4 Easy Ways to Remotely Print Over the Network or Internet-gctid88916

[Ajamu]

4 Easy Ways to Remotely Print Over the Network or Internet

                                                           

Remote printing doesn't have to be hard, whether you want to print to  a printer down the hall or half-way around the world. We'll cover some  simple ways you can print without being directly connected to your  printer.

We're going to focus on the easiest options here. We're won't cover  setting up the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) or JetDirect and  allowing it through your firewall or complicated Windows networking  configurations, as these are options best-suited for the IT  Professional.
 Get a Wireless Printer Even if you still print, you don't need a separate printer connected  to every computer in your house. Many new printers are network printers  that can connect to your network via Wi-Fi. Once connected, you install  the appropriate driver software on each computer and all the computers  can print to that printer over the network.

Unlike sharing a local printer with Windows, you don't have to leave  the main computer on — as long as the printer is on, you can print  directly to it.

These printers only allow you to print to them over the local  network, so you'll need some other tricks if you want to print to them  over the Internet.


 Share a Printer on Your Local Network Windows makes it easy to share printers between computers on your  local network. This is ideal if you have local printer that connects to  your computer via USB. Once you set up printer sharing, the printer will  function almost like a networked printer. As long as the computer the  printer is connected to is powered on, any other authorized computer on  the network can print to it.

The easiest way to do this on Windows 7 or Windows 8 is with the Homegroup feature. Simply set up a Homegroup  and check the Printers option to share your connected printers. Join  your other computers to the Homegroup and they'll see the networked  printer appear in their list of available printers, assuming the  computer sharing the printer is online.

As with standard networked printers, this only works over the local network. You can share printers between computers that aren't on the same Homegroup, but it's easier to just use a Homegroup.


 Access Remote Printers With Google Cloud Print Google Cloud Print is Google's remote-printing solution. Many new  printers include built-in support for Google Cloud Print. If a printer  doesn't include Cloud Print support, you can make it available via  Google Cloud Print by setting up Google Cloud Print in Google Chrome.

Once a printer is configured to work with Google Cloud Print, it's  associated with your Google account. You can then remotely access the  printer with your Google account credentials. You can also share one of  your printers with another Google account, so you can allow other people  to remotely print to your computer as easily as if you were sharing a  file with them via Google Drive.

Up until recently, Google Cloud Print has been a bit of a novelty.  Google Chrome includes support for Cloud Print, and you can use Cloud  Print apps on iOS and Android to remotely print to Cloud Print printers.  However, Google recently launched a Google Cloud Printer service for the Windows desktop.  Install it and Google Cloud Print will be available in the standard  print dialog, so you can remotely print to Cloud Print printers from  Microsoft Office or any other desktop app.

For printing over the Internet, Google Cloud Print offers the most  polished experience and easiest setup experience for average users.


 Use a VPN to Access Printers on Remote Networks If you want to access standard network printers or printers shared  via Windows networking when you're away from the local network, you can  use a virtual private network,  or VPN. Connect to a VPN and your computer will create a secure tunnel  to the VPN server on the remote network. All your traffic will be sent  over this tunnel, so your computer will behave as if it were connected  to the remote network. This means that locally shared printers, as well  as other network resources like Windows file shares, will be accessible.

Once your computer is connected to the VPN,  the printer will be available and you can print to it just as if you  were on the same local network. Many businesses networks set up VPNs so  their employees can remotely connect to the business network, so you may  already be able to do this with your existing VPN connection.

Setting up your own VPN is more complicated than using Google Cloud  Print, but it can be done. Windows includes hidden support for setting up a VPN server.  Hosting your own VPN server isn't ideal for security — it's easier to  just use Google Cloud Print if you don't want to worry as much about  security.


 
There are a wide variety of other different ways to print remotely.  For example, some networked printers may be able to accept documents at  an email address and automatically print all documents that arrive at  that address. Some may work with Bluetooth or Apple's AirPrint to accept print jobs wirelessly.