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AirPrint Information and FAQ

All, I figured I'd start one of my famous FAQ threads here to help head off some of the problems. So with that being said, lets get started.

Q: What is AirPrint?
A: AirPrint enables printing from a supported iOS 4.2 device to supported AirPrint enabled printers. Today several HP models support AirPrint.

Apple AirPrint Information and Printer list:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4356

Apple AirPrint Support Page:
http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/airprint.html

HP AirPrint Information and Printer list:
http://www.hp.com/go/airprint

HP AirPrint Support Page:
http://www.hp.com/sbso/printing/mac/hp-airprint.html

Q: I don't have one of the supported printers, is there any other way for me to get AirPrint to work?
A: Yes, there are several third party AirPrint Sharing Solutions for the Mac (although I am not personally endorsing any of them):

FingerPrint
http://www.collobos.com/

Printopia for Mac
http://www.ecamm.com/mac/printopia/

If you have a problem with a specific printer while using one of these applications, please direct the question to vendor that wrote the app.

Q: Does AirPrint work directly with any Printer?
A: No. At this time, only select models from HP work with Airprint.

Q: Can I share a printer from my Mac and print to it?
A: See the above question for the 3rd party products that enable AirPrint Sharing.

Q: Can I connect a USB printer to my AirPort BaseStation (Express, Extreme, TimeCapsule)?
A: This is not supported. See above.

Q: Can I use AirPrint with my older HP printers?
A: This is not supported by HP. See above.

Q: I have one of the supported printers that is supposed to work now, but I'm not seeing it. What's wrong?
A: Make sure you have updated to the latest firmware available. You can check in:

Tools->Web->Automatic Updates->Check for Product Updates.

Note that you may need to enable eWeb Services to see the updates.

Q: I have on of the printers that will be supported in the future (ie one of the Officejets), when will it be supported?
A: While at the moment the latest official answer is December 27th. I hope to be able to update this soon with an earlier date, but it will still be sometime in December.

Q: I have an iPhone 3G or a second gen iPod touch. I have iOS 4.2, but I am not seeing AirPrint, can you help?
A: AirPrint only shows up on iOS devices that support multitasking. While these devices have iOS 4.2 available for them, they do not support multitasking and hence do not support AirPrint.

Q: I still can't figure this out, what am I doing wrong?
A: Hopefully HP will have a support doc posted later today with pictures to help you work through the steps. I'll post a separate link to that document once its ready.

I will build on this list in this thread over time if you have questions that aren't answered here.

And while most of you from the Mac forums know this, I need to make it clear here as well: Although I am an HP employee, I am speaking for myself and not for HP.

Just trying to help.

Andrew

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Nov 23, 2010 12:41 PM

150 replies

jedlh

Level 1

0 points

Dec 29, 2010 11:31 PM in response to HP Mac Architect

HP Mac Architect wrote:
OK, first its now the App you refereed to first is now called AirPrint-
Activator.

Yeah I know, sorry I accidentally used the old link.

The previous one you mention contained Apple code which should not be
redistributed. That also could be the reason for the post being removed.

Ah good point, I read about that, but forgot to use the new link.

The MacWorld link you provide is dead as well.

Mac world link is dead because I've had to mess around w/reposting so many times!
Apologies, here is the original link I provided:
http://www.macworld.com/reviews/product/727273/review/printopia102.html?expand=true&lsrc=modrel

But as I have pointed out in this thread in several places, HP iPrint Photo
will give you a direct print experience for Photos and the text document
formats it supports. It will also provide a scan experience if you are
interested in that.

That certainly does make it stand "head & shoulders" above the other options IMO.
Not REQUIRING a mac or macs to be turned-on is the single best feature IMO.

I read of one user on the iTunes store, whose c7280 didn't work when it came to scanning?
But everything else worked well apparently.

There are several alternatives for "Sharing" a printer so that AirPrint can
see it. AirPrint Activator is the free version, that does essentially what the > script you point to does, only provides a nicer UI on top of it. The two paid > solutions, as I mention earlier in this thread provide a better experience
(and more hand holding) in the setup, plus potential for support from the
developers.

It sounds like printopia doesn't bring anything dramatic to the table over the 3 free options I mentioned.
I will prolly just play with HP iPrint, and do the manual tweak...
If I read about anything very useful that printopia brings, then i may fork-out $ for it.

