It was very easy to create a Folder Action in Automator to do exactly what I wanted to do. I'm running FingerPrint on my Mac mini Server since it's up all the time anyway. Also I don't really need Preview/Acrobat launching every time either. Then I remembered "Folder Actions" in Automator! I figured I could create a Folder Action for that very folder that FingerPrint was dumping the PDF in, to not only print the PDF that lands there but also then move that PDF to the trash. Since the Mac OS has built-in Adobe PDF support there must be a way to "automate" the printing of the PDF once it gets to my Mac. My brain went into overtime and this got me thinking that I'm so close. So at a minimum I could at least hit print from there and get the printout that I wanted.
I tried the "Send to Mac" option and it worked! My PDF ended up in the ~/Documents/FingerPrint folder and immediately launched in Preview. You can either "Send to Mac" or "Send to iPhoto". This new option allows you to not only print directly to a "compatible" printer, but also send the print job to the Mac that's running the App as an Adobe PDF. I figured, "oh well I guess I will continue to live without printing." Then Collobos updated FingerPrint with a new option. It saw my Xerox Phaser 8550DP printer and so did my iPad! Woohoo! However, when I brought up a page in Safari on the iPad and attempted to print it nothing happened. So I downloaded FingerPrint and within a couple of minutes I had it up and running and ready to test. Although I don't have any real interest in Printing from my iOS devices, I still want the option if I can have it. Yes that means that even with this software there's a chance that your printer won't work and that's exactly what happened to me. As a matter of fact they encourage you to test it first before paying for it to make sure that it works with YOUR printer. You can download the App and test it for a week at no charge. This App aims to bridge the gap between AirPrint and your existing printer. There's an App for that! If you're on a Mac with a shared printer you can download and test Collobos Software's FingerPrint App for Mac OS X 10.5/10.6. Don't worry though, I found a way to do it now! That's not to say that we won't see it in 10.6.6 or 10.6.5.1 or whatever Apple decides to call it, but for right now it is what it is. Rumor had it that Apple was going to support AirPrint "sharing" in Mac OS X 10.6.5 and the support for whatever reason got pulled out of the final release. So unless you're willing to go out and buy a specific HP printer, you're out of luck. That's right! No Epson printers, no Canon printers, no other printers are currently supported. Out of the box you can only print to select HP printers. The iOS AirPrint built-in printing support is severely limited!Īlthough iOS 4.2 now includes printing support (AirPrint), the current implementation is VERY LIMITED. Apparently Apple got lots of requests for printing too and they added printing support in iOS 4.2. Apple also sells iPad Apps like Pages and Numbers and certainly you might want to print a word processing document or spreadsheet. In many cases the iPad has become a laptop replacement for a lot of people and no one would think twice about being able to print something from their laptop.
I'm not saying that I suddenly have the need to print, but I can certainly see someone making the case for needing to print from an iPad more so than from an iPhone or iPod touch. Also I'd have to say that i can't think of too many times that I was looking at something on my iPhone and thought "I'd like to print this." However, with the iPad things are a little different. Admittedly I don't do much printing these days.
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