What Is Pull Printing And What Are The Benefits?

Last Updated on April 10, 2019 by Christian Ralph

Every business would love to know how they can become more efficient, productive, secure and reduce less waste, all by installing a single piece of software. Pull printing is the answer, but what is it and how can it give your business all these benefits?

What is pull printing?

Pull printing is a printer feature that involves print jobs being sent to a pull printing server which then sends them onto the printer itself. It offers extra security, reduced network strain, and improved office efficiency over printing directly to a printer.

Pull printing is supported by the majority of print manufacturers. Server-based pull printing, where the print job is held on a server as described above, is the most popular method but serverless pull printing is also possible where the print job is held on a workstation until released to the printer by the user.

This feature is used in a two-step process. First, the user initiates the print job from their computer, mobile or tablet, depending on the print features available. Then, at the printer, the user authenticates their job, using security measures such as a pin code or a key card to release their documents.

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What are the benefits of pull printing?

For a whole range of businesses, pull printing offers numerous benefits. What’s better, you don’t have to purchase a specific pull printer, all you have to do is install some software to get all of the pull printing benefits.

The program required to carry out pull printing isn’t expensive, and the latest models of printers often come with the capabilities already installed, allowing you to reap the rewards straight away.

Extra security

The two-step verification process required with all pull printing means that your important documents are totally protected. You don’t have to worry about the wrong person stumbling across your print job just sitting on the shared printer. This is a huge benefit for all businesses, especially those that have their printers located on a different floor or area of the business.

No additional IT strain

Pull printing brings extra efficiency to a business’ IT infrastructure. Instead of having to manage several different print queues on different print servers, you can ensure that your print jobs are all running smoothly on a single print server. Alongside this, pull printing eliminates the need for purchasing expensive personal printers for senior members of staff to ensure security levels are high as pull printing protects documents even on a shared printing level.

Decrease your office waste

Showing the world that your business is environmentally friendly is so important these days. Pull printing even helps you to achieve a good eco-rating by reducing your office’s paper waste. As every job must be ‘released’ by the person who printed the documents, you can rest assured that documents will no longer be sat on the printer to be forgotten about. They will only be produced once the users authenticates the job at the printer.

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Increased office efficiency

Pull printing can even made your staff more productive and efficient while working for you. Your employees can use batch printing without worrying that another print job will interrupt their document flow. Pull printing will even allow your staff to print as many jobs as they like, and come back to pick them up at a later time, which stops the interruption of workflow and encourages productivity.

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So, which printers are pull printers?

Some printing manufacturers have specific software for pull printing, such as Xerox, which offers a precise driver to help you.

Samsung also offers bespoke software called Secuthru Lite 2, which offers all of the pull printing features that would benefit your business.

So, there you have it! There are some fantastic benefits for your business if you implement pull printing. Now it’s up to you to see them in practice. If you need any support in choosing the right printer for your new software, contact a member of our team who will be happy to help.