If anyone reckons there some compelling features to justify forking-out for printopia, please lemme know
Thanks Andrew for your thoughts/help!

Dkfc

Level 1

0 points

Dec 30, 2010 6:57 PM in response to HP Mac Architect

So am I understanding that if I have a PC and a printer that is not on the airprint list, I cannot print from my iPad?

jedlh

Level 1

0 points

Dec 30, 2010 9:13 PM in response to HP Mac Architect

@Andrew

I don't suppose you can spare some time to respond to my response to you?
There's prolly only one question there, if you're not sure what to address, let me know.

Thank-you.

deggie

Level 10

167,327 points

Dec 30, 2010 9:20 PM in response to Dkfc

You can print from your iPad IF the printer is connect to your computer, you leave the computer on, and you do this:

http://www.9to5mac.com/38011/activate-airprint-on-windows

Dec 30, 2010 9:26 PM in response to jedlh

There is nothing "additional" Printopia brings to the table. Its big UI enhancement is giving you a nice System Preference with checkboxes to enable given Printers. FingerPrint runs instead in the Menu bar. Both simply give you more glorified UI on top of what AirPrint Activator or the AppleScript give you.

As for Scanning, you are correct, the C7280 is not supported for Scanning. Actually only the recent E models, and the previous generation of non-E models support scanning. The interface that is used is new to these models and hence not supported on older models.

OK, I don't see any other unanswered questions, so if I missed one please let me know.

Just trying to help.

Andrew

Dec 30, 2010 9:31 PM in response to Dkfc

Dkfc,

I know of no supported or legal ways of getting AirPrint to work on a PC. All of the existing solutions that I know of have included binaries (illegally) written by Apple that were never distributed to the public. As such I can not recommend any solutions at the moment for Windows users. When a company offers up a solution developed without the use of Apple code, I will certainly add that to this thread.

Just trying to help.

Andrew

jedlh

Level 1

0 points

Dec 30, 2010 10:42 PM in response to HP Mac Architect

HP Mac Architect wrote:
There is nothing "additional" Printopia brings to the table. Its big UI
enhancement is giving you a nice System Preference with checkboxes to enable
given Printers. It simply gives you a more glorified UI on top of what
AirPrint Activator or the AppleScript give
you.

If you're certain there's no extra/useful functionality...
Then it's not worth $10 for a pretty UI IMO, thanks for confirming!

As for Scanning, you are correct, the C7280 is not supported for Scanning.
Actually only the recent E models, and the previous generation of non-E models > support scanning. The interface that is used is new to these models and hence > not supported on older models.

Bummer... 😟

Hey does HP have a trade-in program whereby we can trade-in our older printer for it newest successor?

OK, I don't see any other unanswered questions, so if I missed one please let > me know.

Nope that's it, thanks Andrew!

Dec 31, 2010 1:31 AM in response to Dkfc

You can print as Deggie suggested, but just remember also that there are excellent 3rd party apps like 'Print n Share' or 'Printcentral' that work extremely well. They will print to any printer connected to your PC, and will also print directly to ANY wirelss HP printer, not just the 'e' ones.

Dec 31, 2010 2:26 AM in response to HP Mac Architect

Hi Andrew,

Thanks a lot for your reply. In the HP iPrint app settings I am able to select A4 as a paper size but when I select the image size I am given the option of 3.5 x 5", 4 x 6", 5 x 7" or Custom Size. If I choose Custom Size I can then stretch the image to fit the A4 page but there is a border all around the image (and a large border at the bottom). I really want to be able to print photos onto a full sheet of A4 (ironically like the example print shown in the picture on the app!) Perhaps this is something the app designers can look into for a future update? Do you know if it is possible to print photos on a full A4 page using the PrintCentral app people talk about?

Thanks again and happy new year.

In reply to:

"Stoney,

HP iPrint Photo should provide you with an easy way to print out borderless photo's on an A4 sized paper. The Photo's App will try to print to picture size (4x6, A6, or 3.5x5 depending on the region). As for ePrint, if you go into ePrinter Center you should be able to adjust your settings, but I'll double check that.

Just trying to help.

Andrew"

Dec 31, 2010 2:50 AM in response to Stoney1979

Stoney1979 wrote:
Do you know if it is possible to print photos on a full A4 page using the PrintCentral app people talk about?

