Hardcopy: three ways to print from your Apple iPad
Of all the things you thought you could do, or wanted to do with an iPad Pro, printing isn’t probably on top of your list. With that said, printing from an iPad can often be the quicker, better solution, when no desktop device is available, and contrary to popular belief, printing from an iPad is actually quite easy, and can be accomplished in three different ways, depending on the type of printer you have at your disposal.
Apple AirPrint
AirPrint is Apple’s proprietary wireless printing technology, and it works seamlessly, by default, with any iOS device, from the iPhone to the iPad Pro. AirPrint requires no additional setup or third party apps to function, and it’s also available from Mac OS X.
To print from your iPad using AirPrint, just ensure that your iPad is connected to the same Wifi network as your printer. Hitting the Print button will display all AirPrint capable printers, and provide on-screen instructions to print out anything, from emails, to PDF documents, and more.
No AirPrint? No Problem.
Even if your printer doesn’t support AirPrint, you will still be able to print, using third party apps, from an array of generic ones, to vendor-specific applications. All major printer manufacturers like HP, Epson and Xerox, have created apps that provide several ways to fine tune print jobs, including print preview, and the ability to select whether to use colors, or grays, and the quality and size of the paper.
Some All-In-One printers that incorporate scanning hardware, can also be used by an iPad or iPhone to scan documents. Epson iPrint, for example, allows this from an easy to use interface that connects to any Epson device, including those who are not on a local WiFi network, if the printer is email-enabled.
Print servers
Finally, there is a way to turn any printer into an AirPrint-enabled device, by setting up specialized software on a Mac or a PC, such as Printopia. The software in question offers a rather polished interface, and allows to make any printer or scanner connected to your PC or Mac, discoverable by AirPrint, and it can also be used as an alternative print application on your Mac or PC.
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