How to Print From Your Tablet or Smartphone
Handheld devices such as the Smartphone or tablet are the norm these days; few of us seem able to function without these convenient, nifty gadgets. Oftentimes, these become our principal working and communication devices; so it follows that we need to be able to print using tablets and Smartphones. It can help save time and effort, and can be a low cost printing solution as well.
What you can print
In this largely paperless age, where everything seems to be digital, , printing can sometimes be absolutely necessary. After all, there is much that needs to be printed after all and you can print practically anything that you have on your device like pictures, documents, text, web pages, articles and more.
How to print from your handheld device
Firstly, ensure that your printer is able to print wirelessly. The printer has to be Wi-Fi enabled to do so. The Wi-Fi transceivers built into the printer lets a device detect and recognize it. You have to establish a connection first and then you can send print jobs to the printer. This way you don’t need a dedicated printer for each device and one printer will work to print for several devices; even if those devices are at a distance.
Wireless printing for Android
If you’re printing from a device that uses an Android operating system, turn on or enable wireless printing on your device. You will typically need to go to ‘Settings’ and then enable printing or you may need to download a cloud printing applike these free printing apps:
- The Printer Share Mobile Print App lets you print directly from your Android device via WiFi, Bluetooth, USB or Internet. You can print PDF files, office documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), bills, invoices and more.
- Cloud Print Plus supports Google Cloudprint and lets you print from your mobile. It also lets you share and manage printers, print text messages, print from Facebook, Dropbox, Google Drive, emails, contact printing and more.
You will of course have to check whether the version of your Android supports these apps. Other apps may work better with older versions.
Wireless printing for iTunes
Any AirPrint supported printer will let you print from an iOS device. Configure your printer to use the Air Print app (some will work automatically while others need to be configured) and ensure that the printer is on the same wireless network as the iPhone.
Locate the item you want to print and then select print. Select your printer and tap ‘print’. Similar to Android systems you can also use apps to print wirelessly from your iOS device.
- ePrint Free supports all iPhone models and iOS up to 7.1.2 version. Print web pages, image files, contacts, albums, notes, and clipboard. It also prints in sepia, Duplex mode and more.
- The Canon Easy Photo Print app lets you print easily from a compatible Canon printer.
- The Epson iPrint app lets you print from your iOS device to Epson printers. Check the list of compatible printers to see if yours will work.
The roundabout way to print from a handheld device
This video explains how you can print from any iOS device to any printer via Windows:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_64MdjFoL0
Similarly, there are other ways of printing from a tablet or Android device to a regular printer and it doesn’t have to be wireless. You can email yourself a document or a photo from your Smartphone or you can text an SMS. Open the email on the computer that is connected to your printer and then print from there in whatever format you desire.
As you can see, you can print from pretty much any handheld device to any printer,even a regular wired printer, by following one or the other options detailed above. With all that printing you’re going to need a sufficient amount of ink & toner. For the best deals and discount offers subscribe to our mailing list and like us our on Facebook.