How to add AirPrint support for a regular printer using Printopia Pro

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

I think it makes no sense to talk about the convenience of wireless networks. Wi-Fi technology has made life so much easier for a person that now, when you come to visit someone or go to any institution, one of the first questions will be “What is your password for Wi-Fi?”. We have more than one device at home with Internet access, and a router often no longer has ordinary Ethernet ports for connecting devices. And even printers have learned to print "over the air", although AirPrint support is not so widespread among printing devices. It turns out to be extremely simple to correct this shortcoming.

If you have a printer at home, most likely it is permanently connected to a specific computer and prints exclusively from it. Those with multiple PCs or laptops print over the local network. But when it comes to printing something from a tablet or smartphone, problems arise. However, now, with the help of a tiny utility called Printopia, we can turn any printer into a wireless one. And most importantly, it's surprisingly easy to do.

Printopia does not need any additional settings. You just install the utility on the computer that is connected to the printer, and … that's it! An additional application menu will appear in the system settings, where, if desired, you can tinker with the security settings, for example, limiting the availability of the printer for devices or users.

Once installed, you can immediately send the document to print from your iPhone or iPad. This is done as usual: from applications, by pressing the Share button and selecting the appropriate item in the menu. Let's look at the example of the Safari browser, what actions we need to perform:

1. Open the page you want to print.

2. Press the button with a square and an up arrow.

3. In the menu that appears, select the Print item.

4. Select our printer, specify the number of pages to print.

5. Click Print.

It is worth explaining how the new printers differ when choosing. The first option is to send the file to a computer connected to the printer as a preview. If suddenly it is not convenient for you to look at the pages on your smartphone or you are not sure what to print from the document and what not, then on the computer you can see everything in more detail, and only after that you can print it. In the second option, you just print the document without any extra steps.

Of course, it's worth mentioning that in order to print documents, your iOS device must be on the same network as the computer to which the printer is connected. And, of course, the computer itself and the printer must be turned on - there are no miracles here.

The only downside is the price. There are three different types of licenses to choose from, but even the simplest package costs almost $ 80. However, you can try the free trial version before making a purchase.

Do you have a printer at home? Have you often come across the fact that you wanted to print something from iOS, but the device itself did not allow? Let us know in the comments!