AnywherePrints FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I tap my OneCard at the printer?
The OneCard office has started the process of rolling out new cards with Near Field Communication which allows a user to tap or swipe their card on the card readers.  If you have an older one card,  you will continue swiping at the card reader.
How can I use my Courtesy or "Red" copy card?
The courtesy card is linked to a department account and can only be used when submitting jobs through the PaperCut client.  When using the courtesy card you must enter the six digit number on the front of the card and when prompted enter your ID number.  You will swipe this card when releasing prints at the printer.
Why there are two separate scanning options on the printers and which should I use?

The PaperCut "Scan" symbol provides the option to scan to self only.  This is a quick and secure option ensuring your documents arrive to your email and eliminates the possibility of sending documents to an incorrect email account.  For instructions on PaperCut Scan see the document PaperCut Scan - Scanning a document to your email.

The Ricoh "Device functions" scan allows you to type in an email address and also create address books for frequently used contracts.  This scan option provides you additional settings to refine how documents are sent and is the best solution when scanning a large amounts of documents.  For instructions on Device functions scanning see Device functions scanning - Scanning a document to an alternate email.

Is the AnywherePrints system secure?

With AnywherePrints you don't have to print and sprint to grab your confidential prints. Your job will not be sitting on the printer where someone else can pick it up.

You print at any of the hundreds of printers across campus, all of which have the same swipe requirement. Thus, you have backup printing that is as secure as your primary printer. Imagine a broken personal printer where you have to email a confidential document to someone and ask them to print it for you. Then maybe you need to ask them to delete that email. And then delete it permanently from the trash. Are you sure they’re going to do that? With secure AnywherePrints your print job is safe and private at every printer, even if your primary one is unavailable.

Will we have enough printers in case one goes down?
Yes. You're not really printing to any specific printer, but to an AnywherePrints queue in NIU's data center. When you send your print job, it’s waiting anywhere and everywhere for you. When you show up at a printer, the printer downloads your print job and prints it. If the printer closest to you is broken or out of paper or whatever, just walk to another printer and print it there. We’ll have hundreds of them on campus so in essence, you have plenty of backup printers at all times!
I'm an employee at NIU. Can I use AnywherePrints for personal printing?
Yes and this is a great option for faculty or staff. Submit your print job as usual, but then when you go to an AnywherePrinter and swipe your OneCard, you'll see an option to either bill to your personal account or bill to your department. If you choose to bill to your personal account, that means you'll need a Huskie Bucks balance on your OneCard. If you never intend to do personal printing on NIU devices, then you don't need the Huskie Bucks option.
Can I print from a wireless device? What about NIUGuest?

You can print from any device connected to NIUWireless, but you cannot print when connecting via NIUGuest.

Unauthenticated guest wireless is a more open environment with extremely reduced security controls. All NIU students,faculty and staff who mistakenly use NIUGuest to connect to our wireless network are actually treated as external users. And we want to ensure that all our users are afforded all the security scans and protection provided by our authenticated and secure network.

Remember that when you print from off campus, NIU users should use VPN to securely connect to the AnywherePrints service.