Google Cloud Print is a discontinued

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

service that allowed users to print from any Cloud Print-aware application (

web Web most often refers to: * Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal * World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to: Computing * WEB, a literate programming system created by ...

desktop A desktop traditionally refers to: * The surface of a desk (often to distinguish office appliances that fit on a desk, such as photocopiers and printers, from larger equipment covering its own area on the floor) Desktop may refer to various compu ...

mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ( ...

) on any device in the network cloud to any

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person or a company * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James ...

with native support for connecting to cloud print services – without Google having to create and maintain printing subsystems for all the hardware combinations of client devices and printers, and without the

user Ancient Egyptian roles * User (ancient Egyptian official), an ancient Egyptian nomarch (governor) of the Eighth Dynasty * Useramen, an ancient Egyptian vizier also called "User" Other uses * User (computing), a person (or software) using an ...

s having to install

device driver In computing, a device driver is a computer program that operates or controls a particular type of device that is attached to a computer or automaton. A driver provides a software interface to hardware devices, enabling operating systems and ot ...

s to the client, but with documents being fully transmitted to Google. Starting on July 23, 2013 it allowed printing from any Windows application, if Google Cloud Printer was installed on the machine.Google Chrome Blog: Simpler printing from more places
/ref> Google Cloud Print was shut down on December 31, 2020.

Features

Integration with other Google products

Google Cloud Print was integrated into the mobile versions of

Gmail Gmail is a free email service provided by Google. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide. A user typically accesses Gmail in a web browser or the official mobile app. Google also supports the use of email clients via the POP an ...

and

Google Docs Google Docs is an online word processor included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google, which also includes: Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Forms, Google Sites and Google Keep. Google Do ...

, allowing users to print from their mobile devices.

Google Chrome Google Chrome is a cross-platform web browser developed by Google. It was first released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Versions were later released for Linux, macOS ...

16 and higher listed Google Cloud Print a printer option in the Print Preview page. Google Chrome 9 and higher supported printers without built-in Cloud Print component through a "Cloud Print Connector".

History

Google introduced Cloud Print in April 2010, as a future solution for printing from

ChromeOS ChromeOS, sometimes stylized as chromeOS and formerly styled as Chrome OS, is a Linux-based operating system designed by Google. It is derived from the open-source ChromiumOS and uses the Google Chrome web browser as its principal user interfac ...

. They made the design document and a preliminary version of the

source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the wo ...

available. Google Cloud Print reached beta stage on 25 January 2011. Applications print through a web-based, common print dialog (web UI) or an API. The service forwards the job to a printer registered to the service. Cloud Ready printers (which connect directly to the web and do not require a computer to set up) can directly connect to Google Cloud Print. As legacy ("classic") printers cannot accept input from a cloud service, Google Chrome 9 contained a "Cloud Print Connector"—which lets printers plugged into a

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

Apple Mac The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...

, or

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

computer with

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

access use Cloud Print while the connector is running in Google Chrome. Printing through Google Cloud Print from any instance of Google Chrome was enabled in Google Chrome 16. Since December 2014, Google Cloud Print lets users share printers in a manner similar to

. In July 2013, Google updated the service to allow printing from any Windows application if Google Cloud Printer is installed on the machine. The Google Cloud Print Service can run as a

Windows service In Windows NT operating systems, a Windows service is a computer program that operates in the background. It is similar in concept to a Unix daemon. A Windows service must conform to the interface rules and protocols of the Service Control Manager ...

, so legacy printers can connect to Google Cloud Print. Google Cloud Print 2.0, not supported by some printers that support v 1.0, adds support for a local mode similar in operation to Apple's

AirPrint AirPrint is a feature in Apple Inc.'s macOS and iOS operating systems for printing without installing printer-specific drivers. Connection is via a wireless LAN (Wi-Fi), either directly to AirPrint-compatible printers, or to non-compatible shar ...

. Unlike the earlier version of Cloud Print, v 2.0 does not require either the printer or printing client to be connected to the Internet. Local mode uses a discovery protocol called Privet, which uses

Multicast DNS In computer networking, the multicast DNS (mDNS) protocol resolves hostnames to IP addresses within small networks that do not include a local name server. It is a Zero-configuration_networking#Name_service_discovery, zero-configuration service, u ...

and

DNS-SD Zero-configuration networking (zeroconf) is a set of technologies that automatically creates a usable computer network based on the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) when computers or network peripherals are interconnected. It does not require manu ...

for discovery, and

HTTPS Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is an extension of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). It is used for secure communication over a computer network, and is widely used on the Internet. In HTTPS, the communication protocol is enc ...

for transmitting print jobs to the printer. Clients supporting this mode only list printers that are discoverable on the same subnet the device is connected to, and forget the printers once disconnected from that subnet.

Planned discontinuation

In November 2019, Google announced end of support for Google Cloud Print on December 31, 2020. Google cited improvements in native ChromeOS printing as well as a marketplace of other print solutions providers in its decision to terminate the service.

Privacy

Documents printed via Google Cloud Print were sent to Google's servers for transmission to the printer. Google stated that they stored each document queued for printing, "but only for so long as the printing job is active and not complete". And: "Documents you send to print are your personal information and are kept strictly confidential. Google does not access the documents you print for any purpose other than to improve printing."

References