Papercut Hive - The horror story you've been waiting for?

[Sylv3r]

We didn't bother going down the Hive route in the end - the product development wasn't moving as quick as we liked. So have just installed Papercut MF into a central data centre server that all schools will have visbility of with Azure integration and hopefully going to do it that way with one single print queue across the trust so even if staff move from school to school then can send and release from anywhere.

[Scifigirl]

Have inherited Hive. Currently having issues with Edge nodes and jobs not printing when they are off--structure is we have an MPLS so print jobs are being "held" on edge nodes at other sites. These sites, being the environmentally friendly folks they are turn off their class PCs when they leave. Issue is people at other sites are still printing and can't release their jobs if the edge node (Class PC) holding the job is off.

 

Before we bite the bullet and go back to MF, has anyone got their print traffic to stay on local nodes, or be sent directly for the cloud so that we don't have this issue?

[IKWeb]

Have inherited Hive. Currently having issues with Edge nodes and jobs not printing when they are off--structure is we have an MPLS so print jobs are being "held" on edge nodes at other sites. These sites, being the environmentally friendly folks they are turn off their class PCs when they leave. Issue is people at other sites are still printing and can't release their jobs if the edge node (Class PC) holding the job is off.

 

Before we bite the bullet and go back to MF, has anyone got their print traffic to stay on local nodes, or be sent directly for the cloud so that we don't have this issue?

 

We have this working fine if nothing is onsite then it goes via the Cloud Note and prints fine.

[jonnykewell1]

We didn't bother going down the Hive route in the end - the product development wasn't moving as quick as we liked. So have just installed Papercut MF into a central data centre server that all schools will have visbility of with Azure integration and hopefully going to do it that way with one single print queue across the trust so even if staff move from school to school then can send and release from anywhere.

 

I'd be really interesting in talking to you about this as it's something i'm looking at currently for our Trust. Can I drop you a dm please?

[Sylv3r]

I'd be really interesting in talking to you about this as it's something i'm looking at currently for our Trust. Can I drop you a dm please?

 

Sure, no problem.

[dapaulio]

I have to admit i am pretty nervous moving to hive in one of my schools. In this school there was no print management solution at all so made sense as we were starting from scratch plus wanted to see how it played in a secondary environment with a strategy in mind.

 

Iv have been with papercut in all my schools for 15+ years I would not voluntarily move away from papercut. However having used mf for years I have a certain level of anxiety moving one of my schools in to hive especially as I understood it’s not as feature friendly around shared accounts. I am hoping that the reduction in features does not have too much of a huge impact.

 

Installation is due at the end of the month so I’ll review hive when schools are back in after ht

Edited May 18, 2024 by dapaulio

[Sylv3r]

I have to admit i am pretty nervous moving to hive in one of my schools. In this school there was no print management solution at all so made sense as we were starting from scratch plus wanted to see how it played in a secondary environment with a strategy in mind.

 

Iv have been with papercut in all my schools for 15+ years I would not voluntarily move away from papercut. However having used mf for years I have a certain level of anxiety moving one of my schools in to hive especially as I understood it’s not as feature friendly around shared accounts. I am hoping that the reduction in features does not have too much of a huge impact.

 

Installation is due at the end of the month so I’ll review hive when schools are back in after ht

 

I must admit, secondary may be a bit of a nightmare especially if you aren't one to one.

 

Students picking up random laptops to use or those in IT Suites without a seating plan inplace and them using the same computer - will take a bit of onboarding each time before they are able to print.

[dapaulio]

Week 2 after go live

So I come back to this with good and bad news.

 

The bad news is we changed our minds last minute not to proceed with hive. Just from the help of this community in understanding the workings led us to the decision that this would severely impact on the school and that the timing was not right.

 

The good news is I implemented mf on prem and it went a dream. The staff love it and thru preliminary talks with the trust and slt they are all happy.

 

Our strategy would be to revisit hive once we have implemented one to one devices which is further down the line and hive becomes more established

[jmak]

Were looking at papercut hive - despite all of the comments above!

 

We have been told we can't get a free trial - is that other people's experience too?

[Sylv3r]

Were looking at papercut hive - despite all of the comments above!

 

We have been told we can't get a free trial - is that other people's experience too?

 

We had a trial and infact it's still licenced I think - that may well have been due to the size of trust and the prospect of us buying so many licences possibly though.

[PaperCutterAl]

Were looking at papercut hive - despite all of the comments above!

 

We have been told we can't get a free trial - is that other people's experience too?

 

PaperCutter here. Hmm a PaperCut reseller can definitely offer a a free trial. That being said, the only difference between PaperCut Pocket (which does offer a free trial) and PaperCut Hive is the embedded app and scanning. So if you wanted to get hands-on quickly with minimal fuss you could just download a Pocket trial. If it's the embedded and scanning that's tickling your fancy, you'd need to chat to a reseller.

