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CloudPrint beta | |
| Share, Print and Store Documents with your Mobile Phone | ||
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CloudPrint Help / FAQ
Questions about CloudPrint
What is CloudPrint?
How does CloudPrint work?
Why use CloudPrint? Can't I just email myself stuff?
Does it cost anything?
How do I print webpages from my phone with SMS?
How do document codes work?
Do my documents ever expire or get deleted?
What is a PIN for? Do I need it?
Can I use CloudPrint on a Mac? How about Windows Vista?
Countries and Telephone Numbers
Where can I find a printer?
How can I advertise my printing service, and why?
How can I send feedback?
What is CloudPrint?
CloudPrint is a new service that allows you to share, store and print documents easily using your mobile telephone.
From your desktop computer, print your documents to the CloudPrint "virtual printer" and your print job will live "in the cloud." When you print a document to CloudPrint, we'll notify all the people you send it to with an SMS message containing a unique document code. With just your telephone number and that document code, you can retrieve your documents from anywhere.
Send CloudPrints to yourself to easily make your documents accessible wherever you go, or send CloudPrints to friends. Now wherever your go, your documents can go too.
SMS web URLs to CloudPrint from your mobile device, and we'll render the document automatically, and SMS you a document code. No more having to read web pages on a small screen!
Print CloudPrint documents to your home or office printer, no matter where you are. When you get back, your printed documents will be waiting for you!
New! Email attachments to CloudPrint! We'll convert your document to PDF and send it to your intended recipients. Read this for more info.
How does CloudPrint work?
To print to the Cloud (upload documents): First, download the virtual printer driver to your Windows PC and install it. It'll add a new printer called CloudPrint to your printer menu, accessible whenever you hit File > Print in any application.
When you print using the virtual printer, you'll enter your own mobile telephone number, and the telephone numbers of all the people you'd like to send it to. Then your document gets printed "to the cloud," and all the recipients get notifications via SMS.
To print from the Cloud (retrieve documents): With your SMS containing your document code, visit our website from any computer, anywhere. On the main page, enter your phone number and the document code, and press Retrieve. Your document will appear as a PDF, ready to be printed to the local printer.
Why use CloudPrint? Can't I just email myself stuff?
Sure, you can email yourself stuff. But CloudPrint is made for those times when just emailing yourself stuff won't cut it.
If your email is inside a corporate network, maybe you can't get to it from outside your firewall. Or maybe you're visiting someone in another company and you can't get out from behind their firewall. So long as you can get to the web, you can get your CloudPrints.
Also, what if you're traveling, and there's stuff you didn't know you need? Probably, others could email you a file, then call you to tell you about it. Then you've got to deal with getting into your email, again. CloudPrint sends you a handy SMS with all the info you need to retrieve your document with just one click.
Finally, as new features come online, CloudPrint could make your life easier in other ways. Pretty soon, you can SMS URLs from your mobile device to CloudPrint. We'll render the webpage and send you a document code so you can remember to read it later.
Also, soon you can print right to your own home or office printer (or that of a friend) from anywhere in the world. Just imagine your travel photos popping out of Mom's printer seconds after you snap them!
Does it cost anything?
It is absolutely free to use the CloudPrint service. How you get charged for SMS messages is between you and your mobile phone carrier.
How do I print webpages from my phone with SMS?
To print a webpage from your mobile phone, you can SMS the URL to +44 77814 88791. The URL should be in the body of the message. Recipients will receive a document code, just like if the webpage was printed from the PC virtual print driver.
To send the document to someone, include their number in the body of the text message. You can send it to multiple recipients by including all their numbers in the body of the message, separated by spaces. Nothing else should be in the body of the message, except the URL and the telephone number(s) of the recipient(s).
To send it to only yourself, you do not need to include your own telephone number. It'll be sent to you by default. But if you want to send it to yourself and others, then you must include their phone numbers as well as your own.
How do document codes work?
A document code is a unique six-digit code that is like an ID number for a document that you've received via SMS. To retrieve a document from CloudPrint, you enter your mobile telephone number and the document code. Your documents cannot be retrieved without the document code, so it's sort of private.
Even if a document is CloudPrinted to multiple recipients, each person gets their own document code, so your document code is only known by you and the person who sent you that document.
