How to print a hard copy or PDF file from your iPhone or iPad

Apple has built one of the easiest ways to print from a smartphone by making many printer manufacturers adopt AirPrint wireless printing. Apple also has a really easy way to create PDF documents instead of a traditional hard copy – if you know how to access it. We will show you both.

air print

It’s important to note that AirPrint printing may not support all printer features, but you will likely get options for: number of copies, range, paper size, orientation, scaling, and other basic functions.

To get started, you’ll need access to a wireless or networked printer that supports Apple AirPrint and a driverless printer. If you don’t have one, check out how to choose the right one, according to The verege.

If you’ve purchased a wireless printer in the past five years (or even 10 years in the case of HP), it probably already supports AirPrint. Some printer manufacturers may also include an app that can print files from your device or through their cloud service, but usually these apps aren’t as easy or nice to use as AirPrint.

Then make sure your iPhone and printer are connected to the same wireless network. If your printer has an Ethernet port, you can instead connect it directly to your wireless router using an Ethernet cable and still have the ability to AirPrint from your iPhone.

In enterprise environments, you may need to have your IT department unlock the feature to allow printing from your iPhone.

and Printing Open what you want to print: an email or email attachment, a website in Safari, a file in the Files app, a photo, etc.

Tap the Share button to open the share sheet, scroll down and tap the Print button, some apps may have a Print button elsewhere.

For example, to print an email in the Mail app, you need to click the Reply button, then search for “Print” at the bottom of the list of reply options.

On the Print Options screen that appears, select a printer if there is no default option already.


You can choose the range of pages you want to print, the amount of copies, enable two-sided printing, and many other printing options.

Click “Print” and it will start playing

You can see the print queue/order status by pressing up from the bottom of the screen (iPhone with Face ID or iPad) or by double-clicking the Home button (iPhone with Touch ID) to access the App Switcher. You can also cancel printing here if it is not completed yet.

It’s amazing how a useful feature like print to PDF is handled like an Easter egg in iOS — especially since macOS has had an easy-to-see PDF option for years. There is no button in iOS to print to PDF; Alternatively, you can zoom in on the document for the option, and here’s how:

Using the instructions listed, go to the print options screen for the file or page you want to convert to PDF (see instructions above).

Click on the preview of the printable document as if you want to enlarge it, it will fly to you like entering a new video game stage.

You currently have the document open as a PDF file. You can scroll between pages, zoom in/out, and search for text on this screen, all to confirm that the document you want looks correct.

Click the Share button at the bottom left.

Select Save to Files to specify where you want to save the document, or choose another app to send it directly to someone, such as Mail, Messages, or AirDrop.

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