If you're keen to make printing as simple as possible, then you're probably curious as to how to print from an Android phone. While it’s true that if you want really fine precision over your prints your best bet is to use a desktop computer or laptop with a dedicated program like Photoshop CC, sometimes all you need is ease. In many cases, it’s just more practical to quickly send documents directly to your printer from your Android smartphone or tablet.
Your printer will need to have WiFi and be connected to the same wireless network as your Android smart device to get started. All of the best compact printers should feature the Mopria protocol. This was developed by Canon, HP, Smasung and Xerox and works in a similar way to Apple’s Airprint, allowing you to print wirelessly with compatible printers without the need to download a specific app to do so, helping to save time.
So, here’s how to print from an Android phone.
How to print from webpage on an Android phone
Open up the Internet browser on your Android device, such as Google Chrome, and navigate the site to find the exact webpage you’d like to print. Next, tap the icon with three vertical dots next to your search bar and choose 'share', then scroll along until you find the 'print' option. You’ll now see a printing preview of what your webpage will look like once printed.
Webpages can often be very long with lots of scrolling text, so if you only need a portion of the webpage to be printed you can select each page that you want to be printed. This will help you save both ink and paper, which is more economical. Once you have selected the pages, set the destination at the top to the printer you would like to print to. You can also change the number of copies you’d like to print and alter the paper size that is the same as what you have loaded.
How to print images from an Android phone
Load up the 'Gallery' app, or whichever app you use to sort and manage images on your Android device. Now, scroll through to find the image you’d like to print, or if you’d like to print several images, hold down your finger on one of the thumbnails until you’re able to tick all of the images.
Next tap 'more' (the icon looks like three vertical dots) and choose 'print' or 'export to PDF' from the list that appears. You then need to choose your printer from the drop down box at the top, set how many copies you’d like to print and change the paper size to whatever paper is currently loaded into your printer.
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