PRINT DIRECTOR | RELEASE 2.5.14
What's new in Print Director 2.5.14
Full cloud workflows on Lexmark, new tiles on the printer panel, held print jobs that no longer depend on the computer that sent them, printing from anywhere, support for ARM laptops, and tighter security across your printers.
Six big changes, included with Monthly rental,
or with a Once-off licence with current Annual Software Maintenance
Lexmark, fully cloud-ready
The full Print Director Workflow app, cloud scanning and printing included, now on Lexmark panels.
Release and copy
at the panel
New Release Job and Copy tiles put more of the day on the printer.
Held jobs, freed from the desktop
Jobs can wait on the Print Director server, so the sender’s computer can be off.
Security, tightened
Encrypted printing, a stable certificate chain, and users choose whether their cloud sign-in is saved.
Print from anywhere
Microsoft Universal Print jobs are held for secure release at any Print Director printer.
Ready for ARM laptops
Windows 11 on ARM laptops are fully supported, print queues included.
Lexmark
The new Lexmark app: full cloud workflows included
Everything Print Director does on Konica Minolta panels now works on Lexmark too.
- Sign in your way: PIN, card or username, on redesigned sign-in screens made for the panel.
- One-touch tiles: print release, copy, scan to email, scan to folders, all in one grid.
- The complete cloud suite: scan to and print from OneDrive, SharePoint, Google Drive, Dropbox and Box. Link your account once with a QR code, then use it at every printer.
- Secure by default: the app talks to your Print Director server over HTTPS.
- Upgrades itself: Lexmark printers set to install the “Latest” app version pick it up the next time they are initialised.
Release and copy
Two new tiles on the printer panel
Release Job
- The moment a user signs in, the tile shows how many jobs are waiting.
- Print or delete one job, several, or all of them in one go.
- Change copies, colour or black and white, and single or double sided, where the job allows.
- Enter billing details once for a whole selection.
- On Konica Minolta and Lexmark.
Copy
- Walk-up copying now goes through the same sign-in, billing and rules as printing.
- Administrators choose which copy settings users see, and whether each one is hidden, editable or fixed.
- On Lexmark, the copy runs straight away with the chosen settings. On Konica Minolta, Print Director checks access and billing, then opens the printer’s own copy screen.
Held print jobs
Freed from the desktop
Until now, a print job waiting for release was kept on the computer or print server that captured it. If that computer was switched off, the job could not be released.
- You choose where held print jobs are stored: on a local workstation or on the PDServer, including a hosted PDServer. It is a setting on each print queue: keep jobs on the computer that captured them (as before), or send them to the Print Director server the moment they are printed.
- Made for laptops and home workers. Users can print, close the laptop and still collect the job at the office printer.
- Several servers, one pool. On sites with more than one Print Director server, a job waiting on one can be released at a printer looked after by another.
- Download Print. The printer can now fetch released jobs itself over an outgoing connection, so nothing has to connect in to the printer. A natural fit for a Print Director server hosted in the cloud. On Lexmark now; Konica Minolta coming soon.
Security
Tightened another notch
- Encrypted printing (IPPS). Print jobs can go to the printer encrypted, instead of over the old unencrypted print ports. That means your IT team can close those ports on the printer.
- A certificate chain that stays put. Each installation now has its own certificate authority, so renaming a server or adding another one no longer breaks the printers’ trust.
- Users decide about their cloud sign-in. When linking a cloud account at the printer, users choose Save account or Forget after session. A forgotten account is kept in memory only and removed at sign-out.
Universal Print
Print from anywhere with Microsoft Universal Print
People can print from a laptop or phone outside the office, with no print queue, driver or VPN on the device, then collect the job securely at any Print Director printer.
- Works on the devices people already have. Windows, macOS, iOS, iPadOS and Android all have Universal Print built in.
- The same rules as in the office. Jobs come down to your Print Director server and wait there for secure release, with your rules, quotas and pricing applied.
- Fine for cloud-only accounts. Print Director reads who sent each job from Microsoft’s Universal Print connector, so users with only a Microsoft 365 work account (no office Windows account) are covered.
- What you need: a Microsoft licence that includes Universal Print, and Microsoft’s connector installed on the Print Director server.
Reading the user from the Universal Print connector needs Print Director 2.5.12.1 or later.
ARM laptops
Ready for ARM-based Windows laptops
Print Director works on the new ARM-based Windows laptops, such as Snapdragon X and Surface Pro X models.
- Fully supported and tested on Windows 11 on ARM: the Print Director client on the laptop, and Resource Manager.
- Print queues deploy as on any other PC: driverless, or with the printer manufacturer’s ARM driver where the manufacturer publishes one.
- Good to know: Print Director’s reporting tools are not available on ARM laptops, so run reports from a standard Windows PC or server.
Getting 2.5.14
- Included with Monthly rental, or with a Once-off licence with current Annual Software Maintenance.
- Your Print Director partner schedules the update.
- Lexmark printers set to “Latest” receive the new app the next time they are initialised.
- After upgrading, re-initialise your embedded printers so they trust the new certificate.