device release.

MFD release

Mobile device release - via cloud service

Mobile device release - offline mode

If the link to the cloud services is unavailable, for example, your Internet Provider has gone offline, you can still release print jobs using your mobile device connected to your local WiFi. Here’s what the comms looks like.

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