FAQ

Your questions answered

We believe that Chromebook printing should be reliable, powerful, and easy to administer. Here are some commonly asked questions, if you have another please contact support@directprint.io.

What is directprint.io?

directprint.io is a printer management platform for Chromebooks and G Suite. It is comprised of two components:

  1. A SaaS (software as a service) printer management platform
  2. A universal printer driver delivered as a Chrome App

There are no servers to deploy and no on-site software to maintain. directprint.io’s universal driver sends print jobs straight to the printer, offering better reliability and performance than Cloud-based document processing print systems.

Why is this better than Cloud Print?

directprint.io uses local network printing. The print jobs are sent directly from the Chromebook to the printer, not via the cloud.

This improves reliability and speed.

The directprint.io admin panel will tell you as an administrator who’s printing what, where, and how much it’s costing. Generate reports for a printer, room, OU, or an entire organization.

Administrators can set advanced print policies, duplex, color, and page restrictions.

What makes directprint.io different

directprint.io uses local network printing sometimes called direct IP printing to send jobs to the printers.

The print jobs do not get sent to the cloud.

directprint.io uses the cloud for printer management and statistics.

How is directprint.io licensed?

Our print solutions are priced yearly on a per-user basis.

A user is classified as someone who has the printer application installed and configured and could print using directprint.io.

The minimum user base license is 100 users and increments in blocks of 10 licenses.

Licenses are allocated from a pool, meaning there’s no hard association between a user ID and license, so if you need to re-use licenses between users within a license year, that’s OK.

A directprint.io license gives access to all features – we do not do tiered or feature-based pricing.

On request, we can provide custom quotations for organizations that have a low Chromebook to G Suite user ratios. (e.g. ratios of 1 device to 5 users).

Per-device licensing is also available for organizations running public-access or guest session terminals.

Do you provide written quotations?

We are happy to provide written quotations and work with purchase orders etc.

We’re familiar with K-12 and US Higher Education purchase procedures. If you need W8 forms, we have them. If your district finance department issues checks (cheques) then we’re fine with that. No extra charges apply.

Does directprint.io provide set-up support?

Yes. Set-up support is provided free of charge to Education and Enterprise customers interested in 100 licenses or more. We remotely assist you via a Google Meet and we can usually get you printing and answer any questions you may have within a 30-minute call.

Book a setup appointment using the link below, remember to include the name of your organization and the number of users that you have.

//directprint.io/calendar

How do I raise a support ticket?

If you are a directprint.io subscriber – i.e. you have purchased a license -please contact your nominated support person or support@directprint.io

If you are currently trialing the product: Log into the Admin Panel (//directprint.io/admin) and select ‘Support and FAQ > ‘Book onboarding or support’ from the left menu.

Does directprint.io offer 2nd line support over the phone?

If your license is direct with us then (as standard) we offer a best-effort next-working-day email response.

If you need a higher level of support, we partner with a number of VARs (Value Added Resellers) and consultants to provide you with rapid, local support. Please check out our Partners page or email us at support@directprint.io.

How is directprint.io better than the Native CUPS support in Chrome OS?

To gain a better understanding you can read our full article on the directprint.io full print stack.

Chrome OS contains CUPS, a print stack, we don’t think this is enough for most Enterprise and Education customers.

Features that provide you with accountability such as, policies, secure print releases, and detailed printing reports are not currently provided by the Chrome OS CUPS implementation (correct as of Apr 2019).

directprint.io has developed unique features: For example, print-storm back-off, which allows a classroom full of students to print to a printer at the same time without causing print failures. Clever.

Does directprint.io work with HP, Xerox, Toshiba, Canon…?

directprint.io’s driver supports all major document types used by leading printer manufacturer makes and models.

If you’ve started your free trial, you’ll be able to use directprint.io’s printer wizard to thoroughly test your printer fleet. If a printer doesn’t work, directprint.io can usually suggest a configuration or introduce a new driver variation to support the printer.

directprint.io currently supports PDF, Postscript, PCL6/XL, PCL5e, PCL5c, PCL JetReady, PWG (Printer Working Group), and Airprint ™ compatible printers.

How do I become a reseller?

We offer generous reseller margins for Referral or Value-Added Resellers. Reseller information can be found over on our Partners page:

//directprint.io/partners/

Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the US and/or other countries. Adobe and PostScript 3 are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the US and/or other countries. Google Workspace, Chrome, Chromebooks and Android are trademarks of Google LLC. Airprint, Mac and macOS are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the US and other countries. PCL is a registered trademark of HewlettPackard Company. All other company names, product names and logotypes are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners