Mobile & BYOD printing
Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD) and mobile devices are now accepted as playing an essential role in many organizations and are here to stay. However, providing printing support across the various available devices is challenging because there are many competing technologies with no standardization. Current BYOD printing solutions are problematic because:
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there are lots of choices
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they might not be compatible with your printing infrastructure or are difficult to integrate
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they keep changing.
PaperCut's solution for mobile and BYOD printing is a product called Mobility Print. It can be installed on its own or work together with PaperCut NG/MF.
Other technologies that PaperCut NG/MF supports are:
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PaperCut NG/MF provided technologies
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Native mobile print technologies
Google announced that Google Cloud Print, their cloud-based printing solution that has been in beta since 2010, will no longer be supported as of December 31, 2020. We recommend you use PaperCut Mobility Print instead.
PaperCut NG/MF provides you with the freedom to design your print network to suit your specific needs.
Mobility Print working either standalone or with PaperCut NG/MF works for most organizations, however, all of our printing solutions meets a particular need so you can choose which solution best suits your environment. If using Web Print is the right answer for you, PaperCut NG/MF will continue to directly integrate with this service. If your users are more comfortable with emailing, Email to Print is the right choice. More options means a solution more likely to fit into your design.
At a technical level, it's important to understand your IT infrastructure requirements and the impact your choices have on your data and security policies. The following table will help you choose the right mobile and BYOD print strategy for your organization.
Detailed information on each technology is provided in subsequent sections.
| Technology | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Mobility Print | Mobility Print delivers network print services for iOS, Windows, macOS, Android, and Chrome devices across mixed fleet environments. It allows both managed and unmanaged devices to securely print to any printer on your network. Mobility Print is easy to set up and allows users to select from various print options and print all file types. It provides a native printing experience across all platforms. |
| Web Print (driver-less printing via a web browser) | A simple web based experience suitable for any BYOD laptop or Netbook users. End-users upload their document via a standard browser form. No special or client print driver setup required. |
| Email to Print | A lowest common denominator, and simplest solution that works on any device that's able to send email attachments. PDF, picture files or Microsoft Office document attachments are converted to print jobs. |
| Google Cloud Print (GCP) |
GCP is Google's preferred mobile and Chromebook (Chrome OS) printing experience. It is the native printing experience for Android, Chromebooks, and Google applications on iOS. GCP is also an option for laptop users (when using the Chrome browser or a custom driver/service). All of PaperCut NG/MF's print management features integrate with GCP. Google announced that Google Cloud Print, their cloud-based printing solution that has been in beta since 2010, will no longer be supported as of December 31, 2020. We recommend you use PaperCut Mobility Print instead. |
| iOS printing (iPad & iPhone) | iOS provides users with a native and mature print experience on iPhones and iPads. Users can select various printing options, such as copies and grayscale, and can print from many applications without the need for additional software. Users can use PaperCut NG/MF via the Mobile web client app. |
Common questions that come up during planning
Do I have to turn on all of these mobile solutions at once?
No. It's best to pick the ones that are suitable for your environment, and perform a controlled rollout of the new feature.
Email to Print works with all platforms. Why would I not just implement this?
This is a viable option and one that many organizations adopt. Our recommendation is to look at native print options first where possible. The benefit for native print options is that they offer a richer and more familiar end user experience.
What does it cost to add BYOD features to my PaperCut installation?
All BYOD features are included in the standard PaperCut license. There are no additional licensing costs.
I want to allow printing, but I don't allow mobile devices to connect to our network. Is there an option?
Google Cloud Print and Email to Print work without requiring users to connect to your network.
I want to use Google Cloud Print, but don't want users sending documents via Google's servers. Is there a
version that I can run on my own server?
Although Google Cloud Print uses open protocols (and upcoming standards), Google is the only server provider we're aware of at the time of writing. By contrast, Email to Print involves documents routing via your email server, and Mobility Print iOS Printing (if you are supporting mainly Apple devices) is network-internal.
Does Mobility Print work at a site with a Site Server rather than an Application Server?
Yes! You can set up Mobility Print on any Windows secondary serverA PaperCut secondary server is a system that directly hosts a printer, that is, a print server with a Print Provider installed. A secondary server can be a server style system hosting many printers, a desktop style system hosting printer(s) also shared to other network users, or a desktop style system with the printer used only for local users (not shared)., including sites with a Site ServerSite Servers take over the role of a Primary Application Server in the event of network outages. Key roles taken over include authentication, copy and print tracking and Find-Me printing. Site Servers ensure continuous availability of printing resources to support key business functions over unreliable network links or during unplanned network disruptions. instead of an Application ServerAn Application Server is the primary server program responsible for providing the PaperCut user interface, storing data, and providing services to users. PaperCut uses the Application Server to manage user and account information, manage printers, calculate print costs, provide a web browser interface to administrators and end users, and much more.. However, there must be a connection between the Site Server and the Application Server for Mobility Print to work.