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How to use virtual printer. google cloud print

In the last few years, there has been an endemic computerization of almost all segments of the population. Computer technology installed in institutions of various kinds, in schools, libraries. And of course, almost every inhabitant of megacities has laptops and PCs. In connection with such a wide distribution of office equipment, it is necessary to be aware of the peculiarities of using these devices. For example, what is virtual printer? How to install and use it?

What will be discussed:

What it is?

Virtual Printer - special program allowing access to specific device regardless of the location of the user and the device. In other words, you can be in the next room or in another city, and still connect to the printer without any problems. First this opportunity offered to users by Google. The developers have created a printing device that connects to the Internet.

With a good internet connection speed, you can easily transfer photos, texts, and other images to home printer. If you have the appropriate program, you can transfer pictures even from a smartphone. The benefits of remote access to the printer are also tangible for office workers. Using this opportunity, a business owner can easily transfer necessary information to their subordinates who are in an office in another country.

About setting

To be able to fully enjoy remote access to the printer, you need to associate the virtual part with the real one. First you need to connect the printer at home or in the office to a computer and the Internet. In order for the whole system to work smoothly, you need to download or update the available drivers. It is important to install the latest version of the software, as the performance of the remote printer and the quality of the printed information depend on it.

If you plan to use Google Cloud PDF Printer, you only need to install a Chromebook. This software natively supports virtual printer operation. In all other cases, driver installation is required.

Connection instructions

Having installed all the necessary drivers and a browser, you can proceed to setting up a virtual printer.

  • We start the real printer.
  • Turn on the PC and start desired browser. It could be Windows Google Chrome, any other on the Android system.
  • Open browser settings. We go to the menu.
  • In the Cloud Print window, find the Add item. And add your device.

To check the performance, you need to send information for printing.

If not available Google browser, then finding suitable free software in Russian for Android is quite difficult. For some reason, most developers put high price on the Remote Printer Creation Software. But still, on the Internet you can find a number of sites where free virtual printers in Russian are presented. Considering that in Lately The PDF format has become very popular, many users download software specifically for printing information remotely in this format.

About the popularity of PDF

The reason for the popularity of the PDF format lies in the excellent quality and formatting of any information at the highest professional level. If you are working in Word, you can save a text document in a professional PDF format. A virtual printer is great for this. When a document is printed, the program independently formats the information, presenting it in the best possible way.

This software application can safely be called a standard. In 15 MB, the developers have included all the necessary functionality that makes it easier to work with documents. The program is free and can be downloaded from the developer's website. PDFCreator is a Russian-language application that has simple interface and clear installation procedure. All you need to get started is to download the software, open it and double-click on the “Next” button.

And so that they are not installed on the PC simultaneously with the application additional offers from the developers, you should select the item "For experienced users". These you will make it clear that you own all necessary tools for full-fledged work virtual printer.

This application is used by high-class professionals who need the latest tools in their work. The program is paid. But the range of its capabilities includes a lot of interesting and useful settings. Adobe PDF- this great choice for office equipment of a large corporation. Where high quality and the speed of the software plays essential role in the organization of work of employees.

In custody

Thanks to innovative developments modern programmers many previously unattainable tasks have become a reality today. If you need to send any information to a neighboring building or another country, it is recommended to use a virtual printer. While relaxing at sea or doing business, you can send photos, images of documents and texts from any gadget to your printer. To perform this operation, you must first install the software for virtual control printing machine.

Since in last years there is a rapid computerization of almost all branches of industry and the national economy, problems that until now almost no one has thought about are increasingly appearing on the scene. In particular, the issue of printing documents is of decisive importance.

And the problem here is often that I would like to send photographs and graphics for printing, text documents and spreadsheets from all your devices, not just your computer. It's even better when you can do it even when you're away from your main workplace. A virtual printer will help you.

