13. Printing with Google Cloud Print

In this chapter, you find out how to use Google Cloud Print to print documents from your Chromebook.

Printing from Chrome OS is substantially different from printing from Microsoft Windows or the Mac OS. It’s more like printing from an iPad or other tablet—you can’t.

That’s because like iOS and other tablet operating systems, Chrome OS doesn’t have a native printing function. Instead, it uses a new service, called Google Cloud Print, to print over the Internet to supported printers.

This means that your printing choices might be somewhat limited; you need a printer that’s compatible with Google Cloud Print, or access to a normal printer connected to Windows or Mac PC. Once everything’s set up, printing is as simple as clicking a “print” button—only the setup is different.

It’s a necessary evil for those operating systems, however. If Windows or the Mac dropped support for all printers over a certain age, Microsoft and Apple would get a ton of angry calls and hate mail from users who had been abandoned. It’s a real challenge, trying to add new features and keep a lean and mean OS while still supporting millions of users from the past two decades.

Google doesn’t have that problem with Chrome OS; as a brand-new operating system; there are no users of older systems to support. But there is the challenge of making sure that Chrome is compatible with the hundreds and thousands of current devices used today. It’s just as big an issue.

That is, it’s only a big issue if you think that it’s the operating system’s job to directly interface with all these devices. Google obviously doesn’t think so, and did not build in any native printing facility into Chrome OS. That is, Chrome OS doesn’t include hundreds of different printer drivers, necessary to facilitate printing to different makes and models of printers. To Google, printer drivers are so old school; it’s a Windows way of doing things.

Instead, Google has embraced a new technology dubbed Google Cloud Print. With this technology, Chrome is compatible with just a single device driver that’s associated with the Cloud Print service. It’s this service that connects to various printers, reducing the load on the operating system.

The way Google Cloud Print works is simple. When you launch the “print” function in Chrome, the OS sends the print command over the Internet to the designated Cloud Print printer. The printer isn’t physically connected to your Chromebook; the entire process is web-based.

Of course, you now have the issue of finding an Internet-ready printer that’s compatible with Google Cloud Print. Some are, but many aren’t. You need a printer that can connect wirelessly to your network or the Internet and can connect to the Cloud Print service, such as those in HP’s ePrint line. Configuring one of these printers to work with Google Cloud Print and your Chromebook is a relatively easy operation.

But what do you do if you have a printer without built-in Cloud Print capability? Here Google relies on other computers in your household or business. Cloud Print can print to any existing printer, as long as it’s connected to a Windows or Mac computer that has Internet access. That is, Cloud Print relies on the PC for the connection—which means you have to have a Windows or Mac computer handy (and powered up).

The nice thing about Google Cloud Print is that you can use it to print from just about any device. Yes, you can print from your Chromebook to a Cloud Print printer, but you can also print from your iPhone or Android smartphone, as well as from a Windows or Mac computer. And you can print from any location to any configured Cloud Print printer—which means you can be sitting in a hotel room in New York City and print to your Cloud Print printer back home in Omaha. No cables or printer drivers are necessary.

1. On your Windows or Mac computer, open the Google Chrome browser and, if necessary, sign into your Google Account.

2. In the Chrome browser, click the Customize and Control button to display the drop-down menu.

3. Click Settings.

4. When the Settings page appears, scroll to the bottom of the page and click Show Advanced Settings. Go to the Google Cloud Print section and click the Add Printers button.

5. When the Printer Confirmation page appears, click the Add Printer(s) button. This adds all printers currently connected to this PC to the Cloud Print service.

1. From within Chrome, go to https://www.google.com/cloudprint/manage.html.

2. Click the Printers tab.

3. Click the printer you want to disconnect.

4. Click the Delete button.

1. From within Chrome, open the web page or application document you want to print.

2. Press Ctrl+P, or click the Customize and Control button and select Print.

3. Go to the Destination section of the Google Cloud Print panel and click the Change button to select the printer you want to use.

4. Enter a number into the Copies box to print more than one copy.

5. Click the Print button.

1. From within Chrome, go to https://www.google.com/cloudprint/manage.html.

2. Click the Printers tab.

3. Click the printer you want to share.

4. Click the Share button to display the Sharing Settings dialog box.

5. Enter the email address or username of the person you want to share with into the large box at the bottom.

6. Click the Share button.

1. From within Chrome, go to https://www.google.com/cloudprint/manage.html.

2. Click the Printers tab.

3. Click the printer you want to not share.

4. Click the Share button to display the Sharing Settings dialog box.

5. Go to the Permissions list and click the X next to that person’s name.

6. Click the Close button.