How To: Print Confidential Password/PIN Protected Documents

Password or PIN Protected Printing on Sharp Copiers

Often times there are desktop printers littered throughout small, medium, and even large businesses. The customer claims they need these printers for printing confidential documents that they don’t want others to see. The truth of the matter is these printers are used for far more printing than confidential documents, and the costs add up over time. The cost per print on small desktop printers is much higher than multi-function workgroup printers. These instructions are to show you how to print confidential password/PIN protected on your Sharp MFP to help keep your costs down, and possibly even eliminate unneeded office equipment from your workflow.

Video on How to Print Confidential Password or PIN Protected documents on Sharp copier

Setup Password/PIN Protected printing on Sharp Copiers

Before you begin it’s important to change one setting within the Sharp copier. By default, the printer will retain confidential prints after you retrieve them from the machine. We’re going to change it to delete those files after printing by default. This setting can be toggled per print job, but we’ve seen queues clogged up with old jobs more often than not, so we recommend changing this setting.

1. From the touch screen panel, tap Settings.
2. Tap the Admin Login button at the top-right corner, and login. The password by default is admin
3. Tap the System Settings tab
4. Tap Document Filing Settings
5. Scroll down the page and look for “Setting of store/delete after file print:”  and change the option to Delete.
6. Scroll to the top of the page and tap Submit.

Sending a Confidential Password/PIN Protected Print to Sharp Copier

Next up, we’ll show you how to change the settings in the Sharp print driver so the Sharp printer will hold the print job until you go to the machine to release it.

1. Open the file you want to print confidentially, then click File, Print. Ensure the Sharp printer is selected, then click Printer Properties within the print dialog box.
2. Click the Job Handling tab, then change the Document Filing drop-down box to Hold Only. If you’d like to password/PIN protect the print, check PIN Code and enter a 5-digit PIN. Click OK when finished. Note: in older model print drivers, the Document Filing menu was called Retention. These instructions will work for those models as well, but the menu looks a bit different.
   
3. Click Print.

Releasing Confidential Password/PIN Protected Prints from Sharp Copier

Now that you’ve sent your confidential print job to the Sharp printer, you’ll need to release it and subsequently delete it from the hard drive of the printer. Step over to the copier’s touch screen for the remainder of this tutorial. In Platinum Copier Solutions setup process we change the name of a button on the home screen from File Retrieve to Document Filing. If you’re a Platinum (or legacy Skelton) customer, you’re looking for the Document Filing button. All others may be looking for a button that says File Retrieve. 

1. Tap Document Filing (or File Retrieve)
2. Tap Main Folder. 
3. Tap the pending confidential print job to highlight it. If you assigned a PIN to the job, enter it here then tap OK.
4. If you just need 1 copy of the confidential print, you can tap Print Now. If you need to change the quantity or any other settings for the document tap Choose Print Settings.
5. Adjust the quantity, activate 2-sided printing, or turn on Stapling from this menu. If you want the printer to store this job, uncheck the Delete box. When finished touch Start.

SOLVED: Confidential Password/PIN Protected Printing from Sharp Copier

That’s all there is to it! Once you run through the process a few times it becomes second nature and takes no time at all. You can print confidential password/PIN protected documents on your Sharp copier as often as you’d like. Some users will take advantage of this feature to print payroll checks, and have even heard of people using it to print resignation letters or any other document you do not want others to see.

Other uses for Document Filing

In busy offices several users may print back-to-back before anyone has a chance to get to the copier to remove their papers. If you print to the Sharp printer without using a PIN code the printer will simply store your print until you go release it. You can even send several documents in a row, then release them all simultaneously as a batch. This feature can also be utilized with User Control to store all jobs and automatically release them when that user logs in.