 

Hope that helps.

[jmak]

PaperCutter here. Hmm a PaperCut reseller can definitely offer a a free trial. That being said, the only difference between PaperCut Pocket (which does offer a free trial) and PaperCut Hive is the embedded app and scanning. So if you wanted to get hands-on quickly with minimal fuss you could just download a Pocket trial. If it's the embedded and scanning that's tickling your fancy, you'd need to chat to a reseller.

 

Hope that helps.

Thanks @PaperCutterAl (or @PaperCutterAI )

 

Have you or anyone else tried using the Chrome extension on a Linux client?

[jmak]

Thanks @PaperCutterAl (or @PaperCutterAI )

 

Have you or anyone else tried using the Chrome extension on a Linux client?

So I tried Papercut Pocket today and I can print from Windows, so I've obviously got the basic set up correct.

 

I was also able to install the Chrome extension on an Ubuntu 22.04 machine. When attempting to print, the job appears in the app on my phone and I can release it to my choice of printer using the QR code, but it fails to print with a "printer or of memory" error.

 

Any ideas? Or have I just proved that it doesn't work?

 

Edit: I tried a different printer and it worked perfectly [emoji846]

Edited July 1, 2024 by jmak

[Alis_Klar]

One of Our Schools have Toshiba Copiers and they do a Cloud system called e-Bridge Global print. The embedded app is only available on Toshiba MPD tho.

 

Is really simple to setup and we deployed it on Chromebooks via Chrome Extension. They're is no accounting control in the basic product and their more full featured version is very pricy AFAIK.

 

The MFD client is heavier than the PaperCut client and is slower to print but surprisingly big print jobs don't seem slower.

 

Might also solve multi user issue as self registering client is fast and can be done via bookmark and then authenticate with Google which is 2 clicks.

 

We don't have many windows machines left but the MSI deploy is also very simple and self registration is fast.

 

Teachers live being able to print from home.

 

They also do and OneDrive and Google Drive app for scanning directly and you can print directly on the MFD from cloud storage.

Edited July 16, 2024 by Alis_Klar

[Mulhern]

Apologies for bringing this post back up, but we’re currently midway through deploying PaperCut Hive as a replacement for MF. We have five Sharp copiers, and the OSD works well with Hive, including the fob readers on each device.

We’ve followed Hive’s documentation and deployed the PaperCut Hive Edge Node and Print Client to all computers. So far, so good.

But after that… it becomes a nightmare.

Staff are sent an email invite they need to accept, which includes a unique code. Realistically, we all know they won’t be able to find that email next week when they’re back at work. There’s no bulk export of these codes to support staff proactively, and no option to import our own codes either. Even worse, there’s no way to import existing RFID fob codes from MF—so now staff have to go through yet another process. It's not like we’re switching brands here; surely PaperCut knows this is a basic migration requirement. Export from MF, import into Hive—done. Come on!

Then we move onto laptops and desktops. Hive is clearly built with 1:1 device environments in mind, which, let’s be honest, most schools just don’t have.

Here’s the process:

• A staff member logs into a PC.

• They wait for the user-based Print Client to install (because it’s not system-wide).

• Intune does its bit, the printer appears.

• They print something… then a browser window opens to say an admin has allowed them to print—but they must first accept/confirm.

• After doing that, another page pops up telling them they can now reprint the document they originally sent.

Fine. Next time they log into that same machine, printing works smoothly.

But if they log into a different machine? They have to go through all that again. And if profiles ever get cleared? Yep—start from scratch again.

Surely this can’t be the expected process? I would have thought the app would install to the machine for all users, and when a user logs in, SSO would connect Hive with Azure AD and just let them print.

[Edu-IT]

That doesn’t sound great. I was giving thought to moving.

[Tamia_Papercut]

On 15/04/2025 at 00:12, Mulhern said:

Apologies for bringing this post back up, but we’re currently midway through deploying PaperCut Hive as a replacement for MF. We have five Sharp copiers, and the OSD works well with Hive, including the fob readers on each device.

We’ve followed Hive’s documentation and deployed the PaperCut Hive Edge Node and Print Client to all computers. So far, so good.

But after that… it becomes a nightmare.

Staff are sent an email invite they need to accept, which includes a unique code. Realistically, we all know they won’t be able to find that email next week when they’re back at work. There’s no bulk export of these codes to support staff proactively, and no option to import our own codes either. Even worse, there’s no way to import existing RFID fob codes from MF—so now staff have to go through yet another process. It's not like we’re switching brands here; surely PaperCut knows this is a basic migration requirement. Export from MF, import into Hive—done. Come on!

