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..."Printing, Putting iPad 2 Content On Paper Doesnt Have To Be The Hardest Thing You Do"...

Among other things the iPad 2 is a great way to save paper. It lets you carry around digital documents that you might otherwise have had to print. But from time to time you may still need to print data thats on your iPad 2. Business documents that you created in Pages And Numbers, For Example driving directions to hand to someone whos not packing silicon. Print from the iPad 2 can be easy if your needs are modest. But even if theyre more complex, there is as they "An App For That".

(The Following Steps Are For The iPad, including the iPad 2, and for Both Wi-Fi and 3G models.)

The Basics

Even though you can add a USB port to your iPad 2 with Apples iPad Camera Connection Kit, plugging in a USB printer is useless because iOS doesnt know how to talk to printers via USB. Some printers have built in Wi-Fi (A Natural Match For The iPad 2). But for the rest, youll need a computer or other proxy device to serve as a conduit for iPad 2 print Jobs. Your iPad connects wirelessly to your Mac (or Other Devices) and that in turn connects your printer.

But the communication channel is only part of the picture, you also need software that knows how to send data to the printer in the right format. Starting with iOS 4.2 Apple built printing support into the iPad with a Technology called AirPrint. Any app that has been updated to take advantage of Airprint can print wirelessly to a compatible printer. It just takes a couple of taps and gets your documents/information printed.

For Reasons that only Apple knows, the initial implementation of AirPrint works with just a handful of newer HP printers that support something HP calls ePrint. If you happen to have such a printer ( HP Provides a list of them on its website: Go to macworld.com/7182 ) and its on the same local networks as the iPad 2, your iPad 2 will be able to see it and print without any special configuration. Thats not all ePrint can do for you. It also gives your printer a private email address. So if you send a message to that address with a document attached, the attachment will be printed.

Activate AirPrint

If you dont have an HP ePrint compatiable printer, you can still use AirPrint with most printers. All you need is a bit of extra software that runs on your Mac. Collobos Softwares Fingerprint ($8.00 www.collobos.com) or eCamm Networks Printopia ($10.00 macworld.com/7205). Install either one on a Mac on your network, select the printer(s) you want your iOS devices to be able to use and you can then print to those printers from your iPad 2 as of they where HP ePrint printers. Both apps also let you use the Print Command to send documents to Dropbox or to a folder on your Mac in lieu of a printer.

The two applications do have their own differences however. Fingerprint requires OS X 10.6 or later, and has option to "print" directly to iPhoto on your Mac. But before a printer appears in Fingerprint, you must share it by enabling a setting in print and fax system preferences. Printopia supports OS X 10.5 or later, works with any printer (Shared or Not) and can send files from your iPad 2 to a PDF or PNG file on your Mac (Much like OS Xs print to PDF capability). As of version 2.0 it also lets you "print" not only to iPhoto but to any Mac application. It enables you to save files to any number of folders on your Mac and you can launch Any PDF workflow thats on your Mac.


Click the PDF pop-up menu in any OS X print dialog box to see all your options and configure your printer settings. For all of those reasons, I greatly prefer Printopia to Fingerprint. Another option exists, too. And its even free (Although payment is requested). Netputtings AirPrint Activator, but even though AirPrint Activator serves the same basic purpose of enabling AirPrint to use any printer your Mac can connect to, its setup process is rather tedious and it doesnt offer a way to print to Dropbox or to a folder in your Mac computer.

Print With AirPrint

Once you have either an ePrint compatible printer or an AirPrint enabler set up printing from your Apple iPad 2 is simple and easy. First look for a print command in an app. Assuming that the app has been updated for AirPrint Support, the command is in there somewhere although the location varies sometimes it appears when you tap a button with the word Print or a Printer icon on it. and other times it may be in a pop over that appears when you tap a Tools, Send, or Action icon. When you doubt check the Apps Help File.

Next if this is your first time using AirPrint or if you want to switch printers, tap Select Printer and then tap a printer name. The printer you select becomes the new default printer you can skip this step next time if you want to use the printer again. The change the number of copies, tap the plus-sign or minus-sign button. For multipage documents, you can limit which pages print by tapping Range and selecting the start and end page numbers. When youre done tap Print.

Your document will begin printing. While that is in progress you can double tap the home button and then tap the print center icon to view and manage your print jobs. Print Center disappears when printing is done.

Print Without AirPrint

AirPrint is certainly easy to use, but it may not meet all your needs. Some Apps and some printers dont support it. Plus, AirPrint offers no control over things like paper size or print quality and it doesnt work when your slected printer is not on your local network. For these reasons and more, you may want a different sort of printing method. Of the many other third-party printing apps. I personally prefer the following Three: Avatron Softwares Air Sharing HD ($10.00 macworld/6707) is a Multi-talented file transfer app thatcan print directly to any shared printer on your local network (with or without AirPrint). And it gives you access to all your printers standard options.

Microtechs ePrint ($3.00 macworld/6172) like Air Sharing HD can directly access printers on your local network. Amont the many things it lets you print are documents transferred from other iOS apps, web pages, data from the Calendar and Contacts Apps and the contents of the clipboard. One of several iOS printing Apps from Eurosmartz, Print Central for the iPad ($9.00 macworld/7204 communicates directly with Wi-Fi and AirPrint compatible printers, but you can also install a small helper application on your Mac can WePrint that lets PrintCentral work with almost any printer. WePrint even lets your iPad 2 print remotely by using an email account an iDisk or a WebDAV server as a channel for print jobs.