Difference from network devices

If you have ever encountered network devices, then you already know about it. The network can be not only a printer, but also a scanner, as well as other office equipment. An entire work department can use just one scanner connected to common network enterprises!

Why is a virtual printer so unique? As we have already said, the rapid pace modern life implies the ability to access the device from anywhere, not only a specific building, but even a city, or even the whole world. Unfortunately, a regular local network will not help you with this.

As in many other cases, the pioneer in this matter was the corporation "Google". Yes, virtual printer. Google first enabled users to use their printing devices from millions of miles away.

What it is?

In fact, it is a printer connected to the Internet. If everything is in order with the connection, you can print documents and photos at any time of the day or night. By the way, about the pictures. You can print them not only from a computer or laptop, but even directly from your smartphone. Being in another country on vacation, you can easily send photos to print in order to please your household with them.

Business Benefits

Think for yourself: you do not have to spend time and money on laying local network in the office itself, there will be no need to set up capricious network devices. All you need is an internet connection.

In addition, such a solution allows you to increase labor productivity, as employees can send you important documents, even while on a business trip around the city, or even across the country.

General setup information

Before you get access to all the benefits of this technology, you must associate a physical printer with its "cloud" counterpart. Consider this procedure using the same technology from Google as an example, since we touched on this topic earlier.

Before installing a virtual printer, make sure that the real device is connected to a specific computer or local network. Of course, you need to install everything in advance necessary drivers, since the performance of all equipment largely depends on them.

The easiest way is for owners of Chromebooks of various modifications, since Google Cloud Print is natively supported in Chrome OS, and therefore it does not need any configuration. However, let's talk about conventional computers and operating systems, since in our country this product from the search giant has very vague prospects.

Important! The Google Chrome browser must be installed on the computer, since it is its API that is used by this technology.

Connection order

Once you install the browser, you can connect the virtual printer connector. It's easy to do.

  • First you need to enable the physical printer.
  • Start the computer, wait for the operating system to load.
  • Launch the Google Chrome browser.
  • Click on the icon in the form of three horizontal dashes in the right upper corner program, after which the settings will open.
  • Select "Settings".
  • Then click on the "Show advanced settings" link.
  • Find the "Google Cloud Print" section. It has an item "Add a printer", on which you need to click the left mouse button.
  • If you are asked to do so, you must also sign in to your Google account, or create one (if you didn't have one).

After that, you should find your printer in the list that appears, select it with the left mouse button, and then click on the "Add device" button. After that, the procedure can be considered completed. Your virtual printer is ready to use. To verify this, try sending a test document for printing.

Another variant

However, under this concept, many of our users understand technology that allows you to "print" PDF documents. By the way, in our country, until recently, this was completely irrelevant, but recently the popularity of this has been growing at an alarming pace. What is the reason for such "people's love"?

The fact is that PDF is a standard. A standard that implies the absolute immutability of the document, on whatever machine and in whatever program it is opened. If you have ever encountered a blurry table in a .doc file, then you yourself will be able to understand all the magnificence of this characteristic. In addition, such documents can be embedded great amount multimedia information that will not look like a "foreign body".

Remember how ridiculous the pictures look in the same Word, and you will understand what we are talking about.

How to create?

Oddly enough, but a free virtual printer of this class is a rarity, and therefore you have to spend a lot of time choosing suitable program. Professional Applications of this quality rarely amaze the imagination with a modest cost, but in recent years you can find a lot virtual PDF printers, whose developers do not suffer from greed.

By the way, what does the concept of "virtual printer" mean in this case? Word is a wonderful program, and in the latest versions, the creators from Microsoft still taught it how to save documents in PDF format. The only problem is that you cannot configure their default settings.

For this purpose also it is necessary It deduces the text on virtual "seal". And at the output you get a document with professional formatting. By the way, why is such a “printer” better than numerous specialized applications to create PDF documents?