All I can say is that I just printed a photo to my Epson 2100 at full A4 page (no margins) from Print n share (very similar to Printcentral from same devs) by selecting the 'Sheet Feeder (no margins)' tray.

Jan 3, 2011 4:04 PM in response to Dkfc

Dkfc wrote:
So am I understanding that if I have a PC and a printer that is not on the airprint list, I cannot print from my iPad?

Nah, you can do it. You just have to follow the Windows activation instructions which you can find in other threads here or via Google.

I did that, and AirPrint works great with both the HP Photosmart C610 (not an ePrint printer) and the Canon i960. These are pretty old printers and my results have been fine... but of course your mileage may vary.

What you will need to be careful of is that the AirPrint GUI gives very little in the way of options (at least for my printers) so you are at the mercy of defaults. So for example I can see no straightforward way to control the print quality settings or the paper source. As an example, if I try to print a Photo from within the iPad (or iPhone 4) it will ALWAYS choose the photo tray as the paper source.

Whatever SJ's business reasons are for pulling the feature, it works fine for me. I seriously doubt the real issue was "compatibility".

Good luck
SS

P.S. The thing is, if you have a printer attached to a Mac or PC already, there's really very few cases I can think of where one would NEED to print from the iPad/iPhone. Maybe just for printing out the occasional email. And I suppose it would be useful if Epicurious let you AirPrint recipes (it doesn't).

jedlh

Level 1

0 points

Jan 4, 2011 12:38 AM in response to jedlh

jedlh wrote:

HP Mac Architect wrote:
As for Scanning, you are correct, the C7280 is not supported for Scanning.
Actually only the recent E models, and the previous generation of non-E
models support scanning. The interface that is used is new to these models
and hence not supported on older models.

Bummer... 😟
Hey does HP have a trade-in program whereby we can trade-in our older printer for it newest successor?

Andrew,
I don't suppose you can spare a minute to answer this final question?
Thank-you very much if you can.

igmackenzie wrote:
All I can say is that I just printed a photo to my Epson 2100 at full A4 page > (no margins) from Print n share (very similar to Printcentral from same devs) > by selecting the 'Sheet Feeder (no margins)' tray.

@igmackenzie

What is the difference between these two apps? (same dev)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/print-n-share-for-advanced/id301656026?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/printcentral-for-ipad/id366020849?mt=8

I've looked at their iTunes profiles, but they seem to have the same functionality.
Only difference I can see, is that one is slightly pricier.
If I get a paid app later, it looks like a toss-up between these two & printopia.

Jan 4, 2011 10:48 PM in response to jedlh

As a matter of fact, we do have a trade-in program. Don't know the details however, but you can read about it here: [http://www.hp.com/united-states/tradein/home_flash.html]

As for the difference between the two EuroSmartz App's, check out: [http://mobile.eurosmartz.com/prod_index.html#comparison]

I think that should answer your questions.

Just trying to help.

Andrew

SWHandy

Level 1

0 points

Jan 5, 2011 8:17 AM in response to HP Mac Architect

Well Hello, New Ipad user here, I just purchased HP Photosmart D110 apple Ipad supported printer.. I have checked everything. but I am still having a very difficult problem..
I have ipad os 4 updated
I have hp d110 updated
I have netgear router checked and updated firmware
I have loaded and reload each so many time..

Now here is the problem using the ipad print function, it sometime finds and allows me to print email, photos etc. then the very next moment it cannot find the printer. the printer name appears for a moment then it goes to, search for printers to a result of no printers found.. if you find the ip address on ie ( 192.169.0.3) it shows the printer there and all normal no problems.

I have rebooted etc.. check various blogs etc. followed all the suggestions .
to no avail , I think it has come down to bonjour dropping my printer.. any sugesstions thanks..

Jan 5, 2011 10:09 AM in response to SWHandy

So I don't know exactly which Netgear router you have, but I found a hint from almost 4 years ago on the Macworld Mac OS X Hints forum which suggests turning off IPv6 on the Mac to get the Netgear's working with Bonjour. However, that was for a Mac and not an iPad, and as far as I know, the iPad's don't yet support IPv6. Maybe there is a setting in the Netgear to turn of IPv6? The unfortunate thing is I am finding discussions a recent as this year (other then this one) on Netgear and Bonjour, and some going back 5 years or more, so I'm not sure we'll see a fix soon.

Which specific Netgear model do you have?

Just trying to help.

Andrew

AirPrint Information and FAQ