PrinterShare Mobile Print - Print from anywhere

Print from your Android phone or tablet to almost any printer! You can print a range of items such as photos, emails, documents (PDF, Microsoft® Word, Excel®, PowerPoint®), bills, invoices, messages, web pages, and more. Whether your printer is nearby or located far away, PrinterShare simplifies the printing process.

Note that certain features are not free and can be unlocked through a purchase to access the premium features of the app. We recommend printing a test page before buying to ensure compatibility with your printer.

System Requirements:

- 128 MB RAM (256 recommended)

- 10 MB free disc space

- Internet connection (broadband recommended)

How it works

The Basics

Usually, you simply print from your text editor to a printer.

PrinterShare allows you to create virtual copy of a printer attached to another computer. Your text editor will not know about this substitution and will print as usual. Then the virtual printer will send the document over the Internet to another machine.

Note that the document is not sent directly to real printer. It is sent to the PrinterShare client. The client works like mailbox. You can set it up to hold the incoming documents until you are ready to review and print them, or to print automatically.

Mobile

Mobile devices, such as iPhone or Android phones, have no idea about printers and do not provide you "Print" option in applications. However, mobile PrinterShare client can access data on the device, package it as a printable document, and send for printing.

Some mobile PrinterShare clients are also capable of printing directly on stand-alone WiFi printers. This is an exceptional case, when document is sent to printer itself, and not to another PrinterShare client. Not all WiFi printers are supported.

Shared Printers

Shared Printers represent Real Printers in PrinterShare network. When you are looking for a printer to print on, you don't see Real Printers, you only see Shared Printers.

Of course, it is not necessary to create a Shared Printer for every Real Printer connected to your machine.

Shared Printer is maintained by PrinterShare client running on desktop computer connected to the Real Printer. If PrinterShare client is not running, Shared Printer is offline.

Delivery

If shared printer is online, printed document is uploaded directly to target machine. It is fast and secure. So, normally you want to keep your printers online.

If shared printer is offline, you still can print on it. The document will be temporarily stored on PrinterShare print server, and downloaded by receiving client as soon as it will be ready.

Not all PrinterShare clients support direct transfer. Some of them always use server-storage method, because it is simplier. You should not worry about it - there's no practical difference between the two methods, except delivery speed.

Payment Options

To receive and print a job from outside your network you need to have pages available on the receiving end. The number of pages is displayed on the right top corner in PrinterShare for Windows or Mac after loging in to your account where you can also select the Buy More option. You can increase your page limit the following ways:

    - Buying pages in packs of 100 for $4.98 or the equivalent. It is most useful when you print occasionally. These pages never expire and can be used any time;

    - Basic Monthly Subscription, 500 pages for $19.99 or the equivalent, recommended for frequent personal and small business printing. The page limit will be automatically reset to 500 every month upon the next successful subscription payment;

   - Business Monthly Subscription for $79.99 or the equivalent providing you with the unlimited printing recommended for larger businesses and corporate users. No pages will be counted as long as the subscription is active;

    - Upgrade PrinterShare Mobile Print for Android or iOS to the Premium Mode and receive complimentary 100 pages under your PrinterShare account on first login or signing up in the Remote Printing sections. This is a one time action.

Note: PrinterShare for Windows and Mac provides local sharing options within the same network (LAN). If your mobile device is connected to the same network as the computer, you can print directly for free and this will not affect your page balance.

PrinterShare Mobile Print in Premium Mode

In the Premium Mode PrinterShare Mobile Print provides UNLIMITED DIRECT printing from mobile device via local network (LAN), Bluetooth or USB. It requires a one-time purchase or annual subscription.

When you upgrade PrinterShare Mobile Print to the Premium Mode you can:

    1. Print unlimited number of pages to standalone wireless printers. Please check your printer against the list of supported printers before buying the app. We would also recommend printing a test-page to make sure your printer is able to communicate with PrinterShare app before buying the app.

    2. Print unlimited number of pages to printers shared from an intermediate computer with desktop PrinterShare console for Windows installed over local wireless network; Mac OS users can use Printer Sharing to share their printers wirelessly from their computers and it does not require downloading PrinterShare client on their machines. That means your mobile device and your printer has to be connected to the same wireless network. Your computer has to be switched on for the print jobs to reach your printer, as your computer acts as a mediator and without it mobile PrinterShare app will not detect your printer. This set up is used when working with printers that do not have built-in wireless capabilities or printers that are not on the list of supported printer models and for which there are no suitable native, non-native or generic drivers present.

    3. Print LIMITED number of pages to remote printers. You'll get complimentary 100 pages on your account for remote printing when you upgrade PrinterShare Remote Print to the Premium Mode or purchase PrinterShare Mobile Print Premium on mobile device. For this method, you also need a desktop computer with PrinterShare client (Windows client, Mac OS client). But instead of local network, Remote printing delivers your documents over the Internet. You can print to your home or office printers or send documents to computers with PrinterShare client installed anywhere in the world. You will need to create an account for doing remote printing, share your printers from PrinterShare console or add printers shared from other accounts and you are ready to print. Unlike printing over local network, having an intermediate computer switched on or online at all times is not a requirement. Your computer can be turned off or stay offline, but the print job will still be delivered to that computer once it is online; until it is, a print job will be parked on our server.

