Universal Print overview

Universal Print is Microsoft's cloud printing service for Microsoft 365 — print from any device to any registered printer without on-premises print servers. It's how Microsoft 365-native organisations get rid of the legacy print-server-and-driver-deployment patterns that have plagued IT for decades.

How Universal Print works

Universal Print registers printers in your Microsoft 365 tenant. When a user prints:

1. The user picks a registered printer in the standard Windows print dialog (or the print dialog of any Universal-Print-aware app on macOS, iOS, etc.).
2. The application sends the print job to Universal Print over HTTPS.
3. Universal Print stores the job temporarily.
4. The printer (or a connector representing it) fetches the job from Universal Print.
5. The printer prints.

No drivers are deployed to the user's device beyond the built-in Windows class drivers. Authentication uses Entra ID.

Printer types

Universal Print supports two printer categories:

Native Universal Print printers

Newer printers from HP, Lexmark, Canon, Xerox, Sharp, Epson, and other Microsoft partners that include Universal Print support in their firmware. These printers register with the service directly — no proxy software needed. Microsoft maintains a compatibility list of supported models.

For new printer purchases, native Universal Print printers are strongly preferred — no on-prem infrastructure at all.

Universal Print connector

For legacy printers that don't support Universal Print natively, the Universal Print connector is a small Windows service installed on a server in your network. The connector represents printers to Universal Print and translates protocols. One connector server can publish many printers.

The connector is lightweight compared to a traditional print server — it doesn't host drivers or queues; it forwards jobs. It does need to be online for printing to work.

Configuration

In the Microsoft 365 admin center under Printers:

1. Register printers — for native printers, register via the printer's setup; for connector-managed printers, add via the connector software.
2. Assign users / groups to printers using Entra ID groups.
3. Configure printer defaults — paper size, duplex, colour.
4. Monitor usage in Universal Print reports.

Users see their assigned printers automatically in the Windows print dialog when signed in with their Entra ID account.

Hybrid printer publishing

For organisations on the journey, hybrid printer publishing lets you import existing Windows Print Server queues into Universal Print without a full forklift migration. Users can keep printing the way they always did from on-prem-joined devices while new Entra-joined devices use the Universal Print path.

Limits and gotchas

• Job size limit — large jobs (multi-GB PDFs) can be slow or rejected.
• Connector requires Windows — no native Mac or Linux connector option.
• Some advanced features (booklet printing, specific finishing options) depend on the printer's native support; Universal Print itself is print-job neutral.
• Print quotas are per-tenant — each Microsoft 365 plan includes a monthly print job allotment; large estates need top-ups.

Licensing

Universal Print is licensed by print jobs per month. Each Microsoft 365 E3 / E5 / Business Premium licence includes a monthly print job allowance (currently several hundred per user). Additional volume can be purchased.

For Microsoft 365-native organisations with significant Windows fleets, Universal Print removes a chunk of operational burden. The transition from print servers to Universal Print is one of the bigger quiet wins available in a Microsoft 365 estate.