Google Cloud Print gone-Need replacement

We have a small business and an ex-employee set us up with Google Cloud Print.
Found out this will no longer be available after Dec2020. Yikes!!

Of course we don't have an IT dept and some of us have a bit of background in computers.

We don't want to do any networking if at all possible. Have about 7 laptops/PCs all running Windows (all different versions) and an iPad and 2 iPhones. Have 2 laser printers and one thermal printer (for shipping labels).

We presently have one PC dedicated as the "Google Print Server" which is running on Windows.

Is there a different service that we can transition over to that is not expensive (free is best) that won't take a lot of IT skills to set up or maintain?

Thanks for the help!

It might help if you provided a little more detail on how your are using the printers currently, and how they are connected. If you wanted to print to your printers from a computer or device at a remote location, through the Internet, that would generally be the main use for something like Google Cloud Print. For printing using your local network, there are other alternatives. All of the printers I have are network-capable and all are set up with fixed IP addresses and are accessed through the (local private) network.

Possibly useful links:

https://www.techrepublic.com/article...e-cloud-print/

https://blog.papercut.com/what-to-do...t-end-of-life/

Each of our printers now are connected to the one PC via USB connections. We call it the print server.

Quote:

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If you wanted to print to your printers from a computer or device at a remote location, through the Internet, that would generally be the main use for something like Google Cloud Print

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We were using Google Cloud Print to print to the printers from our offices in the same building and same floor as where the PC is located that we called the print server (PC name). Our offices and printers connected to the print server are physically in the same building.

We call that PC the printer server only because the printers are connected to it.

We are not utilizing any networking. We only connect to the print server thru the WiFi in the office.

OK, that clarifies how your printing was set up, which helps to suggest options for replacement. You should probably think about testing out one or more options before January 2021.

I assume that you do not want to set up a wired network. If you are using a WiFi router, then you ARE using networking, just not wired networking.

Option 1: If you can connect to the Print Server computer from any device that needs to print using the wireless (WiFi) network, you should be able to set up the printers as Shared on the Print Server computer (if they are not already) and print to them that way, without involving Google at all.

Option 2: Use a replacement or alternative service. The links I posted have some, as does the link below:

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...sclient=psy-ab

Thanks for your help and suggestion jdc2000 - you are always good at helping ;)

Yes, you are correct, we are using WiFi so technically as you said we are utilizing networking. What I meant to say was we don't want to set up an actual network wired etc. We are looking for a simple solution which takes little care to maintain.

Sharing the printers on what we call the "print server" PC. All this would involve is "sharing" them on that particular PC. Since that PC is on the same WiFi then each PC/laptop should be able to print to that PC. However, if my logic is correct what about if we are also using a WiFi extender. Let's say our usual SSID is "officeWiFi" and we all connect to that but we also have the extender called "officeWiFi_ext". Even though the print server is on "officeWiFi" and my pc is on "officeWiFi_ext" I should still be able to print to the print server?

I also ran along papercut.com which states it is a free service. From what I have read so far it seems to be just like "Google Cloud Print" - my only concern is that it is free. Wondering how well it will perform. Actually "free" is good sometime, Open Office is free and don't have any problems.

Thanks

If you can access a shared folder on the Print Server computer, then you should be able to share the printers connected to it also.

Thanks jdc2000 - helpful as usual.

My boss decided so far to go with one of the alternatives in the link you provided - Papercut.com

Let's see how that works.

He wants (until maybe he changes his mind) to go cloud based - no "sharing".

Thanks jdc2000 - helpful as usual.

My boss decided so far to go with one of the alternatives in the link you provided - Papercut.com

Let's see how that works.

He wants (until maybe he changes his mind) to go cloud based - no "sharing".

Latest update:

https://www.zdnet.com/article/google...at-to-do-next/

Thanks for the link jdc2000

I read thru it quickly and will keep it on file.

So far we have installed PaperCut on our systems and it working nicely so far. Some small issues to deal with but nothing major yet. My boss is happy with it so far and if he is happy with something he stays with it. He said it seems to him that he likes PaperCut better than GCloud Print.
So that is encouraging.