Alongside print quality, cost and the features of printers, when it comes to choosing a printer additional features such as wireless scanning and printing via WiFi are now extremely important too. Such print requests do not always have to come from a PC, but can be sent from a smartphone or tablet too.
Printing via the Internet
The printer only has to support WiFi and be connected to the router . The required manufacturer apps can be downloaded for free for Android and iOS and are usually quick to set up.
The apps allow you to not only print or scan via smartphone, many of the programs offer practical additional functions too. This includes displaying the cartridge level and options for setting the device and for creating PDFs. Some printers can print even while on the go.
If you want to connect these models to the Internet, you only need to set up a special e-mail address and share the sender address. If a message is then sent to this address, it will be printed out immediately. In addition, some printers come with access to cloud services, usually in the form of a proprietary solution enhanced by Apple AirPrint technology or Google Cloud Print.
With such services, it is possible, for example, to print interesting websites and important messages from your smartphone in order to archive them. This also works with other files, such as Word documents.
How to connect the printer to the home network
Do you have several PCs, but only one printer? No problem, the computers can share the printer over the network.
Advantage: In this case you can print from any computer, even if the printer has no WiFi. Here we describe the integration of the printer using Windows 10, but it is very similar for other versions of Windows.
- You must be an “Administrator” logged in to the PC to which the printer is connected. If you have not already done so, set up a home network group. To do this, right-click on the Start button and click on “Control panel”, “Network and Internet” and “Home network group”. Then click on “Create home network group” and follow the instructions.
- You are then redirected to the “Home network group” menu. Here, click on “Change shared items for the home network group”. Check whether under “Printers and devices” the “Shared” status is displayed. If not, change it.
- In the “Control panel” now navigate to the menu “Hardware and sound” and then to “Devices and printers”.
- Right-click on the printer you want to share and then click in the selection menu on “Printer properties”. In the window that opens you can control the “Share” tab. Select “Share this printer” and click “OK”.
- Now try to print via the network: Open a document on another PC and press the Ctrl key + P. In the “Print” window select the newly shared printer and click on “OK”. If the printer is not listed, double-click on “Add printer”, select it and click on “Next”. The driver is automatically installed. Click on “Next” and “Finish”. Printing should now also work from another device.
Image source: Fotolia / 91103636 / Andrey Popov
