Help With Printing

In This Module...

Easy Printing

You must import any document you want to print into the Documents module of this app. Read why.

  1. From any open file, tap the Print button in the menu bar.
  2. In the Printer Options+ menu, tap Select Printer. (If you have previously printed during this session using this app, the previously selected printer is displayed here instead of Select Printer. If so, you can still change your printer by tapping the previously selected printer).

    If there is no + in the menu name, you are NOT using this app's proprietary printing engine, which means that printer detection will be limited to those that are AirPrint compatible. To fix this problem, cancel the print job by tapping anywhere in the open document, then tap Main Menu > Settings and scroll down to Printing Engines. Select Proprietary Printing Engine. Now go back to step 1.
  3. Select a printer from the list of detected network and shared printers. If your printer was not detected, or if you want to try a different driver for your printer, see Manual Printer Configuration..
  4. Tap Print.

Manual Printer Configuration

You may want to manually configure your printer if your printer is not automatically detected, or if you want to try a different printer driver from the automatically detected instance. To manually configure your printer, it is important to understand the two methods of printer connectivity supported by this app:

  1. Direct printing (to networked printers)
  2. Shared printing (to shared printers)

Direct Network Printing

To print via direct network printing, your printer must be connected directly to the same network as your iPhone/iPad, for example, either through ethernet or wi-fi. That is, your printer should have its own IP address. Your printer normally automatically acquires its IP address once it boots up and connects to the network.

To manually configure your printer, follow these steps:

  1. Select any document from the Documents module of this app, and then tap the Print button to bring up the Printer Options+ menu. If there is no + in the menu name, you are NOT using this app's proprietary printing engine, which means that printer detection will be limited to those that are AirPrint compatible. To fix this problem, cancel the print job by tapping anywhere in the open document, then tap Main Menu > Settings and scroll down to Printing Engines. Select Proprietary Printing Engine. Now go back to step 1.
  2. Tap Select Printer to display the printer selection menu. Note: if you have previously selected a printer during the current session with this app, your previously selected printer will be displayed instead of Select Printer. In that case, tap your selected printer to proceed to the next step.
  3. Scroll down to the Manually Added Printers section and tap Add A New Printer.
  4. Select the make (manufacturer) of your printer.
  5. Select the model of your printer. If you do not see an exact model match, try selected the next best match from the available drivers, erring on the side of the later models. If your printer supports PCL, you may also try using the "Generic" PCL drivers instead of the manufacturer-specific drivers. In particular you may try the "Generic" PCL 5 or 6 drivers.
  6. Enter the network IP address of your printer and its port number. The IP address of your printer can usually be found on the printer itself, via its control panel. To obtain the IP address of your printer, try navigating the Network Settings portion of the printer via its control panel, or try printing the default printer configuration / diagnostic page.
    If you don't know the port number of your printer, try using the most common ones: 9100, 515, or 631.
  7. Save your configuration. Your newly configured printer is displayed under the Manually Added Printers section of the Printer Options+ menu. Be sure to select this printer every time you print.

Shared Printing

For Printers that do not have network access, (for example, printers that are connected directly to your computer via a USB cable) you can still print using "shared printing". The steps below explain how to do this. Shared printing via Windows computers is currently not available without special configuration/software.

On a Mac

  1. Enable printer sharing by checking the option under System Preferences > Sharing > Printer Sharing.
  2. Specifically enable your printer by checking the option under System Preferences > Print & Fax panel > [Your Printer] > "Share this printer on the network"
  3. After the above one-time configuration, launch this app on your iPad/iPhone and log onto the same network as your computer. Make sure your computer and printer are powered on. When you try printing from your iPad/iPhone, you should notice a new printer listed under the Shared Printers list. Select this printer to print from this app.

On a Windows Computer

  1. Install and configure Print Services for UNIX onto your Windows computer. This software may be found on your Windows CD (such as Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP). See Microsoft's official installation guide at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/324078. Please 'google' the term Windows Unix Print Server for details.
  2. Setup a shared printer using Print Services for UNIX as follows:
    • From Control Panel > Printers, click Add a new printer to launch the wizard.
    • Click Add local printer to computer.
    • Create a new TCP/IP port, assign port, for example, 9100.
    • Choose the same driver as your printer.
  3. Launch this app and open any document.
  4. Tap the Print button to display the Printer Options+ menu.
  5. Tap Select Printer > Add A New Printer under the Manually Added Printers list.
  6. Follow the prompts to configure and add the printer earlier configured in steps above. Select the printer driver that best matches your printer make and model from the list of available printer drivers.
  7. Enter your earlier configured IP address and port number.
  8. Save your settings.
  9. Print a document to the you just configured, and verify that your document prints.

