Using Direct Print
  1. guides
  2. en
  3. Administrator's Guide
  4. Print Management
  5. Using Direct Print

Using Direct Print

Learn how to use the Direct Print feature.
The Direct Print feature helps to track jobs that are directly sent to Lexmark printers for users in Lexmark Cloud Services. Using Direct Print, these jobs do not go through a global queue and are not released through the Print Release application. When Lexmark Print Management Client (LPMC) is installed in a workstation, users submitting jobs must enter credentials. LPMC sends the user‑level data to the Lexmark Cloud Services portal. This data helps Lexmark Cloud Services to track print activities for users in Lexmark Cloud Services. The print job never leaves the customer network and is never held for release, but is sent and printed immediately to the designated printer. The Direct Print installation package includes a configuration XML (or JSON for LPMC 3.5.0 or newer) file that contains the printer profile information to ensure jobs are sent to the specified printers.
The Direct Print installation package includes a configuration XML file that contains the printer profile information to ensure jobs are sent to the specified printers.
To let users select which printer to send their job directly, do the following:
  • Install the required settings in your workstation along with the LPMC software.
  • Assign the direct printers in the cloud.
  • Deploy the Direct Print configuration to the user workstation.
Direct Print can be used with cloud and hybrid submissions as well, allowing more flexibility in the allowable end‑user print endpoints and workflows.
Before you begin, make sure that:
  • Direct Print is enabled for the organization. For more information on enabling Direct Print, see Configuring organizational settings.
  • LPMC Windows version 2.3.1145.0 with proper configuration is available.
  • LPMC macOS version 3.3.0 or later in installed.
  • Ubuntu version 3.3.0 or later in installed.
  • Device Usage version 2.4.32 is installed.
  • The printer is enrolled in Cloud Fleet Management and is attached to a network.
    • For Lexmark eSF enabled printers, make sure that the Cloud Print Management application bundle is installed on the device.
    • For Lexmark eSF printer or a non-eSF printer, make sure that Lexmark Universal Print Driver must be installed with the LPMC.
  • The client workstation is connected to the network and access to port 9100 is enabled.
  • Direct Print roles are defined. For more information on defining roles, see "Organization administrator" group. The Direct Print roles are as follows:
    Direct Print administrator
    • Provides access to Direct Print users
    • Create configurations using Cloud Fleet Management tags
    • Downloads configurations from Print Clients page
    Direct Print user
    • Downloads personal Direct Print installation package from Print Clients page
    • Submits print jobs using Direct Print
When the Direct Print feature is enabled by a Direct Print administrator, configuration settings become available. Depending on whether they set Direct, Offline, or Direct and offline feature, Print Release Administrator and Hybrid Print Administrator also have the rights to configure these features.

Creating a print assignment

Before you begin, make sure that
Enable print assignments
 is selected on the Organizational Settings page. For more information on enabling Direct Print, see Configuring organizational settings.
You must have an administrator role in Cloud Print Management and Cloud Fleet Management to configure the Direct Print feature. To configure print assignments, you must create assignments. Assignments act as a bridge between a user and a set of printers. Creating an assignment helps a user or a group to use the Direct Print or Offline Print feature on a particular set of printers.
From the Fleet Management portal, we recommend updating the
Printer share name (optional)
 field on the
Printer details
 page. It is not mandatory to update this field. If you want to change the print queue name as it appears to the end user, then enter a value in the
Printer share name (optional)
 field. LPMC has a single direct print queue. If Printer Name is not configured in Cloud Fleet Management, then it displays Printer manufacturer and Model name.
  1. From the Print Management web portal, click
    Administration
    Print Assignments
    .
  2. Click
    Create
    .
  3. On the
    Create Print Assignment
     page, do the following:
    1. In the
      General
       section, do the following:
      • Assignment name
        —Type the name of the assignment.
      • Description
        —Type a brief description of the assignment.
    2. In the
      Printer Allotment
       section, do the following:
      • Unassigned Printer Access
        —Select
        Enable unassigned printer access
         to allow users to print to printers that are not assigned to them.
      • Printer Assignment
        —In this section, you can add printers for the assignment based on various rules.
        • To add a rule for printer assignment, click
          Add Rule
          .
        • For the rule condition, you can select either
          And
           or
          Or
          .
        • You can configure rules based on following conditions: .
          • Assign by
            —For this condition, you can select
            Tag
            ,
            Subnet
            , or
            IP
            .
            • For already created Print Assignments with tags, if new printers are added or existing printers are removed from that existing Tag, then the change does not take effect immediately. It may take up to 24 hours to take effect.
            • You can add multiple tags to each unique printer.
            • You can view the total number of unique printers that are tagged.
          • Operator
            —For this condition, you can select
            Equals
            ,
            Not Equals
            ,
            In
            , or
            Not In
            . The availability of these options depends on what you have selected in
            Assign by
            . For instance, if you select
            Tag
             in
            Assign by
            , then the
            Not Equals
             and
            Not In
             options are not available.
          • Identifier
            —In this text box, type the printer identifier depending on what you have selected in
            Assign by
            .
        • You can add multiple rules with
          And
           or
          Or
           conditions. Click
          Add
           to add a particular rule.
        • To delete a rule, click The delete icon..
    3. In the
      Printer Properties
       section, select
      Allow print settings changes
       to allow users to modify printer settings before printing. The users are defined in the
      User Assignment
       section.
      This option lets you modify the
      Default Print Settings
      .
    4. In the
      User Assignment
      , select any one of the following:
      • Universal Assignment
        —This makes the printer assignment available to all users.
      • Custom Assignment
        —This helps to define rules to select users for assignment.
    5. Click
      Save Changes
      .
      • To add a custom rule or group for user assignment, click
        Add Rule
         or
        Add Group
         respectively.
      • For both rule and group conditions, you can select either
        And
         or
        Or
        , and a combination of both.
      • You can configure rules based on following conditions: .
        • Assign by
          —For this condition, you can select
          Subnet
          ,
          Department
          ,
          Cost center
          , or
          Personal
          .
        • Operator
          —For this condition, you can select
          Equals
          ,
          Not Equals
          ,
          In
          , and
          Not In
          .
        • Identifier
          —In this text box, type the user identifier depending on what you have selected in
          Assign by
          .
      • You can add multiple rules or groups with
        And
         or
        Or
         conditions. Click
        Add
         to add a particular rule or group.
      • To delete a rule or a group, click The delete icon..
  • To edit an assignment, on the
    Print Assignments
     page, click The edit icon., make the necessary changes, and then click
    Save Changes
    .
  • In a scenario, where assignments are created for cost center, department, default (organization), personal and client status, the following order of priority is applied.
    Starting from the least, the order would be
    Default (Organization)
    Cost Center/Department
    Personal
    Client Status
    .
  • For Print Assignments, essentially there is no conflict. If an user has multiple eligible assignments, then the printers across those assignments will be aggregated (union).

