Worried about the retirement of Google Cloud Print? Read our quick Google Cloud Print retirement Q&A to discover the migration options available to you.
Q.) What is directprint.io?
A.) A print management service for Chromebooks (and Windows). It’s serverless – so there’s nothing to install on your premises – no print servers – and it uses local network printing so your jobs don’t get lost in the Cloud. It’s designed for Education and Enterprise customers. Home users click here.
Q.) I heard that Cloud Print will be retired in 2021 – does this affect directprint.io?
A.) No, directprint.io is a replacement for Cloud Print – except that it uses reliable local printing instead. directprint.io is one of the few ISV (Independent Software Vendors) recommended by Google on their Chrome Enterprise help pages as a migration path away from Cloud Print. directprint.io doesn’t rely in any way on Google Cloud Print.
Q.) So directprint.io will work when Cloud Print is turned off?
A.) Yes. directprint.io was designed for this exact scenario.
Q.) What is Chrome Native printing and why should I use directprint.io instead?
A.) Find a fuller answer here, but Chrome & G Suite offer local network printing via a system called CUPS. It works but doesn’t give insight into who’s printing what, offer print limits or reprint detection, or dozens of other features that you get with directprint.io.
Q.) We’re a small organization, we just want to print – is directprint.io a good fit for us?
A.) If you just want to print and don’t care about cost, print audit, limits, draft modes, reporting, or fine-grained control over who can see what printer then you have free and paid options. Chrome native printing could be such an option, assuming that all your printers work with it. directprint.io offers much more control and audit – feel free to run a 30-day trial to see if you benefit.
Q.) Do you charge a license/subscription for directprint.io?
A.) All our per-user subscription pricing is online here. If you have specific questions please email help@directprint.io
Q.) Will our printers be compatible with directprint.io?
A.) Very likely yes, we support many PDLs (page description languages) and multiple print protocols. Use our Printer Wizard in the directprint.io admin console to detect, connect, and configure directprint.io to work with your printers. We also offer APIs for printer config manipulation if you have 100-1000 printers.
Q.) Some of your competitors advertise a free version to just enable printing without all the bells and whistles – Do you do this?
A.) We always have done for Chromebooks. (Link to store only works on Chromebooks). And also for Chrome (works on Mac, Windows, ChromeOS). Enjoy!
Q.) I’m a home user – worried about what happens with Cloud Print at the end of 2020 what should I do?
A.) Read this article.
Don’t panic, you have until 2021 to find an alternate solution. In summary, here are your options:
