Printing from an iPad? Piece o’ cake… unless your printer and iPad are apparently sworn enemies (which does happen). First off, make sure your printer supports Apple’s AirPrint. Most Wi-Fi printers these days do, but if yours is a world-class rebel, you’re already in for a challenge.
So, assuming the printer and iPad are both on the same Wi-Fi network (seriously, double-check this; I once spent 2 hours cursing iOS before realizing my printer was hanging out on the neighbor’s Wi-Fi), just open the doc or photo you want to print. Hit the share icon (that weird square with the arrow pointing up), scroll til you see “Print,” tap that. If your printer shows up as an option, boom, you’re golden, pick it, set your print settings and go.
Did your iPad look at you like you’re crazy and say “No Printers Found”? Join the club. Try these: restart both devices (classic IT move), check if printer firmware is up to date (no one does it, but sometimes it saves headaches), and make sure AirPrint is enabled in your printer’s settings menu. If your printer’s ancient and doesn’t support AirPrint, some brands (HP, Canon, Brother, etc.) have their own apps in the App Store—find yours, install it, and print through there.
Worst-case scenario—if nothing works and even sacrificing a goat didn’t help—shoot the document to your email, open on a computer, and print it old-school. Or just tell everyone you live a paperless lifestyle and let the trees thank you.