We’ve all needed to print something “sensitive” at one point in our careers. Perhaps it was a list of dirty jokes, a job offer from another company, or maybe even a gossipy email that you want to use against a coworker later on. Maybe it was sensitive work-related material, like a list of employee salaries or heath insurance information. Whatever the document may be, we’ve all done the exact same thing when we needed to print it: gotten the print dialogue box up on the screen, stood up at our desks and extended our arms as far as possible, clicked “print”, then ran a mad dash to the copy room in hopes that someone else wasn’t in there already. Some folks skip this by waiting until late in the day to print sensitive documents. Others are lucky and can requisition a “personal printer” for their office or cubicle. The rest of us are stuck with the mad dash.
Or maybe not. Many of the beefier Xerox and HP printers have a “secure print” feature that allows you to send a document to a printer and hold it there until you get to the copy\printer room. You then enter your “secret code” and the document will begin printing. It’s a pretty cool feature, so you might want to muck about the printer dialog boxes and see if any printers you use have this feature enabled. Here are some instructions for Xerox and HP printers:
Xerox printers
1. On the File menu, click Print.
2. Click Properties, and then click Advanced.
3. Under Job type, select Secure Print.
4. It will ask you to type in a four digit code twice.
After you go to the printer, you select the job and then type in the same four digit code.
HP printers
1. On the File menu, click Print.
2. Click Properties, and then click the Destination tab.
3. Under Destination features, select Job Retention and then click Options.
4. In the next dialog box, under Job Retention Mode, select Private Job.
5. Enter your name, assign a name to the job you’re about to print, and then type a four digit code.
Once you go to the printer, you select the job and then type in the same four digit code.
The procedures listed above are general ones; the actual procedure may differ for your company’s printer(s). They might not support this feature at all.
Thanks to Microsoft’s Crabby Office Lady for this tip. If you use Microsoft Office in your work, you might want to check her articles out; there’s a slew of great Office tips on her site!