Even though we live in a (almost) completely digital age, there is still a need for the physical medium of ink and paper. Whether you’re in college or work a job, paper will still be around for many years to come. One of the biggest disadvantages with printing, however, is that most mobile devices that we use can’t print to a local networked printer, or an internet-connected printer. That’s where Google Cloud Print comes in.
This free service allows you to set up your home or work PC to accept print jobs from a mobile device or a spiffy Google Chrome netbook from around the world. So long as the device is linked to your Google Cloud Print account, you can print to your home or work printer wherever you have an internet connection.
>> Stationary home or work Windows machine or virtual machine (XP, Vista, or 7)
>> Printer
>> Google/Gmail Account
The Google Cloud Print service routes everything through Google Chrome on your stationary home or work computer. And, unfortunately, the Google Cloud Print service only works with Google Chrome on a Windows machine as of now. Luckily, you can install Windows in a virtual machine (using VMWare Fusion or Oracle’s VirtualBox) and run Google Chrome from your Mac.
Once on the Google Chrome website, click the Download Google Chrome button to get started installing the web browser.
Once you’re in Windows, point your current web browser to Google.com/Chrome, and follow the easy install instructions to get Google Chrome up and running in Windows.
The newest version of Google Chrome comes with the Google Cloud Print connector as a part of the install. So, we need to enable and configure this option in order to finish setting up Google Cloud Print in Windows.
Clicking this button will open the set up Google Cloud Print dialog.
In Google Chrome on your Windows machine, click on the small wrench in the top-right corner of the application, and then click on Options. This will open up a new window that will have a few different tabs. Click on the “Under the Hood” tab, then scroll all the way to the bottom of the window. Once there, click on the “Sign in to Google Cloud Print” button. 
After signing in, Google will set up your Cloud Print account using your existing Google account.
Once the Set up Google Cloud Print dialog opens, sign into your Google account using the credentials you may already have for a Gmail or other Google account. If you do not have a Google account, click the “Create a Google account link” to set one up. When you have finished typing your email and password, click the Sign In button. 
The connector automatically sets up all of the printers connected to your Windows PC to your Google Cloud Print account.
After signing in, Google Cloud Print connector will search for your printers on your computer, and will then display a “Success” dialog letting you know that Google Cloud Print is now set up on your Windows PC.
Currently, the Google suite of mobile applications, ranging from Gmail to Google Docs supports the Cloud Print service. What this means is that you can print directly from Google Docs or Gmail to a printer connected through the Google Cloud print service right from your iOS, Android, or other mobile device that supports Google’s suite of web-based applications. And if you have a Google Chrome netbook, you can also print from any page directly to Cloud Print.
To get started, navigate to your application of choosing in the web browser on your mobile device. We’ll log into Google Docs and select a document that we’ve been working on. Once in the document view (or email view if you’re in Gmail), tap on the small downward-facing arrow in the menu bar, then tap Print. 
A new page will load that will allow you to select the printer and set a few options for the print job. When you’re finished selecting the printer, click on the Print button to submit the print job. If the printer or Windows PC we set up isn’t on, the job will be processed whenever both devices are turned back on and connected to the Internet.
Follow this article's author, Cory Bohon on Twitter.
strabes
March 09, 2011 at 12:42pm
Can you use cloud print from a laptop or desktop somewhere else instead of a mobile device? Also, does the mobile device have to be connected to the same network as the printer "host" pc or does it work anywhere (over the internet)?
corybohon
March 09, 2011 at 1:10pm
Currently, Google Cloud print only works with Chrome OS Notebooks and mobile devices. Cloud print will work from any network your Chrome OS notebook or mobile device is connected to.
