In a standard network printing environment, when a user prints from an application, the job is sent directly to the printer and starts printing immediately. In some environments it may be advantageous to place the job in a holding state prior to printing. Some common examples include:

• Secure Printing - In a secure printing environment jobs are only printed when the user arrives at the print area and confirm their identity. This ensures the user is there to collect their job and other users can't "accidentally" collect the document.
• Approved Printing - In some organizations it may be appropriate to hold jobs until they are approved by selected individuals. A good example would be a teacher approving printing on an expensive color printer.

PaperCut NG provides the framework and software interface to implement hold/release queues.

Print Release Stations provide an interface to allow authorized persons to release held jobs. In many situations, a release station is a dedicated PC terminal located next to the printers, however release stations can take other forms such as a web browser based interface. Release Stations are used for a wide variety of purposes depending on the requirements of the organization.

For more detailed information about various release station usage scenarios, or information about installing and configuring release stations, see the online user manual.

standard release stations

• used primarily on dedicated workstations located nearby printer
• runs in full-screen which users cannot exit from
• operates in a variety of modes depending on your requirements

users select the jobs to release

• user see documents they are authorised to release
• clicking the "Print" link releases the document
• clicking the "Cancel" link deletes the document from the queue

authenticate to release documents

• users use their Active Directory usernames and passwords to authenticate.
• on other platforms, the configured authentication mechanism is used (e.g. Unix, LDAP, etc)
• only admins/managers are allowed to login to release stations in "Manager" mode.

customize the look for your organization

• change the background and foreground colors to match your colors.
• use your own logo or graphic
• change the title text

web based release station

• provides same functionality as standard release station in "Manager mode"
• admins can access the release station from any machine on the network.
• great for pay-per-print usage in libraries or Internet Cafes

end-user web-based release station

• allows users to release their jobs using a web browser.
• admins can configure this to be view only.
• ... or it can be completely removed from the end user pages.