Let’s continue with the Printing 101 Series for Surface tablets. Today I’m going to cover how to print using Google Cloud Print. In my previous article in the Printing 101 Series, I walked you through setting up Google Cloud Print. So, I’m assuming you have already done that.
In case you forgot, you can print to via Google Cloud Print from any device, at any time, from any location.
When you print through Google Cloud Print, your file is securely sent to your printer over the web. Because it’s the web, Google Cloud Print works whether you’re in the same room as your printer, or on another continent. It also doesn’t matter whether you’re on a phone, a traditional desktop, or anything in between (like a tablet). – Google
But, how do you actually print using this service? Well, the answer is, that it’s actually pretty simple….
To print from an application:
- Open an internet browser (like Chrome (works best) or IE..)
- Go to Google Cloud Print page
- Login with the google account you set up to be your print account.
- You can verify that your printers are there by clicking the Try it now button, you should see your printers as shown below.
- Now open the document (or whatever it is that you are trying to print)
- Go to print from your program.
- You will see your Google printer on the list of printers.
- Select it and print as usual.
- The job will be sent to the printer remotely regardless of where you are.
- Couple of notes: not all printers are supported, see Google’s Cloud-ready printer list and, not all applications are supported. Also, if you’re printer is offline, you will get a message that looks like the one below.
If your application is not supported, try printing by uploading the file to Google Cloud, follow the steps below.
To print from Google Chrome:
- Click the Print button
- Upload file to print to the cloud
- Select file from my computer
- Choose your printer
- Set the printer settings
- Click Print
Tada! You’re done. Not so bad, right?
Now you might be wondering why something like this is this is useful. Here’s an example…
As I said at the beginning, using Google print has the benefit of letting you be just about anywhere and still be able to access your home or office printer (so long as it’s online). I know this may sound a little bit frivolous but, I’ll bet there has been (at least) one time when you were at home/on vacation and had to print out something, sign it, then find/dust off a fax machine to send it to someone who needed it in the office. With a Surface, you can use PDF annotation software to sign a document using the pen then print it directly to the office printer.
Neat, huh?
Up next in our Printing 101 series, a post about sharing a printer on your network.
Happy Printing!
Cheers!
Joanna-