Downloading the Direct Print installation package

The download option is available only if
Enable print assignments
 is selected, and
Use print assignment with
 is set to
Direct Print
 or
Direct and offline print
.
  1. From the Print Management web portal, click
    Print Clients
    .
  2. From the
    Select client
     menu, select an operating system.
  3. From the
    Select package
     type menu, select
    Direct Print
    .
  4. Click
    Download Client
    .

Sample configuration file (LPMC version 3.6.0 or later)


{
  "loggerSettings" : {
    "loggingLevel" : "info",
    "logIpAddresses" : false,
    "redactPrivateInformation" : true
  },
  "serverSettings" : {
    "apiVersion" : "3.0",
    "idpServerUrl" : "https://idp.us.iss.lexmark.com",
    "cpmServerUrl" : "https://apis.us.iss.lexmark.com/cpm"
  },
  "directPrintSettings" : {
    "queueName" : "Direct Print Management - PCLXL",
    "loopbackPort" : 9169,
    "printSettings" : [ ],
    "allowSecurePrintOnly" : false,
    "preferSecurePrintUsingPrintCryption" : false
  },
  "uiSettings" : {
    "authenticationMode" : "DefaultBrowser",
    "displayNotifications" : true,
    "displayConnectionErrorMessageBoxes" : true
  },
  "certificateValidationSettings" : {
    "certificateValidationSwitch" : true,
    "certificateValidationDebugMode" : false,
    "certificateRevocationMode" : 0
  },
  "webProxySettings" : {
    "enabled" : true,
    "address" : ""
  },
  "networkInterfaceSelectorSettings" : {
    "prioritizeVirtualAdapters" : false,
    "filterAutoIpAddresses" : false,
    "subnetFilter" : {
      "include" : [ ],
      "exclude" : [ ]
    }
  },
  "scheduleSettings" : {
    "ipChangeMonitorIntervalInSeconds" : 60,
    "proxyCacheResetIntervalInSeconds" : 60
  },
  "listenerPortSettings" : {
    "universalServicePort" : 9443
  },
  "driverName" : "Lexmark Universal v2 XL",
  "defaultQueueName" : "Direct Print Management - PCLXL",
  "printJobFileNameFormat" : "%d_%i.prn",
  "userFolderDirectoryMode" : "Programdata"
}
For more information on configuration, see the
Lexmark Print Management Client Configuration Guide
.

Installing the Direct Print installation package

  1. From the Direct Print installation package, run the Installer file.
  2. Accept the End‑User License Agreement.
  3. Click
    Install
    .
  4. Click
    Finish
    .

This site uses cookies for various purposes including enhancing your experience, analytics, and ads. By continuing to browse this site or by clicking "Accept and close", you agree to our use of cookies. For more information, read our Cookies page.