PaperCut MF Integration: Description and Setup

PaperCut is a powerful print management system, eliminating the pain of loading drivers for each of your members and co-members. In addition, PaperCut tracks copies, prints, scans and faxes made under the member's printer code. The PaperCut report of usage by member can be uploaded to Deskworks monthly for one-click posting to all member accounts, automatically sweeping charges to invoices.

Note: This feature is available on the Pro Plan. If you’d like access or want to learn more about upgrading, submit a support ticket and our team will be happy to help.

The primary versions of PaperCut utilized by our industry are: 

• PaperCut MF — a self-hosted (on-premise or private cloud) print management server, and
• PaperCut Hive — a fully cloud-hosted print management solution.

The following article will review our integration with PaperCut MF. Integration with PaperCut Hive is not possible at this time. See below. 

PaperCut will complete API development for their cloud-based product, PaperCut Hive, in 2026, enabling integration at that time.

PaperCut MF Integration Overview

When a new member is created, the following Deskworks fields from Member Profile are pushed to PaperCut:

Notes:

• PaperCut Username is fixed and does not change. Username Alias (Deskworks Login) can also be used to access PaperCut and to print from your computer.
• When information on the Member Profile (including Login) changes or the member is deactivated, the change is pushed to PaperCut. 
• Co-members are also pushed to PaperCut. Be sure co-members use one of the main account's printer codes when copying, scanning or faxing in order to capture charges.

Setup

Once you have an account with PaperCut, typically purchased through your printer vendor, the steps are:

1. Purchase a small computer to use as a print server. This will usually be supplied and set up by your PaperCut vendor. 
   1. Although available computers change over time, currently we recommend: MeLE Overclock3C N5095 16GB 512GB, Micro PC Windows 11 Pro Small Desktop, Mini Computer
2. Open a Deskworks support ticket requesting the PaperCut MF integration.
3. Go to PaperCut and create an API Key:
   1. Click Options on the PaperCut Sidebar 
   2. Click Config Editor on top menu 
   3. Search for auth.webservices.auth-token 
      • If not found, go to "Add new:" and enter the Name below and whatever you want to use for a Value. The Value will be your API Key to enter in the next step in Deskworks.

• Set "auth.webservices.allowed-addresses: * " (to whitelist any IP address and allow access to your PaperCut Server API.) 
• Set "internal-users.enable: Y" (to allow Deskworks to create internal users in PaperCut.) 
• Set "internal-users.self-registration.min-password-length: 5". (The length should be less or equal to your desired printer code length.) 

4. In Deskworks, go to SETUP > PRINT SETUP
   • For Print Provider, select PaperCut MF/NG
   • Then, click CONNECT

5. Enter your API Key and Server URL in the connection dialog.

6. Make sure the correct "No access policy" is selected.