Google is no stranger to sending its apps and solutions to the chopping block. The latest casualty is the popular Cloud Print service that has been offered since 2010. It was shut down at the start of 2021.
Google Cloud Print was initially designed as something of a band-aid for the Chrome OS, which lacks a lot of app support owing to its limited use by consumers and businesses.
Google has now deemed that it no longer needs to provide the service, as in 2021 there are several options for Linux systems that weren’t present a decade ago.
Nevertheless. if you’re a Chromebook user or use Cloud Print to maintain several Chromebooks, this shutdown may have come as an unwelcome surprise—Google announced the closing down of the service back in 2019 and since then many of you have been asking what you can do in terms of a replacement.
What to Do Now?
Now the GCP is gone, users will have to find a replacement for their print management needs.
We’ve put together this quick guide to help you get your printing back to normal as if nothing ever happened!
CUPS Extension
With the standard CUPS utility extension, users can configure their devices and continue to operate as normal over a local network.
To do this, remove GPC from the list of available printers for your device. Then connect to your printer using your local network. Head over to your printer settings and click the icon next to “Add Printer”.
Provided your Chromebook and printer are connected to the same WiFi network, you should be able to see and add it on your device.
If you are not seeing the printer in the list of devices, you may have to add it manually using your IP address.
To do this, click “Add a printer manually” and fill out the boxes—this will include a name for your printer and its make and model. If you’re unsure exactly what these are or your model isn’t listed, then go ahead and pick the closest one you can find.
Once you’re done, hit “Add” and you’re good to go!
Managing More Than One Device
The biggest advantage of Google Cloud Print was the ability to push updates to multiple devices at once.
With the removal of GCP, this is no longer possible, and users will now instead have to manually update and provision each device in order to function.
Obviously, this might be an issue for businesses that operate with a lot of devices—particularly BYOD peripherals—under one roof.
In order to continue managing all your devices from one platform, we recommend using a third-party solution that can allow you to configure several devices at once.
PaperCut
PaperCut is a solution that will allow you to distribute updates automatically to all devices under network from a single interface.
How do we know PaperCut is the right solution to use? Because we use it ourselves! It’s a tried and tested solution that we’ve been offering clients for years.
Best of all, PaperCut offers a free solution, Mobility Print, to users looking for an alternative to Google Cloud Print, so there are no worries about having to spend more if all you need is a band-aid to cover the loss of GCP.
If you are an Impact Networking client and are affected by the shutdown of Google Cloud Print, please contact your account manager and the Impact Managed Print Services team will help you get back to where you need to be.
Consider using PaperCut if you:
- …need to print from Windows, Mac, Chromebook, Android, iPhone and iPad (iOS) devices.
- …have managed and BYO devices that users need to print from.
- …need to print over the internet or from other networks remotely.
- …have printers that aren’t supported by CUPS printing—Mobility Print supports all printer brands.
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