4 Easy Ways to Remotely Print Over theNetwork or Internet

Remote printing doesn’t have to be hard,
whether you want to print to a printer down
the hall or half-way around the world. We’ll
cover some simple ways you can print without
being directly connected to your printer.
We’re going to focus on the easiest options
here. We’re won’t cover setting up the Internet
Printing Protocol (IPP) or JetDirect and
allowing it through your firewall or
complicated Windows networking
configurations, as these are options best-suited
for the IT Professional.
Get a Wireless Printer
Even if you still print, you don’t need a
separate printer connected to every computer
in your house. Many new printers are network
printers that can connect to your network via
Wi-Fi. Once connected, you install the
appropriate driver software on each computer
and all the computers can print to that printer
over the network.
Unlike sharing a local printer with Windows,
you don’t have to leave the main computer on
— as long as the printer is on, you can print
directly to it.
These printers only allow you to print to them
over the local network, so you’ll need some
other tricks if you want to print to them over
the Internet.

Share a Printer on Your Local Network
Windows makes it easy to share printers
between computers on your local network.
This is ideal if you have local printer that
connects to your computer via USB. Once you
set up printer sharing, the printer will function
almost like a networked printer. As long as the
computer the printer is connected to is
powered on, any other authorized computer on
the network can print to it.
The easiest way to do this on Windows 7 or
Windows 8 is with the Homegroup feature.
Simply set up a Homegroup and check the
Printers option to share your connected
printers. Join your other computers to the
Homegroup and they’ll see the networked
printer appear in their list of available
printers, assuming the computer sharing the
printer is online.
As with standard networked printers, this only
works over the local network. You can share
printers between computers that aren’t on the
same Homegroup, but it’s easier to just use a
Homegroup.

Access Remote Printers With Google Cloud
Print
Google Cloud Print is Google’s remote-printing
solution. Many new printers include built-in
support for Google Cloud Print. If a printer
doesn’t include Cloud Print support, you can
make it available via Google Cloud Print by
setting up Google Cloud Print in Google
Chrome .
Once a printer is configured to work with
Google Cloud Print, it’s associated with your
Google account. You can then remotely access
the printer with your Google account
credentials. You can also share one of your
printers with another Google account, so you
can allow other people to remotely print to
your computer as easily as if you were sharing
a file with them via Google Drive.
Up until recently, Google Cloud Print has been
a bit of a novelty. Google Chrome includes
support for Cloud Print, and you can use Cloud
Print apps on iOS and Android to remotely
print to Cloud Print printers. However, Google
recently launched a Google Cloud Printer
service for the Windows desktop. Install it and
Google Cloud Print will be available in the
standard print dialog, so you can remotely
print to Cloud Print printers from Microsoft
Office or any other desktop app.
For printing over the Internet, Google Cloud
Print offers the most polished experience and
easiest setup experience for average users.

Use a VPN to Access Printers on Remote
Networks
If you want to access standard network
printers or printers shared via Windows
networking when you’re away from the local
network, you can use a virtual private network,
or VPN. Connect to a VPN and your computer
will create a secure tunnel to the VPN server
on the remote network. All your traffic will be
sent over this tunnel, so your computer will
behave as if it were connected to the remote
network. This means that locally shared
printers, as well as other network resources
like Windows file shares, will be accessible.
Once your computer is connected to the VPN ,
the printer will be available and you can print
to it just as if you were on the same local
network. Many businesses networks set up
VPNs so their employees can remotely connect
to the business network, so you may already
be able to do this with your existing VPN
connection.
Setting up your own VPN is more complicated
than using Google Cloud Print, but it can be
done. Windows includes hidden support for
setting up a VPN server . Hosting your own VPN
server isn’t ideal for security — it’s easier to
just use Google Cloud Print if you don’t want
to worry as much about security.

There are a wide variety of other different
ways to print remotely. For example, some
networked printers may be able to accept
documents at an email address and
automatically print all documents that arrive at
that address. Some may work with Bluetooth
or Apple’s AirPrint to accept print jobs
wirelessly.

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