Any accountant or CPA using Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) during the hectic tax season knows printing headaches all too well. Misaligned tax forms, missing printer drivers, endless waits for PDFs to print—these problems waste time and increase stress. Most remote desktop printing issues stem from the traditional RDP printing architecture. Fortunately, Citrix Universal Print provides a driverless, fast, and stable alternative that solves these pains once and for all. This blog explains why RDP printing breaks for accountants, reveals common issues CPAs face, and shows how Citrix Universal Print transforms printer experiences in accounting firms.
Key Takeaways
- Accountants face significant RDP printing issues during tax season: driver dependencies, network latency, and printer redirection problems.
- Citrix Universal Print offers a driverless solution that speeds up printing and enhances stability for remote desktop users.
- By using Citrix Universal Print, accountants can achieve instant printer recognition and improved workflows, crucial for tax preparation.
- OneUp Networks implemented Citrix Universal Print for a CPA firm, increasing print speed by 70% and enhancing stability.
- Understanding RDP printing failures and leveraging Citrix Universal Print can transform the remote printing experience for accountants.
Why RDP Printing Breaks for Accountants
Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) printing struggles mainly arise due to printer driver dependencies and the inherent limitations of printer redirection in remote sessions.
- Driver Dependency: Traditional RDP printing requires exact printer drivers to be installed and maintained both on the client device and the remote server. This is challenging in accounting environments where diverse printers are used. Driver mismatches cause printers not to appear or jobs to fail.
- Printer Redirection Limitations: RDP redirects the print job from the remote session to the local printer, which can cause slowdowns and errors if bandwidth is constrained or redirection settings are misconfigured. Tax forms, PDFs, and complex documents exacerbate this.
- Network Latency and Server Load: Shared remote desktop environments can suffer network delays, which cause slow or frozen print jobs, critical during tax season when deadlines loom large.
This fragile combination results in the typical printing frustrations accountants know all too well.
What CPAs Typically See: Common RDP Printing Problems
Accountants face several recurring RDP printer issues that create bottlenecks during busy periods:
- Printers “not redirecting” or disappearing from the remote session printer list.
- PDFs and tax forms that take 10+ minutes to print or freeze mid-job, causing costly delays.
- Printed forms that come out misaligned or incomplete due to driver mismatches.
- Confusing printer names with redirection tags (e.g., “Printer (Redirected #3)”), leading to user errors and troubleshooting headaches.
Such issues disrupt tax workflows and jeopardize deadline compliance, which is why a reliable printing solution is vital.
How Citrix Universal Print Solves Printing Problems
Citrix Universal Print revolutionizes remote printing for accountants by removing the common pain points of RDP printer use:
- Driverless Printing: Citrix Universal Print replaces the need for native printer drivers on the remote session. It installs a universal print driver at the server level that supports printing to any client-friendly printer without additional drivers.
- Optimized Network Printing: It uses advanced compression and optimization to reduce bandwidth consumption and speed up print jobs, especially over WAN and cloud-hosted accounting environments.
- Improved Stability and Speed: With fewer driver conflicts and optimized print data transmission, printing becomes more reliable, faster, and consistent without long waits or freezes.
- Universal Scan Integration: Beyond printing, Citrix supports universal scanning capabilities, enabling CPAs to digitize and manage tax document workflows more efficiently—turning mountains of paper into organized digital files seamlessly.
By adopting Citrix Universal Print, accounting firms gain a printing environment tailored for stability, speed, and simplicity, critical during tax season stress.
Use Case: OneUp Networks Existing Client
OneUp Networks recently implemented Citrix Universal Print for a mid-sized CPA firm that suffered constant printing issues via RDP during tax deadlines. Reported challenges included frequent printer disconnections, driver errors, and prolonged PDF print jobs.
Post-implementation, the firm experienced:
- Instantaneous printer recognition without driver installations.
- A 70% increase in print speed, even for large tax form PDFs.
- Seamless integration of universal scanning workflows, reducing errors from manual document handling.
Their IT manager stated, “Our print stability and speed are night and day compared to before. We can now focus on clients, not printer troubleshooting. OneUp’s Citrix solution made tax season much smoother”.
Comparison : RDP Printing vs. Citrix Universal Print
| Feature | RDP Printing | Citrix Universal Print |
|---|---|---|
| Printer Driver Dependency | Requires specific drivers on server and client | Driverless; single universal driver on server |
| Printing Speed | Slow, delayed by network and driver issues | Fast, optimized via compression and efficient protocols |
| Network Bandwidth | High bandwidth consumption | Reduced, optimized bandwidth usage |
| Stability | Prone to freezes, job failures | Highly stable; fewer errors and crashes |
| Printer Recognition | Frequently lost or misdirected | Instant and reliable recognition |
| Document Scanning | Requires separate tools | Integrated universal scan capabilities |
FAQs
These errors arise mainly from printer driver mismatches or disabled printer redirection policies on the RDP client or server.
It compresses and optimizes print data, reducing network load and accelerating print jobs even over slow connections.
Yes, it uses a universal print driver that supports a broad range of printers, eliminating the need for multiple driver installations.
Yes, it uses a universal print driver that supports a broad range of printers, eliminating the need for multiple driver installations.
OneUp Networks delivers tailored Citrix Universal Print solutions that ensure instant, reliable printing and scanning, enabling CPAs to stay productive and meet deadlines.
Conclusion
Accountants and CPAs no longer need to tolerate RDP printer issues like driver mismatches, slow PDFs, and redirection failures that derail tax season workflows. Citrix Universal Print delivers driverless printing, optimized bandwidth use, and rock-solid stability, ensuring instant recognition and fast output for any printer model—proven to slash print times and boost productivity in virtual environments. For finance professionals demanding reliability, this shift eliminates common CPA printing problems while integrating universal scan for seamless tax document handling.
Upgrade Your Firm’s Printing Experience with OneUp Networks
Reliable, fast, and accurate printing shouldn’t be a struggle—especially during tax season when every minute counts. With OneUp Networks’ Citrix-optimized cloud environment, your firm can eliminate RDP driver issues, slow PDF output, and printer redirection failures for good. Our platform is built to deliver stable, driverless printing and scanning performance that supports even the most demanding accounting workflows.
- Contact Us – Speak with specialists who understand accounting printing challenges.
- Book a Demo – See how Citrix Universal Print delivers faster, more reliable output.
- Start a Free Trial – Test driverless printing in your environment—no commitment.
- Chat with an Expert – Get instant guidance on improving print stability and speed.
- Request a Quote – Receive a tailored plan for optimizing your firm’s remote printing.
With OneUp Networks, your team gains a printing experience designed for accuracy, speed, and stress-free tax workflows—so your focus stays on client work, not troubleshooting printers.
References
- Microsoft Q&A on RDP Printer Redirection Issues, 2023
- Vasion Blog on Common Printer Redirection Problems, 2024
- Net-USB Checklist for RDP Printer Redirection, 2025
- Reddit Discussions on RDP Printing Frustrations, 2024
- Citrix Documentation on Universal Print Driver & Server, 2025
- UniPrint and Citrix Printing Solutions Overview, 2022
- Thomson Reuters Best Practices for Tax Workflow Automation, 2025
- Adobe Resources on Tax Document Scanning
- SmartVault Automated Tax Prep Workflow, 2025
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