Universal Print is a rather interesting technology that Microsoft unveiled back in 2020. It is basically a cloud-based printing solution that entered public preview in July 2020 and was fully available to Microsoft 365 customers by March 2021.
But what exactly is Universal Print?
As previously stated, Universal Print is a cloud-powered printing solution geared towards Microsoft 365 enterprise customers. It eradicates the need for print servers, just like OneDrive got rid of traditional file servers. The selling point for organizations is that they don"t need to worry about managing printing infrastructure, which is an important component for many companies, and just focus on more critical stuff.
It is important to note that just because Universal Print is cloud-based doesn"t mean that you don"t have to purchase physical hardware. You still need to purchase printers capable of connecting to the internet and register them on the service hosted on Azure, it"s the management headache that is taken away from you, at a cost (more on that in the last section).
While many organizations don"t factor this in when evaluating their cybersecurity posture, it is also important to keep in mind that printers can serve as an attack layer surface for malicious actors. We already saw an example of this with hundreds of Brother printer models being vulnerable to threats recently, and the problem is only further exacerbated if this piece of hardware communicates with the internet in an unsafe way.
Universal Print acts as a scalable and secure solution that firms can rely upon for their printing needs through a centralized and distributed infrastructure with a simplified user interface, not only for users, but also for IT admins.
So it"s a cloud-based printing solution, but what are the benefits?
The fact that Universal Print is cloud-based means that it can leverage all of the benefits that a typical cloud solution built by Microsoft takes advantage of. For admins, this includes a centralized management portal, which allows admins to manage printers even across geographical boundaries and a hardened security infrastructure that protects other Microsoft services too. Cloud identities can easily be managed through Entra ID integration, and the solution already complies with several regulatory requirements, including SOC, ISO 27001/2 and 27018, and FedRAMP.
But perhaps the biggest benefit for IT admins is the removal of print servers and print drivers. This is infrastructure that is difficult to maintain and keep updated, and Universal Print gets rid of it completely. This is because Universal Print is built upon IPP and Mopria standards, so it can communicate and troubleshoot with internet-connected printers from Brother, Canon, Epson, HP, Fujifilm, and more without any extra effort. It also follows a continuous delivery model, so it can take advantage of the regular security and quality updates that Microsoft delivers regularly. Just a couple of days ago, the Redmond tech firm announced the general availability of "pull print" for its Universal Print anywhere solution.
Of course, there are multiple benefits in tow for end-users too, but the primary selling point is that it just works. For the end-user, printing works exactly as-is, as the service offers integration with major endpoints like Windows, macOS, and the web, without requiring VPNs. They don"t need to find time to set up a new printer and install drivers, and can instead just focus on getting their documents printed from a Universal Print printer that is closest to them. All of this amounts to cost reductions, not only through fewer man-hours required to calibrate printing software, but also due to low infrastructure requirements since almost everything is managed directly by Microsoft.
Why should I use Universal Print rather than any other solution?
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Universal Print isn"t the only cloud-powered printing solution on the market. In fact, there are various others like PaperCut, Printix, and UniPrint. However, whether you end up choosing Universal Print all boils down to how well-entrenched your organization is in the Microsoft ecosystem.
This is because Universal Print offers native integration with operating systems and endpoints like Windows, OneDrive, Excel, macOS, and Intune. It"s also built on the same platform as other Microsoft products so that you can expect the same level of high availability, security, and scalability. It also supports a hybrid mechanism since some advanced functionality is not supported by Mopria standards, so printer OEMs can develop Print Support Apps (PSAs) that enable this functionality in Universal Print in a secure way. Custom functionality can also be extended through the Graph API.
What else do I need to know about Universal Print?
Universal Print is a reliable and diverse solution in many ways, but it is not dirt-cheap. For commercial customers, some monthly print jobs are already bundled by default in the following way:
| Commercial License | Jobs per Month |
|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 E3, E5, Business Premium | 100 |
| Microsoft 365 F3 | 5 |
| Windows 10 Enterprise E3, E5, | 5 |
| Universal Print (standalone) | 5 |
A single print job can be a document with any number of pages, any formatting, and any number of copies. It gets counted when the job is delivered to a Universal Print printer, and after that, it doesn"t matter if it did not complete because of the paper getting jammed or the user not picking up the printed documents. 500 additional print jobs can be purchased for $25/month, while 10,000 print jobs can be yours for $300/month. This can be expensive for customers who have relatively small revenue streams but high printing volumes.
If you"re an IT admin who is interested in getting started with Universal Print, head over to Microsoft"s detailed configuration guidance here.