After being in beta since a decade, Google Cloud Print will be decommissioned on 31 December 2020. The announcement comes almost a year earlier than the deadline, indicating that the feature is probably used by many. It made it easier to print documents without physically connecting your desktop or mobile device to a printer.
The Google logo is pictured atop an office building in Irvine, California, U.S. August 7, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake - RTS1AT69
Reported by 9to5Google, a support page appeared with the title ‘Migrate from Cloud Print to native printing’. It stated that from 1 January 2021, users won’t be able to print using Google Cloud Print and suggested to look for an alternative solution.
In the same document, Google said that Chrome OS’ native printing experience has improved over time. However, those are limited to the OS and won’t be available in other operating systems. It went on to list down the features that 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