Note
Access to this page requires authorization. You can try signing in or changing directories.
Access to this page requires authorization. You can try changing directories.
Important
APIs under the /beta version in Microsoft Graph are subject to change. Use of these APIs in production applications is not supported. To determine whether an API is available in v1.0, use the Version selector.
Universal Print is a modern print solution that organizations can use to manage their print infrastructure through Microsoft cloud services. Organizations use Universal Print to move key Windows Server print functionality to the Microsoft 365 cloud. Using Universal print helps organizations simplify and secure their print infrastructure, streamline printer management, enable users to discover printers by location, and more.
Use the Universal Print API to:
- Manage printers and shares.
- Configure cloud-enabled and legacy printer capabilities, settings, and defaults.
- Manage print jobs, print tasks and operations, and pull printing.
- Manage printer access through users and groups.
- Report print activity and usage by printer or user.
The cloud printing API provides the following key features.
Access print devices
The printerShare and printer resources define the public view and the actual printer for physical printers that are discoverable by users and applications. A printerShare is a logical view of printer resources that represent physical printers. The underlying physical printers can be changed without changing the printer share, which enables organizations to maintain high printer availability.
The printerShare resource contains properties and methods that let you manage which users and groups can perform operations on that printer, such as creating or deleting print jobs. You can use the printer property to access information about the physical printer, see its status, list and reset its settings, and more.
Cloud-enabled printers can connect directly to Universal Print, but legacy printers require a print connector to connect and enable discovery. For more information about print connectors for legacy print devices, see What is the Universal Print connector?.
Manage user and group printing permissions
You can manage user and group print permissions with Universal Print APIs that operate on printerShare resources. You can add, remove, and list authorized users and groups to a printer share. The permissions applied to the printer share apply to all the physical printers that the share contains. In addition, the printerShare resource includes allowedUsers and allowedGroups navigation properties that contain the users and groups that are authorized to use the printers that the printer share contains.
Manage print jobs, tasks, and operations
printJob objects are the basic unit of work for printing. They have a list of documents to print and another list of printTask objects that describe the print operation to complete. Resources that derive from the printOperation base resource type, such as printerCreateOperation, represent long-running operations such as creating a new printer.
To print a document, create a printJob and pass its unique identifier to printDocument: createUploadSession after the print task for the print job enters the processing state. Then use the session identifier that you received when you created the upload session to send the document to the document property of the printJob. After this operation completes, you can start the printJob to print your document. For more information about uploading documents, see Upload documents using the Microsoft Graph Universal Print API.
Implement pull printing
In pull printing, the user swipes their badge at a physical printer to enable printing. To implement pull printing, first create a virtual printer and then create a printTaskTrigger on it. When a job is submitted, it pauses and your application can be notified. When the user swipes their badge at the physical printer, your application can redirect the job from virtual printer to the physical printer. This workflow increases security by reducing the number of unattended documents at the physical printer.
Get print usage data and reports
Use the printUsageByUser and printUsageByPrinter resources to report information about the daily or monthly number and type of print jobs for a user or printer. These reports are valuable for understanding your organization's usage of print resources and where there might be problems with your print infrastructure. The APIs that return archivedPrintJob resources contain detailed information about the historical jobs from a printer, user, or group.