Google Cloud print makes your printers available online to any device (phone, tablet, computer) that is using the Cloud Print Service.
You can buy printers now that are automatically configured to work with Google Cloud Print.
This article is for setting up non-Cloud Printers with the Windows Cloud Print service.
First you need a computer that is connected to to the printer (either via WIFi or able). This computer will need to be on so it can share its connection with the Cloud. We will call this computer your print Server.
There are two ways to share your printer connection...
- Setup a Windows service on the Print Server
- Run Chrome on the Print Server (and keep it running) (see other docs about this)
Windows Cloud Print Server
Install the Windows Cloud Print service on your Printer Server to share it out to devices on your Google Cloud. You can download the Windows service here:
https://tools.google.com/dlpage/cloudprintservice/index.html
You don't need to run any other programs if you are using Windows 7. It will run on Home versions (and Business Versions) of Windows.
When running this program, it will ask you for the computer username and password. It needs a password - or it will come back with a "The server did not start due to logon failure". In this case the server it is referring to is your print server.
If you don;t have a password on your Windows PC, you can create another Windows account and assign a password to it. OIn Windows 7, see Control Panel > User Accounts and Family Safety > User Accounts
More info on Google Cloud print service here: https://support.google.com/a/answer/3179170
Printing from an Android Phone or Tablet
In Google Play store, download the free Google Cloud Print app (from Googel Inc).
Your other applications need to know about printing. Some do - and some don't. Eventually they will catch up and Cloud Printing will be standard.
Google Drive will print to a cloud printer.
When checked April 2014, Google's Quick Office nor GMail did not print to cloud printers - so use Google Drive to do the printing.
Printing from any PC to a Cloud Print Printer...
Install this printer driver any PC's that is not dirctly connected to your network - and you should be able to print. It will print over the internet.