First, almost all of them are completely free. Secondly, their interface is as simple as possible, but the functionality is very high. This allows even beginners to create documents with complex formatting and accurate given parameters. Let's look at a few of these utilities.

"PDFCreator"

In fact, in its segment, this particular program is the standard both in terms of functionality and ease of use. The good news is that all the "buns" fit in just 15 MB. The program is completely free, so domestic users will surely like it. The installation process is as simple as possible: you only need to click on the “Next” button a couple of times.

Attention! Before installing a virtual printer, in the main dialog box, select the "For advanced users" item. So you can prevent the installation of all kinds of "Yandex browsers" and additional panels in the browser.

How to use the application correctly? There are not the slightest difficulties here: as soon as you install the program, in all text editors"PDFCreator" printer will appear in the print menu. As in the case of physical printing, you can set the main document parameters (DPI, margins, etc.).

Adobe PDF

The Adobe corporation is not known only to those people who have not had anything to do with a computer. The legendary Photoshop alone is worth something! Equally useful is its JPG virtual printer.

The program has a huge number of various settings. There are so many of them that you can easily create a document or image professional quality. As you can imagine, the program is paid, so we can only recommend it to those who are really interested in first-class working tools.

"Cute PDF 2.7"

In this case, no money will be required from you. In addition, the size of the program is 1.5 MB, ridiculous for our times. But without the “Ghostscript” add-on, the utility will work in a truncated mode, and its size is five megabytes. However, the owners of even a GPRS modem will be quite capable of the final 6.5 MB.

Unfortunately, the possibilities of the program are also very modest. In particular, the “printing” itself occurs immediately, without the appearance of any dialog boxes settings. In defense of the utility, we can only say that it provides excellent compatibility with all existing on this moment PDF standards.

doPDF 6.0

This free virtual printer has a great balance of functionality and simplicity. It's no joke - the entire installation package takes a miserable 1.5 MB, and without any additional elements! This volume fits a great application that allows you to create beautiful, high-quality and standardized documents.

Before setting up a virtual printer, you should familiarize yourself with its main features. In particular (which we have already talked about), you can adjust the size of the margins, change the DPI pages, set certain standards for the PDF format itself.

Important note

Whichever "virtual printer" program you use, there are some important things you should know. Even in the FAQ of the most popular (and paid ones too) software products extremely rare to find distinct technical specifications for a specific PDF standard and its compatibility, so that relevant information often has to be searched for on thematic forums (or in the English version of the help, where this data is often found).

Also, don't get carried away. high resolution: install exactly DPI value on which the document is comfortable to read. If you set too high a percentage, then on tablets and others mobile devices oh the file will be hard to open. This is all the more fair, the more widely such gadgets are distributed in everyday life.

That's what a virtual printer is. We hope that you have learned about all its advantages and applications.

Such technologies are very relevant in recent years, as businesses and ordinary users are increasingly in need of not only ubiquitous access to printers, but also the maximum standardization of the formats used.

To begin with, it must be said that the google cloud print released by the world famous Google Corporation is a new software, with which printing devices are connected to world wide web.

Thus, if other similar programs allow you to save certain text documents in formats various types, then Google makes it possible to provide access to your device to other users. This is very convenient, for example, if one of your employees is on a business trip, then he can directly send necessary files to your printer, which will immediately print them out. To print using a virtual google printer, you can use not only a PC, but also any gadget that has an Internet connection, for example, a regular smartphone.

Thus, a properly installed and competently configured google cloud print is great helper not only for home use but also for different organizations. Besides google virtual The printer is compatible with any modern models printing office equipment. But to make the work more efficient, it is recommended to use models that support such printing.

So, to install Google printer you need a printing device that has support for printing from the cloud. Such devices are perfect choice to work with a virtual printer from Google. They do not require the presence of personal computer. These printers connect to the World Wide Web and link to a Google account in seconds.

