About four years ago, in March 2020, we made space for the announcement of Microsoft Universal Print, a cloud-based printing solution. This is a service that simplifies the management of printers in the company. It is in fact designed to allow users to print from any deviceregardless of their location, without the need to connect directly to the corporate network or install printer drivers specific.
How Universal Print works, in short
Administrators register printers in the Universal Print service through the Microsoft 365 then they associate them with groups or individual users. The system of monitoring e centralized management allows you to take advantage of the supervision of the printer status, the management of access permissions and other advanced features.
On the user side, they can start a service anywhere print job using computers, tablets and smartphones, without the need to perform additional steps.
Universal Print integrates natively with other Redmond company services, such as Microsoft 365 and Azure Active Directory, simplifying identity and authorization management.
Officially made available in March 2021 to all business users and educational institutions on Microsoft 365, Universal Print is compatible with most of the major ones printers a marchio Brother, Canon, Epson, HP, Konica Minolta, Lexmark, Toshiba, Ricoh e Xerox.
The arrival of Universal Print on macOS systems
For unknown reasons, Microsoft previously delayed the debut of Universal Print on the macOS platform (launch was scheduled for September 2023). With a few months’ delay, the managers of the company led by Satya Nadella announce that from today all interested parties can preview the new functionality, also on Apple systems.
The innovation just presented allows companies that use both macOS and Windows PC systems to access the same printers and start printing jobs. press from anyone Mac systemsimply using the “Press“, without needing to install any drivers.
Companies that use Microsoft 365 and also have macOS machines in their infrastructure can access the global settings, in the “macOS Support (Preview)” then choose “Show all printers“.
On the client side, installation of the free Universal Print app is required via Apple App Store. You must log in with a Microsoft 365 account (Universal Print support must be enabled) and make sure you have a supported printer turned on.
Robert Cunningham (Microsoft) is keen to point out that support for Universal Print should currently be considered experimental. The company’s technicians are closely checking the operation of the printing system and optimizing its behavior.
Efforts on Universal Print complement the initiative Windows Protected Print Modewhich aims to enable the print without drivers on any Windows device, not just on systems that rely on the cloud and the Microsoft 365 platform.
Opening image credit: iStock.com – baloon111