Do my documents ever expire or get deleted?
Nope.
When you add documents to CloudPrint, they do not come with an expiration date or mysteriously disappear. You can pretty much count on them being there.
At some point in the future, we may have to amend that a bit, to protect you from that guy, the one who prints seven thousand terabytes of joke email forwards, and ruins it for the rest of us. But for now, print all you want and let us worry about the disk space.
In case you'd like to delete things from your account, we'll add a delete button to the document browser soon, we just haven't gotten to it yet.
What is a PIN for? Do I need it?
A PIN is a 4-digit number that secures your CloudPrints.
You do not need a PIN to use CloudPrint, including printing using the virtual driver or retrieving documents. A PIN is necessary only in two cases. If you want to browse all the documents sent to you (without entering a document code) then you must use your PIN.
Second, if you would like to be listed as a Print Provider in our directory, you must enter your PIN.
You can create a pin by clicking Get a PIN at the bottom of the page. Enter your phone number, and you will receive a new PIN via SMS.
Can I use CloudPrint on a Mac? How about Windows Vista?
You can retrieve CloudPrint documents from any computer that has a web browser and Acrobat Reader. So that means a Mac, any PC or even Linux.
If you want to print to the Cloud, sorry, the driver is currently only available for the PC, and only Windows 2000 and XP so far. But we're working on versions for Mac and Windows Vista, and we've even got something up our sleeve for iPhones and smartphones.
Countries and Telephone Numbers
You can use CloudPrint to send and receive documents in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Europe. We're working on the rest of the world.
Entering telephone numbers is a bit tricky. Whenever we ask you for a telephone number, we include a guide on how to format your phone number.
Where can I find a printer?
CloudPrint helpfully includes a Find a Printer service. Enter your address or ZIP and we'll find you all the public printers in our directory within 50 miles of you.
As our directory grows, we hope it'll include professional print shops, coffee shops, convenience stores, hotel lobbies, and plain old folks who will let you use their printers. Whether and how they charge you for the service they're providing is between you and them.
How can I advertise my printing service, and why?
Lots of reasons! Perhaps you're a professional print/copy shop... list yourself in CloudPrint and drive in business! It's free advertising!
Or maybe you're running a cafe or other business. Offering printing to your customers can drive in new customer traffic. It's more free advertising!.
How and whether you charge for printing is between you and your customers. In our Print Provider form, you can specify how large print jobs you can support, whether you'll do color printing, and any other terms you'd like (hours, pricing, etc.).
To list yourself in the directory, click Print Providers at the bottom of the page.
How can I send feedback?
Please contact us via our contact form, a link to which is always available at the bottom of the page. We're eager to hear from you!
CloudPrint is a new service that allows you to share, store and print documents easily using your mobile telephone.
From your desktop computer, print your documents to the CloudPrint "virtual printer" and your print job will live "in the cloud." When you print a document to CloudPrint, we'll notify all the people you send it to with an SMS message containing a unique document code. With just your telephone number and that document code, you can retrieve your documents from anywhere.
Send CloudPrints to yourself to easily make your documents accessible wherever you go, or send CloudPrints to friends. Now wherever your go, your documents can go too.
SMS web URLs to CloudPrint from your mobile device, and we'll render the document automatically, and SMS you a document code. No more having to read web pages on a small screen!
Print CloudPrint documents to your home or office printer, no matter where you are. When you get back, your printed documents will be waiting for you!
New! Email attachments to CloudPrint! We'll convert your document to PDF and send it to your intended recipients. Read this for more info.
To print to the Cloud (upload documents): First, download the virtual printer driver to your Windows PC and install it. It'll add a new printer called CloudPrint to your printer menu, accessible whenever you hit File > Print in any application.
When you print using the virtual printer, you'll enter your own mobile telephone number, and the telephone numbers of all the people you'd like to send it to. Then your document gets printed "to the cloud," and all the recipients get notifications via SMS.
To print from the Cloud (retrieve documents): With your SMS containing your document code, visit our website from any computer, anywhere. On the main page, enter your phone number and the document code, and press Retrieve. Your document will appear as a PDF, ready to be printed to the local printer.
Sure, you can email yourself stuff. But CloudPrint is made for those times when just emailing yourself stuff won't cut it.
