Smartphones have come a long way, and most Android phones today are ideal for workstations. But what about when you need to print something on old school paper? Thanks to the Google Cloud Print service, we can now do away with the laborious IT mediator and print directly from our smartphones via Wi-Fi. So here is the easiest way to print from your Android device …
The great thing about Google Cloud Print is that it works with pretty much any printer and a ton of apps. Using your Android smartphone or tablet, you can send documents securely to your printer from anywhere, but the initial setup can be tricky. To get the best experience, you’re going to want to use a “Cloud Ready” printer, that is, a printer that can already connect to the Web (see full list of supported printers if you are not sure), and you need to use Google Chrome as well. Don’t worry if you don’t have a Wi-Fi enabled printer, you can also use your USB printer, although you will need to connect it to your PC or laptop to do so.
Most Android smartphones already integrate the Google Cloud Print functionality. To check, go to Settings> System and check if the option Impression is available. If this is the case and the service is pre-installed, go to options and press “Cloud Print” and activate it. Each device will have its own interface, so some menu locations or words may be slightly different.
If you don’t have the Print option in your settings or the service is not pre-installed, go to the Google Play Store, download the free app Cloud Print and add a new printer from there.
Once you select “Add a printer” from the options menu, you will be taken to the Google Cloud Print web page (or your Google account page if you are not signed in).
The Cloud Print page isn’t very user-friendly, but the setup process is pretty straightforward. Follow the steps for your specific printer, whether it’s an offline model or a “Cloud Ready” model, and at the end, Google will tell you that you can now use that printer when you are connected with it. the same Google account. So if you only use one account on your phone, you can go there anytime.
Now navigate to the file you want to print on your Android device and in the options menu, where you can normally rename, view details, delete the item, etc., you should also have the option to print it. Here’s how to do it, step by step.
How to print from your Android phone with Cloud Print:
- Open the file you want to print (from Google Drive documents to photos stored on your phone).
- Select the button Menu (the three dots in the upper right corner).
- Hit Print
- Select the down arrow (next to Save as PDF)
- Select the printer from which you want to print. If you can’t find it, select All printers to display a list of options.
- When you are done, click the button To print (usually in the form of a printer).
Can I print text messages from my phone?
For printing specific text messages, the easiest option is to use an application like SMS Backup & Restore . This app simply backs up your SMS messages to your phone, email, or cloud service like Dropbox or Google Drive. Just save the conversations you want to your preferred destination (I found them great on Gmail), then navigate to the location where the files are stored. For example, back up your files to Gmail, then go to your Gmail account and select the “Print” option from the Options menu to print them.
That’s all we can say about it. Cloud Print is an excellent and often overlooked service and currently supports the following file types: pdf, jpg, jpeg, docx, ods, xls, xlsx, ppt, odp, txt, doc, and xps. If you want a convenient way to print any of these from your device, I highly recommend you check it out and it’s free. For those who have tried it before, let me know in the comments if this process has worked for you.