If you have a regular printer model connected via USB to a PC, and you decide to install google cloud print on it, then first create an account with Google and download the browser of this corporation. After that, do all of the following:

  • To solve the problem related to how to set up google cloud printer, open Chrome browser and go through the main menu to the browser settings.
  • Find the login section and log in, then click on "Show all settings" at the bottom of the window.
  • In the drop-down list, find the section related to Google Cloud Print and click on "Configure".
  • Once on the page called "Devices", click on "Add Printers".
  • In the window that opens, you will be asked to add all physical printers connected to your PC to Google.
  • If necessary, you can configure the access settings for your printer by going to the browser page "www.google.com/cloudprint#printers". There you can delete, rename, add and view the print queue.

Some Apps Supported by Google Printer

If you have already installed google cloud print and it works for you in normal mode, then pay attention to the fact that the list of applications supported by it today consists of several dozen. One of the most popular among them is the Chrome browser. If at the same time you are interested in an answer to a question like "how to use google cloud printer", then just run this browser and, by pressing the key combination Ctrl + P, select from the list "Target Printer" printing when google help cloud print.

Among the devices running the Android OS, we can distinguish special application cloud print. With it, you can send commands to print certain documents directly from your smartphone, as well as attached files, email messages etc. In addition, Google Cloud Print is compatible with Easy Print, Cloud Printer, PrinterShareTM Mobile Print, and some other Android apps.

Among iOS devices, the printer from Google is supported on PrintCentral Pro. This application specially designed for printing applications various services. It will allow you to print attached files, e-mail messages, SMS messages, etc.

Printers that support cloud printing

The list of devices that support google printer is quite large. For example, this includes about two hundred printer models that have the HP ePrint feature. Therefore, if you notice the Google logo or ePrint logo on it when buying a printer, then it means that it is compatible with this service.

In addition, all devices from Kodak Verite have support for google print. There are several Epson models that support cloud printing - they connect to virtual device Google automatically. This can also include printers that have Google support printer. In general, the list of devices designed for printing that are compatible with Google is quite extensive.


Size: 2593 KB
Price: free
Russian interface language: no

This program, at first glance, is completely uninteresting, since it does not even have its own settings window. You only send a document for printing using the pdf995 virtual printer, after which you receive ready PDF. However, it has two positive features. First, pdf995 is free. There are actually not so many free virtual printers for Windows. The only limitation associated with using pdf995 is to display advertising window after the print operation is completed. Removing it will cost $9.95 and requires registration. But in the documents themselves, no advertising information appears.

The second feature of pdf995 is correct display Cyrillic. This is not to say that this is some kind of miracle and revelation - almost half of the programs in this guide have to do the same. However, remembering the free, we get a very pleasant mixture - a simple application that can create PDF with Cyrillic, for which you do not need to pay money.

Official site:
Size: 10683 KB
Price: $39.95
Russian interface language: no

Print2PDF is a classic virtual PDF printer, having one feature - you can call up the settings for saving documents not only during printing, but also how separate window. In addition, the program supports standard document format conversion, working not as a printer, but simply as a regular utility.

Before using the program as a printer, it is wiser to make its initial configuration. First, you can specify in what form the window for saving the document will open. You can hide most of the subtle options or, on the contrary, give access to any settings. The program allows you to use profiles. They are reminiscent of scene settings. For example, one profile allows for high-quality printing, another emphasizes privacy, and a third emphasizes small document size.

Security settings include specifying passwords for reading and editing documents, and also prohibit printing, editing, extracting, and adding annotations to a document.

You can add to documents digital signature. It requires an additional certificate. You specify the reason for adding the signature, the size of its image (if it is necessary to display it), and the position on the page.

Similar settings for watermarks. They are text. You specify the degree of its transparency, enter the text, determine its direction.

A separate menu implements support for imposing stamps. In fact, this is the same watermark, only it is not a text, but a picture. You specify its position on the page, size, transparency.

