Microsoft’s Universal Print, which debuted in March, is a cloud-based solution that promises to let organizations forgo both maintaining print servers locally and installing print drivers. The service just requires having Azure Active Directory domain-joined PCs running Windows 10 version 1903 or later.
Microsoft conceives Universal Print as being a simpler option in terms of deployment compared with its existing Windows Server Hybrid Cloud Print solution. It described Universal Print as a “Microsoft 365 subscription-based service” that “runs entirely in Microsoft Azure.”
Universal Print is based on a standard that’s getting implemented in printers, but Microsoft also has a Connector application that adds support for older “legacy” printers that lack native support for Universal Print.
On May 13, Microsoft talked more about Universal Print during a 30-minute online event “Live Webcast: Universal Print Overview.” Some of the Webcast’s highlights, which featured an extensive Q&A.
Universal Print Overview Highlights
The timeline for releasing Universal Print in public preview is Q3 2020. It’s expected to reach “general availability” commercial release in Q4, ( Rani Abdellatif, a program manager on the Universal Print team.)
To use the available private preview of Universal Print, organizations will need a Microsoft 365 Enterprise, Education or Business subscription. Its not yet clear which Microsoft 365 products will have access to Universal Print when it gets commercially released.
Universal Print maintains the familiar Windows print experience for end users. Universal Print-registered printers will show up like any other printer. Users can print from anywhere when connected to the Internet and authenticated via Azure AD, . The print jobs will get “spooled to the cloud from client,” Microsoft explained, in the Q&A segment.
Universal Print uses the Internet Print Protocol (IPP) standard from the Printer Working Group, to expose print and management functionality through the Microsoft Graph. There is no print driver to install. Once an IT administrator configures Universal Print, end users can discover nearby printers IT can manage the printers and get reports on how they are used.
During the Q&A, Microsoft explained more about the reporting aspect of Universal Print:
Administrators have access to a basic set of reports that include print usage grouped by user/printer.
Use Microsoft Graph API to download a raw data stream of completed print jobs to generate custom reports.
With Universal Print, IT pros need to assign printers and make these viewable to end users. Printer locations are assigned using the Azure Portal.
All communications are over secured HTTPS connectors.
Printers are deemed to be Azure AD objects, and are backed by an X.509 certificate.
No firewall ports are needed to support Universal Print. “There are no incoming requests to printers or Connectors (all requests are outgoing), so as long as Universal Print endpoints are not blocked, everything will work,” the Q&A indicated.
TMicrosoft is “working with ISV [independent software vendors] in print,” including vendors such as Papercut, Kofax and uniFlow.
Microsoft was also asked about actual printer hardware support for Universal Print. It’s mostly still a work in progress, per the Q&A:
