My iPad can't find my wifi printer.

It's clear the iPad is locked down for printing. That became very clear when the file AirPrint Enabler was circulating online for iOS prior to 5.0. You could install that file, do a little registry edit and viola, iPad printed to any WiFi printer. It was wonderful. Since the new iOS release that doesn't work. Obviously Apple wanted to lock that down again.

Something is buggy about iOS 5 in general. Sending PDF files to iBooks has become sketchy, doesn't work on iPad since iOS update and now my AirPrint enabled printer can't be seen by my iPad. I've done everything to get it back, even Restore, rebooted PC & printer and I've been able to print one thing from online today but nothing from anywhere else (not email, Pages, etc.).

If you have an AirPrint printer, why would you need to reboot your PC for printing with an iPad?

I recently found the program FingerPrint (http://www.collobos.com/) that lets me print from my iPhone and iPad3 to my HP 6940 and Canon i470D non-airprint printers. There is a trial version to see if it will work for any individual situation. The cost is $9.99.

Suffice it to say that it's better to reboot everything to keep them working nicely together. I have a very strange computer at the moment that won't take any boot order it's given despite setting the boot order in BIOS, back up battery replacement, etc. Also in troubleshooting the AirPrint problem I systematically went thru each connection to make sure ports are functioning properly, etc. Once I had a situation where if my printer was on you could click two maye three times with a mouse on the desktop screen and the entire system would freeze. Turned out to be a CIA chip in the printer port. Tnis is definitely the iPad that has the problem though.

I posted about www.collobos.com earlier. I haven't used it but the former AirPrint Enabler people (www.eplamcom?) referred to it. Does it work well?

It works well for us. My wife is able to print recipes from our iPad. At first I could not use our HP printer but it works well with that one and our Canon printer. Try the free version to see if it works for you.

Thank you for this info Kb.

My problem isn't that I can't print from my iPad - it's that I can't print wide-format documents from my iPad. I print a fair number of borderless tabloid-sized (11X17) documents in my work; my printer and computer worked fine.

But my iPad won't see the option for borderless tabloid - in fact, it won't see tabloid at all, even though it's native to the printer - well, I guess, to the printer driver.

I've installed 4 or 5 iPad print apps, none of which can do the trick.

It's extremely disappointing (and costly - it looks like I'm going to have to shell out $1200 for a mac to use as little more than a print server (my old computer died)).

I like the iPad for entertainment, and I can (slowly) do some FileMaker work with it - but it's basically useless for the business work I do.

Message was edited by: Jeff Whitmill

but it's basically useless for the business work I do.

You're right, the iPad has limited ability to utilize the full functions of some printers. You need a small laptop for your needs.

Wish I'd known that before I shelled out the money for the device.

A side note: I put the printer on our Windows LAN, downloaded and installed the driver. From there it will print the tabloid size - but there's no option to print borderless. Everything just looks amateurish.

The iPad is not as powerful as a laptop. And at this point it isn't really meant to replace a laptop for those who have power needs for business unless you can afford to have your own IT dept to develope proprietary apps that do what you require.

Yup, knew that. Just didn't expect it to be a printing wimp.

Here's a good description of some of the iOS printing capabilities.

The Many Faces of the iOS Print Panel

and here:

Using AirPrint to Print Various Photo Sizes

I can tell you this. Neither AirPrint or FingerPrint work with iOS 6 or later. I will tell you, being in the IT business for over 40 years, I grow very tired of companies and their proprietary software, both Apple and Microsoft. I'm really starting to lean toward open source. Both these companies are about marketing their products and their close partners (i.e. HP) and shoving their technology down your throat, like AirPrint (HP printers mainly) and Windows 8 Metro UI (made really for touchscreens like the HP Envy). When will they wake up and smell the roses? It's a monopoly anyway you look at it.