Common Questions

How do I setup my printer?

Printers are typically either network-connected, or shared via a USB connection to a computer.

For network-connected printers, printer setup is typically automatic. If your printer is directly connected to a network, either via an ethernet cable or via wi-fi, then it likely will appear automatically on the list of printers when you attempt to print from this app.

If your printer is not automatically detected by this app, see Manual Printer Configuration.

Note: If you exit this app and launch another app such as Mail or Safari, you will not be able to use this app's printing engine. This is due to structure of the iOS operating system - each app is limited to its own sandbox.

The app says "No Printers Found" when I try printing; How do I fix this?

  • If this error message appears when you try to print, you are definitely not using this app's proprietary printing engine. Tap Main Menu > Settings and scroll down to Printing Engines. Select Proprietary Printing Engine as shown below:
  • The most common reason for this error is trying to print using a different app's printing engine, that is, printing outside of this app. Unlike regular computers, the iPad/iPhone does not support third party system-wide drivers. To print using this app's printing engine, you must print from within this app. If you have documents outside this app that you want to print, you must import your documents into this app or access them from this app AND print them directly from within this app.

My printer is not listed! What do I do?

  • Confirm that you are printing from this app, and not from another app such as Mail or Safari (which use different printing engines).
  • Confirm that you have selected the Proprietary Printing Engine. (Tap Main Menu > Settings and scroll down to Printing Engines. Select Proprietary Printing Engine).
  • If your printer is not automatically detected by this app, use the Add A New Printer option in the Printer Options+ menu to manually add and configure it. In the Add A New Printer menu, select the printer driver that either exactly matches or is closest to your printer model. Often, printer drivers are able to control related models (non-exact matches). For example, Canon Pixma MPxxx drivers can often control Canon Pixma MX models.
  • You can also try selecting a "generic" brand PCL printer driver, such as a PCL 5 or 6 driver.

The app says "No Shared/Network Printers Detected." How do I fix this?

  1. If this error message appears when you try to print, it implies this app was not able to automatically detect your printer.
  2. Ensure your printer is connected to, and running, on the same local area network as your iPhone or iPad. For direct network printing, your printer must be connected directly to the network either through ethernet or wi-fi. Shared printers connected via a USB cable to a computer are not direct network printers. Shared printers need to be setup differently using the configuration method discussed in Shared Printer Configuration.
  3. Ensure there is no background app running on your iPhone/iPad that is obstructing access to the network scanning routine. The best way to ensure you have no conflicting apps is to 'reboot' your iPhone or iPad (press and hold down on the Home and Power buttons at the same time until the Reboot option appears).
  4. If your printer still does not appear, use the Add A New Printer option in the Printer Options+ menu to manually configure it.

The app says "Print Job has been queued", but there is no response from the printer, or strange characters appear, or my printer makes a few noises/movements but does not print.

This indicates there likely is a communication problem with the printer related to the print driver in use.

  1. If you have multiple instances of your printer showing up on the Printer Selection list, try choosing another instance. For example, if your printer shows up on the Shared Printers list, the Network Printers list, and the More Network Printers list, try one of the other automatically detected instances.
  2. Try bypassing the automatically configured printer driver by manually configuring your printer and selecting a better-matched printer driver for it.
  3. If you have a Mac computer on the same network as your iPad/iPhone, try enabling shared printing.

How do I print a document in another app?

Import your document into this app first, and then view it. While viewing it, tap the Print button. (The operating system of the iPad/iPhone/iPod, iOS, is designed such that each app you install is given its own storage space. There is no centralized (shared) storage space on your device. This means that this app's proprietary printing engine only works within this app. The iOS cannot use this app to print files within any other app's storage space—for example, files stored in Pages, Numbers, Safari, Notes, Mail, etc.)

How do I print emails?

  • To print an email attachment, press and hold down on the attachment, and select this app from the Open In... dialog to import it into this app and display it. When it is displayed in this app, tap Print on the menu bar.
  • To print the body of an email, copy the text of your email and paste it into a new document which you create in this app by tapping Main Menu > Documents > Edit > New Document. Save and then print this new document.

How do I print photos?

To print photos, import them into this app, or access them with this app. There are several ways to do this:

  • To print a photo in the Photos app, use this app's Photo Lab module to import and print it. The Photo Lab module is available in certain versions only.
  • To print a photo on your desktop computer, import it into this app and print it.
  • To print a photo on a website, navigate to the website using Safari, then press and hold down on the displayed image, and select Copy To Album. Then use the Photo Lab module to import and print it. The Photo Lab module is available in certain versions only.

How do I print web pages?

To print a web page, navigate to the page with this app's Downloader or WebTool module, if available in this version of the app. While viewing the web page, tap the Print button.

Common Questions