How to connect the printer to the phone via Wi-Fi and print documents?

It often happens that we need to print a document or simply send it to some authority to be printed there. At the same time, for some reason, we do not have the opportunity to personally bring it or be present at the place where the printing will be made.

It is very easy to get out of this seemingly hopeless situation. For example, connect the printer to the phone via Wi-Fi and print the document of interest to the person from your smartphone. It's pretty straightforward. Let's figure out together how to connect these two devices through a router.

It should be said that there are several ways to connect a printer and a phone using Wi-Fi. Given the variety of ways, everyone can find the most suitable one for him. In this article, we will look at three groups of methods:

• using a computer;
• direct connection;
• virtual printer.

Now let's talk a little more about each of the methods.

If we talk about direct connection, then everything will depend on the specific device. Many modern models do not provide an opportunity to use third-party applications, but can connect directly from a smartphone without using a laptop or computer. It will be enough just to create a network between all devices using a router, start searching for available networks on a tablet or smartphone, and specify the required devices.

Despite the fact that most manufacturers of equipment try to make their devices as versatile as possible, a number of devices still fundamentally do not want to work with smartphones of certain series. The most noteworthy in this matter is the technique from Apple. But here, certification in accordance with the company's proprietary standards is also important. For this reason, for a number of manufacturers of equipment, the connection is carried out through special software. Examples include Canon Print, HP Smart, and others.

Let's take a look at this with a piece of software called PrinterShare that can be used on both iOS and Android devices.

To print a document from a smartphone to a printer using Wi-Fi, you should:

• install the application on the phone;
• open it and find the required connection type;
• after that, a search will be made for available devices connected to the same network as the tablet or phone;
• now you need to select a file for printing located in one of the folders, if it is stored on the internal media, then it can be found in the "Documents" folder;
• by marking it, you can configure certain requirements or send it to print by clicking on the corresponding item.

If you are interested in the virtual printer mode, then in this case data will be transferred from a smartphone or tablet through the so-called cloud. For this reason, before using this method of printing, you should make sure that your mobile device can work with cloud services at all. If your device runs on the Android operating system, then a service called Google Cloud Print will be used. If we are talking about an iOS device, then a service called AirPrint will be used there.Both programs are part of their OS and are already on the device after installing the corresponding system

If the printing device supports AirPrint, the phone will automatically detect it. To send files for printing, you just need to click on the "Share" button, and then select "Print".

If we are talking about a device on Android OS, then you will need to set up a virtual printer from Google. This is done according to the following algorithm:

• we launch Google Chrome, after which we enter the Google account;
• now you should open browser settings and go to additional settings;
• find the item "Google Cloud Print" and click on the "Configure" button;
• a page will open where you need to click on the "Add printer" button;
• now you should select the device you are interested in from the list and click on the "Add ..." button;
• literally in a couple of moments on the display you can see: "The procedure is completed", after which you will need to click on the "Manage printers" button;
• find the item "Add a regular printer" and click on it.

The Google Cloud Print installation process will be completed, after which it will connect to the user's Google account. Now, from any mobile device under the control of this account, it will be possible to send a file for printing.

If, for some reason, your device does not have the appropriate software, then you should install an application from the Play Market called "Virtual Printer". After that, you should perform the following actions:

• open the application and find the printer sign located at the top, which you want to click;
• now you need to select your printer from the list that appeared;
• we find the document we are interested in, in one of the directories - Web, Dropbox, "Local";
• we set up the printing options we are interested in, after which it remains only to press the "Print" button.

You can also connect the printer to your smartphone via Wi-Fi. Using this technique, you can open the smartphone's desktop on a computer. To do this, you need to install a program called QS Team Viewer on the device, and you need to install Team Viewer on your computer.

After the specified programs are installed, you will need to do the following:

• open QS Team Viewer and get a special ID-number;
• open the program on a personal computer, enter the ID-number received on the smartphone, put a tick in front of the "Remote control" item and connect;
• open the file transfer section.

After that, you can make sure that the computer is connected to a smartphone or tablet and from it you can download the desired file and print it later.

Each of the listed methods can have its own subtleties of setting, which will directly depend on the gadgets and devices used. But let's try to figure out how to connect the printer to the phone via Wi-Fi, because the reliability of this method is very high.

The setting should be done only once, after which it can be used continuously. But given that it may be difficult for a beginner to figure out how to independently set up printing from a phone to a printer via Wi-Fi when setting up a router, we consider it necessary to analyze this point. So, To set up a Wi-Fi connection between the printer and your phone, you need to do the following:

• Find the pin code on the bottom of the router case. It usually consists of 8 digits.
• Now you need to activate the WPS function on your router. This can be done if you open your browser and write the address 192.168.1.1 in the address bar, which may differ slightly from different manufacturers.
• Enter the username and password admin.
• Now in the window that has opened, you need to find the security item and click on it, then select the Enable WPS item and set the lever to the Enabled position.
• Next, we find the network search key on the router case and hold it until the ability to send a file becomes available.
• All that remains is to connect to the same network from the phone, after which it becomes possible to send jobs to the network printer for printing.

Of course, in such a process, various kinds of problems may arise that should be considered. One of the most common problems is that the phone simply cannot see or find the printer. The reasons why this happens may be the following factors:

• the printer is simply incompatible with the existing smartphone model;
• the software is not configured correctly;
• the driver is installed for the wrong printer model;
• presence of software errors.

One of the problems can be Wi-Fi connection. To use wireless printing, make sure your smartphone is connected to a wireless network. Moreover, we are talking about exactly the network to which the printer was already connected.

To eliminate certain problems, the following steps should be taken.

• Restart all gadgets and try to start printing again.
• Check that the distance between the gadgets does not exceed the maximum allowable value. Usually we are talking about 20 meters for buildings with concrete partitions.
• You should also check the firmware of the devices. Perhaps, on one of the gadgets, it is simply outdated, for which reason it is necessary to update the firmware everywhere to the latest version.

If we talk about recommendations, then you should from the very beginning decide on the highest priority method of connecting the printer to the phone via Wi-Fi and make sure that both devices support the method you have chosen. In addition, be sure to update your firmware and drivers to the latest versions to reduce the likelihood of software glitches.

Also it will not be superfluous to install the most recent software if you choose to print via a virtual printer. This will allow you to be sure that this technology will work as correctly as possible.

How to connect the printer to the phone via Wi-Fi, see the video.