If your email is inside a corporate network, maybe you can't get to it from outside your firewall. Or maybe you're visiting someone in another company and you can't get out from behind their firewall. So long as you can get to the web, you can get your CloudPrints.
Also, what if you're traveling, and there's stuff you didn't know you need? Probably, others could email you a file, then call you to tell you about it. Then you've got to deal with getting into your email, again. CloudPrint sends you a handy SMS with all the info you need to retrieve your document with just one click.
Finally, as new features come online, CloudPrint could make your life easier in other ways. Pretty soon, you can SMS URLs from your mobile device to CloudPrint. We'll render the webpage and send you a document code so you can remember to read it later.
Also, soon you can print right to your own home or office printer (or that of a friend) from anywhere in the world. Just imagine your travel photos popping out of Mom's printer seconds after you snap them!
It is absolutely free to use the CloudPrint service. How you get charged for SMS messages is between you and your mobile phone carrier.
To print a webpage from your mobile phone, you can SMS the URL to +44 77814 88791. The URL should be in the body of the message. Recipients will receive a document code, just like if the webpage was printed from the PC virtual print driver.
To send the document to someone, include their number in the body of the text message. You can send it to multiple recipients by including all their numbers in the body of the message, separated by spaces. Nothing else should be in the body of the message, except the URL and the telephone number(s) of the recipient(s).
To send it to only yourself, you do not need to include your own telephone number. It'll be sent to you by default. But if you want to send it to yourself and others, then you must include their phone numbers as well as your own.
A document code is a unique six-digit code that is like an ID number for a document that you've received via SMS. To retrieve a document from CloudPrint, you enter your mobile telephone number and the document code. Your documents cannot be retrieved without the document code, so it's sort of private.
Even if a document is CloudPrinted to multiple recipients, each person gets their own document code, so your document code is only known by you and the person who sent you that document.
Nope.
When you add documents to CloudPrint, they do not come with an expiration date or mysteriously disappear. You can pretty much count on them being there.
At some point in the future, we may have to amend that a bit, to protect you from that guy, the one who prints seven thousand terabytes of joke email forwards, and ruins it for the rest of us. But for now, print all you want and let us worry about the disk space.
In case you'd like to delete things from your account, we'll add a delete button to the document browser soon, we just haven't gotten to it yet.
A PIN is a 4-digit number that secures your CloudPrints.
You do not need a PIN to use CloudPrint, including printing using the virtual driver or retrieving documents. A PIN is necessary only in two cases. If you want to browse all the documents sent to you (without entering a document code) then you must use your PIN.
Second, if you would like to be listed as a Print Provider in our directory, you must enter your PIN.
You can create a pin by clicking Get a PIN at the bottom of the page. Enter your phone number, and you will receive a new PIN via SMS.
You can retrieve CloudPrint documents from any computer that has a web browser and Acrobat Reader. So that means a Mac, any PC or even Linux.
If you want to print to the Cloud, sorry, the driver is currently only available for the PC, and only Windows 2000 and XP so far. But we're working on versions for Mac and Windows Vista, and we've even got something up our sleeve for iPhones and smartphones.
You can use CloudPrint to send and receive documents in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Europe. We're working on the rest of the world.
Entering telephone numbers is a bit tricky. Whenever we ask you for a telephone number, we include a guide on how to format your phone number.
CloudPrint helpfully includes a Find a Printer service. Enter your address or ZIP and we'll find you all the public printers in our directory within 50 miles of you.
As our directory grows, we hope it'll include professional print shops, coffee shops, convenience stores, hotel lobbies, and plain old folks who will let you use their printers. Whether and how they charge you for the service they're providing is between you and them.
Lots of reasons! Perhaps you're a professional print/copy shop... list yourself in CloudPrint and drive in business! It's free advertising!
Or maybe you're running a cafe or other business. Offering printing to your customers can drive in new customer traffic. It's more free advertising!.
How and whether you charge for printing is between you and your customers. In our Print Provider form, you can specify how large print jobs you can support, whether you'll do color printing, and any other terms you'd like (hours, pricing, etc.).
To list yourself in the directory, click Print Providers at the bottom of the page.
Please contact us via our contact form, a link to which is always available at the bottom of the page. We're eager to hear from you!
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