Then we move onto laptops and desktops. Hive is clearly built with 1:1 device environments in mind, which, let’s be honest, most schools just don’t have.

Here’s the process:

• A staff member logs into a PC.

• They wait for the user-based Print Client to install (because it’s not system-wide).

• Intune does its bit, the printer appears.

• They print something… then a browser window opens to say an admin has allowed them to print—but they must first accept/confirm.

• After doing that, another page pops up telling them they can now reprint the document they originally sent.

Fine. Next time they log into that same machine, printing works smoothly.

But if they log into a different machine? They have to go through all that again. And if profiles ever get cleared? Yep—start from scratch again.

Surely this can’t be the expected process? I would have thought the app would install to the machine for all users, and when a user logs in, SSO would connect Hive with Azure AD and just let them print.

 

Thanks for resurfacing this, @Mulhern 

The challenges you've highlighted are absolutely on our radar.

On the user onboarding and RFID code migration front, we’re actively exploring improvements. Just to clarify, when you mention RFID fob codes from MF, are you referring to the Access Codes? If so, good news: support for importing/exporting these via CSV is something we're planning to introduce, making the transition to Hive smoother.

As for shared device environments and the current user experience, you’re spot on. Hive has been optimized around 1:1 devices, but we know that doesn’t reflect many real-world setups, especially in schools. We’re working on reducing the reliance on per-user client installs and rethinking the user authentication flow. The goal is to simplify the experience, and cut down on the number of steps. We’re still shaping the specifics, but it’s a key focus area for us.

Thanks again for taking the time to write this up!

Edited April 22, 2025 by Tamia_Papercut

[supportman]

Papercut Hive is not ready for schools yet for exactly the above reasons.

 

This was highlighted a couple of years back and is still the same today. Good to hear they are working on it though but I do wonder why this hasn't been done in the last few years.

 

A computer based installer is basic stuff really in a school environment with shared PC's.

[Zammo]

We found PaperCut hive was very clunky from a user perspective, required far too much from the client and was just not suitable for school deployments

 

I find it a bizarre approach when really all we want is a cloud version of PaperCut

 

Because of this we are moving to directprint.io which is actually built for cloud from the ground up

[DrCheese]

Aye have looked at this a few times. I think it's a really good product for large BYOD 1:1 environments (eg universities) as I think the ability to turn any generic printer in a release station is pretty clever (QR code on the device, release from your mobile)

 

But currently, it's utterly worthless in schools. It would be a headache getting staff to set up their own printing, let alone students. It doesn't really support direct printing either yet.

 

When it can just let IT deploy printers like we do with MF/Print deploy it will be worth looking at again. Until then, it really shouldn't be sold to schools as it stands (& it is being pushed by MFD vendors to schools)

[DalekSec]

Looking to deploy with in an Enterprise (non school) environment, has anyone used from this perspective have any feedback?

[ITGuyNW]

1 hour ago, Zammo said:

We found PaperCut hive was very clunky from a user perspective, required far too much from the client and was just not suitable for school deployments

 

I find it a bizarre approach when really all we want is a cloud version of PaperCut

 

Because of this we are moving to directprint.io which is actually built for cloud from the ground up

 

How does that compare pricing wise to on prem? I looked at the calculator and they want £5000 PA for 1000 users.

[Zammo]

It is more expensive in terms of pound notes, but when you consider the benefits it stacks up for us very well

 

 

[iannn]

As of December 2025 doesn't seem to be any progress from Papercut Hive regarding shared pc installs.. We have rolled this out to two sites and its working great for staff as they have 1:1 devices but for students it simply doesn't work - we've had to put in some small unmanaged network printers.

 

It's a shame because other than that it's really good. Has anyone got a reliable method of how to deploy the hive user client reliably through Intune? The company that resells us the product gave us a script to package with the Hive user client but it only works a quarter of the time and then randomly asks users to enter a linking code?

[PaperCutterAl]

10 hours ago, iainhs said:

As of December 2025 doesn't seem to be any progress from Papercut Hive regarding shared pc installs.. We have rolled this out to two sites and its working great for staff as they have 1:1 devices but for students it simply doesn't work - we've had to put in some small unmanaged network printers.

 

It's a shame because other than that it's really good. Has anyone got a reliable method of how to deploy the hive user client reliably through Intune? The company that resells us the product gave us a script to package with the Hive user client but it only works a quarter of the time and then randomly asks users to enter a linking code?

 

Heya, Papercutter here. The PaperCut Hive product team are keen to have a chat if you're interested. They're uplifting the Intune instructions and also MDM as a whole to make this experience better. They'd love to chat with you about that.

Also, re the shared PC thing, according the product lead, that should work so there's potentially something fishy going on in your environment. Again, a chat with the team should get you a resolution. I'll DM you.