Follow-me printing holds your print job in a queue until you walk up to a printer and release it with a badge, a PIN or a phone app. You print to one queue, and the job waits for you at whichever printer you choose. Nothing comes out until you’re standing there. The same idea goes by secure print release, pull printing and, in PaperCut, Find-Me printing.
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How follow-me printing works
You print to a single queue from any computer, instead of picking a specific printer.
The job waits on the print server or in the cloud, often encrypted.
At the printer, you sign in with a badge, a PIN or an app, and see your jobs.
You release the ones you want. Jobs you never release are deleted after a set time.
What it stops
Pages sitting in the tray
A printout with a patient’s chart, a client’s tax return or a payroll report doesn’t sit at a shared copier for anyone walking past. It comes out when its owner is there to take it.
Waste
Jobs nobody releases are deleted instead of printed.
Wrong-printer problems
With one queue, staff don’t have to know the name of the printer they’re standing next to, and if one device jams, they release the job at another.
10 to 35%
of printed pages are left at the printer and never picked up, according to the EPA ENERGY STAR program, which recommends locking printers until the person who printed releases the job.
What an office needs
- 01Print management software, such as PaperCut, on a server or in the cloud.
- 02A way to release at each device: software built into the copier’s touchscreen, a card reader, or a release station next to it.
- 03Badges or PINs tied to each person’s account, usually from Microsoft Entra ID or Active Directory.
- 04Devices the software supports. Most business copiers and multifunction printers qualify; small desk printers usually don’t.
How we set it up
Under our managed print service, prints wait for their owner and are released with a card or key, and unreleased jobs are deleted after a set time. We sell and support PaperCut, and we track printing by user and device. Desk printers sit outside it, because the release software doesn’t run on them. For offices that answer to HIPAA, the FTC Safeguards Rule or a client’s security questionnaire, secure release is one of the simplest controls to show.
If you’d like to know what follow-me printing would take in your office, Book a 15-minute call and tell us how many copiers and printers you run. See our managed print services.
Frequently asked questions
What is pull printing?
Pull printing is another name for follow-me printing or secure print release. Instead of sending a job straight to one printer, you send it to a shared queue and pull it from any supported printer by signing in there.
What happens to print jobs that are never released?
They’re deleted after a set time. In PaperCut NG and MF the default is a few hours, and administrators can change it; PaperCut’s cloud products allow from 30 minutes to three days.
Does follow-me printing work with any printer?
It works with printers and copiers the print management software supports, which covers most business multifunction devices. Release happens on the device’s touchscreen, a card reader or a separate release station. Small desk printers usually aren’t supported.
Is secure print release required for HIPAA?
HIPAA doesn’t name secure print release, but it does require reasonable safeguards for patient information in any form. Holding jobs until the owner releases them keeps printed patient information out of shared trays, which makes it a common control in medical and dental offices.
Sources
Next step
Let us handle this for you.
Copiers and printers sized to the work, prints released with a card or key, and toner shipped before you run out.
- 15 minutes
Tell us which question brought you here and how your office runs.
We’ll tell you how it applies to you and what we’d look at first.
If we’re not the right fit, we’ll say so.
15 minutes