PDF images can be compressed with using JPEG or ZIP. There is no selective embedding of fonts, but there are several policy options for dealing with them. You can also enter four classic annotation fields.

Additional options allow you to specify PDF version, print resolution, color or black and white mode, links, bookmarks.

The program also allows you to convert documents without printing. You specify the source file, select the virtual printer profile. This is followed by a repetition of the main application options, which can be changed as in the case of the traditional application application algorithm. Print2PDF can work as a virtual printer and as a document conversion utility.

ReaSoft PDF Printer 3.5

Official site: www.realsoft.com
Size: 5785 KB
Price: $49.95
Russian interface language: no

Unlike most virtual printers, ReaSoft PDF Printer settings are not invoked as print properties. Working with the application is somewhat different from the algorithm familiar to other participants in the guide.

The initial setup of the printer is carried out using a special wizard. Its main purpose is to manage auto save documents. You can specify the default folder where the files will be stored, as well as disable the display of the printer properties window. PDF name is always identical to the name source file or, for example, the title of a web page, if we are talking about HTML.

When printing a document, it makes no sense to call the printer properties, but it is better to immediately perform the action. Control is transferred to ReaSoft PDF Printer, and a dialog box opens, resembling the illustration that can be seen just above. Implemented preview document. You can turn pages, paste blank sheets, delete them. Left side panel Views the structure of the document, and also allows you to add bookmarks to the PDF.

It is possible to enter descriptions, embed fonts (no choice), compression (no settings). You can also force the application PDF viewer expand immediately to full screen, customize the layout of pages, columns. In addition, it is possible to hide the main menu (for example, Adobe Reader), toolbars, window title controls.

Cloud Print allows you to watermark documents. For them the position, the text, style, color and many other things are underlined. In addition, you can add several types of headers and footers.

Encryption is supported. In addition to the standard 40 bit and 128 bit keys, you can use the HighEx method, which is as secure as possible, but only understood by the latter. Adobe versions reader. Protection options are traditional - printing, editing, copying content, adding annotations.

ReaSoft PDF Printer allows you to not only print documents, but also send them directly to e-mail, as well as merge with other PDFs.

pivot table

Free+ - + - - - -
PDF 1.2* - + - - - *
PDF 1.3* + + + + + *
PDF 1.4* + + + + + *
PDF 1.5* + - + - + *
PDF 1.6* - - - - + *
PDF 1.7* - - - - + *
Need for Ghostscript+ - + - - - -
File Compression- + + - + + +
Image Compression- + + - + + -
Convert images to black and white- - + - - + -
Selective Embedding of Fonts- + - + + - -
Entering document information- + + + + + +
Link detection- + - + - + -
Document Preview- - - + - - +
Adding watermarks- - - + - + +
File encryption- + + + + + +
Cyrillic support (display)+ - + + - + +
Cyrillic text search- - + + - + +
Auto Save Setting- + + + - + +
Print monitor- - + - - - -
Batch printing (queue)- + + - - - -

How to print a document from a computer that is not connected either directly to a printer or to a local network with one? You can do this through Internet using any method of sending a document file to a computer with a connected printer - by e-mail, via cloud storage, instant messenger and other Internet communication channels. Of course, this is an option for one-time cases, and you can’t put work on stream even in a small organization in this way.


Printing a document will require the constant participation of the user who is directly at the computer with a connected printer. Each time he needs to accept a document, open it and send it to print. How to make sure that the user of a computer remote from the printer can do without the participation of a person who is next to the printer? To be able to print documents on remote printers located anywhere the globe where there is Internet, Google once created special service– . The operation of this service will be discussed below.

1. About the service

So, this is a remote printing service from the largest Internet search engine. If you link one or another printer to your service account, you can send documents to it via the Internet for printing from any device that supports working with the service. And these are computers based on Windows And MacOS, Chromebook-devices, smartphones and tablets based on Android, as well as iOS-gadgets. To use the features of the Google Cloud Print service, you will need a Google account - single profile for all used Google services (YouTube, Gmail, etc.) , as well as the browser Google Chrome . The latter plays the main role in the arrangement of the remote printing service: namely Chrome provides implementation of a virtual printer connector on a computer with a connected physical printer. The connector, in turn, detects the physical printers configured in the system and is responsible for sending deleted documents to print.