Printing to a Wi-Fi printer

Before you start printing, you will need to make sure that your Android device is connected to a Wi-Fi network; also make sure that that your printer is connected to the same wireless network as your Android device. The first time you connect to your printer you will have to download a driver for it as well as document rendering libraries (Office or PDF) if you choose to print documents.

    Make sure that Wi-Fi is set to On in Android Settings.

    Now that you are certain that Wi-Fi is active, make sure that your printer is on.

    Take your android device and open PrinterShare by tapping on its icon. If that is the first time you run PrinterShare, you will see a splash screen with two buttons: Read More (which will provide you with general information on PrinterShare's functionality) and Continue. Tap Continue once you are ready to proceed.

    You will see the main PrinterShare screen with icons that allow you to access various items that can be printed. Below the grid of icons you will see an icon of a printer with Printer Not Selected text and Select button displayed beside it.

    To select your Wi-Fi printer, press Select button.

    Now, tap Nearby - Wi-Fi button and wait for the app to detect your printer.

    When your printer is detected, tap it. The app will then ask for your permission to download a driver for it which will require at least 4MB on your SD card.

    Tap yes and you will be ready to print once the app finishes downloading and installing the driver pack.

Printing to a Bluetooth printer

Before you start printing, you will need to make sure that Bluetooth is active on your Android device; also make sure that your Android device is paired with your printer. The first time you connect to your printer you will have to download a driver for it as well as document rendering libraries (Office or PDF) if you choose to print documents.

    Make sure that Bluetooth is set to On in Android Settings.

    Now that you are certain that Bluetooth is active, make sure that your Android device is paired withyour printer in Android Settings>Bluetooth. You may need to input pairing code for your printer. Please refer to your printer's instruction manual to learn its pairing code.

    Take your android device and open PrinterShare by tapping on its icon. If that is the first time you run PrinterShare, you will see a splash screen with two buttons: Read More (which will provide you with general information on PrinterShare's functionality) and Continue. Tap Continue once you are ready to proceed.

    You will see the main PrinterShare screen with a grid of icons that allow you to access various items that can be printed. Below the grid of icons you will see an icon of a printer with Printer Not Selected text and Select button displayed beside it. To select your Bluetooth printer, press Select button.

    Now, tap Nearby - Bluetooth button and wait for the app to detect your printer.

    When your printer is detected, tap it. The app will then ask for your permission to download a driver for it which will require at least 4MB on your SD card.

    Tap yes and you will be ready to print once the app finishes downloading and installing the driver pack.

Troubleshooting of the app

1. My printer is not on the list of supported printers. When are you going to release a driver for it?

Drivers are produced by third-party developers and it is hard to tell when any particular printer model is going to be added. Try experimenting with drivers for similar printer models and see if they work with your printer. You can also try generic drivers that our app has to offer.

To select a printer driver manually do the following:

    Launch PrinterShare app by tapping on its icon

    Press menu button on your Android device

    Tap Nearby Printer Wi-Fi (or BT if you are using a Bluetooth printer) in the dialogue window that pops up

    Once your printer is detected, select it by tapping

    Tap Select manually in the next dialogue window

    Locate the needed driver on the list and try using it with your printer

Meantime, you can connect your printer to an intermediate PC and print in nearby or remote modes. This method works with every printer since it is not relying on mobile driver packs that may not have a driver for every model out there; however, the list of supported printers is frequently updated and you might find your model supported in the next revision. You can check our help page for more information on the ways to connect to your printer.

2. How can I change page orientation?

Page orientation can be adjusted for every item you would like to print except for Google Docs and documents on your SD card. For other items, you can change page orientation in print preview screen/options/page orientation.

Please be aware that due to a Google Play Permissions policy update, SMS and Call log printing features have been removed

Utilize PrinterShare to easily print images (JPG, PNG, GIF), emails (from Gmail) and attachments (PDF, DOC, XLS, PPT, TXT), contacts, agenda, web pages (HTML), and various digital content from cloud storage providers like Google Drive, One Drive, Box, Dropbox, and other apps through Share action. It even allows you to print text messages for trial or legal purposes!

You can directly print UPS shipping labels from a browser on your device to supported thermal printers by logging in to the UPS website. Additionally, you can customize numerous printing settings such as paper size, page orientation, copies, duplex mode, resolution, color or monochrome, media tray, and more.

The free version enables printing with restrictions on nearby wireless (WiFi, Bluetooth) and direct USB OTG connected printers, as well as Windows shared (SMB/CIFS) or Mac shared printers.

Premium Features offer unlimited nearby direct printing (PDFs, documents, photos) via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth without needing a computer, along with 100 complimentary pages for Remote Printing under the same account.

PrinterShare is compatible with various printers including HP, Canon, Brother, Kodak, Samsung, Dell, Ricoh, Lexmark, Kyocera, OKI, and others. Find the complete list of supported printers at http://printershare.com/help-mobile-supported.sdf. Unsupported and legacy printers can also be printed to with our free computer software for Mac and Windows available at http://printershare.com.

Important notes:

1) Requested permissions are solely used for printing purposes and do not collect personal data.

2) If you encounter any issues, please contact us via email at support@printershare.com.

Happy printing!

P.S. For direct nearby printing to selected printer models, PrinterShare utilizes drivers provided by HPLIP and GutenPrint, distributed under the GNU General Public License, version 2.