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How to print from an Android phone
Did you know that you can print from your Android phone? Although it's not perfect (nothing related to printing is), it's not difficult once you figure out where everything is.
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Let me show you how it's done. I'm using a Pixel device, but where necessary, we've added Samsung Galaxy-specific notes.
How to add a printer service to Android
What you'll need: To do this, you'll need an Android phone and a printer connected to your network. That's right -- you must have a networkable printer for this to work. That printer can be connected to your network wirelessly or wired; as long as it's connected to the same network your phone is on, it should work.
1. Unlock Your Phone
The first thing to do is unlock your phone and make sure it's connected to the same network as the printer, which is essential to get this to work.
2. Open 'Connected Devices'
Open the Settings app (either from the Notification Shade or the App Drawer) and tap Connected Devices.
Connected devices is where all the cool printers hang out.
3. Locate Printing
Scroll to the bottom of the Connected Devices page and tap Connection Preferences. On that page, tap Printing.
Alternatively, on Samsung Galaxy, you can search your settings for "Printing".
As you can see, I have 3 print services added.
4. Add a Printing Service
On this page, you should see the Add Service or Download Plugin button. Tap that and then, from the listing, tap the service that matches your printer. If you don't find one, you might have to go to the Google Play Store and search for the maker of your printer (such as "Brother Printer Service").
Hopefully, you'll find a Print Service that will work with your printer.
5. Add Your Printer
Go back to the Printing page and you should see the new service listed. Tap that icon and it should automatically start searching for your printer. Once it finds the printer, it's ready to use and you can start printing from your Android phone to that printer (so long as you're on the same network).
It might take a while for Android to find your printer.
There's one little caveat to this. I've used this process many times over the past few years, and the one thing I've always had issues with is a printer that was shared via Samba on Linux. Even though that printer is available to other computers on my network, the Android plugin always has trouble seeing it.
In other words, the printer has to truly be a network printer and not one connected to a computer and then shared to the network.
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If the printer is a network-attached printer, the Android print service shouldn't have any problem connecting to it.
6. Printing from Google Docs
Let's say you want to print a document you're working on. To do that, follow these steps:
- Open the document from the Google Docs app on Android
- Tap the menu button in the top right corner and then tap Share & Export
- Tap Print and, on the resulting page, select your printer from the drop-down, configure the number of copies you want, select the paper size, and then print it.
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You can either save the file as a PDF and then send it to a computer with a connected printer, or print directly.
I've used this process for several printers over the years and have found it to work quite well. As long as your printer is connected via a network (and not connected to a computer and then shared to the network), this process will work like a charm.
If, on the other hand, your printer is shared from a machine and not networkable, your best bet is to select PDF from the Printer drop-down (when attempting to print), select PDF from the options, share the PDF with a computer on your machine (either via email or nearby share), and print from there.
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Where there's a will, there's a way.