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Overview

What Is Pull Printing?

How secure print release works, what problems it solves, and why it's becoming standard in organizations that share printers across teams or locations.

Pull Printing Definition

Pull Printing (also called Secure Release Printing or Follow-Me Printing) is a model where print jobs are held in a secure queue instead of being sent directly to a physical printer. The document only prints when the user walks to a printer and authenticates, typically by scanning a QR code, tapping an RFID badge, or entering a PIN. Until that happens, the job waits in the queue and nothing appears on the output tray.

This solves two problems at once. First, it prevents confidential documents from sitting exposed on shared printers where anyone can see or take them. HR termination letters, legal contracts, patient records, and financial reports all stay in the queue until the right person is standing at the device. Second, it eliminates waste from abandoned jobs. Industry studies consistently show that up to 30% of printed pages are never collected. With Pull Printing, those jobs are never printed in the first place.

Pull Printing also introduces "follow-me" functionality: users aren't locked to a specific printer. They send a job once and release it at whichever device is most convenient, whether that's on their floor, in another building, or at a different office entirely. If one printer is busy or out of paper, they walk to the next one.

How It Works

How Pull Printing Works in Practice

The User Sends a Print Job

The user prints from any application on any device. Instead of going directly to a physical printer, the job is sent to a virtual queue in the cloud. The document is encrypted and held there until the user is ready to collect it.

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The User Walks to Any Printer

The user goes to whichever printer is most convenient. It doesn't have to be a specific device, a specific floor, or even a specific location. Any printer connected to the cloud printing platform works.

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The User Authenticates and the Job Prints

The user scans a QR code with a mobile app, taps an RFID or NFC badge on a card reader, or enters a PIN on the printer's panel. The system verifies their identity, releases their job, and the document prints immediately. Only their jobs are released. Unclaimed jobs are automatically deleted after a set retention period, typically 72 hours.

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Solving Problems

The Problems Pull Printing Solves

Confidential Documents Left on Shared Trays

Without Pull Printing, every shared printer is an uncontrolled output point. Payroll reports, patient records, legal drafts, and HR documents all print to the same tray where anyone walking past can see them. Authenticated release ensures only the sender collects the output.
Confidential Documents Left on Shared Trays

Wasted Paper from Abandoned Print Jobs

Duplicate prints, accidental submissions, and jobs people forget about all consume paper, toner, and energy. With Pull Printing, a job that's never claimed is never printed. The waste disappears immediately.
Wasted Paper from Abandoned Print Jobs

Wrong Documents at the Wrong Printer

In busy offices, people grab pages from the tray without checking whether they're theirs. Pull Printing prevents this because each authentication releases only that user's specific jobs. Nothing gets mixed up.
Wrong Documents at the Wrong Printer

Vendor Lock-In from Manufacturer Secure Print Solutions

Most printer manufacturers offer their own secure print solution, but it only works on their brand and requires embedded apps or firmware on each device. Cloud-based Pull Printing works across any printer brand from a single queue, so mixed fleets don't need multiple secure print systems.
Vendor Lock-In from Manufacturer Secure Print Solutions

How Users Authenticate at the Printer

Pull Printing requires the user to prove their identity before documents are released. The most common methods are:

QR code release uses a mobile app on the user's phone. The user opens the app, selects their job, and scans a QR code posted on or near the printer. This method requires no additional hardware beyond a printed QR code sticker and works well for guests and visitors who don't have a corporate badge.

RFID or NFC card release uses a card reader attached to the printer or integrated into a hub device. Users tap their existing employee badge, access card, or any NFC-enabled card. The first tap prints an activation code to pair the card with the user's account. After that, a single tap releases all pending jobs.

PIN entry is available on printers with touchscreens or keypads. The user enters a numeric PIN to authenticate and release their documents. This method is less common but useful in environments where neither phones nor badges are practical.

All three methods achieve the same outcome: nothing prints until the user is physically at the device and verified.

Who It's For

Where Pull Printing Makes the Biggest Difference

Healthcare

Patient records, prescriptions, lab results, and discharge summaries are printed dozens of times a day on shared nursing station printers. Pull Printing ensures protected health information is only released to verified clinical staff.

Legal and Financial Services

Contracts, court filings, financial statements, and compliance documents require controlled output at every stage. Pull Printing provides the audit trail and access control that regulated environments need.

Corporate Offices

Shared MFPs on every floor serve HR, finance, marketing, and executive teams. Pull Printing keeps departments from seeing each other's documents and eliminates the pile of unclaimed pages that accumulates in every output tray.

Coworking Spaces

Members from different companies share the same printers. Pull Printing keeps each member's documents private and prevents jobs from piling up when people forget to collect them, which is a constant issue in shared environments.

ezeep Cloud Printing

How ezeep Implements Pull Printing

ezeep's Pull Printing holds jobs in the cloud and supports both QR code release through the ezeep mobile app and RFID/NFC card release through the ezeep Hub's card reader.

It works across any printer brand without embedded apps or vendor-specific middleware. Jobs are retained for 72 hours and automatically deleted if unclaimed. Pull Printing is available on ezeep Business and Enterprise plans.

Learn More About Pull Printing
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Frequently Asked Questions

Curious about how it all works? Here's everything you wanted to know about ezeep's cloud printing solution!

Does Pull Printing require special hardware on the printer?

No. Cloud-based Pull Printing works with any network printer. QR code release requires nothing beyond a printed QR sticker on the device. RFID/NFC release requires a card reader, which is typically connected to a hub device rather than the printer itself. No embedded apps, firmware changes, or vendor-specific middleware are needed on the printer.

Can users release jobs at a different location than where they sent them?

Yes. This is the "follow-me" aspect of Pull Printing. A user can send a job from their laptop at headquarters and release it at a branch office printer, or send it from home and pick it up when they arrive at the office. Jobs are stored in the cloud and follow the user across locations and devices.

What happens to jobs that are never collected?

Unclaimed jobs are automatically deleted after a set retention window, typically 72 hours. They are never printed, so there is no paper waste, no toner consumption, and no confidential documents left on a tray. This automatic cleanup is one of the primary ways Pull Printing reduces overall print costs.

Is Pull Printing the same as Secure Print on HP or Xerox devices?

The concept is similar, but manufacturer-specific Secure Print solutions (like HP PIN Printing or Xerox Secure Print) require embedded apps or firmware on the printer and only work within that brand's ecosystem. Cloud-based Pull Printing works across any printer brand from a single queue, so organizations with mixed fleets don't need to deploy separate secure print systems for each manufacturer.

How much paper does Pull Printing actually save?

Industry research consistently finds that up to 30% of printed pages are never collected from shared printers. Pull Printing eliminates this waste entirely because unclaimed jobs never print. Organizations also see reductions in duplicate printing (people reprinting because they couldn't find their first output) and accidental prints.

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Every Document Collected. Nothing Left Behind.

ezeep is free for up to 10 users. Try Pull Printing and see how it changes your shared printer environment.

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