Google Kills Cloud Print, Hacker News

Cloud Print, Google’s cloud-based printing solution that has been in beta since 2010, will no longer be supported as of December 31, 2020. Beginning January 1, 2021, devices across all operating systems will no longer be able to print using Google Cloud Print . We recommend that over the next year, you identify an alternative solution and execute a migration strategy.

Google has improved thenative printing experiencefor Chrome OS, and will continue adding features to native printing. For environments besides Chrome OS, or in multi-OS scenarios, we encourage you to use the respective platform’s native printing infrastructure and / or partner with a print solutions provider.

The following native print management features are currently or will be supported by Chrome OS by the end of 2019.

• Admin console interface to manage thousands of CUPS-based printers for users, devices, and managed guests (the legacy 20 – printer cap has been removed) by organizational unit

  

• Admin console policy to manage user printing defaults for 2-sided (duplex) and color

  

• Support for advanced printing attributes (stapling, paper trays, pin printing)

  

• Admin console policy to include user account and filename in IPP header of print job over a secure IPPS connection, which enables third-party printing features such as secure printing and print-usage tracking

  

• Admin console policy to manage PIN code printing, allowing users to enter pin code when sending the print job, and release the print job for printing when they enter the pin code into the printer keypad

The following print management features are being developed for Chrome OS and will be available prior to Cloud Print deprecation.

• Support for external CUPS print servers, including authentication

  

• Policy to configure connections to external CUPS print servers

  

• APIs for third-parties to access print job metadata, submit print jobs and printer management capabilities

For more details on disabling Cloud Print Services, seeSet up Google Cloud Print. For more details on setting up Native Printing, seeSet up your printer.