@Mr Wizard I think Apple are saying "Stop printing stuff"

I do wonder why we print so much. I loathe printers - paper dust and ever depleting inks are just a strain and there's only 6 people in our office.

Unfortunately the world does not revolve around you nor your office. Millions NEED to print the content that they would be viewing, downloading on their Ipad for school, work etc.... The device is great, we all agree but it would be even better if it could print. Don't you agree with that? We do need to stop printing so much but right now this device needs to able to bridge the present times with the future.

To be taken seriously in education and business, the ipad needs to be able to have a printer driver installed, and to perform printing tasks in a wifi environment. A report, spreedsheet or ducument on printed paper is still the norm in most parts of the world. To be without local printer support would be like an ipod without external speaker support.

I hope at least iWork would be able to play to a networked shared printer over WiFi. If any other apps can do this too, that would be a bonus.

It seems like the lack of printing support is a big unanswered question w.r.t. the iPad.

Can iPad generate PDFs?

And iPad needs a printing solution with more than just iWork support.

Pages documents are just about useless in the real world. Even Apple does not support backward compatibility with Pages (only Pages 09 can open Pages 09 files). If we have to export as .DOC then we get duplicate documents propagating.

I can't imagine that Apple wouldn't allow some printing directly from the iPad. It seems like a pretty core requirement of word processing even with the push of a paperless society.

I saw some else refer to the idea of mail-to-server. Perhaps the author of that post can give more details.

It just doesn't make sense to assume a word processing app wouldn't have printing built in. I'm betting on Bonjour support as it's available on both Mac and Windows. If you have a Bonjour printer you will probably be able to send documents directly to it.

Looking at the iPad SDK that Apple released recently, it looks as though like OS X, the iPad has PDF generation capabilities built in. There is also a rudimentary work on a printing API.

Source: Ars Technica

With the system I have at home currently I can just send PDF files directly to the home server to be printed, while I was at school today I found out that the printers we use have a similar function but it is not currently configured to receive emails.

Another solution would be to use applications such as HP iPrint or ePrint to print directly from the device, this method works using screenshots, copying and pasting text or by capturing from a web page but is only really suited for printing photos.

There is a better way of doing this in development but it is part of the new SDK and the details are under NDA however if you take a look at the ars technica article then you will find that the iPhone SDK has PDF generation support and we can only hope these PDF files can be emailed to these printers.

In short, Yes if you go a long way around and use 3rd party applications or wait and see when apple lifts the NDA but so far no announcements on printing directly from the iWork apps.

I think everyone is really missing the point of this type of device here. The iPad is an electronic reader, internet browser and wireless networkable device capable of collobarative sharing and the future in the exchange of information, resources, text books, teacher lessons, assignments, student class work, testing and assessment, all through electronic input and output. There will be no real need to print on paper, for any of this. Do we print emails to read them or print an online exam or print an eBook out?

Macman1965 ... I think YOU have missed the point.

Apple has provided three programs, Numbers, Pages, and Keynote, that are capable of producing content. Granted, Keynote presentations seldom, if ever, get printed out. But if a student is using their iPad to get their class assignments, and then they type up the essay the teacher asked for .... are they going to have to hand in their iPad to show the document to their professor? or are they going to have to scamper home so they can sync their iPad to their computer and then print it out using their computer? If so, then Apple has really fropped the ball! If Apple wants the iPad to be taken seriously in the education environment it MUST be able to read content ... but it also MUST be able to PRODUCE content and be able to DELIVER that content to something/someone other than the users home computer!

If Apple wants the iPad to be taken seriously in the education market ... printing directly from the Pad to a printer (with no intervening computer/machinery) is not optional. It MUST be able to do this transparently. Easily.

Yes it will be nice to web surf using a nice big mobile screen ... but if I can't type up a school assignment and get it onto paper without flogging myaself to death .... then the iPad is a non-starter.

@Mr Wizard I think Apple are saying "Stop printing stuff"

I do wonder why we print so much. I loathe printers - paper dust and ever depleting inks are just a strain and there's only 6 people in our office.

I teach elementary school and would need to print out the curriculum I develop to use while I teach and for reinforcement of my lessons. K-2 still need lots of reinforcement of skills and with the economy in California the way it is I do not see children receiving hands on IPADS in the classroom nor at my school individual computers. I do not want to have to email myself all of the skill work to print out off another computer. I am looking forward to being able to use this device anywhere.

I totally agree that the iPad needs printing support. It would be great if students were able to use electronic sources to show their work to teachers/professors, however that is hopefully in the near future. As of right now they need to see a hard copy of a students' work. I also agree that printing is a waste of many resources such as paper and ink and hoping that we can push for a more electronic way of submitting work soon.

There is a way to print from iPad and no apps are involved. Check this: http://wiki.nisi.ro/2010/04/how-to-print-docs-from-ipad/

I Have a Bluetooth printer , this could be "installed" and recognized. Although there is a great deal of trial and error - it can work. You just have to playground with it.

@macman1965:

And you're missing the point of printing. Like when I use my iPad to register for online services associated with an application developed specifically for iPad and want to capture my registration info in the event there's some glitch in setting up my account.

Or maybe printing a receipt.

There is an option to print directly the app name is HP Iprint (http://itunes.apple.com/mx/app/hp-iprint-photo-2-0/id299531647?mt=8) there are some limitations since only some HP printers are supported and you are able to print as picture.

Hope this helps.