When Apple unveiled AirPrint, it did more than simply announce a new driver. It made the iPad and iPhone viable standalone business devices on which you could edit, create and print out hard copies of your work... so long as you'd bought from HP.
AirPrint is still -- officially -- only compatible with recent HP printers, but with a bit of tweaking and a little help from some free utilities, we'll show you how you can get your iPad and iPhone talking to any printer you care to name.
Finding AirPrint
Until Apple inks a deal with HP's output rivals, the only way to enable AirPrint on alternative devices is to use AirPrint Activator. This channels incoming data through an active Mac or PC, which acts as an intermediary server to push it through to the printer.
The latest Mac update is version 2. Download it through this link if you're running OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) or OS X 10.7 (Lion) on an Intel processor, and from here if you're still running OS X 10.5 (Leopard) on either a PowerPC or Intel chip.
Windows users can grab AirPrint Activator for Windows from here.
Activating AirPrint on Mac
Windows users, skip to 'Activating AirPrint on Windows' below. Mac users, read on...
Open System Preferences > Sharing, and tick the checkbox beside Printer sharing. A list of your installed printers appears to the right. You now need to tick the box beside the name of the printer you want to use with your iPad.
Unpack the downloaded AirPrint Activator utility and run the installer. You only need to do this once as it installs a background service that handles everything for you from here on. Click the OFF/ON slider to switch it on and then click Close. You're done. Skip to 'Printing from your iPad' below.
Activating AirPrint on Windows
Decompress and install AirPrint Activator (it's wrapped up inside a RAR archive, which you can unpack using WinZip) and click the appropriate button to install it on your version of Windows (32-bit or 64-bit).
The installer will take care of dropping it into your Program Files folder, but for obvious security reasons can't adjust your firewall to let your iPad find it. Open Control Panel and type 'firewall' in the search box to find it. Click the button to authorise new applications and add c:\Program Files\AirPrint\airprint.exe to give it network access.
Return to Control Panel and open your printer settings, then select to share the printer on your network to make it available to your iPad.
Printing from your iPad
You can now print from your iPhone or iPad. In most applications you'll find the print feature in the shortcut actions button (the rectangle with an arrow protruding from the top).
Some applications such as Pages and Numbers, however, have dedicated print functions accessed through the menus (in the iWork apps you'll find it under Tools > Share and Print > Print). Tap the Printer box to select the device you want to use and choose your AirPrint Activator-enabled printer.
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Comments 7
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anonymous 21 October, 2011 10:42
This sounds great but your link for Windows users to download AirPrint Activator goes to some weird looking filedudes download page. And when you search instead within the CNET downloads pages, the Activator is offered but downloads as a PHP file not recognised on my system, not the unzippable RAR you give in the instructions. Am I missing something here?
anonymous 21 October, 2011 17:48
AirPrint Activator does not work with IOS 5. There is a product available from http://www.collobos.com/index.html "FingerPrint" that seems to work. The only drawback is that it does not run as a service.
anonymous 9 November, 2011 15:34
Umm... "Until Apple inks a deal with HP's output rivals..." Cannon, Lexmark, and Epson all have Airprint enabled devices and the list is growing.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4356
Ibatey 16 November, 2011 17:43
Umm.. Maybe apple support should be telling us how to use our EXISTING printers with our Apple devices, rather than listing more NEW stuff to buy.
I have 4 printers on my network (some New).. And none of them work with Airprint. I'm seriously thinking of ditching Applesoft
anonymous 22 November, 2011 14:06
bought an hp multipurpose printer for about 50 pounds, 1 pound for an ethernet cable for printer to router
didnt tweak anything and iphone, ipod and pc all print straight away.......I needed a new printer as my old deskjet was over 10 years old . So that was my easy answer!
anonymous 2 February, 2012 00:40
How can i print thru iPhone?
anonymous 3 March, 2012 14:01
I find exactly the same as the first post on this page - when I looked. It goes thus..........
This sounds great but your link for Windows users to download AirPrint Activator goes to some weird looking filedudes download page. And when you search instead within the CNET downloads pages, the Activator is offered but downloads as a PHP file not recognised on my system, not the unzippable RAR you give in the instructions. Am I missing something here?