Remote printing on a computer with a connected printer does not require constant activity Chrome, the browser may be closed, enough to make it work background . On the remote devices from which data will be sent for printing, certain software must also be installed. But, we will understand everything step by step.

2. Adding a virtual printer

To use the capabilities of the Google Cloud Print service, the first step is to link a physical printer to your Google account connected to devices based on MacOS, Windows or Chromebook. On any of these devices, launch a browser Chrome and log in with your account Google. This is done either in the browser settings or on the tab "Services".

In the search field of settings, write the initial letters of the query "virtual". After filtering, we will see the settings section. We press the button.

A list of all devices listed in the operating system like printers. In our case, adding a printer is carried out in the system Windows, therefore, together with the real MFP Canon virtual technologies are also displayed Microsoft. They are not needed, uncheck their boxes and leave only the real physical printer. In our case, as we see in the screenshot below, this is Canon MP160 . So that in the future all printers connected to this computer are automatically tied to this account Google and could be used for remote printing using virtual printer technology, you can check the box automatic registration of printers . As a result, we press.

Follow this link to go to your service account . In the future, you can get into it by entering the name of the service in any search engine and clicking on it home page button to go inside the account.

3. Service web interface

User account "Virtual Printer" arranged according to the principle of accounts of other Google services. The section displays all linked to the account physical printers. Here you can manage them, in particular, delete unnecessary ones, and share the necessary ones so that other users can use this or that printer through their Google-accounts.

Each physical printer is assigned to only one Google account- for the user who first added it to Chrome settings. And the function of giving public access is an the only way remote use the same printer with different accounts Google.

You can track and manage the progress of remote printing in the account section. Here for all jobs sent to print will be displayed document's name, remote printer, task execution status. Cancels remote printing by selecting the desired job and pressing the button "Delete".

4. Sending for remote printing from Windows devices

So, we figured out what is needed for remote printing on computers directly connected to the printer, now let's talk about remote devices from which Internet data will be sent for printing. On devices with MacOS You can only send the contents of web pages of the browser where the button is implemented to remote printing. "Seal" with service image. But in Windows OS you can print remotely using the service any data- even from a page in the browser, even from a locally stored document opened inside Windows-programs. Support for a virtual printer at the system level is provided by a special driver. The driver installer is available for free on the same service website. On the home page of the service, go to the section, then in the list of supported devices look for Windows-devices and download from the link installer drivers.

Install the driver on the system regular program. Driver compatible with all Windows versions, including the newest 10.

Another required condition for Windows devices - the presence of an authorized browser Google Chrome. It is necessary to log in to the browser, respectively, from the account to which the desired physical printer is linked.

We check that the virtual printer is specified in the print settings.

After sending the document to print, a tab will open. Chrome, where you need to specify the desired remote printer.

Before directly printing data, you can apply the parameters offered by the service to them - specify number of copies, paper size, expose colored or black and white printing etc.

5. Sending for remote printing from smartphones and tablets

Google Cloud Print technology provides remote printing from mobile devicessmartphones And tablets on the base Android And iOS. To send data to be printed from Android-devices must be installed with Google Play application, it official client service. For iOS-devices exist app PrintCentral Pro, it has remote printing via "Google Cloud Print" provided along with support for other technologies. It is necessary to log in to applications, respectively, using the Google account to which the physical printer was linked.

The removal of the printer is carried out, as mentioned, in web service interface. You can also do this in the settings. Chrome way, reverse addition printer. Go to the virtual printer settings section.

And press the button printer removal .

After removal, the printer can be tied to another account Google.

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